Enhancing student engagement in higher education: Collaborative online international learning across Nordic universities

This paper examines how Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), supported by active learning methods, enhances student engagement in higher education. The paper builds on a collaboration among three universities in the Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, and Sweden) and a joint course module focused on sustainability conducted over two years, involving a total of 510 students. The primary learning outcomes for the three courses are in the topic area of industrial marketing and purchasing, specifically analyzing firms' business networks to manage interorganizational relationships, including the firms' marketing, purchasing, and supply chain processes. The module, designed as hybrid COIL, is project-based, including synchronous and asynchronous tasks completed in small groups by applying various active learning methods. Student engagement is analyzed across five dimensions: Social, Cognitive, Behavioral, Collaborative, and Emotional. The paper develops a framework that illustrates how COIL and active learning methods enhance student engagement. The combination of tasks with group-based active learning methods is highly important, impacting students’ perceptions of engagement. Peer meetings across universities in small student groups stand out as vastly important in engaging students.