Students and Teachers from Honduras and Mexico. Recalling a COIL experience

We understand how important international learning experiences are for our students. Unfortunately, limited opportunities exist for many to stay in a foreign country or even engage with foreign teachers and students: there are logistical challenges, family or work responsibilities, and financial constraints that restrict the possibility to fully benefit from these experiences. 

In this context, COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) courses offer an alternative for students to gain multicultural and academic enrichment. As the COIL program motto from UNAM says, it is about “learning around the world without leaving home”; sharing a learning experience between at least one group from UNAM and their teacher, with another group abroad. Figure 1 illustrates COIL characteristics and actions.


In this article, the six teachers who participated in the COIL course Solution-Based Brief Therapy, review the experience. The course was intended for Psychology and Pedagogy students of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) and The National Autonomous University of México (UNAM). The courses in which the COIL experience was embedded were Counselor and Therapeutic Practices II at two UNAH headquarters (University City and Sula Valley), along with Supervised Practice III: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Supervised Practice III: Strategic Teaching at UNAM’s Iztacala Faculty of Higher Education. In order to illustrate how easy can organizing a COIL be, we present some highlights of the experience.

The four-week adventure, involving ten hours of work for students, took place between September and October 2023. We used the Moodle platform for content management and communication through forums and messages, while Zoom software facilitated the four synchronous sessions organized. Figure 2 illustrates the general organization of activities.



PREPARATIONS
The initial idea stemmed from a pre-existing relationship between UNAH’s Educational Innovation Head Office and UNAM’s Open University, Educational Innovation and Distance Education Coordination (CUAIEED). These instances enabled contact between the six participating teachers, who enthusiastically embraced the project. We determined its duration and scheduled it while considering evaluation periods and public holidays in each country during that time frame. We defined the graduate profile as follows: 


The indicators of achievement performance and evaluation forms include:  

1. Understanding of the six principles of the model: focus on the future, focus on solutions, use of strategic language, principle of change inevitability, development of individual and collective solutions, principle of individual realities, notion of the individual as an expert on their own life. Evaluated through questionnaires. 
2. Conceptual management of four model strategies. Each student chooses four out of a list of ten that are covered in the course videos and in the textbook corresponding chapter (Consejería en línea: un enfoque centrado en soluciones [On-Line Counseling: An Approach Focused in Solutions], Vadillo, 2020). Evaluated through questionnaires. 
3. Ability to analyze student cases and identify strategies within this approach. Evaluated through reporting a case analysis, according to a corresponding rubric. 
4. Ability to plan how to approach a case. Evaluated through the case description and the counseling plan (according to a corresponding rubric). 
5. Ability to present and co-evaluate the progress of cases. Evaluated through presentations in subgroups during synchronous sessions according to a rubric, or in written format. 
6. Ability to build a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats analysis (SWOT), as well as a written reflection on the multicultural experience. Evaluated through the presentation of these documents.

To identify contents to be addressed, necessary to conduct the learning and evaluation activities, we verified their alignment with an existing online course used for training counselors and teachers at UNAM. This course was developed by one of the project’s teachers and her co-author (Guadalupe Vadillo and Vania Pineda). After the analysis, we implemented necessary adjustments. Due to time constrictions in the COIL program, it wasn’t possible to cover all the intervention strategies presented in the course. This led to the edition and reformulation of some of the learning activities. Additionally, some modifications were made to the Counseling Notebook, which was provided as a downloadable PDF or PPT for students to record their notes and track their readings  (https://bunam.unam.mx/casosconsejeria/pdf/casosconsejeria.pdf).


COIL MANAGEMENT
Although the initial preparation was simple and unhindered, we had to make several decisions to accommodate the peculiarities of each institution and degree program. 

Regarding the determination of participant eligibility for the learning experience, UNAH decided to include the Psychology degree programs of the University City and Sula Valley campuses. The program would start during the third academic period of 2023, and it would incorporate subjects from the last formation block such as Counseling, and Therapeutic Techniques II. As it was the first experience into COIL collaboration, it was pondered with 20 per cent of the final note. 

