This event features Robert O’Dowd from the University of León, Spain, on Developing authentic international learning experiences through Virtual Exchange.
Reported by Vicky Yongkun Wu, Class of 2026
Virtual Exchange (VE), also Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) or telecollaboration, refers to students and teachers’ engagement in intercultural collaborative projects with partners from other countries using digital technologies. In the post-pandemic and technologically advanced era, VE is crucial in fostering a range of employability skills, preparing students for physical mobility, and promoting university inclusivity.
In the research talk, Prof Emmanuelle Chiocca first briefly introduced the Third Space Lab and Dr. O’Dowd. The Third Space Lab focuses on identity, language, language learning motivation, and student change in intercultural and translingual environments. Major events of the lab include guest lectures, Brownbag lunch talks delivered by LCC faculty members, workshops, etc. According to Prof Chiocca’s introduction, Dr. O’Dowd is an Associate Professor of English as a Foreign Language and Applied Linguistics at the University of Leon, Spain, and have published works on the application of Virtual Exchange in higher education. Continue reading “Student Report on Improving International Learning Through Virtual Exchange”
DKU Humanities Research Center (HRC) organized the 2022 Humanities Fall Conference: Ciencia y Caridad 科学与慈善 in Barcelona during the first week of October. Gathering DKU students currently in Barcelona and other members of the DKU community via Zoom, this two-day event brought together around eighty participants, four keynote speakers, and a distinguished Guest Lecturer in order to shed light on global response to various challenges using China and Spain as contexts of scientific development and empathy to bring communities together. 
