Virtual mobility involves using information and communication technologies to facilitate international collaborative experiences in teaching and learning. It provides an alternative or complement to physical student mobility. Virtual mobility activities can help prepare students for physical exchanges, enable virtual internships, or internationalize parts of courses through online collaboration between institutions. Success requires thorough planning, appropriate technologies, intercultural skills development, and support for students. Virtual mobility is not a substitute for physical mobility but offers different ways to gain international experiences.

1. MOBILITY IN A DIGITAL TIME
VIRTUAL MOBILITY AS AN ALTERNATIVE FOR
OR A COMPLEMENT TO PHYSICAL MOBILITY
Ilse Op de Beeck
LIMEL/DOO – KU Leuven
5 June 2015 | CPU/AUF/IRD International Seminar
Paris, France

2. Context and definitions
‘Student mobility is an
important aspect of
internationalization …
but it is impossible to realize
physical exchanges for the
majority of students’

3. Context and definitions
‘‘Virtual mobility is
the set of information and
communications technology
supported activities,
organized at institutional
level, that realize or facilitate
international, collaborative
experiences in a context of
teaching and/or learning”

4. Videoconferencing Webconferencing Weblectures Streaming Audio/Video
Social Media (Web2.0) Screencasting/screensharing Podcasting …
ICT supported activities

5. Context of teaching and learning
Virtual mobility is about
teaching and learning (pedagogical
aspect) and all the activities that support
it, e.g. administrative, organisational,
logistical issues.

6. International & intercultural
Virtual mobility is specifically about
cross-border activities between
different educational institutions from
different countries. Such activities are
subsequently intercultural in nature.

7. Collaborative
Virtual mobility activities enable
collaborative learning, i.e. learning
from and with each other. This aspect of
virtual mobility is considered to be
essential in relation to developing
intercultural competences and/or
sensitivity.

8. Virtual mobility
1. to facilitate or realise an international
exchange
2. to facilitate or realise international internships
3. as a scenario to internationalise a (part of a)
course (chapter, exercise, task, project),
programme, workshop, seminar,…
scale from blended to fully virtual
for students, teachers and administrative staff!
Types of virtual mobility

9. EU-projects on virtual & blended mobility

10. 1. VM to facilitate physical mobility
Before the exchange
• Orientation modules
• Preparatory courses (language, culture, digital literacy)
• Pre-selection tools, student selection
During the exchange
• E-coaching
• Communication, support, social networks
After the exchange
• Virtual assessment and evaluation at a distance
• Virtual alumni

11. • Master in Physiotherapy, KU Leuven
• Aim: equalise the initial level of the knowledge of
statistics of the (international) students of the Master
• Online Testing and Learning Platform for enrolled
students - access to platform before they come to
Leuven
• Successful pre-tests allow full participation
• Unsuccessful pre-tests give access to online
learning modules from the KU Leuven Bachelor
degree, followed by new pre-tests
• More transparant expectations for students
1. VM to facilitate physical mobility

12. • Master European Social Security, KU Leuven
• One-year international study programme
• Blends regular with distance learning
• Need for oral examination at a distance
• Set-up of e-assessment through web conferencing
• Laptop and webcam on both sides
• Support staff (booking meeting, student
manual,,…)
• Online examinations:
 Quality similar to face-to-face
 Recordings are added value
 Time consuming
 Connectivity, crucial for timing
1. VM to facilitate physical mobility

13. 2. Virtual internships

14. • Student University of Turku (FI)
• Master in Political Sciences
• Turku and Southwest Finland European office (BE)
• October 2010 – February 2011
• Student selection via Skype
• Tasks: following EU news, compiling news for
Finnish region, following online meetings of
EC,…
• Communication, cooperation and feedback via
Skype and Adobe Connect
• Academic mentor @ home
2. Virtual internships

15. • Students Katholieke Hogeschool Leuven (BE)
• Bachelor in Business Management
• Compulsory internship
• 11 students in foreign companies
• February-June 2010
• Participation in seminars via
videoconferencing
• Share/exchange experiences with peers at
home
• Self reflection and mentoring via e-portfolio
• Internationalisation @ home
2. Virtual internships

16. • Course on Water Management
• Jointly organised by KU Leuven, University of Granada,
University of Porto
• 3 ECTS Master level course
• Teacher Virtual Mobility: January - September 2014
• Student Virtual Mobility: October- December 2014
• Sharing of expertise of the different
partner institutions – exchange of
modules and materials
• International online group work through
web conferencing, Moodle platform and
other tools
3. Internationalisation of curricula

17. Teacher Virtual Mobility

18. Student Virtual Mobility

19. Resources
VM-BASE project: vm-base.europace.org
Move-IT project: move-it.europace.org
EU-VIP project: www.euvip.eu
PROVIP project: www.provip.eu
VMCOLAB project: www.vmcolab.eu
Virtual4Me website (for students): virtual4me.vmcolab.eu
OUVM project: openstudies.eu

20. OUVM project
Open university studies for virtual mobility (VM) by training
teachers and academic staff
Training material on
- Virtual Mobility curriculum design
- Use of OER
- Use of Creative Commons (CC) licenses
http://openstudies.eu
https://www.facebook.com/openvm

22. VMCOLAB project
For higher education institutions
• A Quality Assurance handbook for Virtual Mobility
• A Virtual Mobility Integration Kit
• VMCOLAB Co-Laboratory: http://co-
laboratory.innovate4future.eu & LinkedIn group
For students
• A Students’ Guide to Virtual Mobility
• Virtual4Me site: http://virtual4me.vmcolab.eu
For policy makers
• Policy recommendations
• Policy event

23. Success factors (1)
• Planning is everything!
• Virtual mobility requires thorough preparation, coordination and
planning
• Commitment of all actors
• Use of existing and trusted networks
• Strong leadership
• Identify within your institution who can support you (on
administrative, technical and pedagogical level)
• Qualitative e-coaching
• Clear agreements about goals and the roles and tasks of the
coaches
• Following an established communication protocol

24. Success factors (2)
• Choose the right pedagogical scenario’s & models:
student-centred, collaborative learning,…
• Intercultural skills development:
• Make goals explicit and stimulate reflection
• Explicit attention for and integration of the human factor
• Arrange a limited amount of face-to-face contact moments if
possible
• Use technology that supports synchronous communication in a
setting that is as close as possible to a face-to-face setting
• Define a space for non-task-related communication

25. Success factors (3)
• Tools as an aid (and not a barrier)
• Use the benefits of tools and technologies BUT no technology
without philosophy, vision, strategy
• Choose the right tools based on what the students will have to
do (there are tools for instruction, communication,
collaboration, reflection,…) and define what needs to be done
synchronously and what can be done asynchronously
• Choose technology that is user-friendly, reliable and accessible
for all actors involved
• Familiarize yourself with the tools, test them beforehand and
provide guidelines and support
• Communicate explicitly about the tools that will be used and to
which end they will be used

26. Success factors (4)
• Preferred student characteristics
• Motivation
• Self-responsibility
• Able to plan and organise the own learning process
• Pro-activeness
• Language knowledge
• ICT skills, experienced with virtual communication
• Respect for diversity and intercultural differences
• Self-reflection capability

27. Virtual mobility: an alternative for or a
complement to physical mobility?
• No substitution for physical mobility but a
different way of being mobile!
• Blended approach!

28. More information?
Contact
Ilse Op de Beeck
ilse.opdebeeck@kuleuven.be