The multifaceted field of virtual exchanges in teacher education : a literature review

Ingrisch-Rupp, Claudia (author), Symeonidis, Vasileios (author)

Virtual exchanges can be seen as a powerful tool in fostering digital-pedagogical, intercultural, and foreign language competences in teacher education. Since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, virtual exchanges in teacher education have gained increasing attention both in research and practice. Despite a growing number of publications and various fields and themes covered by research and reports, few publications are concerned with connecting and systematising the discourse on virtual exchanges between 2020-2023. This paper, thus, aims to offer a compre-hensive overview of how virtual exchanges are employed in teacher edu-cation by adopting a scoping study approach and examining research papers published in this period of time. Our findings cover the planning, implementation, and evaluation of virtual exchanges, as well as some overarching recommendations for improving the delivery of virtual exchanges in teacher education as they are provided in the research papers. Virtual exchanges in teacher education are a multifaceted field since it has multiple aims, usages, and impacts, which largely depend on the (mostly voluntary) work of teacher educators, the institutional framework within which the exchanges take place, and student teachers’ motivation to participate. The future of virtual exchanges in teacher education would benefit by opening up beyond foreign language teacher education and combining small-scale with large-scale studies to better inform research and practice.

• Language: English
• Keywords: internationalisation, literature review, teacher education, professional development, virtual exchange
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 59-82
• Numbering: Vol. 15, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-179234
• UDC: 37.011.3-051
• ISSN on article: 2232-2647
• DOI: 10.26529/cepsj.1741
• COBISS.SI-ID: 197704195

Copyright

Podatek o licenci CC-BY 4.0 je naveden na spletni strani revije (https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/about). (Datum opombe 9. 2. 2026)

• Publication date in RUL: 09.02.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: CEPS Journal: Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal = revija Centra za študij edukacijskih strategij
• Publisher: Pedagoška fakulteta, Univerza v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-2647
• COBISS.SI-ID: 254029824

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Večplastno področje virtualnih izmenjav v izobraževanju učiteljev : pregled literature

Abstract

Virtualne izmenjave lahko obravnavamo kot močno orodje za spodbujanje digitalno-pedagoških, medkulturnih in tujejezikovnih kompetenc v izobraževanju učiteljev. Od pandemije covida-19 leta 2020 so virtualne izmenjave v izobraževanju učiteljev deležne vse večje pozornosti v raziskavah in praksi. Kljub naraščajočemu številu publikacij ter raz-ličnim področjem in temam, ki jih zajemajo raziskave in poročila, se le malo publikacij ukvarja s povezovanjem in sistematizacijo diskurza o virtualnih izmenjavah v obdobju 2020–2023. Namen tega prispevka je ponuditi celovit pregled uporabe virtualnih izmenjav v izobraževanju učiteljev, in sicer s pristopom študije obsega in pregledom raziskovalnih člankov, objavljenih v tem obdobju. Naše ugotovitve zajemajo načrtovanje, izvajanje in vrednotenje virtualnih izmenjav ter nekatera osrednja priporočila za izboljšanje izvajanja virtualnih izmenjav v izobraževanju učiteljev, kot so navedena v raziskovalnih člankih. Virtualne izmenjave v izobraževanju učiteljev so večplastno področje, saj imajo več ciljev, uporab in učinkov, ki so v veliki meri odvisni od (večinoma prostovoljnega) dela izobraževalcev učiteljev, institucionalnega okvira, v katerem izmenjave potekajo, in motivacije študentov, bodočih učiteljev, za sodelovanje. Za prihodnost virtualnih izmenjav v izobraževanju učiteljev bi bilo koristno, če bi se jih razširilo še na druga področja zunaj izobraževanja učiteljev tujih jezikov in združilo manjše študije z obsežnimi, da bi bolje informirale raziskave in prakso

• Keywords: internacionalizacija, pregled literature, izobraževanje učiteljev, profesionalni razvoj, virtualna izmenjava