by
ikudu Blogger
| Feb 14, 2023
by Reinout Klamer, Research Group Global Learning at The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
This blog is a personal piece of writing and not an academic article; it is an opinion piece based on experience.
To give a short introduction, my name is Reinout Klamer – a very Dutch name, but having spent part of my childhood in Botswana and being married to someone from Taiwan, I can say that I am quite international. I am working at The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) as a lecturer in facilities management. In this role I started with COIL, as many academics do! I had my first COIL project with Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland, and then expanded to work with the University of Monterrey in Mexico, and several other universities. The next – and quite significant step – was to expand the existing COIL projects to involve all students, which means that you also reach the ones who are not interested and maybe even unwilling. In addition to my role as lecturer and coordinator at programme level, I started working for the research group Global Learning, where I researched COIL practices, but also worked as a trainer and speaker both within and outside the university. Between 2016 and 2023, my role with COIL has expanded significantly, and COIL has also grown significantly.
What I have found in 2022, is that COIL is being looked at more, and more stakeholders are getting involved. The pandemic, the limitations on travel, and the technological possibilities have thrown COIL somewhat into the mainstream. Many universities are embracing internationalisation at home – at least in terms of lip service – and countries and organisations are trying to support it as well. Recent examples are found in the association of German institutions for higher education in Germany called DAAD, the VIS (Virtuele Internationale Samenwerking) in the Netherlands, the Spencer Foundation in the US and Middle East, and the Blended Intensive Programmes from Erasmus+ (not actually COIL). There will be more acronyms from different initiatives.
So, COIL and other forms of virtual exchange are growing, and more stakeholders are involved. Great, right? I think it can be, but there are certain pitfalls! This piece will explore some pitfalls that I have identified from my previous experiences.
Pitfall 1: COIL is not only about developing language and intercultural skills,
but the voices in the COIL field at the moment are sometimes dominated by people focused on language and culture. A reason for this is that many aspects of virtual exchange have emerged from this field and are always part of a COIL project but may not be the most important. I can identify at least two other aspects that should lead the way:
- Having students learn how to work effectively in virtual teams, mostly outside the classroom, will teach them much more about self-reliance, using the right tools, communicating effectively, and building trust. In short, they learn how real-life collaboration works when there is not always a teacher or moderator in the room.
- In addition to this, content plays a huge role. Understanding the assignment and what it entails, whether it is about sustainability or about a specific subject such as a service concept for a company, plays an important role in how students will approach the COIL. In this, interdisciplinarity almost always plays a role, as international partners will have different viewpoints even within the same discipline!
Students can best be prepared for the future by letting them experience it now! This means actively working on both content and collaboration in an international setting!
Pitfall 2: COIL is not about the international office, about the Erasmus experts, about the researchers, or about the educational developers
Even though all the above stakeholders are important, the most important are the academics and the students, and the focus should be on them. COIL is also often overlooked as a development ‘tool’ for academics, since the first COIL is usually between the lecturers designing the project. Academics can learn a lot from each other, both in content and context, bringing this back to their own ‘home’ classrooms. Now that COIL is becoming more mainstream, we should be careful that it does not turn into the next department with a focus on rules, contracts, control, and one way of doing things. COIL has a fluid and flexible nature that should remain. This does not mean that the other stakeholders are not important; in fact, together with the academics and the student representation they can make the COIL projects so much better, and not be stand-alone best practices.
Pitfall 3: Subsidies help, but create issues of their own
One of the largest obstacles in COIL is that it does take TIME to develop a good project, and often this time is voluntary. Recent subsidy programmes have helped with this, an example being the VIS subsidy in the Netherlands. However, these initiatives also bring their own issues. On the one hand, it broadens the field and the acceptance; on the other hand, it is an initiative that is sometimes contradictory to the basics of COIL. If one of the two partners gets money, gets training, gets support and the other doesn’t, how equal is it? Also, each organisation seems to want to put its own spin on what virtual exchange or COIL is and what it is not, rather than focusing on what there is already.
So, what about the future, what about 2023?
I would like to suggest a focus on continuous improvement at each university and involving partners in this. I believe that COIL is developing, but it has outgrown its baby phase at some universities, where it was just something done by a few academics. There are next steps to take, but they will be shaped differently in each institution. Important is that there is a good balance between operational excellence with the academics, leadership, and research to focus on the bigger picture. A nice principle to work on is continuous improvement. Not creating a huge framework or lengthy policy plans, but really working together to improve practice. An example could look like this:
Plan: Sit down with all stakeholders and decide what the focus should be. Base this on existing plans and practices and discuss it with those who are actually doing the COIL (academics and students), create awareness and honesty. Write down a page.
Do: Focus on the actual COILs going on. Support academics where possible, be honest in the current progress about what is working well and what is not. Keep the academics in charge but remind them of the plans that have been decided together. Share together!
Check: Focus on what you want to measure, probably qualitative methods will say more than numbers. Evaluate and reflect. Involve other stakeholders where possible. Ask the important questions: Is there real collaboration? Is there improved cultural understanding? Is knowledge gained? Not just if it was nice.
Act: Report, discuss, and improve. Involve partners proactively. With your best partners, you might be able to do all (Plan, Do, Check, Act) together. Decide together on possible improvements, discuss themes for the next cycle, and go back to plan.
Thanks for reading!
Reinout Klamer
h.r.klamer@hhs.nl