Preparing students for the global virtual workplace: examining student, faculty, and employer perceptions of collaborative online international learning (COIL).

This exegesis offers a critical overview of the portfolio based on research completed between 2018 and 2024, incorporating 40 publicly available outputs. Eight of these have been submitted for closer consideration by the PhD assessors. The primary topic underpinning this work is Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and how it can help prepare students for the global, virtual workplace. Within this primary topic, the work focuses on four distinct but interrelated sub-topics incorporating intercultural competence, transferable skills and employability; COIL practice in Higher Education; and inclusive approaches to COIL design. Across all four topics, the contribution to the advancement of knowledge and practice within the field of COIL is demonstrated. The portfolio is contextualised at the beginning with an overview of theory and concepts associated with the characteristics and requirements of the contemporary global virtual workplace. This is followed by an analysis of core pedagogical arguments relating to transferable skill development, experiential learning, and employability and how they relate to the global, virtual workplace. Recent literature concerning internationalising and democratising the curriculum, and its significance for inclusive approaches to educational practice and the future workplace, is examined and placed within the context of the emerging field of COIL. The research topics and overarching research paradigm are presented and justified concerning the context and methodological theory, and the output portfolio is linked directly to the research topics through an interactive conceptual model and supporting narrative. The discussion reflects critically on the quality of output, its potential impact on COIL theory and practice, and the implications for students entering the global, virtual workplace. The researcher argues that the portfolio's main theoretical contribution is to understand further how COIL develops intercultural sensitivity and competency; how the DYNAMITE model can support transferable skill development; and how inclusive approaches to COIL design may strengthen the employability of students entering the global, virtual workplace. The narrative explains how the methodological approach, which involved examining a range of stakeholder perceptions, supported novel developments in COIL practice, including the creation of the COIL@RGU and COIL@UArctic digital resources. The limitations and potential wider impact of the portfolio concerning student employability, global sustainability, and inclusivity in Higher Education are considered, together with recommendations and opportunities for future research. The exegesis builds on existing pedagogical theory by suggesting that a flexitive learning approach to COIL creates an opportunity to bridge the gap between Higher Education and the global, virtual workplace.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Robert Gordon University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Crawford, Izzy

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• S. Burnett and P. Bremner

• Collaborative online international learning (COIL)
• Intercultural competence
• Global virtual workplace
• Student employability
• Experiential learning

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:rgu-repository.worktribe.com:3239349
https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-3239349

Author Identifier

0000-0003-2085-1550

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rgu-repository.worktribe.com:3239349