Female Voices in the Third Space: Researching Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in South-North Collaborative Online International Learning aims to research the evolving field of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) in Higher Education (HE) through a Global South-North project, focusing on female voices. COIL is defined as a collaborative online teaching and learning approach with international partners that fosters intercultural dialogue.
This research project will evaluate a model of South-North COIL previously co-designed by the applicants against data generated through interviews with female stakeholders based in Higher Education (HE) institutions in four different continents. The research aims to further the understanding of digital inclusion and equality in HE. It investigates COIL as a Third Space that promotes substantive equality and supports the integration of pluralistic perspectives and citizenship attributes in HE curricula. In particular it seeks to decenter the conceptualisation of ‘Internationalisation of the Curriculum (IoC)’ and open up ‘otherwise’ ways of knowing, being and relating through a decolonial lens that builds on knowledge produced by women.
South-North COIL Conceptualisation, in Wimpenny, K., Finardi, K. R., Orsini-Jones, M., & Jacobs, L. (2022). Knowing, Being, Relating and Expressing Through Third Space Global South-North COIL: Digital Inclusion and Equity in International Higher Education. Journal of Studies in International Education, 26(2), 279-296. https://doi.org/10.1177/10283153221094085 inspired by the internationalisation of the curriculum model proposed by Leask & Bridge, C. (2013) Comparing Internationalisation of the curriculum in action across disciplines: theoretical and practical perspectives’.Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 43(1), 79-101 https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2013.746566
Within the notion of COIL as a Third Space for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in HE, it is important to bear in mind the contextual inequalities that exist in collaborations between HEIs from South and North, such as inequalities in terms of funding opportunities, issues of language and infrastructure. Hagenmeier (2021) points out that the Aristotelian understanding of equality grounded in the concept of sameness is not appropriate. He argues that equality as a concept in collaboration in HE, and thus also in North-South COIL, should rather be based on the notion of substantive equality, that should include (Hagenmeier, 2021: 267):
- a strong value foundation based on “mutuality, transparency and accountability, trust, equity and fairness” amongst others;
- the possibility for all to make meaningful contributions and to consider priorities to an equal extent;
- recognition and affirmation of equal worth, combined with non-discrimination and inclusivity;
- open and transparent communication;
- affirmation of the diversity of universities, and
- leveraging on the transformative power of collaboration between universities of different characters, and
- appreciation of, and learning from of the diverse philosophies within the collaboration
Aiming to provide a bottom-up perspective on COIL, the main research questions of this project are:
- How does the COIL framework designed by Wimpenny et al (2022, Figure 1) resonate with female staff and students who took part in South-North COIL projects?
- In what ways does the research evidence gathered from this project corroborate the ‘capitals of resonance’ previously identified in COIL: social capital, digital capital, cultural and psychological capital, trust capital and structural capital?
- To what extent does the research evidence gathered from this project validate the claim that COIL supports ‘Substantive Equality’ (accommodation of difference and promotion of the worth of all – cf. Hagenmeier, 2021) for the female participants involved in it?
The study is underpinned by decolonial theory (Guimarães et al., 2019; Stein & Andreotti, 2021) and utilises qualitative methods used in conjunction with Concept Analysis. Following ethics approval from the GDPR-compliant ethics-governance unit at Coventry University, and gate-keepers permission at the other institutions, an online survey was used to recruit around forty participants (both academic staff and students who have taken part in COIL-projects) in the first phase of the project discussed here. Interviews and focus groups were then carried out in the three HE institutions where the Principal Investigator and Co-Inverstigators are based and beyond (with their project partners in Türkiye, China, The Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and Spain). The concept analysis of the data generated (interview transcripts/focus group transcripts), focusing on the concepts as presented in the COIL framework above, was carried out with the support of the qualitative analysis software NVivo. Themes and subthemes that crystallised from the data are informing the creation of a toolkit aimed at supporting staff interested in implementing COIL in their institutions based on the research findings from this project.
The paper will conclude with analysis of the responses collected in the first phase of the project and correlate them with the conceptualisation of COIL illustrated in Figure 1.
References
Bhabha, H. K., & Rutherford, J. (2006). Third space. Multitudes, 26(3), 95–107. doi:10.3917/mult.026.0095 Guimarães, F. F., Mendes, A. R. M., Rodrigues, L. M., dos Santos Paiva, R. S., & Finardi, K. R. (2019). Internationalization at Home, COIL and Intercomprehension. SFU Educational Review, 12(3), 90-109.
Hagenmeier, C.C.A. (2021). Equality in Higher Education Partnerships: Defining the Concept in Divergent Contexts. PhD Thesis: University of Cape Town, South Africa https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/35623
Leask, B, & Bridge, C. (2013) Comparing Internationalisation of the curriculum in action across disciplines: theoretical and practical perspectives’.Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 43(1), 79-101 https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2013.746566
Leask, B. (2020). Internationalization of the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning. In: Teixeira, P.N., Shin, J.C. (eds) The International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8905-9_244
O’Dowd, R. (2022) Internationalising Higher Education and the Role of Virtual Exchange. Routledge
Rubin, J. (2022). Preface to an evolving international educational landscape. In J. Rubin, J. & S. Guth, (Eds) The Guide to COIL Virtual Exchange: Implementing, Growing, and Sustaining Collaborative Online International Learning. (pp. 3-18). Stylus Publishing.
Stein, S., & Andreotti, V. (2021). Global citizenship otherwise. In Conversations on Global Citizenship Education (pp. 13-36). Routledge.
Wimpenny, K., Finardi, K. R., Orsini-Jones, M., & Jacobs, L. (2022). Knowing, Being, Relating and Expressing Through Third Space Global South-North COIL: Digital Inclusion and Equity in International Higher Education. Journal of Studies in International Education, 26(2), 279–296.