Virtual Innovation and Support Networks : Exploring the impact of Virtual Exchange in teacher education

Abstract

Virtual Exchange refers to the numerous initiatives and methodologies which engage learners in sustained online collaborative learning and interaction with partners from different cultural backgrounds as part of their study programs and under the guidance of teachers or trained facilitators. This book reports on a large-scale European project, VALIANT (Virtual Innovation and Support Networks for Teachers), which explored how Virtual Exchange can be applied to bring togethaer students of Initial Teacher Education with in-service teachers. The book also examines how participation in these Virtual Exchange initiatives impacted on aspects of teachers’ and student teachers’ professional development, their motivation levels, sense of professional isolation as well as on their intercultural, digital and other soft skills.