2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Exploring the Impact of STEM COIL Modules on Global Competence: A Study of Indonesian Physics Undergraduates and International Engineering Students in Japan

Presented at Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI) Technical Session 3

This study explores the effect of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) programs on the global competence scores of a diverse group of science and engineering students. In these STEM fields, academics and industry professionals frequently collaborate in global research teams and multinational companies, making cross-cultural teamwork increasingly essential. Over the past decade 'global competence' has become widely recognised by universities and by organisations such as the OECD as a meaningful measure of the skill sets needed to collaborate effectively in multicultural teams. As such, the study authors chose to focus on how global competence (GC) might be improved for STEM students. The research team - comprised of professors from both the STEM and humanities disciplines at Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) in Tokyo, Japan, and of STEM professors at Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) in Surabaya, Indonesia - shares the belief that understanding the historical context surrounding scientific discoveries and the evolution of physical theories is crucial for a comprehensive grasp of physics. A new STEM COIL module incorporating a history component was therefore created, and launched at the Japanese university, with Indonesian undergraduates also taking the course as remote learners. To evaluate the effectiveness of the new interdisciplinary COIL, it was assessed alongside five other existing modules and the results were compared, with the key object of investigation being the effect on participating students' global competence. In total two STEM non-COIL modules, two STEM COIL modules (including the newly created one with a history component), and two History modules (one COIL and one non-COIL) had their pre- and post-program GC scores calculated using the Miville-Guzman Universality Diversity Scale - Short Form (MGUDS-S). Results indicated that the two STEM non-COILs and the single STEM COIL saw declines in student GC scores (-0.71, -1.69, and -2.13 respectively), although the changes were not statistically significant. The newly created STEM COIL with a supplementary history component saw a smaller decline (GC -0.36 points) than those observed in the other STEM modules. Additionally, the new module showed a positive change in one of the three aspects of global competence, 'Comfort with Difference' (+1.55 points). Both the History modules (COIL and non-COIL) displayed improvements in students' GC. These results suggest that while STEM-focused COILs alone may not enhance GC, adding an interdisciplinary element - such as a history component - can have a positive effect. If fostering broader cultural competence is a priority, future STEM COIL initiatives should incorporate an interdisciplinary element.

Authors

Prof. Hatsuko Yoshikubo Ph.D. SHIBAURA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY [biography]

Dr. Hatsuko Yoshikubo obtained Ph. D. in English Literature from Chiba University in Japan in 2002. She is currently a Professor of Humanities and a senior departmental administrator, currently attached to the Innovative Global Program in the College of Engineering at Shibaura Institute of Technology, a highly-ranked engineering university in Tokyo. Innovative Global Program (IGP) is an engineering degree program incorporating humanities components, with a student body consisting mainly of international students (https://igp.shibaura-it.ac.jp).

As part of her current role as Deputy Director of the IGP, she is the Principal Investigator for the following research grants:
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research: Grant 24K06133 (2024-2027)
- Shibaura Institute of Technology Grant for Educational Reform and Research Activity (AY2024).

Her research interests include:
(1) Impacts and potential benefits of including humanities components in science and engineering degree programs
(2) Innovative methods of assessment in science and engineering education, especially in the context of remote learning, hybrid courses, and collaborative international programs
(3) Solving systematic issues that impact the effectiveness of science and engineering education programs, in both in-person and remote learning contexts.

In recent years she has been a presenter at the following international conferences:
World Educational Research Association (WERA):
WERA Conference 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE):
APAIE Conference 2022, 2023,
American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE): Annual Conference 2022, 2023, 2024
International Institute of Applied Informatics (IIAI): International Conference on Data Science and Institutional Research (DSIR) 2023

Awards:
SIT's Presidential Award 2023
ASEE 2023: Multidisciplinary Engineering Division’s 'Best Diversity Paper' Award
DSIR 2021: 'Outstanding Paper' Award
Prof. Dita Puspita Sari Shibaura Institute of Technology [biography]

I am a condensed matter physics experimentalist with expertise in superconductivity and magnetic materials, particularly organic-based compounds, studied by muon spectroscopy. I am currently an Associate Professor in the Innovative Global Program (IGP) and the Global Course of Engineering and Science (GEneS), Shibaura Institute of Technology, where I teach Physics subjects for undergraduate and graduate courses. My colleagues and I have been conducting the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Program for our physics classes with collaborative universities in Southeast Asian Countries, particularly from Indonesia.
Prof. Gabriele Trovato [biography]

Gabriele Trovato is Associate Professor in Shibaura Institute of Technology and Visiting Researcher in Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
As founder and head of LAB 22, Gabriele Trovato is also Principal Investigator in the EU-Japan Horizon 2020 project e-ViTA.
He received his M.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, and Ph.D. degree in Biorobotics in Waseda University. Within the relations between the two countries, Gabriele Trovato has been in the organising committee of Italy-Japan Workshops since 2011, and has been appointed "Ambassador of Livorno in the world" by the Municipality of Livorno, Italy.
He has been Visiting Researcher in Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany), University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), PUCP (Peru) and Imperial College London (UK) among others.
Gabriele Trovato has worked in the video game industry, being involved in the development of the world-wide notorious game series "Sid Meier's Civilization" and having created popular innovative mods for the game.
His main research interests are interdisciplinary and include Human-Robot Interaction, with focus on culture and religion related aspects, artificial emotions in humanoids, robot aesthetics, and procedural content generation.
Gabriele Trovato's latest creations, such as SanTO robots, are a combination of engineering, AI, art and humanities, and raised interest among the worldwide press, including the Wall Street Journal and the BBC.
Prof. Eiji Kamioka [biography]

Prof. Eiji Kamioka (Member, IEEE) received the B.S., M.S., and D.S. degrees in physics from Aoyama Gakuin University. He is currently working as a Professor and a member of the Dean Office of College of Engineering at the Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT). He also leads initiative of implementing COILs at SIT. Before joining the SIT, he was worked at the SHARP Communication Laboratory, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), as a JPSP Research Fellow, and the National Institute of Informatics (NII), as an Assistant Professor. His current research interests include mobile multimedia communications and ubiquitous computing.
Prof. Darminto Darminto ITS Surabaya [biography]

Darminto, INSTITUT TEKNOLOGI SEPULUH NOPEMBER

Darminto graduated from the doctoral program in Physics at the Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia, in 2001, and continued with a post-doctoral research program at Twente University, The Netherlands, from 2001 to 2003. Upon returning, he became a lecturer in the Physics Department at ITS and was appointed as a professor of condensed matter physics in 2011. He served as the university’s vice president for research and partnership (2011-2015), the director of the Institute of Research and Community Engagement (2011-2015), and the executive secretary of the Board of Trustees (2016-2021).
Previously, he participated in research internship programs at the Vienna University of Technology (1997), the University of Amsterdam (1998), and the University of Tokyo (1999). He has collaborated with RIKEN Nishina Center since 2007, the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin, Germany, since 2013, and the Synchrotron Light Research Institute in Thailand since 2016. Additionally, he has networked with numerous universities in Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asian countries, and Germany. These collaborations have been financially supported by national and international research grants.
He has supervised hundreds of undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students, resulting in approximately 500 publications, including articles, posters, books, chapters, and scientific and academic reports. His research interests lie in condensed matter physics, encompassing superconductivity, magneto-electronics, nanomaterials, and 2D materials.
He is a member of the Indonesian Physical Society, the Materials Research Society of Indonesia, the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Association of Advanced Materials, and the International Solar Energy Society. He also served as the President of the Indonesian Magnetics Society (2018-2020).

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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