Unfolding Collaborative Online International Learning Didactics

<< Background >>The UCOILD project, “Unfolding Collaborative Online International Learning Didactics”, has addressed the challenge and paradox of maintaining international openness and sustain internationalization in a time where we also need to strengthen a digital, inclusive and sustainable age as prioritized by the European Education Area. To do so the UCOILD project has focused on Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). This virtual exchange instrument holds great promise, as it is potentially strengthening both intercultural, digital and critical learning for all students. However, the learning potential is often underutilized due to a lack of knowledge and focus, not least within the Early Childhood and Care Educations represented in this project by partners from Spain, Netherlands, Norway and Denmark. To upscale and implement COIL projects, strong didactical tools for lectures are required. The aim of The UCOILD project has therefore been to support the ECEC higher educational field and HEIs in general by creating a didactical toolkit to support lecturers in promoting stronger digital, intercultural and critical competences for Early Childhood and Care students and beyond, hereby sustaining HEI interconnectedness.<< Objectives >>The UCOILD project has strived to complement large scale projects addressing structural challenges within HEIs towards implementation of COIL by contributing to the next important step: The identification of didactical challenges and possibilities needed to develop strong COIL didactics that can unfold the learning potentials related to a digital and international learning environment. The overall objective has been to dvelop and strengthen COIL didactics to meet the need for strengthening intercultural and digital competences and critical reflection for students by: -exploring inclusive, student-centered, experiential and reflective didactics within COIL projects with students as co-developers to support didactical innovation processes -translating the didactical innovations into a COIL toolkit, hereby supporting lecturers’ capacity to facilitate quality COIL projects -contributing to quality COIL projects as an inclusive instrument for international, digital learning environments by producing a COIL curriculum design for local implementation of the participating partners, -as well as submitting a scientific paper on the exploration and implementation of the UCOILD project. << Implementation >>To realize the objectives the UCOILD project has implemented the following activities: 4 interrelated project results: Project result 1: “Mapping didactical challenges and approaches to COIL” has established a baseline and a theoretical and methodological foundation for project result 2: “Developing a Didactical Toolkit for COIL”. This project result has provided innovative open access didactical tools. Project result 3 has focused on quality assurance and dissemination through conferences and scientific papers and project result 4: “COIL curriculum design” has focused on implementation by developing existing curriculum initiatives to include COIL didactics within the participating HEI’s. In relation to project result 2, 4 COIL projects have been developed and realized as learning labs for experimenting, developing and testing various didactical student-centered, experiential, inclusive and reflective approaches to facilitating virtual international learning environments. 4 Learning/Teaching/Training activities for HEI ECEC students has also been realized. These have focused on extending the online international learning environment to a physical international classroom, making use of students as co-developers of the COIL didactics developed throughout the project, including 4 video student evaluations for lecturers realised as a student product focusing on disseminating student experiences and insights in relation to COIL participation and co-development processes. In addition each institution has involved local lecturers in dialogues to support critical feedback in relation to project results. 1 Multiplier event has been realized, supported by the ETEN associated partner, to share and promote UCOILD project results, realized as a blended event allowing for both physical and online participation of stakeholders, target groups and associated partner members. 4 transnational project meetings have been realized to support project progress - alternating with 3 supplementary online transnational online project meetings. 12 project steering group meetings have been held to monitor and secure realization of the UCOILD project plan . 3 meetings between the project steering group and a follow up group consisting of educational managers and representatives of the international offices at each partner institution have been held to ensure quality project realization and implementation. 3 meetings with the associated partner ETEN have been realized to work towards stronger and wider dissemination as well as sharing and promotion of UCOILD project results.<< Results >>The UCOILD project realized the following outputs in accordance with the project application and plan: -A mapping report “Unfolding Collaborative Online International Learning Didactics: A Mapping Report Baseline” (project result 1)-An open access website ucoild.com – unfolding the COIL toolkit for lectures when planning, realizing and evaluating COIL projects, and in addition also including knowledge on “why COIL”, on “COIL curriculum design”, on scientific articles published by the UCOILD members. (project result 2) -23+ concrete and hands-on didactical tools for unfolding COIL projects in all project phases (cf. https://ucoild.dk/coil-project-toolkit/) (project result 2) -4 COIL projects (project result 2) -A report on “COIL Curriculum Design” (project result 4) -A conference workshop focusing on discussing the challenges regarding “Collaboration” in COIL projects (ETEN 2022) (project result 3) -A conference workshop focusing on playing with, innovating and testing COIL methods (ETEN conference 2023) (project result 3) -A conference workshop focusing on the I-TPACK-I didactical model developed (ETEN conference 2024) (project result 3) -A scientific article Fukkink, R. et al. (2024) Pedagogical Dimensions and Intercultural Learning Outcomes of COIL: A review of studies published between 2013-2022, Journal of Studies in International Education, Volume 28, Issue 5In addition to the promised results the project also developed the following results: -A new didactical model called TPACK-I -An additional research article arguing for the COIL didactics unfolded in the UCOILD project and the TPACK-I model called Unfolding Collaborative Online International Learning Ddidactics: Supporting Pluralistic Learning and Preparing Students for Intercultural and Digital Competencies, submitted to Journal of Virtual Exchange-A COIL course for staff integrating the COIL toolkit at KP (2024 and forward)