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COIL Seminar Series November 2025

Event Details

Date : 7 Nov (Fri), 12 Nov (Wed), 28 Nov (Fri) 2025

Time :

12:30pm – 1:30pm (HK / SG time)
1:30pm – 2:30pm (South Korea time)

Venue : Zoom

Abstract

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is an innovative and cost-effective pedagogical approach that connects teachers and students from varied geographical regions and cultural backgrounds through virtual exchanges. COIL is useful in developing students’ intercultural competence, global citizenship, communication and digital skills. However, many educators face challenges in identifying teaching partners, designing COIL curricula, and managing time differences. In view of the challenges, Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre (TALIC) from The University of Hong Kong, Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) from Sungkyunkwan University, and Nanyang Technological University will co-organise a series of COIL events in November 2025, with the aim of supporting teacher professional development.

The seminar series consists of informative talks on COIL pedagogy and AI speech translation, a matchmaking initiative to facilitate the search for collaborators, and two sharing sessions of effective COIL practices in English literature, cultural studies, early childhood education, and nursing. With esteemed speakers from The University of Hong Kong, Sungkyunkwan University, Nanyang Technological University, and The Education University of Hong Kong, the series will enlighten participants about COIL course development and productive use of AI technologies for multilingual interaction.

[7 Nov 2025] Session 1

Date : 7 Nov 2025 (Fri)

Time :

12:30pm – 1:30pm (HK / SG time)
1:30pm – 2:30pm (South Korea time)

Venue : Zoom

Speakers :

Dr. Hoo Hui Teng, Senior Lecturer, Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University
Dr. Kyuhong Shim, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University

Abstract

This webinar session explores how cross-border collaboration in higher education can be enhanced through innovative pedagogy and emerging technologies. The first presentation by Dr. Hoo Hui Teng will introduce the value and challenges of COIL rollout in higher education via a scoping review. Dr. Hoo will highlight pedagogical considerations of designing and implementing meaningful collaborative online activities.

The second presentation by Dr. Kyuhong Shim will introduce AI speech translation and its implications for education. He will outline core challenges such as simultaneous translation, low-resource languages, and code-switching, while also showcasing widely used AI-powered tools like Google Live Translate and MS Teams Live Captioning. Despite their potential, these tools still face issues of accuracy, latency, and emotional nuance. Looking ahead, he will discuss how multimodal LLMs may open new possibilities for multilingual interaction in higher education.

An Anatomy of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)

Dr. Hoo Hui Teng is a Senior Lecturer at Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University. She leads the Business School’s Assurance of Learning Innovation which looks into pedagogies, assessments and feedback for effectual teaching and learning. As a multiple teaching award educator, Dr. Hoo is a recipient of several education grants, including two NTU COIL grants in 2022 and 2024.

An Overview of AI Speech Translation: Challenges, Tools, and Future Directions

Dr. Kyuhong Shim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University. His research focuses on AI-based speech and language processing, extending his Ph.D. work on efficient speech recognition to broader applications such as translation and multilingual support. Before joining SKKU, he worked at Qualcomm Korea where he developed efficient speech and language models for mobile and multilingual applications. His current work emphasises building more natural and human-like speech interfaces by leveraging LLMs.

[12 Nov 2025] Session 2

Date : 12 Nov 2025 (Wed)

Time :

12:30pm – 1:30pm (HK / SG time)
1:30pm – 2:30pm (South Korea time)

Venue : Zoom

Speakers :

Dr. Ann Ang, Assistant Professor, English Language and Literature Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University
Dr. Winnie L. M. Yee, Senior Lecturer, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU

Abstract

Following the workshops on November 7, we invite two experienced COIL teachers to share their practices. In the first sharing, Dr. Ann Ang will talk about the teaching and learning approaches explored in the COIL grant-funded module Literatures of Southeast Asia, co-taught with Universiti Brunei Darussalam. The three-part structure (hybrid lecture, breakout room discussions and an in-person session) allowed students to co-construct interpretations of literary texts from the region, while critiquing assumptions and sharing locational knowledge.

