ENGAGING THE WORLD BY CONNECTING OUR WORLD
In 2016, as part of our award-winning Global Learning for Global Citizenship initiative, FIU identified a need to provide new pathways for faculty and students to engage in the process of global learning online. Our search led us to Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), a powerful form of virtual exchange pioneered by the SUNY COIL Center.
FIU established the Office of Collaborative Online International Learning (FIU COIL) in January 2021. FIU COIL's mission is to enable all students and faculty to engage with their diverse peers worldwide in collaborative teaching, learning, research, and innovation online. Through a variety of recruiting, matching, training, and sustaining initiatives, FIU COIL is building a global network of global learners working together to understand and solve our world's most pressing problems.
Milestones
- Spring '16The Office of Global Learning Initiatives collaborates with the College of Arts and Sciences to hold the first symposium introducing COIL to FIU faculty, staff, and administrators.
- Summer '16Stephanie Doscher, then-Director of the Office of Global Learning Initiatives, and Matthew Hagood, Assistant Vice President of Instructional Technology and Innovation, are awarded an FIU Technology Fee Grant to support FIU COIL's development.
- Spring '17FIU implements its first 5 COILs involving 70 FIU undergraduate students in Education and English and 25 College of Law students.
- Spring '18COIL course development funds are part of newly-awarded Title VI grants for FIU's Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean National Resource Center in the School of International and Public Affairs and the Center for Business Education and Research in the College of Business.
- Spring '19FIU holds its first COIL Virtual Exchange Leadership Institute for US and non-US institutions.
- Fall '20FIU launches its custom COIL training program for international networks and institutions through its partnership with Learn Chile.
- Spring '21FIU establishes the Office of Collaborative Online International Learning (FIU COIL) as part of FIU Global. FIU is awarded a Stevens Initiative grant for its project, "Virtual Tabadul," which brings together college-aged youth in the United States and in the Middle East and North Africa for language learning and community building through virtual reality.
- Summer '21The School of International and Public Affairs, Honors College, and College of Business appoint their first COIL Faculty Fellows to advance COIL recruiting, matching, training, and sustaining in their units. FIU COIL and Universidad Católica de Manizales, Colombia, are awarded a 100K Strong in the Americas Innovation grant for their project, "Designing Alternative and Digital Strategies to Build U.S.-Colombia Multidisciplinary Intercultural Identities."
- Fall '21104 COILs implemented since spring '17, involving 2,569 FIU and 2,484 international students. FIU COIL is the Spanish-language professional development provider for Colombia Challenge Your Knowledge's CONECTA program, which produces 15 interdisiplinary COILs involving faculty in different institutions and departments within the nation.
- Spring '22Professor and wind researcher Amal Elawady in FIU’s College of Engineering and Computing’s receives an NSF CAREER Award of more than $700,000 to advance research into the impact of downburst winds on building structures worldwide. The grant supports undergraduate COIL curriculum development with University of Genoa and international exchange research internships for graduate students.
- Fall '22The FIU COIL team grows to include two new roles: Gabriela Méndez as Assistant Director and Alonso Cruz as Operations Manager.
Join our network
Visit our FIU Faculty & Staff and International Partner pages to learn more about our COIL Matching and Training options.