Office of Connected Learning

COIL Initiative

Global Learning through virtual exchange

The COIL Initiative at UW Bothell aims to deepen students’ global engagement in the classroom without requiring travel abroad by collaborating with international partners. COIL is a pedagogy that fosters global competence through development of a multicultural learning environment that links university classes in different countries. Using various communication technologies, students complete shared assignments and projects, co-taught and managed by faculty members from each country.

The term COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) was coined by the State University of New York and our initiative has benefitted from SUNY’s many resources. Since 2014, over 50 COIL courses have been implemented in various departments, connecting nearly 1,500 students with peers in different countries. During the 2016-17 academic year, and every year since 2019-20, the number of UW Bothell students engaged in a COIL course has surpassed those studying abroad.

Developing COIL courses

Interested in developing a COIL course or launching a COIL initiative on your campus? COIL courses can be launched in all disciplines, and often lead to unique insights when interdisciplinary connections are made. Check out our course development page where we’ve compiled tools to help you move forward, including specific learning outcomes for COIL courses at UW Bothell.

resources for developing coil courses

COIL Fellows Program

The tri-campus UW COIL Fellows Program supports faculty in developing and implementing COIL modules in their courses with structured training, a community of practice and a stipend. The goal is to integrate COIL throughout the UW curriculum, and make this local form of global engagement, which doesn’t necessitate travel, a regular part of UW’s academic offerings. Faculty of all ranks and from all schools, who teach at the UW full-time and are interested in developing a course collaboration with an international partner, are invited to apply for the program each Autumn.

learn more about the coil fellows program

Questions?

Please contact us if you have any questions about the COIL Initiative.

  • UW Bothell: Natalia Dyba (nataliak@uw.edu), Director of Global Initiatives
  • UW Tacoma: Vanessa de Veritch Woodside (vdw@uw.edu), Executive Director, Office of Global Affairs; UW Tacoma COIL site
  • UW Seattle: Office of Global Affairs; UW Seattle COIL site

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