COLLABORATIVE ONLINE INTERNATIONAL LEARNING (COIL)

STEP 2: Find a Partner

Successful COIL collaborations are built on solid partnerships between faculty members. If you do not already have an established international partner for your COIL assignment/project, the steps below are intended to help you in this process.

• For the spring 2021 semester, the Colorado School of Mines is piloting COIL with the Navoi State Mining Institute in Navoiy, Uzbekistan. If you are interested in COIL, but would like to consider a different institution, please see MINES partnership database to learn about other possible COIL partners.
• Often faculty members have international research and/or professional collaborations but have never thought about engaging their collaborators in classroom projects. Planning a COIL assignment with a colleague with whom you have already interacted and whose working style is familiar to you increases your chances of success.
• Leverage the existing network of Mines’ international partners through Global Education.
  • Although it is not required to partner with an institution with which Mines already has an established relationship, these institutions can be an excellent place to start.
  • Contact Mines’ Assistant Provost for Global Education who can assist you in finding partners from institutions in your areas of expertise.

If you are interested in the pilot program with Navoi State Mining Institute in Uzbekistan, funding is available.  Faculty from any department are encouraged to learn more about this pilot program with Navoi State Mining Institute by setting up 30 minute meeting with David Wright: dwright1@mines.edu.

STEP 3: Co-Design Your Assignment/Project

Once you have been paired with a faculty member abroad, work together to co-design your assignment/project and learning outcomes.

• Consider the following aspects when designing your assignment/project:
  • Learning outcomes: What should student know or be able to do as a result of the
    assignment/project? How do the learning outcomes for the assignment fit within the larger course?
  • Assessments: What assessments (e.g., group presentation, ePortfolio, reflection, etc.) will allow you to know if students have met those outcomes? Consider using rubrics to help you assess the extent to which students have mastered the outcomes.
  • Activity design: How will you introduce the assignment? How will you structure and facilitate collaboration (email, Zoom, Teams, etc.) between universities? What resources/supports will students need to be successful? How will you provide opportunities for practice and feedback?
• Think about task design:
  • Task design is important since many well-intentioned collaborative activities often end up not being collaborative at all. For example, if students are asked to co-write an essay, what often happens is that they divide the work up so that they are co-dependent, i.e. the final product depends on the various parts, but is not collaborative as each partner individually completes their part. Collaborative tasks must, therefore, have some degree of inter-dependence, e.g. completion depends on knowledge, information and/or artifacts that only peers have access to and that cannot be found on the Internet.
• Contact David Wright in Global Education, who can further help you develop the pedagogy of a COIL assignment/project.

STEP 4: Enact Your COIL Assignment/Project

Create a plan for enacting your COIL project. For extended assignments/projects, be sure to check in with your students. It takes time and practice to develop skills such as communication and teamwork. Consider incorporating an assignment where students reflect on their experience with the COIL project.