Abstract
COVID-19 brought much uncertainty about our ability to travel or interact withcommunities across the globe. The many restrictions imposed by the pandemicdirectly affected the field of study abroad in higher education, closing downmany programs and dreams of experimenting and engaging with diverse com-munitiesin loco. As educators whose primary concern is to value, promote andinclude cultural and linguistic diversity in our pedagogical practices, we imme-diately sought to procure ways we could continue to foster cross-cultural inter-actions and experiences in spite of the physical limitations of lockdowns andinability to travel. An increasingly important component to traditional studyabroad experiences is virtual exchange among students who reside in geo-graphically distant parts of the world (Hilliker 2020; O’Dowd & O’Rourke 2019).While there have been studies of telecollaboration over the past decade (e.g.Helm & Guth 2010), the most current form of virtual exchange usually entailstelecollaboration via Zoom or other synchronous meeting platforms, such asSkype, Instagram Live, or Google Meets. Enhanced synchronous technologycan afford possibilities for educators to reimagine cross-cultural encounters ina world that was completely shut down by a global health crisis.