Introduction

This semester, I had the privilege of teaching my first COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) course – and as far as I know, it was the first COIL course offered at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST). COIL is a unique style of online course where students from different countries learn together in the same virtual classroom, with professors from two universities leading the instruction. While the concept has been around for a while (starting in the early 2000s, gaining momentum around 2018 and seeing a surge during the COVID-19 pandemic), this was my first experience with the format.

The course titled "International Sustainable Innovation Management" was co-taught with Markus Graf from Hochschule Karlsruhe (HKA). Now that the course is over and grades have been submitted, I'd like to reflect on the experience and share some of the lessons I've learned.

How the Course Came to Be

This course was the result of a series of chance encounters and fortunate circumstances.

In a nutshell, there is the slightly long-winded story of how this course came to be. If you want the full story expand this section by clicking on the arrow on the left.

Challenges

Organizing and running a COIL course presented a unique set of challenges, requiring meticulous planning and coordination. Here are some of the hurdles we faced:

Course Design and Collaboration

Finding Common Ground: With backgrounds in different disciplines, finding a topic that was relevant and interesting in both Taiwan and Germany, and within our areas of expertise, was our first challenge. I ventured into somewhat unfamiliar territory, which required significant preparation and study, regarding topics like Taiwanese innovation culture.
Building Trust and Understanding: As university lecturers, we are accustomed to having full autonomy over our courses. However, this collaborative setting required compromise and trust-building. Markus and I had numerous preparatory meetings online and met in person several times. This groundwork was essential for establishing a comfortable working relationship.

Navigating University Bureaucracy

Curriculum Integration: The most daunting task was navigating the administrative maze to get the course approved for the curriculum. From initial approvals to integrating the course into the selection system, the process was fraught with obstacles:
- It took from October until late February to have the course added to the selection system.
- There was a clear institutional preference against online courses, necessitating numerous justifications for not conducting the course in a hybrid format.
- Blocked courses were difficult to schedule due to university regulations, leading us to register Markus as an external lecturer, which involved extensive documentation of our shared teaching responsibilities.
- A host of forms had to be completed to satisfy departmental and university requirements.
Original Ambitions Adjusted: Initially, we hoped to issue certificates from the partnering institution, potentially aiding students in securing internships abroad. However, administrative barriers were too high, so we reluctantly abandoned this idea.
Ivy, from the Department of Business Administration's office, was absolutely essential to this course, and it wouldn't have been possible without her help. As a non-native Mandarin speaker, I'm deeply grateful for her support.

Scheduling Complexities