SUNY COIL Conference 2018

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) holds tremendous potential for expanding students’ global perspective. Fruitful collaboration requires mutual respect and faculty commitment to full partnership during the design and implementation of the course.
Planning for COIL courses is also more effective when the course faculty have access to an intermediary or cultural bridge that can observe the conversation between the teaching faculty and comment on similarities as well as differences. All COIL courses can benefit from having a cultural bridge but the cultural bridge is especially important when the two faculties are not well acquainted or if the two participating cultures are significantly different from one another.
The person acting in the role of cultural bridge most likely will work for the international or global services at one of the participating universities. If such a person were not available then a community member who has experience in both of the cultures would be appropriate.
This Action Lab experience will discuss social theorist Riane Eisler’s (1987) cultural transformation theory and how the structures of domination and partnership can impact the effectiveness of COIL. Participants will then assess their own institutions and programs for where they lie on the partnership/domination paradigm.
Once participants understand partnership behaviors, they will learn how to collaborate to create potential “aha” or transformative learning experiences to expand the students’ global perspective. Participants will experience scenarios and role-playing activities to demonstrate practical application for their own COIL courses.