What is a COIL activity?

• COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) is a methodology that promotes intercultural learning through online collaboration between teachers and students living in different countries and/or locations within the context of a course.
   
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Why participate?

We live in a multicultural society, and it is common to find ourselves living in a community where we can identify with various cultural groups, but can we really consider ourselves global citizens?

Do we recognize and understand the differences between our cultures? Do we engage and interact with each other? Do we have the tools to understand diversity and feel comfortable in it?

Participating in a COIL activity not only introduces us to intercultural communication and collaborative growth with an international dimension, but also makes it easier for us to do so in an environmentally and economically sustainable way.

This is an excellent opportunity to experience a different perspective through collaborative and cross-cultural work, to gain a deeper understanding of yourself and those around you, as well as increase flexibility and adaptability.

Methodology

This experience is based on COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), a teaching and learning methodology developed by Jon Rubin at the State University of New York (SUNY).

COIL combines the four essential dimensions of virtual exchange:

• It is a collaborative exercise between teachers and students.
• It makes use of technology for online interaction (synchronous or asynchronous).
• It requires teamwork in an international dimension.
• It is integrated into the learning process.

COIL at the URV

Institutional strategy

The COIL is part of the strategies aimed at promoting "internationalization at home", that is to say, those that seek for the entire institution to internationalize from within, through:

• The internationalization of the curriculum.
• A bigger and better international welcome.
• A greater offer of international itineraries.

COIL support for teachers

URV technical support

La Factoria is the CRAI service that supports learning, teaching and R+D+I. Find their website here.

La Factoria helps you to:

• Use office, multimedia and design applications, supporting you in tasks such as video, photo and audio editing, format preservation, storage, pdf editing, etc.
• Use specific software and technologies for the preparation and presentation of academic works and teaching materials.
• Use 2.0 tools to improve the learning and teaching process, as well as communicate research results.
• Use the URV Virtual Training Environment: teaching spaces, tutorials and portfolio (Moodle and Mahara).

Consult the Virtual Campus here.

In addition, many departments have a technician who can help you with practical matters such as setting up a video conference where you can record the speaker and the audience, edit a video, etc.

The COIL technical support of the International Center can also help you find which tool might be most useful to you or to set up a very simple website for the COIL activity. Tell us about your situation and we will do our best to find the best solutions for your proposal.