Capacity Building for Virtual Innovative Teaching and Learning in Jordan – Experiences of the JOVITAL Project

Abstract

In a world that is increasingly interconnected, interdependent and diverse, engaging in international and intercultural learning and exchange is a key focus for higher education (HE) (Krutky, 2008; Altbach, Reisberg, & Rumbley, 2009). This trend can be considered in relation to several issues. For example, universities are experiencing an increase in their recruitment of international students (Beech, 2018; Borjesson, 2017; Fliegler, 2014); online international learning is increasingly becoming a core pillar of university collaborations for globally networked learning (Villar-Onrubia & Rajpal, 2016; Redden, 2014; Bell, 2016); and open courses such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) target learners, regardless of their geographic and cultural background (Maringe & Sing, 2014; Brahimi & Sarirete, 2015; Affouneh, Wimpenny, Ra’Fat Ghodieh, et al., 2018). In countries like Jordan that, due to their demographic and socioeconomic context, are experiencing a massification phenomenon with respect to learners accessing higher education (HE), responsive, effective education processes are required to maintain quality learning experiences (Affouneh & Amin Awad Raba, 2017; Foley & Massingila, 2014; Dian-Fu & Yeh, 2012).This paper presents the activities and the findings of ongoing the JOVITAL project in its goal of building the capacity of Jordanian educational technologies. JOVITAL is an international cooperation project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in HE programmes of the European Union during the period October 2017 – 2020 involving four European institutions and five Jordanian universities. The aim of JOVITAL is to foster academic exchange using virtual mobility in order to offer learning opportunities to academic staff, university students and disadvantaged learners in Jordan.