Learning abroad can be a rewarding opportunity to see new places, meet new people and experience learning in a new way.

Student mobility, or the movement of students between institutions in different places for learning, has long been an integral part of academic life.

While fellowships like the Fulbright Program in the U.S. and exchange programs such as Erasmus in Europe provide opportunities to students, fiscal and physical challenges make learning abroad a privilege that many students cannot access.

“Addressing these challenges has led to the development of much more accessible and sustainable concepts of mobility, such as internationalization at home and global learning,” said Lynn Walsh, interim director of Memorial’s Internationalization Office. “One initiative we’re looking to introduce here at Memorial is a prime example of this, called collaborative online international learning.”

Global learning for every student

Collaborative online international learning is a teaching tool that instructors can use to integrate intercultural learning into their curriculum so that students can engage with their disciplines in a global setting with no travel required.

A collaborative online international learning project involves identifying an international partner, designing a collaborative project, developing modules and then implementing, assessing and evaluating the outcomes.

“Collaborative online international learning is not meant to replace student mobility and the learning abroad experience, but it is an effective way of internationalizing the curriculum and making the global learning experience more accessible to every student,” Ms. Walsh said.

Successful collaborative online international learning collaborations follow a recognized sequence of phases that comprises team-building activities, comparative discussions, collaborative project work and presentation, reflection and conclusion.

“In launching collaborative online international learning at Memorial, our Internationalization Office will help at every stage of the project, from delivering information sessions to interested faculty members, facilitating the partnering process and supporting student orientation and assessment,” Ms. Walsh added.

Get involved

With the expansion of online tools in teaching and learning in the post-COVID era, collaborative online international learning has reached 377 registered institutions around the world.

In one example of a collaborative online international learning project, a DePaul University faculty member and a São Paulo State University faculty member linked their Science Fiction and American Literature III courses.

Using Zoom and email for several months to plan readings and assignments, the resulting experience spanned nearly nine weeks, engaging students from both continents on both subjects.

In another example, a graduate student at Florida International University reflected on their participation in a collaborative online international learning project with Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán in a course on marine protected areas.

The student found collaborating with international students to be an experience “greater than its parts” that developed the students’ intercultural sensitivity and language skills, as well as their empathy.

“Engaging in collaborative online international learning is a great way for instructors to further their international experience, build international networks, develop teaching skills and improve their academic visibility,” said Ms. Walsh. “We’re very excited about its potential here at Memorial and to provide students with more opportunities to engage with other students around the globe.”

Complete the survey

Interested faculty members and instructors are encouraged to complete a survey; the Internationalization Office will use the survey results to gauge interest in developing collaborative online international learning projects at Memorial.

For more information, visit the collaborative online international learning web page and schedule an introductory session with the Internationalization Office.