The SUNY COIL Center
The SUNY COIL Center has been working to promote and professionalize the practice of Collaborative Online International Learning and Virtual Exchange for more than 15 years. We serve the institutions of the State University of New York, along with offering services to higher education institutions around the world. Our global community of practice, the SUNY COIL Global Network, serves as a hub for information and idea exchange, professional support, partner matching, and resource sharing. Learn more about our services and activities below.
COIL is a service mark of the State University of New York. You may use the name COIL if you agree to the conditions of its use. Learn more about the COIL Service Mark.
Our Vision
We envision a world free from implicit bias, where people engage across differences to fully connect with others. We believe that an educational environment that fosters shared values, mutual understanding, and critical digital literacy, and which promotes interaction across boundaries to develop leadership, collaborative problem solving and contextualized decision making, will make this vision a reality.
Our Mission
To cultivate an engaged educational environment by providing the resources, support, and professional network to enable educators and institutions to incorporate virtual engagement opportunities for all students and faculty. We do this by:
- Simplifying the process of integrating collaborative online learning into educational practices
- Empowering the professional community of practice dedicated to thoughtful and quality growth of the field
- Inspiring and supporting educators to offer engaging and globally relevant educational experiences
- Developing materials and resources for independent professional development
- Making meaningful connections between people, cultures, and ideas
Can We Help You?
Professional Development
SUNY COIL Global Network
Consultancies
The SUNY COIL Center offers a variety of workshops designed to support you in meeting your goals for COIL – from getting started to developing an institution-wide initiative. Our regularly scheduled offerings include:
- COIL Foundations: Skills needed for a successful COIL Collaboration
- COIL Elements: Making strong design choices
- COIL Design: Developing a blueprint for your COIL Collaboration
- Developing virtual study abroad
- Administrator workshops
- Mastery workshops/Advanced topics
- Administrator training
- In-person workshops
- Mentoring
Joining the COIL Network brings the world to your campus!
With a SUNY COIL Global Network Membership, your institution is joining a world-wide community of practice dedicated to the implementation of Collaborative Online International Learning and virtual exchange for internationalization of the higher education curriculum and development of 21st century skills.
Membership is available to any accredited higher education institution around the world. Membership benefits include access to members-only resources, meetings, events and online discussions, along with support for finding COIL teaching partners.
The SUNY COIL Center can offer customized support to your institution through our consultancy services, including:
- Strategic planning for curricular internationalization
- Strategic plan implementation timeline and support
- One-on-one consultations on class design and development
- Assessment planning
- Evaluations of courses and program implementation
- Custom professional development and training
SUNY COIL Center Background
SUNY COIL Center activities align directly with the mission of the State University of New York (SUNY), which is “to provide the people of New York educational services of the highest quality, with the broadest possible access, fully representative of all segments of the population”. In meeting the mandate of its mission, SUNY seeks to ensure that all students have access to educational opportunities that allow them to engage with other people and perspectives, develop greater understanding of differences, and build important 21st century skills, such as teamwork, reflection, and communication. COIL methodology was developed to bring these opportunities into the classroom by connecting students and professors with their peers around the world for collaborative online work, thereby ensuring that all students have equitable access to global learning. The COIL Center was established in 2004 and is part of SUNY’s Office of Global Affairs.