Opportunity: International course collaboration
Are you interested in providing students with an international experiential learning opportunity? Mark your calendar for Oct. 23, when Jon Rubin, founder of COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), will be visiting the St. John’s campus.
Join the webcast.
(Got a question for Mr. Rubin? Ask on Twitter using #COILNL)
Originating from the State University of New York, COIL gives students, faculty and partners a way to make learning globally integrated by adding international online components to courses that already exist. An international online component can be as simple as global peer reflections on shared readings, peer-to-peer interviews, collaborative problem solving, debates and/or discussions, or collaborative project work.
Students from different countries, while enrolled in their own institution's courses, work on shared projects with faculty members from each country co-teaching and evaluating their collaborations.
During his visit, Mr. Rubin will provide a general presentation (webcast available) about the initiative, as well as a hands-on workshop for anyone interested in taking the next step. Space is limited; if you are interested in attending either of these events, please contact gwhite@mun.ca.
Presentation
An Introduction to COIL
Date/time: Monday, Oct. 23, 10-30 a.m.-12 p.m.
Location: McCann Centre, ED2030B, or tune by webcast
RSVP: gwhite@mun.ca
We live in a world where globalization is affecting us in manifold ways, but where many people are forming their opinions of the world and others without authentic knowledge. So much of the information we receive is filtered and distorted, to the point that “fake news” has become one of the cliché phrases of the day. Our students and our faculty need to transcend that noise to see the world for what it is, by having authentic interactions with people living in other cultures and environments. Until recently the only way to do this was to travel, but very few university students, and fewer instructors than we would like, will ever have the chance to blend study and research with travel.
COIL provides an innovative and authentic pathway for our students and our instructors to interact with the world - that was not possible in the past. COIL is based upon developing team-taught learning environments where teachers from two cultures work together to develop a shared syllabus, emphasizing experiential and collaborative student learning. By utilizing rapidly expanding Internet connectivity and increasingly widely available, and less expensive technology, it has become possible for our instructors, our students, and our classrooms to be connected to international academics and their students far away.
Jon Rubin, an independent consultant, and founder of the SUNY COIL Center which has been developing this modality for over 15 years, will give an overview of the COIL model and share pathways through which Memorial University might actively engage this emerging format of international education.
Workshop
COIL Hands-On Workshop
Date/time: Monday, Oct. 23, 1-4 p.m.
Location: McCann Centre, ED2030B
RSVP: gwhite@mun.ca
Following upon his general presentation, Jon Rubin will meet with a group of interested Memorial University faculty and staff to drill down further, exploring how COIL partnerships are established and how COIL courses are developed. Participants will review exemplar courses and course designs, will have a chance to outline a hypothetical COIL course of their own design, and will learn how COIL initiatives are growing on other campuses around the world.
About Jon Rubin
Jon Rubin was Founder and served as Director of the SUNY COIL Center from 2006-2017. He directed the National Endowment for the Humanities funded: COIL Institute for Globally Networked Learning in the Humanities (2010-13), which engaged 47 U.S. and international universities in COIL course development. He also led the COIL Center’s award program with the American Council for Education supporting Technology to Internationalize (2013-14) and directed the COIL Center’s Stevens Initiative project in the MENA region (2016-17).
Jon was previously Associate Professor of Film/New Media at SUNY Purchase where he developed a Cross-Cultural Video course in which SUNY students co-produced videos with students in Turkey, Mexico, Belarus, and Germany. His films have been shown internationally and he received Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships. Recently he created COIL Consulting (coilconsult.com) to support universities launching their own COIL initiatives.