Getting to the CoRe of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)

Figure 1 in the paper: Components of pedagogical content knowledge 
(PCK) for implementing intercultural competencies (ICC) in global
classrooms

by Dr Jessica Borger

Digital technology was a catalyst for global learning and fostering cultural understanding. In response to the COVID pandemic in 2020, there was a worldwide pivot of education, government and industry to online communication and the utilisation of diverse digital technologies as alternatives for face-to-face communication.
Within higher education, faculty were mandated to utilise digital technology in the conversion of lectures to recordings and the use of web tools for virtual interactions which created unprecedented challenges, with many educators unprepared and untrained to do so. Yet, the introduction of online digital technologies as the primary medium in pedagogical interactions caused the expansion of previously limited curriculum prospects to now include global and international possibilities.

With over 50% of the workforce continuing to work remotely in intercultural or global online communities, higher education must now support the growth of new digital communication learning opportunities such as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), to foster the development of intercultural competencies (ICC) in our students for future career advancement in an expanding global community.

Despite acknowledgment that faculty are under-prepared and lack pedagogical knowledge to translate their lived experiences into their curriculum, there remains a tenable lack of available tools for educators to facilitate students actively participating in objective, equitable and inclusive intercultural communication.

Applying a conceptual tool, a ‘content representation’ or CoRe matrix, which explicitly separates a particular topic into divergent, yet linked dimensions of the knowledge and skills attributed to its content, designed by Monash academic Professor Amanda Berry, Dr Jessica Borger has proposed the novel application of it to enhance an educator's pedagogical content knowledge of ICC, providing the valuable link between international and pedagogical knowledge, for effective internationalization of the curriculum and to support the development of effective, objective and inclusive student participation in global 21st century classrooms and beyond.   

Reference

Borger, JG. Getting to the CoRe of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). Frontiers in Education, 28 October 2022 Sec. Higher Education https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.987289