Call for Papers SPECIAL ISSUE:Virtual mobility: opening up educational mobilities

22-06-2020

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INTRODUCTION

 International collaboration in virtual environments has been embraced in Europe by the Erasmus Program both for the European Higher Education Area and for non-university levels in formats such as eTwinning. The concept of Virtual Mobility has been defined as ICT-based collaborative  learning activities among international participants at institutional level (Op de Beeck, & Van Petegem, 2013). So, the description of the learning process is based on three main conceptual pillars: international, digital and collaborative. A recent approach to virtual mobility has added open education as the fourth pillar (Buchem et al. 2018; Poce, Amenduni, Re, & De Medio, 2020). One of the most recent definitions addresses virtual mobility against the backdrop of open education as a new strand in practice and research: "(…) Virtual mobility as where learners participate through joint or shared curricula or other forms of exchanges in Open Universities, Open Education Resources, MOOCs or other online sites' ' (Breznik & Skrbinjek, 2020, p. 106). This definition addresses the potential of open practices, which is linked to autonomous and self-regulated learning in digital environments for formal and informal learning aims. It is also the underpinning conceptual framework on which the exploration of the development of skills in Open Virtual Mobility initiatives has been built (Rajagopal et al., 2020). Research has argued about the possibilities of virtual mobility for the internationalisation and digitalisation of higher education (Rajagopal, 2020), the democratisation of education by extending access (Ruiz Corbella & García Aretio, 2010), the potential for educational innovation and inclusion (Buchem et al., 2019) along with the impact on students engagement (Bedenlier & Marín, 2020-in press) and has also shown the impact on school culture (Yeşil, 2020). Although there exist collections of good practices (EADTU, 2019) in which the institutional level seems to be the greatest focus, more research is needed to extend knowledge on how open virtual mobility is taking place, how learning designs are being developed and what the personal impact on students skills, performance and outcomes is. More knowledge is needed to answer questions from critical approaches such as: What are the trends of virtual mobility? What are the different practices and formats? Is virtual mobility reproducing physical mobility patterns such as higher-income countries receiving more students, greater density of virtual mobility among high-income regional networks? Or is it extending peripheral relationships? (Kahn & Misiaszek, 2019) Is it challenging digital neocolonialism of curriculum? (Adam, 2019).

What are the disciplines, programs or educational levels in which virtual mobility is having a greater uptake? How these pedagogical experiences are designed, implemented and assessed? How are curriculums being jointly built and enhanced from each partner perspective? How open education principles extend virtual mobility across institutional and cultural contexts and digital environments?

 

Keywords:  virtual mobility, open virtual mobility, technology-enhanced learning, open educational practices

Descriptors:

-       Theoretical frameworks for virtual mobility

-       Open education background for virtual mobility

-       Case studies of virtual mobility of all levels

-       Educational practices and formats in virtual mobility worldwide

-       Curriculum designs with special focus to co-designed curriculums

-       Critical approaches to virtual mobility

-       Ethical issues for virtual mobility

-       Digital environments for the development of virtual mobility

-       Learning designs for all educational levels, disciplines and backgrounds

-       Measuring and evidence of learning outcomes in virtual mobility

-       Addressing virtual mobility in Initial Teacher Education and Teacher Professional Development 

-       Perceptions of students, teachers and other stakeholders

 

Important deadlines:

  • Submission deadline: 15th December 2020
  • Notification to the authors: 20th  January 2020
  • Final submission and acceptance: 10th February 2021
  • Publication of the special issue: March 2021

 

Profile of the editors:

Gemma Tur holds a PhD of Educational Technology from the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), Spain. She is Lecturer in the Department of Applied Pedagogy and Educational Psychology of UIB and collaborator researcher in the Group of Infancy, Technology, Education and Diversity in the field of Educational Technology of the same university. She is member in the strategic partnerships Open Virtual Mobility (Eramus+/strategic Partnership, 2017-2020).

 

Ilona Buchem holds a PhD in Business Education from Humboldt University, and she is Professor for Media and Communication at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Faculty I Economics and Social Sciences. She has led a number of research projects and strategic partnerships, including Open Virtual Mobility (Eramus+/strategic Partnership, 2017-2020).

