A COIL experience aimed to encourage internationalisation as a transversal competence for future Primary Education teachers

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) gives students and instructors in Higher Education the chance to co-develop a project by collaborating internationally with their peers in an online context (Rubin, 2015). In the present case study, we have carried out a COIL experience with students of the trilingual (Basque, Spanish and English) degree in Primary Education. Being that the case, our students will not only benefit from COIL as undergraduates, but they will also be more motivated to lead similar virtual projects in their near future as educators. Although the initial COIL projects were fully coined in 2006 (Rubin 2017), we must take into consideration that due to the global coronavirus pandemic, COIL partnership has gained territory in the field of education (Ingram et. al 2021). Being familiar with virtual environments and internationalisation are considered transversal competences for educators and this use case is aimed to develop them.

This innovative online pedagogy fosters meaningful exchanges between academics and students despite being geographically in distant locations and despite having different cultural backgrounds (Guth, 2013). When two classes from different parts of the world are working together, intercultural and transnational learning takes place. As a consequence, COIL enables students to interact, collaborate, exchange ideas and make the learning process more meaningful. Working through COIL also enables to achieve intercultural awareness, knowledge in discipline-specific content, and skills in communication and group collaboration (Vilar Onrubia et al. 2016).

The COIL experience for undergraduate education students at Universities in the Basque Country (University of the Basque Country) and the Czech Republic (Muni University) was designed to fulfil academic degree program goals related to digital competence awareness, pedagogical use of online feedback, effective communication, collaborative practice, and respect for diversity. This “virtual mobility” experience has provided our students with an opportunity to interact with their peers while acquiring digital skills and developing intercultural competences.

The main aim of the project has been to create collaborately a blog, based on a lesson plan for primary students under the topic of  digital awareness. Several ICT tools and open source applications have been  used to  foster reflection and creation when developing the lesson plan.

Regarding the methodology, asynchronous and synchronous lessons have been used to carry out the project. Icebreakers have been used to achieve interaction and share experiences, collaborative activities to integrate different skills while working in multicultural teams and finally a reflection about the experience and acquired abilities has been done.

This study wants to outline the innovative experience that learners have lived by taking part in COIL, establishing it as an effective pedagogical approach that prepares all learners to cope with the requirements that a 21st century society has.

Anchoring future bridges among institutions is essential when working in collaborative projects and through this experience learners have had the chance to establish the foundations of its future implementation and leadership in primary education.

BILIOGRAPHY

-Ingram LA, Monroe C, Wright H, Burrell A, Jenks R, Cheung S and Friedman DB (2021) Fostering Distance Education: Lessons From a United States-England Partnered Collaborative Online International Learning Approach. Front. Educ. 6:782674. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.782674

-Guth, S. (2013). The COIL Institute for globally networked learning in humanities. http://coil.suny.edu/sites/default/files/case_study_report.pdf [Google Scholar]

-Rubin, J. (2015). Faculty guide for collaborative online international learning course development. http://www.ufic.ufl.edu/UAP/Forms/COIL_guide.pdf [Google Scholar]

-Rubin, J. (2017). Embedding Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) at Higher Education Institutions. Internationalization Higher Educ. 2, 27–44.Google Scholar

-Villar-Onrubia, Daniel, and Brinder Rajpal (2016). ‘Online International Learning: Internationalising the Curriculum through Virtual Mobility at Coventry University’. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education 20, no. 2–3.: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/YheZK5nwp7NJMDMuCwt7/full

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