The concept of communicating with students in another country is perhaps a curious and novel concept to most of our students. Certainly giving our students the opportunity to use English to really communicate with others across the world seems like a great idea. However, in an exchange there are some fundamental factors that will effect student participation and interest. After experiencing 10 weeks of virtual exchange with students in Columbia through 5 forum topics, we surveyed the students on the Japanese side to discover their impressions of the exchange, what motivated them to participate, and their suggestions for improving the exchange. I will share briefly the results of this survey that suggest posting reciprocity and assessment are essential for holding student interest and motivation. Presented at APVEA/Summer Moodle Workshop, July 19, 2015

1. IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO:
STUDENT VOICES REGARDING
VIRTUAL EXCHANGE
HAIDEE THOMSON
MURORAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
SUN JULY 19
APVEA/SUMMER MOODLE WORKSHOP

2. IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO:
What motivation is there to post if your intended
audience is not reading or responding?
How can we guarantee a virtual exchange?

3. VIRTUAL EXCHANGE:
Teachers and students in Japan
Teachers and students in Colombia
Moodle forums (show & tell)

5. Muroran, Japan
20% of course grade
Students posted often
Colombia
Not assessed
Students posted seldom (many never posted)

6. Example group # 10
21 members (7 Colombia + 7 never accessed the course)
(7 Japan)
Example topic: A day in my life
3 threads
52 replies
3
49
Colombia Japan

7. Example group # 6
20 members (6 Colombia + 6 never accessed the course)
(7 Japan + 1 never accessed the course)
Example topic: A day in my life
5 threads
27 replies
1
26
Colombia Japan

8. Student voices from the Japan side
Survey after 10 weeks
N = 68 from 3 different classes
How can the Virtual Exchange be improved?

9. Student voices – free comments
65 comments (out of 68)
20 regarding lack of response from Colombia side (29.4% of 68)
返信が来るのに時間がかかったのであまりコミュニケーションした気になりま
せんでした。
It took a long time to receive responses so I didn’t really feel like we were
communicating.
コロンビアの学生に送ってもあまり返信してくれませんでした。
Even when I posted a message for Colombian students, there was hardly any
response.

10. 23
14
39
36
47
29
19
41
37
36
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Friends in Japan (in your class)
Friends in Japan (in another class)
Students from your class in Japan (other
than your close friends)
Students from another class in Japan
(other than your close friends)
Students in Columbia
NO. OF VOTES
Who did you write most of your posts to? (N=68)
Who do you think reads most of your posts?

11. グループ内の外国の人の投稿が少なすぎる。これではvirtualで
やっている意味がない。日本の学生との英語でのコミュニケーショ
ンは授業で実際にできるので、virtualでは外国の学生のみとの交
流でいいと思う。
There were not enough posts from foreigners in my group. So there
was no reason to be doing ‘virtual’, We can communicate with
Japanese students in class, so the virtual exchange would be better
with only foreigners.

12. Expanding our world
外国の人と英語の文章でコミュニケーションをとるこ
とが初めてだったので、いい経験になった。
It was my first time to use English to communicate
with foreigners, so it was a good experience.

13. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
It was a class requirement
I wanted to improve my English
I enjoyed sharing about myself and my…
I enjoyed learning about other people and…
I wanted to develop friendships or…
I wanted to learn about Colombian culture
I enjoyed communicating via the virtual…
Other
No. of votes
I was motivated to post and reply on the VE because:

14. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
More international
participants
Less Japanese
participants
Using Japanese as
well as English
Having online chat
in English
No.ofvotes What would make the VE better?

15. Not at all
interesting, 10
Not interesting, 17
Interesting, 32
Quite interesting, 6
Very interesting, 3
HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE VIRTUAL EXCHANGE?

16. Virtual Exchange must be an exchange:
Assessment pushes students to participate
Both sides assess timely participation
Timely participation = Exchange

17. Thank you!
Any questions?
haidee.thomson@mmm.muroran-it.ac.jp