Evolving VE/COIL Professional Development for Rapidly Changing Times

 

On Thursday, October 28th, IIGE Vice Director Dr. Keiko Ikeda co-presented at IVEC with colleagues John E. Fowler and Veronica Onorevole of ACE (American Council on Education). Their presentation, titled "Evolving VE/COIL Professional Development for Rapidly Changing Times," addressed the ways in which various institutions in the U.S., Japan, and Norway adapted to building new models of VE/COIL, and lessons learned from the ACE Rapid Response Training Lab in 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

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Keiko Ikeda
Vice-Director, Institute for Innovative Global Education, Kansai University

 

John E. Fowler
Mentor for Virtual Exchange/COIL, American Council on Education, Independent Consultant

 

Veronica Onorevole
Associate Director of Programs and Global Initiatives, American Council on Education

 

 

 

Presentation Abstract

 

Given ongoing impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to develop deeper and wider understandings of alternative models for professional development related to virtual exchange (VE). This presentation will demonstrate how a range of institutions, including public and private institutions, in Japan, Norway, and the U.S. were supported to rapidly adapt to this new landscape and build sustainable and scalable VE/COIL initiatives.

We will examine the conceptualization, implementation, and outcomes from recent unique professional development programs created in the midst of the pandemic by the American Council on Education (ACE) and Kansai University's Institute for Innovative Global Education (IIGE): ACE-IIGE Rapid Response VE/COIL Transformation Lab: U.S.–Japan
ACE Rapid Response VE/COIL Transformation Lab: U.S.-Norway (in partnership with Norway's Diku).

 

These Labs are among the first known attempts to integrate training and support for both faculty and administrators from large numbers of institutions within the same VE professional development programs. In addition, the ACE-IIGE Lab, which included 28 Japanese and American institutions, was the first such large-scale bi-lingual program between these countries. Each Lab included the following support structures:

 

Three-month engagement with VE/COIL mentors and peers including faculty, instructional designers, and international programs staff

Three-week COIL-based online professional development course with parallel and intersecting activities for participants in two tracks (faculty and administrators)

Customized mentoring sessions, webinars, and up-to-date VE/COIL resources from practitioners and institutions around the world

 

We will share lessons learned from leading these programs, including results from the Labs' assessment activities. We will discuss how knowledge gained from the U.S.-Japan Lab was applied to improve training in the U.S.-Norway Lab, including the creation of a comprehensive Collaboration Planning Worksheet. We will conclude with emergent best practices focusing on how the ideas can be adapted to other virtual exchange professional development programs.