International Course Collaboration Using Technology
The COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) Initiative at UW Bothell aims to deepen global engagement of students in the classroom, without requiring travel abroad, by implementing online collaboration with international partners. Read more about our learning outcomes for COIL Courses at UW Bothell.
Video produced by Greg Tuke and Marc Studer
COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) is an approach to fostering 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, with faculty members from each country co-teaching and managing coursework. The term COIL was coined by the State University of New York. UW Bothell's COIL Initiative has benefitted from the many resources available on the SUNY COIL Center website.
Since 2013, UW Bothell has conducted a series of professional development workshops for faculty, hosted Global Engagement through Technology symposia, and developed the COIL Fellows program, which supports UW faculty (on the Bothell and Tacoma campuses currently) in launching COIL courses. We are grateful for financial support from the Jackson School of International Studies to launch our initial efforts, and subsequent support from UWB Academic Affairs to continue the program.
In October 2019, UW Bothell, along with UW Tacoma and several other institutions hosted the inaugural International Virtual Exchange Conference in Tacoma. IVEC 2019 brought together over 360 practitioners, professionals, and policy makers from 30 countries interested in technology, international education, and new pedagogies. During the pandemic, IVEC 2020 and IVEC 2021 have been online events, attracting 500 participants from around the world each.
Since 2014, over 25 COIL courses have been implemented in various departments on all three UW campuses, engaging over 700 students. Several more courses are under development. View the complete list here.
During the 2016-17 academic year, and again in 2019-20, the number of UWB students engaged in a COIL course surpassed the number of students studying abroad.