Development and Implementation of an Innovative, Multi-disciplinary and Multicultural Learning Experience using Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Pedagogy

Health professionals are expected to provide quality healthcare to increasingly diverse social and cultural groups. It is now understood that a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to patient care improves health outcomes and enhances patient satisfaction. However, to provide culturally appropriate and safe collaborative care to varied populations, it is important that health professionals' training incorporates important global citizenship attributes such as cultural responsiveness, effective teamwork and collaboration skills. We are currently implementing a pilot project which is a joint education and research initiative for Public Health and Psychology courses at Monash University (Australia and Malaysia) and Nursing courses at the University of Padua (UNIPD), Italy. This collaborative project brings together future Public Health professionals, Psychology practitioners and Nurses with the aim of equipping them with the necessary skills required to appreciate cultural diversity, enhance cultural responsiveness, and practice effective shared care, through global learning. Our collaborators from both Universities have developed lesson content including case studies based on real-world patient care scenarios. The international collaborators have brought diverse perspectives to content development. COIL is an innovative and effective learning pedagogy aimed at providing a rich international experience to students. Through this project, students will develop intercultural knowledge, competency and other transferable skills relevant to their professional lives, by enhancing their understanding of cultural responsiveness in healthcare. Overall, this collaborative, innovative, and multicultural learning experience has the opportunity to enhance healthcare students' perspectives on cultural responsiveness and increase collaborative care, in a global classroom.