Developing Digital Competencies and Future Skills: An International Project-Based Learning through Open Virtual Mobilities in Pandemic Times

Abstract

This paper analyzes the results of two consecutive years (2020 and 2021) of an international collaboration between students at universities in the United States and Romania from the perspectives of comparing digital competencies and future skills. Offered annually since 2009, TalkTech is a project based learning scenario requiring students to use synchronous and asynchronous communication tools to research a topic and share their findings in a jointly-created digital artefact. During the last two years, 110 students researched topics related to international businesses and creative industries and presented their results using virtual reality. To complete the project, students made use of open educational practices and communicated, analyzed, developed, demonstrated, shared compared and discussed their work using several different digital tools. This paper investigates how students perceive their use of digital tools how these influenced them, especially during pandemic times.