Book
The Guide to COIL Virtual Exchange: Implementing, Growing, and Sustaining Collaborative Online International Learning
(2022)
Abstract
This is the authoritative guide to implementing COIL / Virtual Exchange, conceived, and edited by the originator of this powerful approach to collaborative online learning, Jon Rubin. COIL, the acronym for Collaborative Online International Learning, is the foundation of what has come to be known as virtual exchange; and has now established itself since its first iteration in 2002 as a mature pedagogy that is being increasingly implemented across the world and is validated by a growing body of research.
COIL / Virtual Exchange at its most essential is a bi-lateral online exchange involving the integration of existing courses (so not requiring further institutional approval) across two, or sometime more, institutions that are geographically separated. To launch a COIL VE course, the instructor of a class at a higher education institution in one location links online with a professor and his or her class in another region or country. Together, their students engage and develop joint projects, usually over a continuous five to eight-week period.
Compared to the limited number of students worldwide who can engage in study abroad, COIL VE potentially opens up more equitable and inclusive participation in international education and intercultural experiences to all students, involves them in rigorous disciplinary studies, and promotes close and constructive engagement with students with different cultural perspectives.
While many COIL courses are launched by individual instructors, based on their research connections and online outreach, they are being increasingly supported by dedicated institutional staff who facilitate virtual exchanges and provide professional development.
This comprehensive guide covers COIL VE pedagogy, provides examples what takes place in the COIL classroom, and explores what instructors and staff need to know to facilitate and support a variety of COIL courses across the curriculum. It addresses how institutional stakeholders, especially those in leadership positions, can develop and embed a successful COIL initiative at their institution. It offers varied perspectives of COIL viewed from different institutional and cultural vantage points—from research universities, community and technical colleges, and university systems—and describes how COIL VE is developing in five different world regions, presenting eleven case studies.
Beyond concluding with a guide to twelve global organizations that support COIL VE, the book provides links to the COIL Connect for Virtual Exchange Website that will update the directory of organizations, include an expanding database of faculty and institutions participating in COIL and looking for partners, course, templates, survey data, and case studies.
This book offers faculty and administrators across the world—whether formally involved in international education, in service-learning and community engagement, or wanting to incorporate a cross-cultural perspective in their disciplinary courses—with the theoretical foundations, guidance on effective collaboration, and the strategic and pedagogical considerations to develop robust COIL VE courses and programs.
Keywords
- COIL,
- Virtual Exchange,
- Collaborative Online International Learning,
- International Education
Disciplines
Publication Date
September, 2022
Editor
Edited by Jon Rubin and Sarah Guth With Contributing Editors Stephanie Doscher and Carrie Prior
Publisher
Stylus
Citation Information
Carrie Prior, Jon Rubin, Sarah Guth and Stephanie Doscher. The Guide to COIL Virtual Exchange: Implementing, Growing, and Sustaining Collaborative Online International Learning. Sterling, VA(2022) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/carrie_wojenski/86/