No passport required: Social learning Innovation through Collaborative Online Education

Abstract

In midst the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, there is an inherent need to consider the effects on education in poorer regions of the globe. Students from Western countries and more privileged backgrounds have managed to continue learning albeit Universities having closed in the most difficult moments of the Pandemic. Students from disadvantaged regions and poorer backgrounds however, very often remained isolated when their institution shut down during the pandemic.In this paper the authors discuss a socially innovative initiative that enables building a community of international learning based on a popular methodology named COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning). The methodology relies on the use of openly available online platforms that allow students and lecturers to be connected digitally, thus making learning resources available to students no matter their location. It allows for an intense peer-to-peer learning environment and promotes the virtual teamwork on real cases and assignments.