Faculty Hesitancy
FIU Associate Teaching Professor Dr. Ming Fang specializes in second language writing, multilingual writing pedagogy, transnational writing program administration.
Dr. Fang was eager to COIL her course, Writing Across Borders, in order to engage her students with peers using other writing and rhetoric traditions. Fang jumped in eagerly with a partner in China, but initial efforts fell short due to their limited knowledge of collaborative design. Rather than give up, Fang took advantage of COIL professional development, and she and her partner developed new activities that demanded true collaboration. Similar to working on a jigsaw puzzle, successful learning was achieved when everyone in the group contributed their own unique knowledge to the project’s completion. Dr. Fang’s hard work paid off. Student feedback motivated her further: “Listening to [FIU student] Charis’ experience strengthened my determination to continue designing COIL courses,” says Dr. Fang. Little did Fang know that at the outset, students like Charis had their own qualms about COIL.