Written by:Katherine Wimpenny, Professor of Research in Global Education, 
Centre for Global Education: Equity and Attainment (GLEA), Coventry University, UK.

I’m pleased and excited to be a project member of iKudu, an Erasmus+ cooperation grant for innovation and the exchange of good practices, involving five South African universities and five European universities. iKudu is focused on offering space and action-orientated curriculum practices to question how collaborative online international learning (COIL) exchange can engage learners across our institutions and beyond in an internationalised and decolonised curriculum, not least by the integration of African indigenous knowledge. Curriculum decolonisation is understood as a central aspect of curriculum transformation, and COIL is viewed as offering a fertile space in which to promote openness to knowledge pluralisation through diverse learners interacting and sharing knowledge perspectives. Further, in these unprecedented times – as we are dealing with the global pandemic of Covid-19 that is closing down university campuses, the use of radically different models of education delivery are required to enable new scenarios for teaching and learning.

I am part of the project Steering Committee (SC), with representatives from each university, whose role it is to coordinate activities through the different project phases, including the activities of the working groups (WGs), of which there are currently two. 
As we are currently in the ‘Preparation and Pilot Phase’ of the project (January 2020-December 2020), the two WGs are working concurrently towards two linked objectives, as detailed below: 

•  WG1: Internationalisation of the curriculum (leaders: Jos Beelen and Lynette Jacobs)Focused on examining curriculum internationalisation and transformation in the partner institutions through policy review, policy development, and needs analysis. 
• WG2:  focused on planning, developing, and implementing COIL virtual exchange projects within institutions (leaders: Jon Rubin, Eva Haug, Penny Orton, and Lesley Anne Cooke). Central to WG 2’s focus is investigating the current state and potential of COIL virtual exchange projects at participating universities, designing and implementing pilot COIL virtual exchange projects with academics, and developing COIL trainers.

•  A policy review and needs analysis report, presenting how each of the SA and European partners are currently articulating, planning, and engaging in curriculum transformation through internationalisation of the curriculum and decolonisation of curriculum practices. A set of recommendations will include guiding principles for curriculum development of future South African curricula, which are both globally competitive and locally relevant (WG1).

• The production of a handbook for staff with clear indications on COIL course development and delivery methods, including examples for pilot COIL projects. This practice-based resource will guide staff in their teaching and learning strategies, COIL course development and delivery methods, including a plan for monitoring and evaluation of COIL courses (WG2).
  

With the impact of the Covid-19 global pandemic escalating daily, our focus has been on how we need to adapt in ways that will enable our project to progress. From 29 March 2020 to 1 April 2020, we planned for the first wave of partnered academics to attend the first iKudu COIL virtual exchange training workshop at the Durban University of Technology. However, as all international travel has been suspended, this training is now taking place online. While this is an appropriate move, we are mindful that, with our university campuses closing for face-to-face teaching, as much content as possible from across all programmes will now be delivered in the online space. Shifting modes of delivery and pedagogical practices in this way, especially for universities who do not already deliver online-only programmes, will be a significant undertaking for some. As such, while the Durban online training will still aim to progress the roll-out of the first COIL exchanges, there will be space for open dialogue for colleagues to share the realities of their current situation, and how the objectives of the training can be suitably
tailored.

 

Photographs I took, sharing the deserted Coventry University campus. All teaching, learning, and assessment are now undertaken online (face-to-face teaching ended 20.03.20)

Additionally, representatives of the 10 university partners in WG1 planned to visit the five South African universities at the end of May 2020 to appreciate existing internationalisation and decolonisation of the curriculum initiatives, policies, and practices to discover the best of what exists. This task will now also take place online through completion of university self-reports completed by consortium members and with support from wider institutional stakeholders, including leadership, academic colleagues, and technical support staff.  The use of short film narratives from across the different campuses will also be encouraged to provide insights into each of the local education contexts. The European universities will also complete this task.

What remains central at this stage of our project is the continued efforts across all the partners to strengthen and build working relationships, with care and compassion for one another. Here, we have built upon the current structure of our online Steering and Working Group meetings to add ‘Friday Cuppas’, a more informal meeting approach to keep ourselves connected regarding the impact of Covid-19 on our living and home-working lives. It is through such contacts that our creativity emerges on how we can progress iKudu to evidence the role of COIL exchange in preparing students to be global citizens in a world that is increasingly interconnected and diverse.  

 

 A recent ‘Friday cuppa’ photographed by Bernard Smeenk, our consortium colleague based at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.