Can Online Courses Replace International Student Exchanges?
Most students’ assessment of online courses highlights two different tendencies. On the one hand, they would rather have face-to-face events, especially if these imply attending an international course in another country. On the other hand, they appreciate online events, because of the career advancement possibilities they offer, the lower costs involved and easier virtual contact with fellow students. It, therefore, begs to question whether online courses could replace face-to-face ones in the long run?
For ten years, the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück (Germany) (1) and the Malmö University (Sweden) together with other partners have been offering a course entitled “International Social Work.” This course allows students of social work from all cooperating universities to spend two weeks hosted by a partner university out of three different possible locations.
The Benefits of International Mobility
Research (2) on physical student mobility shows that international exchanges contribute to cultural understanding and social cohesion. Studies also demonstrate that these exchanges have a positive impact on students’ personal and professional skills and career prospects. The evidence from our “International Social Work” course is in line with these findings. Our students report that they have established personal contacts with students from other countries and have been able to reflect on their own professional understanding of social work and their role as social workers.
Some of their comments (3) supporting international exchanges include: “It’s interesting to meet students from other countries, to hear how Social Work is organized and viewed there”; “We learned to reflect on our own social system, to judge the advantages and disadvantages”; “We learned about the cross-border understanding of different aspects of key terms in social work”; as well as “We learned about the student environment in another country.”
The non-formal settings are just as important. The student union at Malmö University invites the students to a cozy get-together in the union’s own pub. The students engage in organizing joint international events in the local youth hostel. Visits to local organizations give a direct sense of life in the local communities.
Do Online Courses Replace International Exchanges?
At the start of 2021, International Exchanges were no longer an option. Because of the global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, universities across Europe were closing their campuses. Internationalization and mobility were the first victims (4). Our international course originally planned to take place in Malmö, changed to an online format, took place in February 2021. The course in Sierre, scheduled for July 2021, was also moved online.
Existing research (1) does not provide clear evidence on the benefits of virtual formats when compared to physical mobility. An obvious argument is that online meetings save on travel costs and time. Our students reported that they could save on accommodation and were able to participate even though they had other appointments in their own country. This makes the online format more flexible.
Furthermore, they still had the opportunity to meet other students from different countries. They especially appreciated the many breakout sessions, where they could study and discuss topics of their interest in smaller groups. This made the study experience more intensive, and they could learn about different conditions and topics related to other countries.
However, this is hardly comparable with the intensive experiences and encounters that can be made in the course of a classroom module and, logically, with the associated everyday experiences in a foreign culture. Intercultural awareness and transversal skills, for example, are summarized by a student as follows:
“It is something different when you are in another country, meeting the locals and other international students face-to-face. Relationships develop differently and you perceive the country and the people differently. You get to know more about the country and the people beyond the lectures. For example, you meet for a coffee after the lectures or go out together in the evening. This is not possible online.”
Given that the learning experience is thus only limited to the time spent in a lecture setting, an important aspect of international exchanges gets lost in the virtual space. While teaching students hard skills is the main objective of educational institutions, they also have the responsibility to mold socially responsible citizens in an ever-more connected world. In the long run, this cannot be achieved only through virtual contacts. The option of an online course was, of course, better than nothing, and the students were grateful for it. Nevertheless, they would have preferred to go to Sweden or respectively to Switzerland.
Prof. Dr. Joachim Thönnessen, University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück, Germany. Social Sciences. Teachings in the fields of Sociology for Social Workers, Empirical Methods, Illegal and Legal Drugs, Yoga. Research in the fields of Contemporary Wisdom and Yoga.
Dr. Marija Stambolieva, University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück, Germany. Curriculum development against the background of the digital transformation. Lecturer of the Future of Work, European Social Policies and Scientific Methods.
Sources:
- https://www.hs-osnabrueck.de/studium/studienangebot/bachelor/soziale-arbeit-ba/studienverlauf/#c3086; extracted July 2021
- https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/629217/IPOL_BRI(2020)629217_EN.pdf; extracted July 2021
- http://muep.mau.se/bitstream/handle/2043/22795/SocWorkEducationInInternContext.pdf; extracted July 2021
- https://eua.eu/downloads/publications/briefing_european%20higher%20education%20in%20the%20covid-19%20crisis.pdf; extracted July 2021
