Psychology students from Leeds and Indonesia have worked together to take a unique look at how their cultures influence the way the subject is taught.
The students from across the world collaborated in three online classroom sessions as part of a Collaborative Online Learning (COIL) module run by the University of Leeds.
Psychology student Megan Robinson was employed to be part of the team coordinating the module, alongside second-year student Amy Barleyman.
Megan, who graduated this week with a BSc in Psychology, assisted the team by researching previous COIL modules at Leeds, running pilots, developing ice breaker content and facilitating discussions during the course.
I came to Leeds quite a shy person, but I feel I’m leaving with so much more confidence.
Megan said: “A really important aspect was the ice breakers - we wanted people to get to know each other on a personal level so that they could really make the most of the teamwork. I think encouraging that initial interaction was a big benefit to students – a lot of students have created WhatsApp groups so they can keep in touch with each other in future.
“I’m so glad I was able to be part of the initial stages of this COIL project, taking it from just an idea to a module which worked so well and will hopefully run again each year. It feels really special to have been involved in its development.”
She added: “Leeds has been a fantastic place to study, there have been so many opportunities for me to broaden my perspectives and push myself forward. I came to Leeds quite a shy person, but I feel I’m leaving with so much more confidence.”
International relationships
The collaborative module came from a relationship established by Dr Madeleine Pownall and Dr Richard Harris, both Associate Professors in the School of Psychology in Leeds. In 2023 they visited Indonesia to deliver a workshop around psychological education.
From there, the partnership grew and, thanks to a £25,000 British Council Grant focusing on transnational education, they were able to deliver their first COIL module in partnership with Universitas Indonesia this year.
As part of the sessions, students were asked to reflect on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and how they were interpreted in their respective countries.
Some prompts offered to students in the sessions were:
- What similarities and differences do you notice in how Indonesia and the UK approach this SDG?
- Which psychological concepts or theories help explain people’s behaviour around this SDG?
- How does this SDG show up in daily life for people in Indonesia vs the UK?
Dr Pownall said: “Students were asked to look at the benefit of analysing psychologically cross-culturally. We’re coming at teaching with assumptions that there’s a shared language about what psychology is. We try to embed diversity into programme, but a more genuine, authentic way of doing things seems to be getting students from different cultures to talk to each other.
“We hope this experience allowed students to think about where knowledge comes from, giving them a meaningful experience, and asking them to question things.”
Dr Dicky Pelupessy, Associate Professor and Dean at Universitas Indonesia, said: “This collaboration between our institutions reflects our shared belief that global challenges require global thinking — and that the next generation of psychologically literate graduates must be comfortable working across borders and across cultures — not just within them.
“Some of the richest learning in this programme happened in the moments students realise that a classmate halfway across the world sees something completely differently — and that both are right.”
COIL modules involve students from institutions in different countries collaborating on a learning programme or task. The University of Leeds offers COIL modules across a range of disciplines, from languages to sciences, business to design, and with universities across the world including India, Africa, China, Japan, America and Mexico.
Further information
For further information, please contact Becky Pascoe in the University of Leeds press office at r.pascoe@leeds.ac.uk