Expanding higher education classrooms beyond their walls: Virtual exchange and challenges for professors

Abstract

In order to evaluate an international virtual exchange (VE) developed by the partnership formed between the University of Oviedo in Spain and Pazmany Peter Catholic University in Hungary and launched under the Erasmus+ virtual exchange (EVE) initiative, the researchers applied a SWOT analysis. The aim of this paper is to explore and discuss the challenges that the professors faced before, during, and after implementing the VE project. Individual professor’s SWOTs have been distilled to identify the common elements present in all three SWOTs. Course and syllabus differences between the two universities, the role of technology and digital skills, the amount of resources devoted to the project, and institutional support are the elements that all the professors consider essential factors of the VE project. The results of the SWOT analysis reveal the following tensions that should be taken into account in order to improve the project in future iterations: planning vs. flexibility; student-centered methodology vs. student engagement and motivation; soft-skills training vs. content development; multidisciplinarity vs. specialization; use of institutional virtual learning environments vs. open web 2.0 digital tools; close monitoring of students’ work vs. free communication between students.