Sake Jager is a project manager in teaching and learning innovation at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He has recently received an Award from UNICollaboration in recognition of services to Virtual Exchange throughout his career.
Congratulations on your Award Sake! Where did it all begin?
“It really began with my colleague Robert O’Dowd about 15 years ago when we were already experimenting with it together with some Italian universities and with English as a lingua franca. I really liked it a lot, because it focuses on the human-to-human element of learning which I think is really important.
“I was fortunate to be invited to take part in the INTENT project in 2011 by Rob. And that’s when we got going. We discussed what we should call our new website and that is how the name UNCollaboration was born. And we weren’t sure if we should make it with a hyphen or no hyphen! At that time, it was hosted by the Open University in the UK. So, the name ‘UNICollaboration’ is at least 15 years old by now.”
You mentioned the human aspect of VE – is that why it’s been so important to you?
“Yes, I always cherished this and as project manager in teaching and learning innovation, you are always keeping up with technology assisted language learning developments. And so we were very interested in digital testing – which seems quite a strange word now.
“It was around this time that VE really caught on with teachers, and not only the teachers. Students were also enthusiastic about the results.
“For these reasons, it was clear to me that virtual exchange was going to be an interesting area to focus on and pursue…..it was quite a pivotal moment and I knew it was here to stay.
“CMC – computer medium communication – was already in existence and VE had evolved on from that and as an English teacher, language learning is also a focus of mine. CMC had always been important in language learning teaching and practice.”
What changes have you seen in the past 15 years?
“I think that UNICollaboration intended to take VE pedagogy beyond just languages. This was something significant to note. From this point in time, virtual exchange developed more widely across disciplines. This is true especially since the pandemic.
“There is a risk though. And that risk is that VE can become commodified. Some institutions are using it to attract students and failing to focus on the grass roots nature of VE and the importance of human-to-human contact and interpersonal relations.
“I believe it can only work well because of those all-important personal connections between teachers…..and of course, let’s not forget the role of specially trained facilitators who are there to ensure the students work effectively together.
“VE connects people and it’s also an important tool in globalisation and in times of radicalisation. Also, it’s very useful in relation to the UN Sustainability Development Goals as these provide the perfect springboards to initiate and develop interesting virtual exchange projects.
“Personal relationships are really fundamental aspect of VE.”
What are some of the biggest successes you’ve witnessed in your time?
“It’s important to know that I am a supporter of teachers. I don’t do VEs myself, but it’s great to see how an exchange project takes off when I support teachers. Teachers are really embracing the pedagogy and they think it’s an essential component for their students to develop useful competencies for working globally.
“I’m most proud of the EVOLVE project. There are three levels of outcomes. These are: student level, teacher level and institutional level. We found that VE had a significant impact on student personalities. We witnessed them develop responsibility and agency. Through this initiative, they had to arrange their own appointments and ensure their tasks went well. At the end, they had to report and reflect on this. These are key elements in any VE.”
Where going in the future?
“Virtual exchange remains an important tool to bring in different perspectives on a given topic.
“The biggest change right now is the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). I think it helps us to develop ways of bringing different perspectives in society together and reinforcing the human element in the use of technology.
“If we look at learning, there are three kinds of components: teaching presence, instructional presence and social presence.
“I think AI tries to take in all these presences – you engage with it on all these levels and it also provides the content. I believe this can make learning a lonely experience. It can be done of course – but do we want it done like this?
“The human element must be retained with the advent of all this new tech. I see this as a task, for UNICollaboration and other organisations. We must make sure the human element linked to learning is safe as it brings all these people together from different regions and different disciplines, and we need to ensure human aspect does not get lost along the way. That could be our mission from now on.”