Combining Virtual Exchange with Challenge-Based Learning: the experience of the “Virtual Environmental Challenge”

Résumé En

Pedagogies in higher education, stimulated by various theoretical and philosophical schools of thought, have gradually changed the landscape, integrating, over the last 20 years, Virtual exchange (VE) on the one hand and Challenge-based learning (CBL) on the other. The present study focuses on the “Virtual Environmental Challenge” (VEC) which was launched by the University of Rennes 2 (France) and brought together 10 different universities from 7 different countries, in the context of an Erasmus+ project.The VEC seeks to combine VE and CBL, in order to develop peer education in an international context and from a multi-disciplinary perspective, all the while addressing issues pertaining to sustainable development. The question is: can CBL be carried out successfully in the context of Internationalization at Home (IaH) and pre-mobility exchange? This article reports back on the experience, feedback and learnings of the VEC in order to map out the future perspectives of the project and its potential both in terms of an IaH and CBL project, linked to the EU priorities of diversity and inclusion, sustainability, civic engagement, and digital literacy.