This presentation looks at how social emotional factors at play in the interdisciplinary VE 'The new normality', between BA students of Social Psychology at the University of Valencia and BA students of European Languages and Cultures in different Spanish proficiency courses at the University of Groningen shared their experiences with the pandemic across cultures and disciplines, contributed to their development of intercultural communicative competence in relation to the topic and discipline.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, most classes in Higher Education are offered online and physical student and staff mobility have come to a sudden end. These developments have widened the interest in and feasibility of more sustainable alternatives or complementary activities to traditional mobility (EVOLVE Project Team, 2020a). With its focus on online interaction and collaboration between students from different cultural backgrounds, Virtual Exchange (VE) offers students and educators the possibility to combine the benefits of digitalisation and internationalisation. Furthermore, as part of the learning objectives related to the courses and discipline(s) in which it is embedded, VE can contribute to the development of transversal competences, including foreign language skills, intercultural communicative competence, digital skills, personal and collaboration skills (EVOLVE Project Team, 2020b). This presentation looks at how social emotional factors at play in the interdisciplinary VE 'The new normality' - between BA Social Psychology students at the University of Valencia (Spain, N=67) and BA students of European Languages and Cultures and International Relations in different Spanish proficiency courses at the University of Groningen (the Netherlands, N=71) shared their experiences with the pandemic across cultures and disciplines - contributed to their development of intercultural communicative (Ennis 2015, Tomlinson 2019) and language competence in relation to the topic and discipline. To this end, we will use data collected, through the EVOLVE pre- and post-test surveys (N=21) and student portfolios (N=9) on the impact of VE on student learning. Preliminary results collected through course evaluations already show that there is a positive impact of the VE in terms of participation, preparation and appreciation as well as targeted learning outcomes. To further improve the project for the next edition we will broaden the topic to other global social cultural and social political events to make it fit better with our students' interests and disciplines as well as to empower them as globally engaged citizens.
