Instructor’s Guide for Collaborative Online International Learning

Introduction

For the past seventeen years, I have been involved in various projects and activities aiming to internationalize higher education for students and staff at Masaryk University and elsewhere (for example in France, the Netherlands, the US, and other countries). My focus and interest have gradually shifted from traditional mobility programs to internationalization at home (Beelen & Jones, 2015), internationalization of curriculum (Leask, 2015), COILs (Collaborative Online International Learning), and Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Program (a combination of virtual exchange of students with their short-term physical mobilities). My motivation and mission have been to create opportunities for all students and teachers to develop intercultural and global competences through internationalizing curriculum, teaching, and learning. COIL has helped me to achieve this goal many times and in many ways: first in 2018 when launching the first COIL with professors and students from the University of Minnesota, during the COVID-19 pandemic with students and partners from McLennan Community College in Texas, and most recently (2023-2024) with students and colleagues from NLA University College in Norway and from partner universities in the Erasmus Key Action 2 Project ‘Sustainable Competences in Higher Education’: UCL University College in Denmark, University of Agder in Norway, and University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. ‘COILing’ has inspired many of my colleagues at HE institutions at home and abroad, and by the end of 2023, fifteen academics from seven departments of my home institution, the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University, have conducted COILs for over four hundred students, both at home and abroad.

This electronic COIL Guide (e-COIL Guide, hereinafter e-CG) is meant for all teachers and researchers who share the vision of an ongoing materialization of the ideas of internationalization at home for all their students. The e-CG will assist you in every step in building your students’ linguistic, intercultural, and global competences. You may go through all the steps (chapters) one by one or you may go directly to the chapter that most corresponds to where you find yourself in terms of COIL design or preparation:

Chapter 1 What is COIL.
Chapter 2 Why COIL - its importance in today’s globally interconnected world.
Chapter 3 First steps before COIL - how to find partners, develop trust for successful collaboration, and what institutional variables to consider before designing COIL.
Chapter 4 Designing COIL - how to design COIL projects with partners, define objectives, and students’ learning outcomes.
Chapter 5 Designing Tasks - what types of online and onsite learning activities to use and what they should include.
Chapter 6 Instructor’s Roles - what you will be expected to do and how your roles as a COIL instructor might be different from a traditional classroom instructor’s experience.
Chapter 7 Choosing the platforms and technology tools for online collaboration (co-authored with Meghan Alexandra Vaszko) - including illustrative pictures and short guides on how to use some of the tools.
Chapter 8 Running the COIL - how to conduct 6-7 or 7-10 week COIL, including tips for students’ preparation, ice-breaking activities, online communication, online group dynamics and its management, and how to facilitate students’ reflection on their learning experience.
Chapter 9 Evaluating the impact and sustaining COILs - tips on how to evaluate COIL based on a short review of impact reports in Europe and the USA.
Chapter 10 Conclusion - video tutorial giving final tips on the technology use, supporting students' reflection and intercultural learning, and the use of COIL as a pre-arrival activity.