Abstract
Professional development through collaborative online international learning (COIL) is not reserved for students. Instructors are also positively influenced through the exchange with colleagues from diverse institutions, backgrounds, pedagogies, and practices. Instructors gain global understanding, which they can impart on their students and use to help facilitate intercultural curricula at their institutions. Engaging their students in virtual teamwork means intense collaboration and agreement on assignments, deadlines, assessment, and learning outcomes, which in turn enables instructors to reevaluate their own values and methods of work. The chapter describes how instructors from four universities in the USA and Europe faced the challenges of creating a common team culture while engaging their students in COIL projects. During the process of overcoming technological, institutional, and cultural differences, these instructors developed both personally and professionally.
TopIntroduction
The term internationalization has been a buzzword for institutions of higher learning for several decades. In general, the internationalization of universities has been the responsibility of international offices or centers for global experience. These offices in turn have focused primarily on creating partnerships and signing Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with partner institutions, as well as facilitating student exchange. However, despite a worldwide increase in the number of students going abroad, this opportunity is utilized by a relatively small number of privileged students (UNESCO, 2014). Student exchange experienced an almost complete shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.
In order to offer their students international experience, universities have taken steps to promote Internationalization-at-Home (IaH) through establishing international undergraduate and graduate programs, hosting international students and faculty as well as encouraging instructor tandems using digital tools, among other things (Agnew & Kahn, 2014). Nevertheless, embedding international elements throughout curricula has remained the individual endeavor of interested department heads and colleagues. Rarely is there an attempt to establish internationalization consistently across all disciplines, programs and courses (Leask and Bridge, 2013).
The success of any internationalization efforts lies squarely on the shoulders of faculty. Educators take on the role of facilitators of internationalization at institutions of higher learning (Dunne, 2011). According to Agnew and Kahn (2014), educators have a multitude of responsibilities concerning the internationalization of the home curriculum. They must recognize the value of global learning for faculty and students, reevaluate their previous teaching methods and concepts and adapt them to changes in global thinking, as well as adopt new skills in the transfer of knowledge to their students. As they experience transformation in their approach to a globalized world, educators function as agents of change concerning their students and their institutions (Agnew & Kahn, 2014). Yet often these efforts are usually those of individual professors. Many researchers note that a systematic approach to internationalizing curricula based on a consensus on the intercultural learning outcomes is imperative for graduates now entering a global work environment (Leask, 2009; Leask & Carroll 2011; Leask & Bridge, 2013). In order to achieve that goal, universities need to recognize the importance of developing faculty in the areas of intercultural competence, global communication and use of digital communication channels.
Developing faculty is relatively simple. First, staff can be encouraged to visit partner universities abroad and to hold workshops and lectures, supported by their home institutions or through government programs such as the Erasmus+ program of the European Union (European Commission, 2019). Furthermore, academics can collaborate with their foreign counterparts, share knowledge and engage in research. In general, however, these efforts have been highly individualized depending on the priorities of the instructor. Educators interested in developing their global understanding often face obstacles such as heavy teaching loads, limited financial resources or a lack of support from their faculty heads. Professional learning, as defined by Webster-Wright (2009) as an ongoing, experiential process, where instructors’ knowledge and their teaching contexts are continually shaping one another, can appear difficult to attain in light of the constraints mentioned.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Professional Development: Instructors developing and improving their skills to keep their understanding and knowledge of their disciplines current and to adapt to new challenges.
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): A document that describes the broad outlines of an agreement that two or more partner universities have reached.
Erasmus+ Program: A funding scheme to support activities in the fields of Education, Training, Youth and Sport in the European Union.
Internationalization-at-Home (IaH): The integration of international and intercultural elements into the university curriculum for all students.
Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL): A teaching and learning model where collaborative projects are carried out between partner institutions located in various parts of the world by means of digital technology.
Global Networked Learning Environments (GNLEs): Students, instructors, instructional designers, technical support, administration and all professionals share knowledge across diverse boundaries.
Autoethnography: A form of qualitative research in which an author uses self-reflection and writing to explore anecdotal and personal experience and connect this autobiographical story to wider cultural, political, and social meanings and understandings.