A Virtual Classroom Takes UNAM to the UK. Interview with Ana Elena González Treviño and Mitzi Gómez Morales

Dolores González Casanova: The reason for this interview is our interest that, in each issue of UNAM Internacional, people can read about a successful experience in Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) courses to contribute to disseminating how UNAM participates in this strategy. The University Network of Internationalization Officers (RURI) has created a commission, of which Mitzi Gómez Morales is a member, to encourage the implementation of this methodology across all of UNAM’s academic entities. We hope that this interview will inspire many others to participate.
Carlos Maza: What we know about the COIL course you coordinated with the University of Sussex and the Faculty of Accounting and Management (FCA) was published in Gaceta UNAM: a fascinating article that helps us disseminate this pedagogical approach. What was the role of the UNAM UK in enabling this collaborative project?
Ana Elena González Treviño: UNAM UK has maintained close ties with the University of Sussex, one of the universities in the United Kingdom most open to collaboration with UNAM. In the universe of British universities, Sussex is an institution that feels a strong affinity with UNAM. We have had other collaboration experiences in different areas. This year, however, as part of its liaison strategy with UNAM, Sussex chose the FCA as the sole focus of its activities with us. It was a bit because UNAM is so big that it is impractical to dilute the activity, and also because of my proposal based on the great openness in FCA towards international activity since we have done some things with them before, such as academic visits with the University of Newcastle and now with the University of Sussex.

The University of Sussex asked UNAM UK to link a specific proposal to UNAM’s equivalent of International Business, in which students face—some for the first time—the challenges of doing business with the communication difficulties that involve the different concepts of time, hierarchies, leadership, etcetera. The concrete proposal was to work with a business simulator to carry out this exercise.

The initial role of the office was to establish contact and, subsequently, to follow up and facilitate links for the virtual meetings in which FCA staff participated together with Sussex staff, as well as to agree on dates. The schedules are very different so adjustments had to be made. Even though we were short on time, we went for it, and the linkage was made.

CM: We would like to know how the coordination with the faculty members who worked together took place: if they contacted each other directly through UNAM UK or if it was through the managers of the University of Sussex; how did the teachers meet, and how did they design their collaboration?
AEGT: The beginning was promoted by the University of Sussex Internationalization Department. It was the work of the head for internationalization with the United States and Latin America, Luis Añanguren, who has participated in many of our activities. He has even been at International Week UNAM twice. He is Venezuelan, and an excellent translator between the two cultures; he was the initial tie. Afterward, we met with Mitzi’s team, in charge of Internationalization at FCA, and the professor who carried out the entire COIL course. And it was all virtual; although it is not far away, the University of Sussex is not in London, so we used virtual tools to conduct these meetings.

CM: Mitzi, , what was the role that FCA, through your representation, played in this coordination? How was the follow-up from here?
Mitzi Gómez Morales: When Ana Elena contacted us to tell us about this opportunity, what we did first was to analyze the content of the proposed course, the business simulator, to understand what topics would be addressed in the field of business decision-making, what areas would be covered, what would be the main focus (because one of its main focuses is marketing). That helped us choose the right teacher, one of our English subject teachers at FCA because he is familiar with the subject language, our students, and the international mobility students the faculty receives. Also, because his specialty covers senior management and marketing, the main focuses of the simulator (although it covers all functional areas of decision-making in an organization).

The next step was to work on the necessary agreements regarding the academic calendar, related first to content and then to dates. As Ana Elena says, it was rushed for the UNAM calendar because we had yet to start the semester, and no students were enrolled. We made an open call for the entire community: a general call to students. This is important because we did not base the collaboration on a previously formed group, but instead we made a broad, open invitation.

We then proceeded to analyze the students profiles; we asked them which semester they were enrolled in, to submit academic documents and a brief justification of why they would like to participate. It was very positive because the students felt part of the process, it was not about luck but a process in which they took part. We also held an information session with Luis Añanguren, Ana Elena, and my team to introduce those interested in COIL methodology developed along with the University of Sussex, thanks to the liaison of UNAM UK. We opened this information session to the entire community of the FCA. A lot of people joined through Zoom. It was very nice because it motivated the community. Students registered at will, entered the session, and asked questions.

