Virtual Cultural Exchange

My project is to launch a virtual global campus for Essex High School and a sister francophone school that will support ground-based as well as online learning. In the virtual environment, students, parents and teachers will sign on concurrently, step onto a virtual campus, and participate in a virtual cultural exchange. The virtual environment will enrich foreign language instruction; integrate other academic disciplines; engage our Nextgen learners; possess the potential to include other Vermont high schools; and generally serve as a bridge to a truly global learning community.

Following a year of development in the U.S., France and Belgium, Virtual Intercultural Avenues (VIA) was implemented in 2013. VIA is a web-based portal and suite of tools designed to support students’ foreign language learning and acquisition of cultural knowledge. Designed for students across all socioeconomic levels, VIA’s objective is to increase the global competitiveness of Vermont high school students at a time when international economic competition is greater than ever. Virtual Intercultural Avenues leverages technology enablers and virtual environments to support learner and teacher effectiveness. Key components of the portal feature a virtual meeting room (where classes, students and even parents can meet), VIA Venues (an international virtual library), Vimeo (a video-sharing platform for student-produced videos), VIA Conversations (an international blogger), an interactive digital foreign language curriculum, and a VIA Twitter feed. VIA has already reached 4 countries, 8 cities, 15 schools, 25 teachers, and 1500 students. Growing rapidly, VIA Conversations, VIA’s blogger, has achieved 12,000 views in only one year, and VIA’s Vimeo albums have had more than 1500 views. As part of the ongoing effort to refine and render VIA more effective, VIA won a grant from Essex, Vermont’s Rotary Club; hosted a delegation of teachers from France; welcomed a second group of teachers from Brussels, Belgium; and organized a visit to Essex for 20 students and their teachers from France for 10 days-in the first ground exchange to evolve from the virtual exchange. VIA continues to serve as a bridge to a truly global learning community for educators and students.