Students have been tackling global issues without even leaving Leeds – thanks to international collaboration modules with Nagoya University in Japan.
Ella Butterfield, a second year neuroscience student at the University of Leeds, joined forces with first- year students in Japan in an online classroom project looking at solutions to air pollution.
The module was run by Dr Alexandra Holmes, a lecturer in pharmacology at Leeds, and Dr Maria Vassileva, a lecturer in biology at Nagoya University, as part of a COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) module series enabling students from Leeds to collaborate virtually with students overseas.
Communicating directly with students on the other side of the world meant that Ella and a group of fellow Leeds students were able to benefit from first-hand experiences – without incurring the expense of studying abroad.
COIL modules are fantastic opportunities for students to engage with their peers around the world, work collaboratively on issues and learn more about each other’s cultures – all without leaving campus.
Ella said: “We were able to ask students about their real-life experiences of air pollution to inform our project.
“I think it made the portfolio more personal because we actually understood what people in Japan thought, and their opinions on air pollution.”
She added that working with students at Nagoya helped her understand practical difficulties and make informed recommendations.
“We wouldn't have been able to get this information if we didn't know the students. This is a way that you can collaborate with international students and understand their cultures, without it being too difficult to plan or spending a lot of money.”
Ella’s group took feedback from the Nagoya students to inform their work. When they were told that, despite a good train network, air pollution from cars was still a problem, one of the Yorkshire team came up with an idea for an app to help drivers find electric car charging points.
They collated their findings in a piece of work which included videos sent to them by Nagoya students of life in Japan.
It made the portfolio more personal because we actually understood what people in Japan thought, and their opinions on air pollution.
Dr Holmes, from the Faculty of Biological Sciences, said that COIL modules gave students the opportunity to understand global problems by talking directly to those experiencing the issues.
“We run modules where students look at local challenges, which is much easier because they're physically here in Leeds experiencing those issues, and they can understand the systems which lead to problems,” she added.
“But that’s so much harder when it suddenly becomes a global challenge, and it's far more abstract.
“If you have somebody that you can ask: you grew up here, what do you think of this? Or someone who has that intrinsic knowledge of how systems work in a particular area or country, it’s really beneficial.
“Their solutions and their thinking was clearly informed by this experience and resulted in some creative work that I don’t think they would have come to without the collaboration.”
Solving problems together
Dr Holmes also praised the benefits of students collaborating across disciplines. In this project, a law student at Nagoya University was able to tell the students about laws and regulations in Japan, which would have taken students a day to research themselves – leaving time to spend looking into solutions.
The modules are coordinated by Dr Martin Ward, Associate Professor of Chinese and Japanese Translation and the COIL lead for Experiential Learning at Leeds. Dr Ward first developed a COIL module with Southwest Jiaotong University – with which Leeds has a joint school of engineering and computer science – thanks to funding from the University’s International Strategy Fund (ISF).
Supporting Leeds’ international strategy, the ISF represents a major investment worth £7 million over five years and enables academic colleagues to engage in international collaboration.
Enriching experience
Professor Hai-Sui Yu, Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Leeds, said: “COIL modules are fantastic opportunities for students to engage with their peers around the world, work collaboratively on issues and learn more about each other’s cultures – all without leaving campus. It also avoids students incurring transport costs – or contributing to emissions, in line with our Climate Plan’s net zero ambitions.
“Students at the University of Leeds can experience COIL modules in a wide range of disciplines, from languages to sciences, business to design, and with universities across the globe including India, Africa, China and Mexico. We want to continue to expand this reach for students in the future.”
Dr Maria Vassileva, from the University of Nagoya, said: “This was an enriching experience for Nagoya University counterparts too. Having a chance to participate in an international project with students located in a different part of the world gave our students a unique perspective that they wouldn’t have been able to get from doing a similar project only among themselves.
“The added plus of an interdisciplinary mix of student backgrounds helped everyone see the project from different sides and gave students a real taste of the power of diversity in tackling complex global issues. The practicalities of setting up online meetings and collaborating on files asynchronously with students in a very different time zone was also an extremely valuable learning experience that would prove useful in any career setting.”
Further information
For further information please contact Becky Pascoe on r.pascoe@leeds.ac.uk