Although the subjects integrated into COIL at UNAH were of a presential nature, students are familiar with the Moodle platform, which is frequently used to share resources and develop formative and summative activities (those that have points assigned and a minimal note for approval). This facilitated the use of technology in teaching online therapy processes. Additionally, the experience that the pandemic brought enabled counseling teachers to effectively prepare their students online, enhancing the effectiveness of the training. 

At UNAM, COIL was positioned as a focused enrichment opportunity that would not be part of the Psychology degree program’s curriculum. Participation was voluntary, with students who successfully completed this course earning an additional point in the supervised practices taken with one of the program’s instructors. And it would account for 30 per cent of the final grade for the other participating group. Word spread about the COIL program, so some students enrolled in other Psychology subjects also took part in the COIL experience. 

Certificates to those who successfully completed the course were issued at UNAM’s Office for International Cooperation (DGECI, Spanish initials). 

Synchronous sessions served as a platform to solve doubts, offer context to the group on the week’s learning and evaluation activities and, most importantly, to facilitate interaction between the participants. 

During our daily teaching practice, each of us also clarified the doubts that surfaced around the COIL program. 


RESULTS
156 people enrolled at the COIL course; five dropped out, so we worked with 151 students (88 from UNAH and 63 from UNAM). 124 of them finished the course successfully, resulting in an 82 per cent approval rate. The satisfaction level was high [see box].



As teachers of this course, the experience was incredibly enriching for us. We not only reinforced our knowledge and shared experiences with the students, but also discovered that there are no borders nor barriers when it comes to sharing knowledge, as we are always looking for others’ wellness. In a world facing numerous challenges, reinforcing service vocation, empathy, self-acceptance, and the desire to learn to provide a better service to the community has an invaluable impact. Undoubtedly, there is still room for improvement, but this is a solid starting point. When we train Psychology professionals, planting the seeds of new knowledge on fertile ground will let them be able to apply these learnings to benefit a lot of people. As we prepare new psychologists to be not only professionally competent but also imbued with human values, we can transform lives and impact nations, gradually generating a new change. 

The collaboration experience, synchronous communication, and coexistence of all participants enabled us to reinforce bounds that were not only academic, but also emotional, as we had the opportunity to meet and interact despite the geographic and contextual differences. This demonstrates that digital mediation allows us to explore different contexts and create learning opportunities within a community. 

Upon conducting a critical evaluation of the course, based on the students and teachers’ feedback, we identified a significant area for improvement: the need for students to email to the teachers their assignments generated confusion and a substantial time investment in tracking these submissions. To address this, the 2024 edition will feature all the activities uploaded to Moodle, ensuring easy access and evaluation.  

In a future edition, we also want to consider the contrasting of the theoretical approach, as the Honduran student Fausto Francisco Galo mentioned: “It would have been interesting to learn about the different perspectives and methodologies, contrasting and comparing the various theories to understand their strengths and weaknesses in application, accompanied by the experience of professionals in both countries.”  

In addition, we believe it is important to improve planning based on the schedule of both universities. This can be achieved through a preparatory meeting with the teachers, the definition of participation roles, as well as the commitments and shared responsibilities. It is also convenient to reconsider the course extension to enhance cultural exchange, maybe dedicating a session solely to presentations and sharing regional experiences. Furthermore, the synchronous sessions should be more focused to ensure the regular participation of all the members. 

Simultaneously, the results indicate that due to the large number of participants, the synchronous sessions were constrained in terms of direct participation for the majority. Nevertheless, despite the higher numbers of Honduran participants, a successful representation was achieved, and both groups got to know each other effectively.

CONCLUSIONS
We view it as a strength that this is the inaugural COIL experience in our discipline and thematic focus for our universities. It was remarkable that we were able to create dedicated supporting materials for training, including rubrics for the evaluation of activities. 

The COIL experience allowed participants to recognize the vast opportunities for learning and sharing with other individuals committed to mutual growth. As in-training professionals in the noble field of Psychology, it compels us to give the best of ourselves. 
Psychology demands ongoing updates of new evidence-based methods, such as the solution-focused brief therapy, which provides a practical framework for consultants that need it. 

This COIL experience between Honduras and Mexico successfully connected the students and teachers to collaborate as psychologists and enabled them to learn a new therapy method within the designated time frame. We anticipate offering the COIL program again in 2024, with improvements that will lead to better learning outcomes.

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