In the second sharing, Dr. Winnie Yee will introduce her COIL course with the Faculty of Humanities at Utrecht University (The Netherlands) in the summer of 2023. Designed as a transdisciplinary course, it aims to bring together the Master students from sciences, social sciences, and humanities who share an interest in creatively rethinking the Earth and its inhabitants, particularly urban deltas as critical zones. She will also reflect on the advantages of the COIL initiative for student learning and discuss the challenges involved in coordinating and sustaining the course.

Cultural and Material Exchanges in Literary Southeast Asia

Dr. Ann Ang is an Assistant Professor of English Literature at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. Her current research interests include comparative methods for anglophone Southeast Asian literatures, Singapore and Malaysian poetry, and ecocritical approaches to regional writing. Dr. Ang’s work is published in Kritika Kultura, The Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Interventions and Modernism / Modernity. She is also a writer of poetry and fiction, and has edited several literary anthologies.

Rethinking Urban Deltas: A Transdisciplinary COIL Journey Across Continents

Dr. Winnie L. M. Yee is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature and the programme coordinator for the MA in Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include ecocriticism, contemporary Chinese literature and film, Hong Kong culture, and independent cinema. She is currently a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies, Kyung Hee University (South Korea). She has previously been a fellow at the Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society at Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich. She has published essays in journals such as Interventions, Cultural Studies, CLCWeb, Asian Cinema, PRISM, and other publications.

[28 Nov 2025] Session 3

Date : 28 Nov 2025 (Fri)

Time :

12:30pm – 1:30pm (Hong Kong / Singapore Time)
1:30pm – 2:30pm (South Korea time)

Venue : Zoom

Speakers :

Dr. Anika Saxena, Lecturer, Department of Early Childhood Education, The Education University of Hong Kong
Dr. Polly Siu Ling Chan, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, HKU

Abstract

As the final event of this series, we examine COIL cases from early childhood education and nursing. In the first sharing, Dr. Anika Saxena will share her COIL collaboration with a Mexican institution, highlighting effective strategies, best practices for implementing COIL and practical solutions for overcoming common challenges. Participants will gain insights into enhancing global collaboration and fostering meaningful educational experiences.

In the second sharing, Dr. Polly Chan will present a technology-enhanced interprofessional e-learning initiative, designed to foster cross-cultural collaboration and engagement among healthcare students in Hong Kong, Mainland China, South Korea, and Thailand. Through asynchronous gamified modules and synchronous Virtual Reality 360 simulations, the students from different geographical regions worked in diverse teams to explore case-based scenarios and engage in collaborative group work.

COIL Unlocked: Effective Strategies, Best Practices, and Overcoming Challenges

Dr. Anika Saxena is a Lecturer in the Department of Early Childhood Education (ECE) at the Education University of Hong Kong. Her teaching areas include early childhood teacher education, leadership, curriculum, technology integration and computational thinking in early childhood education. Trained as a science, computer science, and ECE teacher, Dr. Saxena worked in ECE education in Hong Kong for many years, holding several senior leadership positions in international and local schools. This experience gained a broad understanding of ECE curriculum, teacher training, leadership, and technology integration in education. Dr. Saxena’s research interests include early childhood teacher education, technology integration in education, flipped classrooms, artificial intelligence & computational thinking in education, and the creative aspects of teaching and learning.

Promoting students’ intercultural capabilities via Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)

Dr. Polly Siu Ling Chan is a Principal Lecturer in the School of Nursing at The University of Hong Kong. She is experienced in curriculum review, design and development. She is interested in educational research that focuses on internationalization, innovation and interdisciplinarity. She has received numerous related educational grants as the Principal Investigators.

In 2023, Dr. Chan has been awarded the Faculty Teaching Medal by The Faculty of Medicine, and the Teaching Innovation Award (Team Award) under the Teaching Excellence Award Scheme, The University of Hong Kong.