As I was not able to participate in the former conference, Clint suggested to post the questions proposed in the blog. So here they are:

1. one thing in your life that you think you have done very well (e.g. an accomplishment that you are proud of - try not to be
too modest)

Hmm... that's a difficult question to answer. The first thing that pop up into my mind was how I ended a personal relationship. But it involves (too) many personal details to be talked about. However, all in all, I reckon that the best thing I have done in my life was the firm decision to go abroad - eventually I ended up in Finland -. Everything that happened afterwards is based on that decision.

Why I think is important? Well, it happened in a crucial moment in my life: I was having a (sort of) depression and everything seemed and tasted quite negative. In fact, many things were developing quite badly. I was stuck and I had to move forward but I did not know what to do. Decisions were hard to make. The announcement of the student exchange positions (Erasmus program) seemed to be a suitable option so I applied. Once I got elected I had to make more decisions and to mobilize all my resources to come here and it was a huge effort. Somehow it made me a different person (well, all decisions make you a different person). I had to do things that I had not done before. And the results have been mainly positive.

2. one hypothesis/ idea you have about what makes cross-cultural virtual learning teams effective

This is an hypothesis. People from different cultures have to overcome many different "invisible" meanings from their very own culture. Experience and knowledge help in the understanding. Somehow it is like learning a new language. The idea is to make those implict assumptions explicit as well as increasing the awareness of possible misunderstandings. How? Well, maybe a sort of dictionary or a collection of short stories stating those differences (for instance, the concept of punctuality or time between different cultures). Secondly, increasing the joint experiences between the members of the virtual course and to try to point out what one has understood from the other in order to show the possible misunderstandings.