Does working in cross-cultural teams automatically lead to an increase of intercultural competencies?

This presentation addresses the question of relevant competencies and prior knowledge students as well as lecturers need to have in order to teach and comprehend the advantages of collaborative online international learning projects. COIL projects are an excellent method to provide opportunities for gaining international experiences at home. Students do not necessarily have to travel to other countries or study abroad in order to increase their intercultural awareness. Integrating a COIL project to the curriculum leads not only to increasing cross-cultural awareness of students but also to improving media and digital literacy and to work in virtual teams. However, not all of the students understand this unique opportunity and therefore the learning outcomes are limited in some groups.