Assessing and Evaluating

Virtual Intercultural Exchanges

Claudia Warth-SontheimerUniversity of Michigan

Planning for Evaluation & Assessment in your Virtual Exchange Project

What are the learning objectives and outcomes of your project? How do you assess online intercultural exchanges? Do you require proof

of participation? (e.g. print-outs of their interaction) and/or products of

interaction (blogs, websites, essays)? What do you assess / evaluate of your students' online activity when

they take part in online exchanges? Do you assess the level of participation (e.g. no. of posts written)? Do you assess the students’ ability to interact? If so, how do you do this? Are grades given for aspects of their electronic literacy? Are the skills, attitudes and knowledge of intercultural communicative

competence taken into account? If so, how do you achieve this? Do you look for students’ reflection on learning (e.g. portfolios, diaries)?

Which tools and measures are you going to use?

Is there an external need for evaluation?(adapted from O’Dowd 2010)

Evaluation that takes into account virtual – communicative & intercultural dimensions (O’Dowd 2010)

Using an (reflective) online

exchange portfolio to

document and demonstrate

knowledge and skill development

(O’Dowd 2010)

Assessment & Evaluation in icEuropeTools used:

• pre-, while- and post-assessment, based on Byram + INCA (plus:

“language and culture learning biography & passport”)

• reflective journal

• case study of individual students

• focus groups: interviews with individual students and small

groups

• teacher interviews

• rubrics for activities / products / outcomes

• rubrics & guidelines for posting in forums

• teachers used different tools for evaluation with their classes

(quizzes, essays, grading forum posts or activities…) (some

chose not to grade)

Resources

Deardorff, D. K. (ed.) (2009). The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.

Fantini, A. E. (2009). Assessing intercultural competence. In: Deardorff, D. K. (ed.) (2009). The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. 456-476.

INCA (2004). The Theory. www.incaproject.org/en_downloads/24_INCA_THE_THEORY_eng_final.pdf

O’Dowd, R. (2010). “Issues in the assessment of online interaction and exchange" in Guth & Helm 'Telecollaboration 2.0: Language, literacies and intercultural learning in the 21st century'. Peter Lang Publishers.www3.unileon.es/personal/wwdfmrod/Assessment2.doc

Sinicrope, C., Norris, J. M., & Watanabe, Y. (2007). Understanding and assessing intercultural competence: A summary of theory, research, and practice. Second Language Studies, 26(1). www.hawaii.edu/sls/uhwpesl/26(1)/Norris.pdf