Occupational therapy students’ perception on participating in an international collaborative learning project

Abstract

Introduction: Internationalisation has gained traction in higher education given its merits in preparing students to cope in diverse and multicultural settings. International online collaborative learning provides students the opportunity to achieve internationalisation goals in their local contexts. The International Discussions in Occupational Therapy i-DOT project is an online collaborative learning opportunity for occupational therapy students from nine institutions from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, France, Kuwait, the United Kingdom and South Africa. It facilitates student discourse on occupational therapy-related topics between foreign counterparts, through English-based online discussions, in the absence of collective online teaching. The i-DOT is the first known project in occupational therapy higher education involving this many international institutions, using a design that provides flexibility and autonomy to its involvement of institutions.

Aims and objectives: The research aimed to describe occupational therapy students’ perceptions and experiences of participating in i-DOT, an international online collaborative discussions project. The objectives were to describe the benefits, facilitators and barriers to participation in the project for occupational therapy students.

Research design and method: A quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional survey design was employed. Occupational therapy students from nine international institutions, involved in i-DOT in 2022, formed the population of the study. The entire population was invited to participate, implementing non-probability volunteer sampling. Data was collected through a self-developed electronic questionnaire, offered in English and German, distributed by occupational therapy educators from the respective institutions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative data, together with the application of the Kawa Model as a theoretical framework. Principles of trustworthiness, reliability and ethics were adhered to.

Results: Occupational Therapy students achieved academic, professional, personal, social and/or diversity-related benefits through i-DOT. Student-led strategies, educator-led strategies and the design of the online collaborative learning project acted as facilitators to student participation. Barriers to participation included, but were not limited to, language-related challenges, time management and technological difficulties.

Conclusion: Occupational therapy students benefitted broadly from i-DOT, an international collaborative learning project. Educators may promote maximal student development by considering participation enablers and inhibitors.