VM curriculum designing
Training material development on VM curriculum designing was lead by VMU and KUL with the involvement of other partners. E-learning centres' staff or other staff members from consortium institutions worked collaboratively online to develop training material with practical assignments and templates, as well as video or audio explanations on how to design VM curriculum and what are peculiarities in such process.
Unit 3. Tools for Virtual Mobility
3.1 Where to start from
To create an efficient virtual learning space, it is important to choice the “right” tools. Always start from the following attention points:
- Accessibility: Choose technology that is accessible for all students involved. Start from tools that are known and easily available.
- Usability: Choose technology that is user-friendly and reliable. The stability of the internet connection of all students also plays an important role in the usability of these technologies.
- E-literacy: Preferably work with tools that are already known to the students. If this is not possible, make sure that they have the opportunity to learn how to use the technology (integrate training sessions or provide tutorials).
- Test and support: Test the tools beforehand and make sure the students know whom to turn to in case of technical difficulties. But, even after thorough testing: always have a plan B!
- Flexibility: Always be willing to learn from things that don’t go as initially planned. Organizing virtual exchange is always a technical challenge. When things go wrong, solutions often come from students. As a teacher you have to be prepared to let go control a bit and learn from students using their own tools.
- Clarity: Make general agreements about the tools that will be used and to which end they will be used. Draw up a communication protocol which defines the practical conditions for communicating and collaborating. Such a protocol can state when the different actors are available for synchronous communication, how much time can pass before messages need to be answered, which tools will be used to which end, how coaching will be organized etc. Do not forget to include here to include issues such as different time zones, if applicable.