Collaborative online international learning between Spain and Mexico: a microlearning experience to enhance creativity in complexity Romero Rodríguez, José María Ramírez-Montoya, María Soledad Glasserman-Morales, Leonardo David Ramos Navas-Parejo, Magdalena COIL Microlearning Creativity skills Higher education International learning Complexity This paper is a product of the project "Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)", between the UGR and the Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico), with support for new internationalisation initiatives from the Vice-Rectorate for Internationalisation of the UGR (programme 8). Purpose – The aim of this paper was to analyse the creative competence of students before and after a micro-learning experience carried out in a collaborative online international learning (COIL) environment between Spanish and Mexican university students in the field of education and entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach – A single-group quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test measures was adopted. The composition of the group was natural and included a total of 57 students who participated in the COIL experience. The duration was three weeks, where students from both countries were linked together in the development of a micro-learning project. The creativity self-efficacy scale was used as a data collection instrument. Findings – The micro-learning activities through COIL developed the creative competence of the participating students. In particular, the groups from both universities improved their scores on the creative competence in the post-test compared to the pre-test measure. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of this study were linked to the sample loss of some cases, as some students did not complete the post-test measure. The main implication of the study was to demonstrate that COIL experiences are suitable for developing certain skills in students, such as creative competence or co-operative work. Originality/value – COIL experiences break down the barriers of physical space and give students an active role, allowing them to fully develop competences and offering an intercultural perspective, which encourages open-mindedness and understanding of the world. 2023-10-16T10:31:51Z 2023-10-16T10:31:51Z 2023-02-27 journal article Romero-Rodríguez, J.-M., Ramirez-Montoya, M.S., Glasserman-Morales, L.D. and Ramos Navas-Parejo, M. (2023). "Collaborative online international learning between Spain and Mexico: a microlearning experience to enhance creativity in complexity". Education + Training, Vol. 65 No. 2, pp. 340-354. [https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-07-2022-0259] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/85024 10.1108/ET-07-2022-0259 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional Emerald Publishing Limited