Collaborative Online International Learning serves Baylor’s mission to “educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service...” by developing student’s intercultural competencies. This multicultural learning environment will increase access to diverse learning opportunities on campus as well as deepening relationships with our international partners.
What is COIL?
COIL in an online collaboration between two instructors from separate international locations. The purpose of COIL is to develop intercultural competency skills through a shared learning environment. By helping students to engage and interact with one another, you are fostering cross-cultural dialogue and enhancing your own course content with a unique global dimension. Projects in a COIL course are team-taught by the instructors and expose and utilize the link between the cultural and geographical perspectives that each group brings.
Partner instructors will work together to develop a single project/activity to be completed by mixed groups of students. These projects should have both discipline specific and intercultural learning objectives and outcomes. Each instructor is responsible for evaluating only their own students, based on criteria relevant to their class.
Getting Started:
Determine how your course would benefit from a COIL project. What institutional resources are available?
Ask yourself, which components of your course would benefit from the different cultural perspectives peers from another geo-location would bring? Are there existing projects or activities which would be enhanced or energized through intercultural engagement?
Are you comfortable integrating the digital tools required for this project into your class? These can range from Zoom, Skype, or Teams to email or LMS systems such as Moodle or Blackboard. Baylor's Library and Academic Technology Services (LATS) can help you determine which tools best meet your needs.
Obtaining and developing a partnership.
What professional networks do you belong to? What former visiting students/scholars have you worked with in the past? Can you utilize existing connections and relationships?
Do you need help finding an international partner? Below are several platforms that Baylor utilizes to help faculty connect:
You can also work directly with Baylor's Center for Global Engagement to identify partners through institutions we currently have mobility agreements with.
Preparing to collaborate.
You are not alone. The Center for Global Engagement (CGE), the Academy for Teaching and Learning (ATL), and Library and Academic Technology Services (LATS) are available to assist you with identifying appropriate partnerships, developing the pedagogical skillsets for intercultural learning outcomes, and choosing the appropriate digital tools for your needs.
Global Baylor will be hosting short virtual information sessions and we encourage all interested faculty and staff to attend. The purpose of these 30-minute sessions is to introduce COIL in greater detail and to discuss how these courses will be recognized on campus.
Links to the Zoom room are provided below.
General Information:
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Wednesday, October 5th @ 2:30pm
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Thursday, October 6th @ 2pm
COIL Workshops
- TBD
Looking for more information? Want to get started on integrating COIL in your class? Please reach out to us at Global_Baylor@Baylor.edu