This paper discusses the impact that social media had on a series of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) workshops designed for the enhancement of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education between two  Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) namely, the School of Education (SoE), University of Glasgow (UoG), Scotland and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, both involved in Teacher Education.

Internationalisation of Higher Education has exacerbated the demand for educationalists who can function in cross-cultural settings over the last two decades (Esche, 2018). Increasingly, HEIs are looking to recruit teachers/academics that are interculturally competent and capable of working successfully in a cross-cultural context.

While experiential learning and study abroad programmes (requiring students’ mobility) are effective approaches to acquiring these intercultural competencies (De Castro, 2019), they are often limited by the significant resources required (Purvis, Rodger & Beckingham, 2020).

Consequently, cost-effective approaches such as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) are increasingly being utilised. With the use of technology, COIL serves as a pedagogical approach for fostering the development of intercultural competencies in students across classrooms located in various parts of the world (Appiah-Kubi & Annan, 2020) including open-mindedness, international-mindedness, thinking flexibility, second language competence, tolerance and respect for other people and their cultures (Chan & Dimmock, 2008). This implies that for a classroom to benefit fully from COIL, virtual learning spaces must involve students in geographically distinct regions with differences in language and cultural backgrounds but with a common experiential learning tool or technology. While COIL is typically designed to run for a short span it offers a unique opportunity for programme developers (usually faculty members) to co-create a shared syllabus or course material and mentor students on how to collaborate (Appiah-Kubi & Annan 2020). Broadly aimed at getting students to become global thinkers, it enables them to develop the ability to work on projects collaboratively with students from different cultural backgrounds.

Although the COIL experience is widely believed to be highly beneficial to the development of students’ intercultural competencies (De Castro et al., 2019; Appiah-Kubi & Annan, 2020), the success or failure of the pedagogical process, to a large extent, is determined by the adopted experiential learning tool (Purvis, Rodger & Beckingham, 2020), which is social media in this case. While a growing body of research is investigating the use of social media in collaborative learning and analysing students’ interaction and its impact on the learning process, especially in the wake of pandemics (Chan et al., 2020; Khan et al., 2021), there is no known study, to our knowledge, that specifically examines how social media could impact COIL experiences and what pedagogical approaches might facilitate this process.

This study aims to explore the impact of social media on a COIL experience for Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT) and In-Service teachers from India and Scotland who worked together through a series of international workshops on a STEM challenge based on participatory pedagogy. Specifically, we are seeking to address the question of: How does social media impact the learning experience of NQTs and in-service teachers participating in a series of COIL-based STEM workshops through the lens of participatory pedagogy?

To answer this question, we analysed the wider context and the definition of the term internationalisation of Higher Education (HE) and the process of COIL. We reflected on our previous experience and research on the elements required to enhance the experience of Internationalisation at Home and at a Distance, adding emphasising on the importance of participatory pedagogy in this process. Finally, we collected data by looking at tutors’ and participants’ experiences through tutors’ reflective journals, participants’ feedback and focus groups.  

Participants •Four NQT, Alumni Post-graduate Diploma in Education Primary 2020-21 UoG, SoE •Ten in-service teachers practicing in different schools across Pune region. These teachers have been a part of various previous outreach programs delivered by IISER Pune. International sessions The teaching team comprised of four tutors: two from Scotland, UoG SoE, and two from India IISER Pune (including two of the authors of this paper: Rodolico and Dashaputre), as well as both countries’ experts in Renewable Energy, engineering, and architectural companies. The workshops contents were based on a STEM challenge piloted in Scotland by Dr Rodolico (Rodolico, 2021). Modifications were co-curated based on both cultural contexts, curricula and educational priorities (such as internationalisation, critical thinking, and STEM) with a balance of teaching strategies and pedagogical approaches from both countries. Given participants’ work commitments the sessions ran mainly on weekends and at 10 am UK time (15.30 pm India time). The sessions were spread over four weeks allowing time for interaction, communication, and reflection within and beyond the synchronous sessions (delivered via ZOOM platform). Workshops were shaped around the key elements of participatory pedagogy (Simpson, 2018). For example, learning outcomes, objectives, and contents were discussed and finalised with participants as an ongoing collaborative process. Workshop timelines and deadlines for submission were also discussed with the participants. Enthusiastic participation was achieved when participants were invited to co-author a paper for the Learning in Higher Education Conference hosted by the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde in December 2021 and for a peer reviewed journal (Rodolico et al., 2022a) . Workshops were also built by following the definition of exploratory, learning, and creative workshops suggested by Sufi et al. (2018) and by creating content in line with the four key aspects identified by Rodolico et al. (2022b): A topic of common interest, Mutual Enrichment, Active Participation and Remote Cooperative Teaching. Data Collection Tutors/researchers’ reflections: Journals written by participants or researchers are an important source of data in narrative research (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990) Tutors’ reflections are embedded in the discussion. Participants’ feedback and focus groups: Feedback on the impact of social media was collected through text messages exchanged in the WhatsApp group, the contribution that participants prepared for the Social Media in HE conference and two focus groups. Ethical approval Ethical approval was granted by both: the UoG College of Social Sciences ethics committee and by the IISER’s Ethics Committee for Human Research.

Findings show that social media play a significant role in enhancing communication and active participation as well as in facilitating knowledge exchange across Scotland-Indian cross-cultural contexts. Three main themes emerged Engagement in Professional Learning “… I was really interested in learning more about it, and the opportunity to work with colleagues in India and Scotland and have that dialogue with them. I think that added to the engagement and it was such a lovely experience to be able to share our ideas using social media to do that.” Leadership of own learning Participants agreed that the collaborative learning experience offered them the unique opportunity of learning through interaction with colleagues within virtual platforms without instructors’ pressure and the rigid demands typical of more ‘traditional’ classroom settings. Feelings: belongings, valued friendship, trust, respect Participants’ thoughts were consistent. They were generally pleased with the outcome of the STEM workshops and collegial interactions over social media. Words such as ‘confidence’, ‘engaging’, ‘enjoyable’, ‘knowledge exchange’, ‘sense of belonging’ and ‘friendship’ were among the most repeated words. Engaging in professional dialogue and practice via social media with international partners, as well as with colleagues from other local authorities’ schools has been considered hugely beneficial to the professional development of all teachers involved, with a focus on expanding knowledge and practice from other schools, institutions, curricula, and countries. Additionally, most participants (79% of the 14 participants) described the participatory pedagogical design of the COIL workshops as effective and enhanced by the ease of communication across the used social media platforms. We believe these findings, can contribute to the studies of the impact of social media and participatory pedagogy on building effective COIL experience in HE and to the development of related praxis aimed at collaborative engagement and knowledge exchange in STEM Education.

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