One of IIGE’s main missions is “research,” that is, to make clear how the educational practice known as COIL will extend the learning aspects of its active students (learners) participants. We, the educators and staff members, are truly able to feel the students’ growth. Through COIL courses, students regain an interest in learning English. The collaborative learning experience and connecting with peers from countries and regions they have never thought about peaks student interest in those regions, and they have then jumped at the chance to study abroad. there. COIL is undoubtedly leading students to experience “transformational learning (transformative learning) .*” This COIL “effect” is also connected to the cultivation of "intercultural competence," which the field of international education seeks to further elucidate.
Now that COIL is finally gaining momentum, it is extraordinarily important to create a system to validate its effectiveness while promoting it at the same time. For example, Kansai University is a large university with 30,000 students. At a university with such varied human strata, which layer effectively achieves the most growth from the learning experience process that COIL brings about? There are many opportunities for learning aside from COIL, both in international education and in other settings. Among the many options, what kind of student is the latent layer most suited to the COIL experience?
Furthermore, with COIL Plus (a program linking COIL and overseas study abroad) which began in 2018, the verification of the synergy effect of learning with COIL and studying abroad / hosting foreign students is essential. While the period of overseas dispatch will change from year to year, the matter of what type of COIL education is beneficial for deepening learning through this short-term overseas experience is also a subject for further study.
Regarding domestic global human resources development education, the cultivation of foreign language (practical) ability is another major focus. Going hand-in-hand with the rapid evolution of IT, the ways in which people interact are becoming increasingly diverse; such as face-to-face communication, communication via SNS, and hybrid versions. Consequently, the methods used to measure practical language application ability must also change. What kind of verification tools exist, and how can we measure students’ ability through their use?
To "research COIL" is to examine how an individual changes through the COIL experience. In order to achieve this purpose, what is essential is a measurement tool that can grasp the transformation process of an individual as a whole. BEVI (Belief, Events, and Values Inventory), introduced here, is one of the tools that make this measurement possible. In the research design promoted by IIGE, we ask students to take this BEVI both before and after the COIL experience, and comprehensively assess the changes of an individual.
Transformative learning is a process that leads students to "reassess" their own beliefs and experiences that have been previously formed by the assumptions of others