SUNY COIL Conference 2018

The digital age has fundamentally transformed many facets of the human experience, including how we communicate, the platforms we seek out for entertainment, and how we engage in learning. The rapid rate at which learners are acquiring and building new knowledge today provided the impetus for combining our two courses, The Exceptional Learner and Digital Culture & Society into a COIL collaboration. This session will highlight why and how we leveraged specific technologies within our international virtual exchange (e.g., Google website, OERs, Zoom, WhatsApp, WeTransfer, Moodle, and Blackboard). Using data collected from Fall 2017, we will also discuss how using this variety of technologies helped us enact effective pedagogy to engage students and facilitate deeper learning. Based on Fall 2017 feedback, we will discuss the ways in which our COIL module facilitated students’ exploration of the intersection of the digital world and intercultural competencies (e.g., the role of sensitivity towards ability/disability, linguistic proficiency, privilege, gender, culture, learning approaches, and other variables). According to one participant, using such a variety of tools and activities (e.g., the completion of discussion forums, interviews, synchronous meetings with breakout sessions, and short reflective homework assignments) made for “…a great experience as it was such a different way to discuss material and by hearing the perspective of students from another country, it adds a level of understanding that you cannot gain in a traditional setting.” By emphasizing the dominant themes from our students’ experiences in a virtual cross-cultural context, as well as our own perspectives in designing a COIL module, this presentation will provide the broader COIL community with (a) insights into how these tools can enhance pedagogical practices within COIL courses, and (b) strategies for preparing students to use digital learning resources in more culturally sensitive ways.