The response was so massive that we had to limit the registration to the first who met the requirements. We had to select 80 students because the agreement was that 120 students from Sussex and 80 from UNAM’s FCA would participate. Once the 80 students were chosen, the next step was to establish the matters of teacher accompaniment. We set up advise sessions and practical sessions to support teachers, who could access the simulator, and monitored the decisions and the modules being carried out. Four decision rounds were made in the simulator. The teacher accompanied the students regarding thematic content, and we were always close to the process.

120 STUDENTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX, AND 80 FROM THE UNAM’S FACULTY OF ACCOUNTING AND MANAGEMENT TOOK PART OF THE COURSE

CM: Did the teachers who participated have previous experience with COIL methodology?
MGM: It was the first experience for our teacher; he had previously worked with the mirror-class methodology.
AEGT: Sussex teachers did have previous experiences with COIL.

CM: We know that Sussex students got academic credits for this course. Did FCA students obtain credits as well? Did the course have curricular value?
MGM: No, because in our case, it was an open call, independent of other subjects.
AEGT: But it did have curricular value. They can all state in their curriculum that they had the experience, even if it didn’t count as credits. I want to add that it was genuinely extraordinary how Mitzi—we all know she does an excellent job—got 80 students involved in such a short time. That caused a very positive surprise at the University of Sussex. I always recognize and appreciate it and also the openness at FCA.

DGC: I wanted to comment on this issue of credits because since it was an open call the enthusiasm to participate came from the students (normally we promote COIL among teachers), but the experience was not framed in a specific subject; it did not have curricular credits. The students were in different semesters and also enrolled in various subjects, so although the experience was perfect for their learning and education, it was something extracurricular. It is interesting because it gives this experience very particular meaning, and although it did not comprise academic credits, we are still in a pioneering stage about how we practice this pedagogical modality at UNAM. And we can have different models. We have emphasized the flexibility of the COIL model and how it enhances learning, and this experience seems to prove it.
AEGT: I had that idea regarding integrating COIL into a subject in the curriculum, and I pointed it out to Luis very early on. He responded that Sussex had many COIL models, that there is great flexibility, and that this experience was one of them. For me, it was also a novelty, very hopeful at the same time because it multiplies the possibilities of what can be done with the support of both institutions.

CM: Let’s talk about the COIL subject to describe it to UNAM International readers who probably need to learn the ins and outs of economics and administrative sciences. What is this simulator you used? What is a round of competitions?
MGM: It is fascinating. Simulators, as the name implies, represent possible real situations and put the student in context: this is what is happening. They are real-time actions that simulate what could happen in an organization. Circumstances, management decisions, marketing work and related issues, and social situations are raised. This context is simulated and fed back with data and information. Students must make decisions as a team. Teams were formed with three students from Sussex and two from UNAM. They agree and act as members of an organization in the Business Simulator, a resource for which the University of Sussex provided the license.

Thus, teams represent an organization’s human and structural elements: “Here’s the situation, colleagues, what decision are we going to make?”, and act as managers, marketing managers, operations managers, CEO, etc. These functional areas of the organization are used to make decisions regarding the given situation.

The simulator is software that already contains preloaded default data. However, if you make a decision, as happens in organizations, it affects the next decision, and the subsequent decision affects another decision. You have to permanently analyze information. This is what the team members do: examine the data from the scenario to make the decisions they think are best for the simulated organization.

The Sussex teacher ahead of her group and our teacher at FCA with his own followed the students up, monitored teams, and helped them solve the situations through decision-making. When facing the simulated situation, the process of reflection and analysis of the problem was carried out. So, the method has two dimensions: the specific data and the simulator’s behavior, which changed with each team because, although the situation was the same, as in real life, each would make different decisions and obtain different results.

DGC: And I guess, Mitzi, that here the intercultural aspect was of great richness because the way of carrying out and making decisions had to do with the context in which one and the other group were. I imagine this made up for a better participation.
MGM: Absolutely. It was one of Ana Elena’s comments: the multicultural aspect was fascinating. We may have a situation in an organization that seems similar to us. Still, because of each one’s history, culture, learning process, and perspective to solve an issue are different. There are communication challenges: the language, the way we express ourselves, the customs, of course. My decision may not be politically correct in the country where I am, although it could be functional organizationally. Multicultural communication was a topic we loved.
AEGT: In addition, the simulator has a gaming element that is very appealing.

