Soliya +++ Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange +++ African Science +++ Absolutely intercultural 232 +++

What is a virtual exchange? Maybe not what you think. We’ll be digging deeper into that in this special edition of Absolutely Intercultural coming to you from Denmark. My name’s Anne Fox and this is show 232. Today’s show is mainly about promoting dialogue between different groups of people. So what is dialogue? And can you tell the difference between dialogue and, for example, debate?

absolutely scientific
It’s always nice to hear from previous contributors to the podcast so we were delighted to hear from Dr Kole Odutola based at the University of Florida, who we first heard from in 2012 talking about what binds Nigerians who have left their country. On November 13th Kole will be streaming a live event exploring the question of whether there is such a thing as science that is specifically African. There is evidence to suggest that Africa does science differently and that the rest of the world could learn from this. And in keeping with the theme of this show, this will be a conversation NOT a debate…

The event, Science and the African Continent, will be shown LIVE on Facebook and Zoom and you can pick up the necessary links below:

  • Facebook stream: https://www.facebook.com/Akowe
  • Zoom stream: Email Dr Odutola for the link which will be available 24 hours before it begins.

absolutely virtual
We talk a lot on Absolutely Intercultural about student exchanges, either going abroad to study or to work. Today I want to talk about a very different and new type of exchange, a virtual exchange that brings different types of mainly young people together to talk about important issues and find out what the differences and similarities are between them but more important perhaps, to try and understand the reasons for those different perspectives. The Erasmus+ virtual exchange started this year and can be part of your studies, or you can join as an interested individual. You can also train to be one of the dialogue facilitators.

The new Erasmus+ Exchange programme is based on the success of the Soliya approach to promoting dialogue online. To find out more I talked to Katja Riikonen in Finland who has been a lead curriculum developer in the Erasmus+ virtual exchange earlier this year. And the next facilitated training starts on November 11th so you can sign up now. So could a Virtual Exchange be a stepping stone to a face to face exchange? Or is it enough that taking part would help you to bridge the differences between you and people with very different perspectives?

See an example of one of the Virtual Exchange programmes at the Sharing Perspectives Foundation.

If you liked our show, please like us on Facebook, too. By the way if you have a comment about the show, an idea for a future show or want to share your intercultural story then leave us a comment. You can also catch us on our Facebook page where we share stories of intercultural interest several times a week.

Did you know that we are also on iTunes? You can subscribe to us there for free and give us a rating and a comment. We would appreciate that!

Our next show will be coming to you from Laurent Borgmann in Germany on 7th December.

Until then – stay tuned!

The host of this show is: Anne Fox

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