{"id":598,"date":"2021-05-24T12:15:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T11:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/?p=598"},"modified":"2021-07-14T10:50:01","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T09:50:01","slug":"5-great-reasons-to-do-a-virtual-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2021\/05\/24\/5-great-reasons-to-do-a-virtual-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"5 great reasons to do a Virtual Exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"

Theresa Wood from the Foreign Languages Team explains how virtual exchanges are a great way to develop valuable skills and connect with students overseas.<\/em><\/p>\n

Have your placement or year abroad plans been cancelled due to Covid? Does the thought of spending as long as six months in another country seem way too daunting or long? But would you still like to experience another culture and make new friends in another country?<\/p>\n

Well, Virtual Exchange might be perfect for you!<\/p>\n

The Skills Centre already organises virtual exchanges for students on our foreign languages courses, and we\u2019re now running a pilot to trial virtual exchange for other disciplines across the University. We\u2019d love you to get involved!<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t worry, you don\u2019t need to be fluent in a foreign language to take part \u2013 the exchange will run mainly in English.<\/p>\n

What is Virtual Exchange?<\/h2>\n

Virtual Exchange<\/a> is a practice which brings together students who are geographically separated and\/or from different cultural backgrounds. Students collaborate on a discipline-specific project set by their teachers.<\/p>\n

By taking part, the students increase their confidence and ability to communicate across cultures (called \u2018intercultural communication\u2019), develop their language capabilities and a whole range of other key employability skills, like interpersonal, digital, team-building and organisational skills \u2013 giving you valuable evidence to make your CV stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Virtual exchange also allows students to develop a Global Citizenship<\/a> mindset which is vital in today\u2019s globalised world.<\/p>\n

5 great reasons to get involved<\/h2>\n

1. It\u2019s cheap!<\/strong> You don\u2019t have to worry about the cost of moving to another country and how you\u2019ll survive financially while you\u2019re abroad. Anyone can join a virtual exchange and the only cost will be wifi, if you\u2019re not in a free wifi zone.<\/p>\n

2. You\u2019ll make new friends!<\/strong> We\u2019re lucky to be part of an international community at Bath, but a virtual exchange will connect you with others in places you might never visit. You\u2019ll be able to learn about different cultures from the comfort of your own home.<\/p>\n

3. It\u2019s short and sweet!<\/strong> A virtual exchange is, on average, only 6 weeks long, and you might spend a maximum of 2 hours a week with your overseas exchange partner. With so much else going on in your life, this is a manageable commitment which you can fit in around your other activities.<\/p>\n

4. You\u2019ll improve your digital skills!<\/strong> Having strong digital skills<\/a> is very high up on employers\u2019 wish lists nowadays. Through virtual exchange, you\u2019ll use a range of technologies to connect with your partner, enabling you to enhance those all-important digital communication, collaboration and participation skills.<\/p>\n

5. It\u2019ll help with your studies!<\/strong> Imagine studying marketing and being able to ask someone in another country how they\u2019d advertise a product in their local market. Or studying psychology and finding out how a particular treatment would work in their culture. Experiencing different perspectives and sharing ideas will open your mind and give you a broader understanding of your subject area.<\/p>\n

\"Through the Virtual Exchange Programme, you become a better listener and develop a greater appreciation for another culture. This increased cultural awareness is very important in broadening the mind and working in harmony with people, especially nowadays in our very (and wonderfully) diverse globalised workforce.\"<\/em> - Elliott Garraway, MA in Translation and Professional Language Skills, who took part in a Virtual Exchange with Unicamp in Brazil.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So how does it work?<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Teachers from each university collaborate and set up a virtual exchange programme.<\/li>\n
  2. You\u2019ll then be paired with a partner or placed in a small group and will agree a suitable time to meet online.<\/li>\n
  3. You\u2019ll collaborate on a project set by your teachers and present on it at the end of the exchange.<\/li>\n
  4. The exchange is structured, so you\u2019ll know what to do with your partner and what to discuss.<\/li>\n
  5. You'll receive a certificate confirming that you took part in the programme.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How do I get involved?<\/h2>\n

    If you\u2019re interested in finding out more and want to join a virtual exchange, please contact the Foreign Languages Team<\/a>\u00a0and let us know which department you\u2019re in.<\/p>\n

    We\u2019re currently in touch with various departments about how to set up virtual exchanges and are providing support to help get them started. Following our pilot virtual exchanges in Academic Year 2021\/22 we hope more departments will get involved in the future.<\/p>\n

    You can also read about the Skills Centre\u2019s Virtual Exchange project with Xi\u2019an International University (XAIU) in China<\/a> and watch a video made by two students who took part.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Theresa Wood from the Foreign Languages Team explains how virtual exchanges are a great way to develop valuable skills and connect with students overseas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1438,"featured_media":600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[57,74,61,63,59],"tags":[105],"class_list":["post-598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-group-working","category-communication","category-digital-skills","category-employability","category-foreign-languages","tag-virtual-exchange"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/05\/VEP600x338.png","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":902,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2022\/11\/01\/how-a-virtual-exchange-improved-my-confidence-in-speaking-chinese\/","url_meta":{"origin":598,"position":0},"title":"How a Virtual Exchange improved my confidence in speaking Chinese\u00a0 \u00a0","author":"Kerry Vevers","date":"November 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Natalie Page, a doctoral student in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences, explains how a virtual language exchange has improved her spoken Mandarin and developed some key employability skills.\u00a0\u00a0 I joined the University in 2021 as a part of the Southwest Doctoral Training Partnership, in which China features as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Employability"","block_context":{"text":"Employability","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/employability\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Natalie Page with her Chinese virtual exchange partners from Xi\u2019An International University","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2022\/10\/meeting-screenshot.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2022\/10\/meeting-screenshot.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2022\/10\/meeting-screenshot.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2022\/10\/meeting-screenshot.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1001,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2023\/04\/18\/my-language-learning-journey-at-bath\/","url_meta":{"origin":598,"position":1},"title":"My language-learning journey at Bath","author":"Kerry Vevers","date":"April 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Third year MChem student Hannah Glover shares her experience of learning Japanese and French alongside her degree and taking part in a virtual language exchange. \u00a0 I started my first year at the University of Bath back in 2020 \u2013 the year of the pandemic. 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