What to Expect in a COIL Course

COIL as a Global Classroom aims at providing faculty and students with the opportunity to learn, interact, and collaborate with peers abroad, fostering intercultural experiences through their courses. 

As an immersive international experience, in a COIL course FSC students will share lectures, readings, and assignments, while interacting synchronously and/or asynchronously with fellow students at an international partner university, in a few modules of their courses. The collaboration between students can be in real time through video sessions or through email and online discussion groups. By working with one another, course content is enriched, and it offers an invaluable experience for students and their professors. Faculty collaborate with other faculty in different countries to develop course content that helps expose students to common issues from different cultural perspectives. The part of the syllabus devoted to COIL is designed to organize the activities of students from the collaborating institutions, who are divided into teams that work on projects together in a globalized community. COIL courses strive to incorporate the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

COIL Breakdown

• 2 (or more) classes collaborating through 5 to 10 modules/weeks
• 2 (or more) instructors from different institutions
• 2 (or more) cohorts of students working on collaborative projects/tasks
• 2 or more cultures, and possibly, languages

Benefits/Outcomes

• Global Learning for all, integrated into the curriculum
• Applied Learning/Civic Engagement credits
• Development of 21st century communication and problem-solving skills
• Intercultural awareness and competency development
• Interdisciplinary application of knowledge
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion fostered in the Global Classroom
• Cost effective, scalable internationalization
• High impact practice for teaching and learning

Impacts and benefits for FSC

• Professional development for faculty and staff
• Significant international experience for a broader range and greater number of students
• Increased appreciation for diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Applied learning credits for students
• New institutional partnerships
• Increase student study abroad interest/preparation
• Stimulate course redesign to include technology
• Alignment with the Strategic Plan to be recognized as a center of excellence in teaching and applied learning.