Interweavings: Introducing CO[I]IL

Col­lab­o­ra­tive Online Indige­nous Inter­cul­tur­al Learn­ing or CO[I]IL is an Indige­nous-focused vir­tu­al exchange where­by two or more fac­ul­ty based in dif­fer­ent coun­tries and insti­tu­tions col­lab­o­rate to devel­op a series of syn­chro­nous and asyn­chro­nous activ­i­ties for their stu­dents. Stu­dents com­plete the activ­i­ties in inter­na­tion­al teams using dig­i­tal col­lab­o­ra­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion tools.

CO[I]IL uses tech­nol­o­gy and the Inter­net to bring diverse fac­ul­ty and stu­dents together—across bor­ders of
time, space, lan­guage, cul­ture, and discipline—to engage in peer-to-peer inter­cul­tur­al dia­logue and
mean­ing­ful projects, that sup­port devel­op­ing inter­cul­tur­al flu­en­cy and an under­stand­ing of dif­fer­ent cul­tur­al con­texts.

Since CO[I]IL is embed­ded with­in the cur­ricu­lum, par­tic­i­pat­ing stu­dents gain access to the world and its diver­si­ty with­in the class­room. Scroll down to find out more, or down­load the fol­low­ing PDF for more infor­ma­tion: Inter­weav­ings Intro­duc­ing CO[I]IL

Traditional COIL versus Collaborative Online Indigenous Intercultural Projects

While tra­di­tion­al Col­lab­o­ra­tive Online Inter­cul­tur­al (or Inter­na­tion­al) Learn­ing projects focus on pro­vid­ing stu­dents and instruc­tors with in-class inter­na­tion­al and inter­cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences, CO[I]IL goes one step fur­ther by devel­op­ing Indige­nous-focused local com­mu­ni­ty-based projects, inter­weav­ing both local and glob­al per­spec­tives.

Traditional COIL projects have four key dimensions:
  • teach­ers and stu­dents col­lab­o­rate with­in and across class­rooms
  • online tech­nol­o­gy and inter­ac­tion are essen­tial com­po­nents
  • inter­na­tion­al and inter­cul­tur­al learn­ing is cen­tral
  • the project is inte­grat­ed into exist­ing cred­it-bear­ing cours­es

For a brief intro­duc­tion to COIL, watch the fol­low­ing 3‑minute video.

How CO[I]Il is Different

Interweaving the Indigenous and the Intercultural

Col­lab­o­ra­tive Online Indige­nous Inter­cul­tur­al Learn­ing (CO[I]IL) is found­ed on the fol­low­ing guid­ing prin­ci­ples:

  • a non-Indige­nous instruc­tor and an Indige­nous instruc­tor come togeth­er in a part­ner­ship of col­lab­o­ra­tion and reci­procity
  • the project reflects and inte­grates Indige­nous ped­a­gog­i­cal approach­es, (see Facil­i­tat­ing online learn­ing with the 5R’s: Embed­ding Indige­nous Ped­a­gogy into the Online Space based on Kirk­ness & Barnhardt’s (1991) 4R’s of Indige­nous ped­a­gogy as a start­ing point and also seek out local resources where avail­able)
  • the project pri­or­i­tizes the needs of Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties local to each insti­tu­tion, ensur­ing that final class projects ben­e­fit these com­mu­ni­ties
  • both fac­ul­ty and stu­dents engage with Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties local to each part­ner insti­tu­tion, focus­ing on the needs of the local com­mu­ni­ty

The CO[I]IL Path­way 

The CO[I]IL Path­way guides instruc­tors through every step of the CO[I]IL expe­ri­ence, allow­ing teach­ers to enter the process at the point most appro­pri­ate for them, encour­ag­ing an iter­a­tive and ongo­ing cycle of learn­ing, engage­ment, and reflec­tion.

This Path­way inter­weaves Indige­nous ped­a­go­gies, inter­cul­tur­al per­spec­tives, and land-based approach­es with aca­d­e­m­ic expec­ta­tions and can be adapt­ed to the pri­or­i­ties of any community/context with­in which the Path­way is uti­lized.

“Cen­tral to the Path­way and impor­tant at each step, is the focus on the local, on rela­tion­ship build­ing, and reci­procity.”

