Global Citizenship Education Through Collaborative Online International Learning in the Borderlands: A Case of the Arizona-Sonora Megaregion

Scholars have argued that 21st century educators have the responsibility to incorporate global citizenship activities into academic curricula to meet the demands of an increasingly diverse world. Approaches to global citizenship education that have rendered positive results include service-learning, critical thinking activities, second language acquisition, and international exchanges. The current study explores a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project carried out between university students enrolled in universities located in the Arizona-Sonora Megaregion. The study found that before students participated in COIL they demonstrated a limited understanding of their neighboring country. At the conclusion of the COIL project students demonstrated global citizenship skills such as the ability to analyze international relationships, critically consume media, and make identify points of global interconnectedness.