Abstract:

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) presents relevant opportunities for innovation in the teaching-learning process (Starke-Meyerring, 2007, 2010). Global virtual teams (GVTs) activities provide a very broad set of advantages, including the development of soft skills and increased motivation of students. In addition to enhancing business communication skills, the learning outcomes from these activities indicate an increase in intercultural competencies, virtual teamwork and project management skills. COIL projects are helpful in achieving these goals while offering instructors the opportunity to develop as global educators. Thus, the benefits of COIL are not reserved for students, but rather positively impact instructors through the exchange with colleagues from diverse institutions, backgrounds, pedagogies and practices. Instructors thereby gain global understanding which they can impart to their students and use to help facilitate intercultural curricula at their institutions. Engaging in GVTs projects means intense collaboration and agreement between faculty on assignments, deadlines, assessment and learning outcomes. This, in turn, forces instructors to reevaluate their own values and methods of work.

This study describes several COIL projects which instructors from four universities in the USA and Europe carried out together with their students over the course of several years. In addition to the developments of the projects over time, the learning process and the deliverables, the focus will be on the challenges of creating a common team culture amongst the faculty members. Furthermore, it will be shown how these instructors increased their own professional learning experience by overcoming technological, institutional and cultural differences. By sharing their experiences, this study hopes to encourage faculty and colleagues to engage in and facilitate the use of COIL projects as part of a larger endeavor to internationalize higher education.

Keywords:

Collaborative online international learning, global virtual teams, global learning environments, professional learning, internationalization of higher education.