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COIL's Impacts

COIL connects people and their ideas. Faculty and students who connect their mutual interests and goals through COIL frequently seek ways to expand their work by pursuing other international teaching, research, service, and career development opportunities. We call these additional connections COIL's ripple effects--activities that extend beyond the initial COIL course.
COIL's ripple effects impact participants, their institutions, and their interconnected local and global communities.
Below find more information about COIL's most common ripple effects. You can read more about COIL's real impactful ripple effects in our COIL Stories.

COIL is a high-impact educational practice

High-Impact Educational Practices (HIPs) are teaching and learning methods that have been widely tested and are beneficial for college students from different backgrounds. Educational research on high-impact practices suggests they increase students' retention and engagement rates (AACU).

Collaborative Assignments and Projects and Diversity/Global Learning are two HIPs embedded in every COIL course.

Intercultural communication and language skills

COIL helps participants develop new ways of communicating with people who may not share all aspects of their personal or cultural perspectives. COIL also promotes language learning by engaging students in intentionally designed activities that foster communication skills in their home or new language.

Global Citizenship

The United Nations advocates for higher education institutions to promote global citizenship by empowering students as members of their interconnected local and global communities. COIL develops students' knowledge that their own well-being is interrelated with that of others and that they bear responsibility toward those residing in different countries and continents.

COIL faculty and students exchange and connect different ways of approaching common disciplinary and interdisciplinary objectives, developing a mindset of positive interdependence that contributes to advanced knowledge building across all fields of inquiry. COILs can also lead to real-world problem solving, creating value for society in addition to students' intercultural and disciplinary learning.

Research

Participating in COIL courses engages faculty and students in the exploration of compelling interdisciplinary and transnational issues. This inspires curiosity, prompts further questions, and stimulates research. 

Read our COIL Stories on how COILing inspires research:

Mobility

COIL can motivate students to pursue study abroad and away, engage in international service, or internship programs. It can be partnered with short or long-term mobility to stimulate, extend, or enrich students' mobility-based global learning.

Read about COIL's influence on students' study abroad decisions and preparedness:

Internationalization at Home

COIL complements mobility-based internationalization by engaging students and faculty in low-cost, high-impact, project-based global learning at home. 

Explore recent research and publications emphasizing COIL as a tool for inclusive Internationalization at Home:

Digital Competence

COIL virtual exchange can advance students’ abilities to use technology to communicate, handle information, produce content, and problem solve with others. These skills are critical to social inclusion and mobility for all, especially underserved and minoritized students.

Career Preparation

These days, fewer employers report screening applicants’ resumes based on GPA. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), hiring managers are looking for evidence of applicants’ teamwork and problem solving skills, flexibility and adaptability, and technological competence. COIL experiences provide students with this evidence.