Associate Professor of English Jennifer Eidum conducted a COIL project in her ENG 1100 class this semester, introducing students to intercultural collaboration.
This spring semester, Associate Professor of English Jennifer Eidum added a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project to her first-year English course agenda. COIL is a virtual exchange model that exposes students to global engagement in a cost-effective way. Students in Eidum’s class collaborated with Ukrainian students to create projects related to the collaboration’s theme of “Intercultural Communication & Global Storytelling.” The projects highlighted differences and similarities between the United States and Ukraine.
ENG 1100 Writing: Argument and Inquiry is a required first-year writing course that teaches students writing practices in both academic and non-academic contexts. All sections of this course share common outcomes but have different structures depending on faculty expertise and student interest. Eidum’s course focuses on intercultural communication and writing across cultures.
One of Eidum’s main inspirations for initiating a COIL project was Associate Professor of Geography Sandy Marshall. A strong supporter of COIL initiatives at Elon, Marshall started a Community of Peace (CoP) and is helping sponsor Elon faculty to get COIL training at SUNY’s COIL center. Marshall’s training and support prompted Eidum to begin collaborating with a Ukrainian university.
Eidum was also driven to conduct a COIL project because of her history as an international educator. She’s studied abroad, taught study abroad, taught in other countries and already has several international collaborations under her belt
“When I learned about COIL, it seemed like a logical next step,” Eidum said.
A former Peace Corps volunteer, Eidum has previously worked with Ukrainian schools and universities. She got in contact with the COIL coordinator in Ukraine via Hope Windle, SUNY’s COIL director. This connection opened the door to many Ukrainian universities who were interested in working with Eidum. Antonina Devitska at Uzhhorod National University (UzhNU) turned out to be the best option for her ENG 1100 course and timeline.
Eidum explained that she was looking for a project partner with similar learning objectives. Devitska had collaborated with other United States universities on COIL projects before and had a background in academic writing to tap into.
When reflecting on her experience working with Devitska on this project, Eidum described it as “really refreshing.” Devitska’s experience as an educator and collaborator made her easy to work with, and her students were friendly and interested in meeting Eidum’s.
“I think my English 1100 students were at first unsure about what this project would be like, but they rose to the occasion and learned a lot about Ukraine, Ukrainians, and collaborating with people across the globe,” Eidum said.
While the class primarily focused on academic English and communications, both the Elon and Ukrainian students are pursuing different fields of study. The students in Eidum’s class also have a wide range of travel experience and intercultural communication knowledge. Several are international students themselves. The variety of backgrounds brought multiple ideas and personal interests to the table. To begin the COIL collaboration, students met for an hour to get to know one another, and again for another hour to form groups and decide their presentation topics.
Following the theme of intercultural communication and storytelling between the United States and Ukraine, groups examined topics such as traditional or common meals, video game culture, common stereotypes across cultures, and public transportation. They connected asynchronously through WhatsApp to coordinate group work. Final presentations were held during a 90-minute period on Zoom.
“All the projects noted differences between the countries and cultures but also found common threads that were really meaningful,” Eidum said. “These presentations were really interesting and there was no absence of things to say!
Eidum also discussed how the COIL project fostered her students’ growth by forming international connections. She explained how this project required them to put their personal experiences aside and think about what student life might look like outside of Elon and the United States. Challenges arose such as language barriers, time zones and time changes. These made collaboration more difficult and provided students with important learning opportunities in the process.
“I think the most important factor in the students’ collaborations were the informal discussion between US and Ukrainian students,” Eidum said. “While they noticed differences they found a lot of commonalities in their lives. That connection proved to be meaningful.”
Overall, Eidum was thrilled with the result of the project. She was impressed with the high quality of final presentations and how much discussion was spurred.
“We planned for 60 minutes of presentations (about 10 minutes/group), but we had to cut them off at 100 minutes,” Eidum said. “They were so eager to engage and learn!”
Eidum attributes her COIL project’s success to many factors. These include the planning of leading faculty members, the training and confidence she received from COIL CoP faculty, the flexibility and dedication of her students, and the kindness, commitment, and flexibility of the Ukrainian students. She also noted how completing this COIL project will likely set her students up for success post-graduation.
“I see a lot of people — friends, family, former students — working on international teams in their careers,” Eidum said. “Introducing students to international teamwork and intercultural communication in a low-stakes way seems like a great tool for their future lives. Also, seeing issues from multiple perspectives is an important skill and COIL is clear framework to support that.”