Collaborative Cultural Intelligence Digital Online Module to be presented at 2026 Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference

Through a dynamic collaboration between McMaster University’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) and Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), and Guido de Wilde (Leiden University), the “Culturally Connected: Unlocking Cultural Intelligence with a Digital Online Module” project is making meaningful strides in advancing inclusive, intercultural, and globally engaged teaching and learning. 

Led by Dr. Michael Wong, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences, the module builds on the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) workshops hosted by the OIA and Guido de Wilde in Spring 2025. It aims to introduce students to the core dimensions of CQ, while also providing practical tools for navigating intercultural collaboration in academic and professional settings.  

Since its launch in late 2025, the project team has completed the first iteration of the module which was piloted through a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) partnership, This pilot offered real-world context to apply intercultural learning, featuring students from Dr. Wong’s course on Neuroplasticity and students from Neuroscience and Behaviour led by Dr. Nergiz Turgut at USFQ. 

In recognition of its innovation and impact, the project has also been accepted for presentation at the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) 2026 Conference, taking place June 16-19 in Hamilton, ON. This forum will provide a valuable opportunity to share insights, lessons learned, and emerging outcomes with an audience of educators and teaching and learning professionals from across Canada.  The work has also recently been published in the peer-reviewed Scholarship of Teaching and Learning journal Teaching and Learning Inquiry, highlighting the experiences and perceptions of McMaster and Universidad San Francisco de Quito students who participated in the COIL project.

With the module on track to be completed by Fall 2027, the initiative continues to evolve as a model for integrating cultural intelligence into global learning initiatives, and as a foundational resource for students, educators, and staff engaged in international and intercultural contexts.  

This “Culturally Connected: Unlocking Cultural Intelligence with a Digital Online Module” project is supported through one of McMaster’s Partnered in Teaching and Learning grants. To learn more about the project, please click here.