Try COIL with an international faculty partner and have your students work on a project with students from another country.
COIL is an approach that brings students and professors together across cultures to learn, discuss, and collaborate as part of their class. Professors partner to design the experience and students partner to complete the activities designed.
COIL becomes part of the curriculum, enabling all students to foster their global competencies through an intercultural learning environment that links classes in different countries. Using various communication technologies, students from different countries complete shared assignments and projects, with faculty members from each country co-teaching.
Professors Work Together to
- Define student learning goals
- Determine the length of the interaction
- Design comparative and collaborative activities
- Select methodology and technology tools for collaboration
- Monitor student work and learning
Students Work Together to
- Develop effective international/intercultural teams
- Discuss course assignments and content
- Complete a project-based activity as part of their coursework
- Reflect on both the academic content of the course and the intercultural exchange that takes place
A sample COIL course collaboration
Conducting a COIL course at KPU
4 stages
- Partner Search
- Designing
- Teaching
- Review
Previous KPU COIL Classes (For Internal Users only)
Expressions of Interest Deadline
| Teaching COIL in... | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Summer 2025 | January 31, 2025 |
| Fall 2025 | April 15, 2025 |
| Spring 2026 | August 15, 2025 |
| Summer 2026 | January 31, 2026 |
Faculty will need a full term of preparation time before beginning to co-teach with their global partner.
Get Started
To express interest or get more information, please contact global.partnerships@kpu.ca in the Office of Global Engagement
Events
Previous Info Session
COIL Info Session Webinar Recording (May 2024) -- Internal Access Only
More information on sponsored training and the COIL Initiative Fund can be found here.
COIL courses are not limited to courses containing internationally-focused or intercultural content. COIL courses can and have been implemented in Science, Design, Technology, and other disciplinary contexts as well. To develop a COIL course, the key thing for you to consider is whether your course has content that lends itself well to students working collaboratively in international groups. If so, the intercultural experiences can thus become an overlay to the existing course syllabus.
In addition to the curriculum, some important considerations that need to be taken into account when planning a COIL course include time zones, academic terms, the language of instruction, academic level, access to information, technology, etc.