Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) has emerged in recent years as an effective and viable alternative to increase the international opportunities within taught curricula. Through recent innovations in online collaboration tools, and elevated demand for international opportunities, there has been a global increase in the development of COIL opportunities across a range of health aligned disciplines. This style of learning has been described to positively develop student’s internationality and enhance their transferable skills. However, there have been no reported COIL opportunities described in the fields of laboratory medicine and biomedicine, likely due to the emphasis on practical techniques associated with the subjects making them difficult to disseminate virtually. This study therefore aimed to develop a COIL project that incorporates practical laboratory elements and evaluates the efficacy of this teaching and learning approach.
A laboratory-based COIL was developed and delivered across two days between the University of Salford, United Kingdom, and Wayne State University, United States of America. Day one was composed of asynchronous livestreamed laboratory demonstrations, micro-teaching sessions of practical activities, with day two focused on the completion of a time-dependent team-based task. The pedagogical impact of this laboratory-based COIL was evaluated through 1) pre and post surveys and 2) an overall survey utilising Likert scales to evaluate experience, transferable skill enhancement and international development.
The laboratory-based COIL was well received among students with most students stating they enjoyed the session (94.1%) and learnt a lot by participating in it (94.1%). COIL learning opportunity also produced highly positive benefits to student confidence (97.1%), teamworking (100%), and communication (97.1%). Pre and Post-analysis revealed significant enhancement of students’ international medical practice knowledge (P<0.0001), cultural intelligence (P<0.0001), social initiative (P=0.0373), and work-based flexibility (P=0.0047). Further stratification based on participants’ international institution revealed significant differences in questions relating to cultural intelligence (P=0.0062) and their confidence of working with cultures unfamiliar to themselves (P=0.0390).
We are the first to report that implementation of laboratory-based COIL opportunities enhances students' international, cultural and transferable competencies within medical laboratory and biomedicine education. These data suggest that practical-based COIL is an effective method for preparing students to thrive in a globalized healthcare environment.