CM: It took work to match the academic calendars, but you managed to do it. Regarding schedules, were there synchronous sessions attended by the 120 Sussex students and the 80 UNAM students simultaneously, or were they asynchronous? What was the relationship between synchrony and asynchrony in the development of the COILcourse?
MGM: There were synchronous opening and closing sessions convened by the professor in charge of the simulator at the University of Sussex. She called the initial synchronous meeting at a specific time so all students could connect. This allowed our students to get to know each other, have a joint introduction session, and start working. The following were sessions for each party to give feedback to the teams and then asynchronous sessions. Each team had to communicate internally, of course, to make decisions together. Decisions were made in real-time, so there was synchronicity in team performance.

CM: We are talking about 200 students and teams of five: 40 teams at all. Did all the teams have an opportunity to present their work?
MGM: The feedback session was about results; however, inside the simulator, they had a space where you could see how the teams were doing. The simulators allow this comparative exercise between teams and between decisions so they get that feedback. For the closing session, we surveyed our students, which we thought was very important (we decided to do so together with Ana Elena) to collect information about the performance and feedback about the experience from the participants, to see what we can improve on the next occasion. We had a closing and feedback session between UNAM UK and FCA so that the parties could evaluate, alongside the professors and us as coordinators, and analyze the information produced by the survey applied to our 80 students.

There were exciting, very personal comments, and we thought it was excellent that they could express themselves this way. Learning about international decision-making in the context of different cultures fascinated them. However, it posed a challenge because Sussex participants’ expressions and personalities, which are different from Mexican culture, gave insight into alternative approaches.

There were also timing-related challenges, as the simulator requires real-time decision-making, and groups could not always meet synchronously. Challenges similar to those encountered in international organizations, in working with someone who lives in another country. These are very human things one faces when developing in an international organization.

DGC: Were the number of sessions and the duration of the COIL course adequate?
MGG: I think it had an adequate duration because decision-making should not take too long. The exercise should have a certain amount of time, given that it simulates the organization as such. On the other hand, the number of sessions was good; synchronous and asynchronous sessions could be consulted afterward. At FCA there were two sessions per week. The professor had two schedules available to facilitate the consultations of the 80 students.

CM: What are the prospects for continuity of projects like these in the work dynamics of UNAM UK?
AEGT: We are already discussing the next COIL with Sussex and other universities. The office is very open to the different characteristics that each university imprints on the COIL model. So, we will be presented with a range of possibilities.

I want to mention something that is not considered COIL but is one of the starting activities in an institutional relationship of this type. It is a more straightforward form of virtual exchange: Teletandem, oriented to the linguistic practice offered by the National School of Languages, Linguistics, and Translation (ENALLT). Adelia Peña Clavel, the teacher in charge of the program, organizes sessions with students worldwide. Since it includes the British variant of English, it is a field we are expanding. This kind of exercise has already been done with several universities; from there, we can leap to COIL in a particular discipline.

So, the office has also encouraged small approaches, such as mirror talks, with many universities; those have been great and varied experiences. I’m thinking, in particular, of a case on aerospace engineering in which we linked the University of Nottingham with UNAM’s aerospace engineering program. As in this case, there is an evolution within the projects: they start with something not so ambitious that evolves into a workshop. We are building on small exchanges.
MGM: I would like to add three points. First, as Ana Elena commented, the previous relationship we had been working on was significant. There was a process of trust building, which is always significantly beneficial. The University of Sussex has been with us in two editions of International Week UNAM. On the other hand, the office’s intervention is a fundamental issue. It is like a translator who understands the culture, the university, the needs there, and our culture, our university, and our needs: Ana Elena performs this function of being in the middle very well. And the third point (and I don’t mention it because it is my faculty) is the importance of academic entities being open to collaboration. We had the support of the director of FCA, Tomás Rubio, which is very important. Without this institutional support, we would not have been able to carry out the open call, which implied taking students out of class.
AETG: And that straightforward agreement that does not involve significant complications for teachers or administrators can be reached. It’s important to note that this isn’t an extra burden but a chance for growth and building networks. All this is essential for creating global citizens.

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