Abstract:

The Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) methodology is an educational innovation that, through technology, allows the internationalization and development of skills for this globalized world. COIL points out three phases in the implementation: Icebreaker, development, and final reflection. In the first, personal or professional experiences of the cultural environment are shared; In the second, a collaborative activity is developed in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams. Finally, a reflection on the experience is made, emphasizing the new skills learned.

This report presents the results of a COIL implementation in the August-December 2023 semester between the Universities of San Francisco in Ecuador with the subject Service Learning, Girona in Spain with the Autumn Seminars class and Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico with the Quantitative Methods course.

It is important to place learning in meaningful and relevant contexts for students. For this reason, the experience was designed so that the concepts and skills developed by the students could be applicable to their daily lives and real-world situations.

The context chosen was the social phenomenon of migration, a problem in which the three countries participating in this study are affected. Having more diverse societies make the citizens of nations to develop empathy to overcome stereotypes and prejudices, understand the world in which they live, appreciate diversity and be able to actively contribute to society.

During six weeks, the students, working in teams of a maximum of 5 people from the three universities, analysed the migration with quantitative and qualitative methodology, making three partial deliveries. In the first, using descriptive and inferential statistics, they had an approach to the reality of the phenomenon through public data from the official institutions of each country. In the second, they interviewed migrants from the three countries. In the third, they investigated the labour conditions or perspectives of companies towards hiring migrants.

As final work, two products are obtained, a report that summarizes the three partial deliveries and a final reflection written in an individual writing where two questions are answered: Is there any change in your vision of the world? How has collaborating with international students affected your learning experience?

In this research, these reflections about migration were analysed and the opinions were divided into five main groups: Approach to reality, diversity of perspectives, global phenomenon, transformation of worldviews and corporate involvement.

As an example of the first and fourth groups, in the students’ own words:
"The interviews have brought me closer to the difficulties of migrants to get a better life" "The stories shared gave me a real perspective on the challenges of migration”. "Migration is much closer to me than I thought before”. "I appreciate even more the country where I live and the privileges I can enjoy".

The conclusions we reached are:
Qualitative analysis makes students more aware of migration than quantitative analysis. Choosing global issues for COIL implementations as contexts for meaningful learning enhances the development of further skills. Implementing the COIL methodology allows students to live an international experience without leaving the classroom.

Keywords:

Global Education, COIL, migration, Globalization, University Education.