1. Assessing and
Evaluating
Virtual
Intercultural
Exchanges
Claudia Warth-Sontheimer
University of Michigan

2. 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)

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

4. Using an (reflective)
online exchange
portfolio to
document and
demonstrate
knowledge and skill
development
(O’Dowd 2010)

5. Assessment & Evaluation in icEurope
Tools 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)

6. 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