 

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS AND SUBMISSION OF CONTRIBUTIONS

We welcome original contributions, written in English or Spanish that thoughtfully engage:

  • Research projects reports, extension of 5000-6000 words.
  • Innovation experiences scientifically reviewed and susceptible of being transferred to other contexts and situations, extension of 5000-6000 words.
  • Essays and systematic literature reviews, extension of 5000-6000 words.

 

Manuscripts must be sent through the journal management system selecting the special issue  Virtual mobility: opening up educational mobilities : http://www.edutec.es/revista/

Publication rules: manuscripts must be submitted following the regular structure of the EDUTEC-E journal available at: http://www.edutec.es/revista/

Last call for the reception of manuscripts:  15 December 2020 (Extended)

Editorial process: Submitted manuscripts will be under revision following established criteria for published manuscripts (editorial board and blind review). Once the Editorial Board has completed all the admission procedures, authors will receive anonymous scientific evaluation reports informing on their acceptance or rejection. More information about the review process and its communication is available at: http://www.edutec.es/revista/

Quality Index: EDUTEC journal is indexed in the main databases, directories and evaluation systems of specialized journals. More information about indexations is available at:  https://edutec.es/revista/index.php/edutec-e/indexacion

 

References

Adam, T. (2019) Digital neocolonialism and massive open online courses (MOOCs): colonial pasts and neoliberal futures. Learning, Media and Technology, 44(3), 365-380, https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2019.1640740

Bedenlier, S., & Marín, V. I. (in press, 2020). Engaging students  through virtual mobility: a systematic review. In S. Chang & C. Gomes  (Eds.), Digital Experiences of International Students. RoutledgeEd.

Buchem, I., Konert, J., Carlino, C., Casanova, G., Rajagopal, K., Firssova, O., Andone, D., (2018). Designing a Collaborative Learning Hub for Virtual Mobility Skills – Insights from the European Project Open Virtual Mobility. In: P. Zaphiris and A. Ioannou (Eds.) Learning and Collaboration Technologies. Design, Development and Technological Innovation. Springer International Publishing AG, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 10924, pp. 350-376. ISBN 978-3-319-91742-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91743-6_27

Breznik, K., & Skrbinjek, V. (2020). Erasmus student mobility flows. European Journal of Education, 55(1), 105-117.https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12379

EADTU (2019). Innovative Models for Collaboration and Student Mobility in Europe. Retrieved from https://eadtu.eu/documents/Innovative_Models_for_Collaboration_and_Student_Mobility_in_Europe.pdf

Kahn, P. E. & Misiaszek, L. I. (2019).  Educational mobilities and internationalised higher education: critical perspectives. Teaching in Higher Education, 24(5), 587-598. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2019.1625120

Op de Beeck, I., & Van Petegem, W. (2013). Virtual mobility: an alternative or complement to physical mobility? ERACON 2011 & 2012 Dual Year Proceedings, 151-160.

Poce, A., Amenduni, F., Re, M., & De Medio, C. (2020). Assessing a MOOC users experience in a virtual mobility project: preliminary results for quality enhancement. Italian Journal of Educational Technology, 28(1), 62-77. https://doi.org/10.17471/2499-4324/1126

Rajagopal, K., Firssova, O., Op de Beeck, I., Van der Stappen, E., Stoyanov, S., Henderikx, P., & Buchem, I. (2020). Learner skills in open virtual mobility. Research in Learning Technology, 28. https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v28.2254

Ruiz Corbella, M. & Garcia Aretio, L. (2010). Movilidad virtual en la educación superior: ¿oportunidad o utopía? Revista Española de Pedagogía, 246, 243-260. Retrieved from  https://reunir.unir.net/bitstream/handle/123456789/3854/MovilidadVirtualEnLaEducacionSuperior.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

YeÅŸil, L. B. (2020). Shaping School Culture With Technology: Impact of Being an eTwinning School on Its Climate. In Durnali, M. (Eds.), Utilizing Technology, Knowledge, and Smart Systems in Educational Administration and Leadership (pp. 262-281). IGI Global. http://doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-1408-5.ch014