Webinar series 2025 UNICollaboration offered the following webinars in 2025 Webinar 1 đź•“Â 24th October, 14:00 – 15:00 CET, Why some students do not like their VE projects: personality traits and their possible impacts in VE projects, Junyao Zhang, University of Groningen Webinar 2 đź•“Â 31st October, 15:00 – 16:00 CET, The use of Artificial Intelligence Read More …
Author: Lorenza Bacino
Analysis and trends in Virtual Exchange/COILÂ
Claudia Delfino is one of the coordinators of COIL/Virtual exchange at Centro Paula Souza in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Along with Patricia, who UNICollaboration interviewed here in October 2025, the CPS has 86 technological colleges called FATECs across the state of Sao Paulo with many COIL/VE projects ongoing within them.  “Some Read More …
“I Am Because of You”: Critical Virtual Exchange in the Age of AI
UNICollaboration welcomes back our founding member, Mirjam Hauck, who also works at the Open University in the UK, and is a longtime researcher and practitioner of virtual exchange. For the past two years, Mirjam has been active in her new role, as academic lead, responsible for AI in learning, teaching Read More …
Jon Rubin of COIL Connect on AI and how virtual exchange may lose viability
Jon Rubin is considered by many in the virtual exchange/COIL world as the father of this tech-based pedagogy. He’s been involved in COIL since 2001 and he helped start the SUNY COIL Center in 2006. During the last five years, Jon has been active at COIL Connect which supports the Read More …
“Will AI kill COIL/Virtual Exchange?
Simone Hackett is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS)Â She’s been a keen COIL/VE practitioner over many years, delivering, designing, and coordinating COIL. Furthermore, she has a lot of experience in conducting research on the topic. Especially testing the effectiveness of virtual exchange Read More …
A private platform for virtual exchanges
Gabriel (Gabe) Flacks is a humanities educator and has been teaching at Champlain College for 19 years. He’s also been an enthusiastic virtual exchange practitioner for about 15 years, “before I even knew the lingo,” he laughs. His enthusiasm for VE ultimately led to him co-founding a piece of software Read More …
Virtual Exchange and the complexities of sustainable issues
Jodie Birdman is part of Leuphanais scientific staff and an adjunct lecturer at Leuphana University in LĂĽneburg, Germany. In the first instance, she studied teaching and education to be an English teacher in the United States. She has recently completed her PhD in Education for Sustainable Development with a focus Read More …
The effect of Virtual Exchange on language anxiety
Marta Fondo is from the Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya – UOC). She recently defended her PhD thesis around the topic of anxiety in foreign language learning and communication. She used virtual exchanges for her research. This is something she says she has experienced herself both as Read More …
How virtual exchange projects differ in schools and universities
Stories from Poland Anna Turula teaches at the School of English at the University of Wroclaw in Poland and we are welcoming her back for her second interview for our Blog! She previously worked at the Pedagogical University in Krakow. Despite changing institutions, Anna remains a committed virtual exchange enthusiast. Read More …
New virtual exchange professional development offer
Here is a free professional development opportunity run by UNICollaboration.org in late January/early February 2026. It’s for colleagues already working or seeking to work with VE/COIL partners at UK universities. Or colleagues based at UK universities both with or without experience in VE/COIL (academics/faculty and internationalisation administrators). The overall context is an “Open Societal Challenge” Read More …