Dr Catalina Ng had been searching for a partner to co-teach an activity in her special education course to bring global ideas and perspectives into her classroom. She also wanted to include interesting elements to stimulate her students’ interest in special education and enhance their motivation to learn.
Hence, she was thrilled when, assisted by the COIL project, she was introduced to Mrs Evi Katsapi from the Department of Psychology and Human Development at University College London (UCL) in December 2021. Having completed her Ph.D. at the Institute of Education at UCL, Dr Ng felt a warm feeling of closeness and familiarity when she first met Mrs Katsapi on Zoom.
Like Dr Ng, Mrs Katsapi also sought an overseas teaching collaborator. She shared that her students, many of them internationals, may return to their countries. Hence, they need to engage with relatable material and be able to apply their knowledge to different populations. She added, “Our students are international citizens and professionals, they need to know how to collaborate with others respectfully.”
Both professors were teaching similar courses in Semester 2 of the 2021/2022 Academic Year: Dr Ng’s module is called “Understanding and Embracing Diversity,” and Mrs Katsapi’s module is called “Special and Inclusive Education.” The two professors had several Zoom meetings to discuss and plan an activity for their students to meet and learn with and from one another.
They decided first to combine their knowledge and record a video on interventions for children with ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, dyslexia, and visual impairment. They also designed four case studies to elicit students' abilities to identify the four conditions and make specific recommendations for interventions in their classrooms. The video and the case studies were then sent to students a week before they met so they could prepare in advance.
Due to the time and class size differences, accommodations had to be made to enable this collaboration. And on 7 and 9 March 2022, students from Hong Kong and the United Kingdom met over Zoom to discuss the case studies. They were assigned into mixed groups and given a case study each to study, identify the condition, and discuss possible interventions for the children. About 40 students from both universities attended each session, 80 students in total.
The session commenced with a welcome and introduction. It was followed by ice-breakers where the lecturers and students introduced themselves either with a photograph of their childhood or a personally meaningful item. And then, Mrs Katsapi reassured students not to be afraid to share their views even if English was not their first language as most of the group were non-native English speakers.
Next, students were split into groups to discuss their specific case study, with Dr Ng and Mrs Katsapi, supported by their assistants, Ms Sofie Chua and Mr Yasin Arslan, visiting each group to guide the discussions. Students reported their discussions on Padlet. And then, everyone rejoined to share their answers with the bigger group, and the lecturers gave feedback.
The two sessions were generally well-received. Here are some comments by the students, “This is my first time having an opportunity to interact with overseas students. The discussion session is great!”, “The ice-breaking is a great way to get to know one another. The group discussion is helpful for me to apply what I have learned to a real-life case study.” and “We encouraged one another to take part, the cameras were mostly on, and people tried their best to give their ideas.”
Students also suggested that future sessions could be longer than one hour. And more time can be given to ice-breaking activities, as some students need more time to warm up. The organizing team will certainly consider these suggestions as they had fun organizing the event and hope to have another collaboration in the following year.
A screenshot from one of the planning sessions of the organizing team.
Written by Sofie Chua (schua@eduhk.hk), COIL Facilitator