Prof. Cheryl Loadman

Invited Speech: COIL Innovation: Exploring One Unique Classroom Practice to Demonstrate Strengthened COIL Student Experience and Increased Learning Outcomes

Biography:

Cheryl Loadman is a professor at Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan teaching International Business and Business Negotiation. For the past 3 years she has been including COIL as part of her classroom learning experience, having now had a total of 15 COIL/VE involving universities/TEC from Mexico, South America Europe and CHINA. Each  experience is tailored to meet the needs of the course, learning objectives and student's.  Cheryl is also working closely with a colleague, Dr. Dorner, from TEC DE Monterrey on publishing their findings on their work together in COIL.

Abstract:

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) exemplifies a technological and pedagogical approach that has gained momentum in the post-COVID world as an innovative tool to prepare students for a global environment that is changing rapidly, more competitive then ever, and increasingly technology-based and knowledge-focused. COIL success comes from connecting professors and students from different geographical locations and then facilitating innovative collaborative face-to-face learning experiences. Through this practical hands-on experience COIL broadens and even transform a student’s worldviews and cultural sensitivity while building subject-matter knowledge, business acumen and real-life critical and independent thinking, in addition to expanding technical skills such as presentation savviness, and oral and written communication proficiency, as well as soft skills such as teamwork and interpersonal networking skills.

A traditional COIL collaboration usually involves one or two universities, occasionally three and infrequently four, from different global locations bringing students together to work in intercultural groups on a project where they solve a problem(s) and/or complete a task(s). Typical activities include an icebreaker, collaborative tasks or exercises and finally, self or group reflection, all of which occur over a four-to-six-week timeframe. The framework is commonly repeated throughout collaborative interactions around the world.

This presentation outlines my experience in transforming the design and implementation of a traditional COIL collaboration in one classroom into five concurrent but distinct COIL collaborations within the same classroom. Set within a six-week timeframe, distinct groups of Edwards School of Business (Canada) students were assigned to a university partner classroom representing different geographic locations - Mexico, Colombia, Ukraine, and two from China - with each working on separate projects with unique deliverables and timelines.

The result was an unexpectedly significant innovative learning opportunity. As anticipated, students confirmed that their COIL project deliverables provided a broad and impactful learning experience, both culturally and professionally, with qualitative and quantitative benefits. However, students also reported gaining both new and increased cultural and real-life business understandings, knowledge synthesis, and broadened insights when they discussed, shared, compared and analyzed their experience with those of students working in COIL teams from other geographic regions and business projects (human resource practices, business case analysis, etc.). Additional serendipitous learning occurred when they related these newfound insights back to their own projects and experiences. Faculty also observed that students engaged more readily in dynamic critical thinking and the use of soft skills. Ultimately, this unique student experience surpassed traditional COIL outcomes, with students experiencing deepened learning and personal development.

This presentation provides insights and strategies based upon one novel experience of innovation in the COIL model that resulted in deepened student experience and learning. Discussion examines the challenges and opportunities of this approach, as well as the key attributes of success such as geographic, project and deliverables diversity.