International Online Collaboration as a Refraction Prism for Reflection and Learning?

This paper investigates learning designs that utilize digital technologies to connect students across borders in the pursuit of developing intercultural and communicative competences through the principles of reflective practice-based learning (RPL). We utilize the principles of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) to give more students the opportunity to develop intercultural, communicative, and reflective competences from home through the practical means of ‘lingua franca’ and digital technology. The learning designs consist of hybrid scaffolded asynchronous exchanges of text and video, as well as synchronous exchanges in video conferences. The aim of the cultural encounters of the COIL is to create refraction of stereotypical beliefs about the other cultures through reflection. In addition to the investigation of the pedagogical potential of the learning design, we also investigate the affordances of the applied technologies. This raises the question if RPL as a pedagogical framework and COIL as a technique may provide students with a meaningful disturbance in their learning environments and thereby foster reflection. Our findings suggest that the COIL design can indeed facilitate meaningful disturbances and provide opportunities for dialogue and reflection, but also that it is important to be aware of potential obstacles in the COIL design in order to minimize frustration and maximize motivation and opportunities for learning and development.