Bridging Two Continents: Using Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) to Explore Healthcare Services

Abstract

Intercultural competence is becoming necessary in all structures of life as our diversity grows and globalization continues to grow. Even in the field of business intercultural learning is equally vital domestically and internationally (Bennett, J. M. 2008). Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is a methodology in teaching and learning that continues to grow in use and can aid in filling this intercultural gap. The methodological COIL approach aids to building cultural competency and partnerships in the higher education community. Throughout this collaborative manuscript between three instructors at two universities, Nottingham Trent University (NTU) in the United Kingdom and University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) in the United States, discussions will be around the pedagogy of carrying out a COIL module and how COIL was completed in the Fall semester of 2021. Over the course of four weeks, NTU and UMD students worked together to complete key learning objectives of healthcare systems, alternative care, and COVID-19 response in the United Kingdom and the United States. NTU and UMD used technology such as Google My Maps, video recording presentations, and interview questions to further the learning around the key objectives. NTU and UMD each had separate final projects and grading rubrics for final grading and evaluation. Pre-and post-assessment data was collected to better understand student learning outcomes including, cultural learning and cross-cultural ambivalence within the COIL unit. The assessments also provided an overview of future considerations for the collaboration between future instructors in the COIL unit based on student feedback.