This col­lab­o­ra­tive Path­way is evolv­ing through dia­logue with stake­hold­ers and com­mu­ni­ties across five BC part­ner insti­tu­tions, along with inter­na­tion­al part­ner insti­tu­tions.

Draw­ing on exist­ing exper­tise with­in the net­work ensures inter­cul­tur­al com­pe­ten­cies and agreed-upon Indige­nous ped­a­gog­i­cal approach­es are pri­or­i­tized, in cul­tur­al­ly appro­pri­ate ways across con­texts, to ensure local com­mu­ni­ties remain at the cen­ter. Inher­ent with­in Indige­nous ways of know­ing and inte­gral to the Path­way are the Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Goals (SDGs). Con­sid­er­ing the SDGs in CO[I]IL project devel­op­ment enhances our abil­i­ty to con­nect with Indige­nous pri­or­i­ties and goals on a local and glob­al lev­el.

At the heart of this CO[I]IL Path­way lies the com­mit­ment to rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, decol­o­niza­tion, and Indi­g­e­niza­tion, with the voic­es of Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties lead­ing the con­ver­sa­tions.

The Path­way takes fac­ul­ty through the fol­low­ing steps:

  • Posi­tion­ing: Walk­ing in a Good Way
  • Inter­weav­ing: Braid­ing the Indige­nous and the Inter­cul­tur­al
  • Com­mu­ni­ty Build­ing: Co-cre­at­ing Projects
  • Con­nect­ing through Kin­ship: Engag­ing in CO[I]IL
  • Reflect­ing and Reci­procity: Mov­ing For­ward in Reflec­tive Cir­cles

Positioning: Walking in a Good Way

This requires rig­or­ous and ongo­ing self-reflec­tion, vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, and a will­ing­ness to shift and grow through mis­take-mak­ing and expe­ri­en­tial learn­ing. Walk­ing in a good way means:

  • under­stand­ing our own sto­ry and con­nec­tion to the land
  • hon­or­ing the local: pri­or­i­tiz­ing the land we walk on
  • reflect­ing on your heart and spir­it

Interweaving: Braiding the Indigenous and the Intercultural 

Inter­weav­ing refers to how Indige­nous per­spec­tives and ways of teach­ing are inter­wo­ven with inter­cul­tur­al per­spec­tives and ways of teach­ing, with­in a CO[I]IL project. This process includes:

  • explor­ing what it means to be Indige­nous-focused
  • devel­op­ing inter­cul­tur­al flu­en­cy
  • braid­ing dif­fer­ent ways of know­ing and being: inter­weav­ing the Indige­nous and the inter­cul­tur­al

Community Building: Co-creating Projects

This means ensur­ing land-based learn­ing remains at the cen­ter of the Indige­nous-focused online project. It means acknowl­edg­ing and hon­or­ing the lands local to those par­tic­i­pat­ing in the project (at home and over­seas) and seek­ing guid­ance from local knowl­edge keep­ers and oth­ers, to ensure we make appro­pri­ate and respect­ful con­nec­tions with local Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties as we co-cre­ate projects that focus on what is impor­tant to the peo­ple on whose lands we walk. It includes:

  • work­ing well with local Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties to iden­ti­fy a project
  • choos­ing an inter­na­tion­al part­ner
  • get­ting prac­ti­cal — under­stand­ing CO[I]IL logis­tics

Connecting through Kinship: Engaging in CO[I]IL

Stu­dents and instruc­tors across class­rooms work to fos­ter com­mu­ni­ty and con­nec­tion before stu­dents begin on their joint explo­ration. This begins by:

  • com­ing togeth­er through ‘Sto­ries of who I am’
  • engag­ing in local com­mu­ni­ty-based projects
  • learn­ing from each oth­er

Reflecting and Reciprocity: Moving Forward in Reflective Circles

This step rec­og­nizes the ongo­ing and iter­a­tive nature of CO[I]IL and is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to demon­strate an ongo­ing com­mit­ment to devel­op­ing Indige­nous-and inter­cul­tur­al-focused ped­a­go­gies and prac­tices. It involves:

  • reflect­ing on the path we took
  • reflect­ing on our new sto­ry
  • giv­ing back and mov­ing for­ward: con­tem­plat­ing the next steps in our CO[I]IL jour­ney

In the next sec­tions, we’ll explore each of the above steps in more detail.