The midterm conference of the project TUD COIIIL (TU Dresden Collaborative Online International, Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Learning) took place from 23 to 25 March 2021. Project partners TU Dresden, Stellenbosch University (SU) and Shiraz University were hoping to meet in person, but ended up convening online in compliance with COVID-19 protocols.

TUD COIIIL, which commenced in October 2020, is aimed at applying digitisation in the internationalisation context, and building a common virtual platform to collect, share and further develop teaching and partnership tools. More specifically, the year-long programme seeks to develop common intercultural training curricula for both standalone use and integration with regular study programmes. Another goal is to design learning analytics for intercultural curricula. The project is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service.

 Representatives from the three partners as well as two external evaluators tuned in to track and document project progress. While the initiative will come to an end in September 2021, the intention is to apply for a second round of funding and, in the process, extend the project's lifespan.

 Joint morning sessions and breakaway groups examined topics such as interculturality, virtual collaborative learning frameworks, digital international teaching and international partnerships. Mostly, however, the event was used to plan and decide on the way forward, as well as to identify the desired outputs by September 2021. During the conference, participants worked collaboratively on a Miro board (see depiction above) – an online whiteboard for visual collaboration. Each day, project partners worked on a specific part of the board, documenting the progress and decisions made that day. A COIIIL timeline was also produced.  In terms of outputs, Stellenbosch University intends to design and implement a short course for students on intercultural competencies, as well as contributing to an online toolbox and COIIIL academy that will be available after the project.

 For lack of face-to-face contact, the event also saw some innovative solutions to promote community building and strengthen relationships between the project partners. One example was gathered. town Pub, a virtual social space where participants could engage with one another through avatars (see screenshot below) and real-time video calls, which made for a fun experience.