Towards a “Response-Able Pedagogy” in Teacher Development Through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL): An American-South African Partnership

Introduction

The COVID-19 lockdown brought up the possibilities and challenges of online connectivity, both nationally and internationally, as faculty scrambled to keep higher education learning programs on track. While Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) was a practice instituted between higher education institutions (HEIs) before COVID-19 as part of the internationalization of teaching and learning and teacher development, the pandemic lockdown conditions in 2020 and 2021 exacerbated the need for both faculty and students to connect online to make learning and teaching possible (Beelen, 2022; Slapac et al., 2023a). During this time, a range of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) were used to place the global sphere into the local sphere – or globalization at home. The concept of internationalizing teaching and learning was adopted (Lilley et al., 2015), exposing students in local conditions to the potential learning and problem solving in international contexts, which promotes preservice and inservice teachers and teacher educators to experience the global context within their local context.

Researchers (Deardorff, 2019; Katre, 2020; Zhang & Pearlman, 2018) agree that the development of intercultural competencies are needed in education to prepare students towards global citizenship for the global economy and the job market. The purpose of COIL is to afford students the opportunity to develop cultural awareness and global perspectives, build intercultural communication skills, develop cultural sensitivity through collaborative synchronous and asynchronous online learning experiences, and provide accessible ways to global learning (Zhang & Pearlman, 2018). Furthermore, COIL provides opportunities for internationalization “at-home” (Beelen & Jones, 2015; Custer & Tuominen, 2017; Mundel, 2020; Slapac et al., 2023a). Virtual exchange and collaborative online international learning serve as a means to foster the development of global competencies among students by facilitating connections with people, organizations, and institutions abroad (Sierra-Huedo et al., 2024; Slapac, et al., 2021; 2023a).

Recent research studies point out the impact of COIL, specifically in students’ development of intercultural competencies through collaborative multicultural experiential learning experiences, in different subject areas, diverse sociocultural contexts, and international virtual partnerships (Asojo et al., 2019; Katre, 2020; Slapac et al., 2023a). Although most partnerships encountered challenges (such as technology, time constraints, etc.), studies show that students engaged in COIL appreciate such experiences in regards to cross-cultural sensitivity learning, collaborative international learning through joint projects, and use of technology and its affordances for global connections (Katre, 2020; Quintana-Ordorika, 2024; Slapac et al., 2023a). In addition, for the teacher development arm of the COIL partnership, researchers point out that teachers need support in global competence development in order to educate and develop this in their own students (Kerkhoff et al., 2021; Slapac, 2021; Slapac et al., 2023a, 2023b;Song et al., 2023). There is an increased interest in collaborating and working together online, and “future research could describe how teachers can encourage all students in a class to share knowledge as a means of fostering values of diversity and equality” (Kerkhoff et al., 2021, p. 282). In higher education, this sharing and modeling can take place in a collaborative space through COIL, which “cannot exist on a single campus but requires integration and dialogue between institutions in different countries with varied educational mandates and structures, different academic calendars and teaching styles, and which reside in a wide range of time zones” (Rubin, 2017, p. 33).