Abstract
Learning takes place both within humans and across globally networked technologies. Teaching paradigm and pedagogies of two specific COIL exercises are shared to showcase the ‘holistic blend' which COIL proffers and how it can promote intercultural competence across shared virtual learning environments. The purpose is to share insights from the innovative cohort-based models developed for curricular internationalization and provide recommendations for incorporating this pedagogy within any curriculum.
TopIntroduction
Even before the COVID-19 crisis significantly transformed the academic landscape, traditional classroom teaching models were waning in the socio-technical global context. The information age is rife with rapid critical changes rendering knowledge analogous to “a jellied creature”. Knowledge network is no longer static; it is alive and moving. Moreover, social media has led to democratization of knowledge and provided learners easy access to equitable and affordable educational resources. There is an ever increasing trend towards unmediated knowledge i.e. knowledge acquired through digital technology and not transformed by any intervening agency. A growing enthusiasm within the higher education sector for technology-enhanced learning has increased in the recent past. Learners are interested in more autonomous sources available online and social platforms rather than conventional pedagogical tools. They use the internet to explore the world and its frontiers virtually. Globalization has accelerated the need for student competence in connections and network creation to address the needs and challenges of a global workforce. Hence, it is not possible to build on the previous tools and theories; and educational institutions are compelled to adapt and make use of technology and innovative methods of instruction.
Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience. According to Stephenson, experience is regarded as the best teacher of knowledge. As it is not possible to experience everything first hand, experiences act as the substitute for knowledge (Kleiner, 2002). Prior research on collaborative learning has established that learners who undertake a course implementing collaborative learning, experience better conceptual understanding, greater persistence, deeper learning, increased engagement, superior class attendance and effective problem solving skills (Johnson, Johnson & Smith, 2014). The global business world requires an integration and coordination of a multicultural workforce and physio-graphically scattered operations. Having a global mind-set is a prerequisite for the managers who work with global teams and wish to compete successfully. Fast-paced communication has made the world smaller, but it is bigger with regard to people’s cognizance of cultural variations. In order to acquire a global mind-set one needs experiential learning across different linguacultural and geographical regions. The students learn through reflection after engaging hands-on with course concepts and exploring them from different cultural perspectives. An experiential cross-cultural learning of this kind helps students internalize and internationalize the curriculum while connecting across differences. It deeply contextualizes cross-cultural competence in management studies. Thus, one witnesses many experiential cross-cultural virtual courses being successfully run by educational institutes.
This chapter outlines the pedagogical approach for integration of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) adopted at Birla Institute of Management Technology, (India). Experiential learning paradigm and pedagogies of two specific COIL initiatives are shared to provide the ‘holistic blend’ proffered by COIL and how it can promote intercultural competence across shared virtual learning environments. The purpose is to share insights from the innovative cohort-based models developed for curricular internationalization and provide recommendations for incorporating this pedagogy within any curriculum. The chapter delineates the process steps of implementing COIL courses, and reports the impact of such courses on student perspectives and competencies. It also reflects upon the challenges inherent in COIL collaborations and provides recommendations for addressing them.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Autonomous Sources: A knowledge source having no relations to other sources; the changes in the autonomous source do not produce any changes in other sources.
Multicultural: Consisting of or relating to people of many different nationalities and cultures.
Languaculture: A language includes not only elements such as grammar and vocabulary, but also past knowledge, local and cultural information, habits and behaviours.
LMS: Learning management system is a software application for the administration, tracking, documentation, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational courses, or learning and development programs.
Flexible Pedagogy: Pedagogy where new ideas are explored with a focus on building the capability of learners to anticipate and engage with the future and to navigate through complexity, uncertainty and change.
Globalization: The term used to describe the growing interdependence of the world's economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information.
Synchronous Learning: Learning that happens at the same time for the instructor and the learners, meaning that there's real-time interaction between them.
Asynchronous Learning: Forms of education, instruction, and learning that do not occur in the same place or at the same time; it uses resources that facilitate information sharing outside the constraints of time and place among a network of people.