How to COIL
The HWR Berlin was part of the BeCOIL network. BeCOIL promoted the innovative COIL concept among lecturers and provides them with the necessary support to plan and offer a COIL course. COIL project coordinators were present at all nine Berlin partner institutions, exchange ideas and best practices, organize events together and help in strengthening COIL at their respective institutions.
The COIL principle
Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is a form of virtual teaching exchange that is rapidly gaining popularity. Teachers develop teaching units or whole courses collaboratively and make them available to students from both partner institutions. Virtual exchange projects enable encounters in the digital space. As a student or lecturer at the HWR Berlin you collaborate across national borders and time zones on a task with counterparts from an international partner university, thereby gaining experience in global teamwork and developing your intercultural and digital skills. Collaborations can range from one or two session to a whole semester.
- COIL collaborations can be combined with phases of physical mobility and exchange, e.g. to one of the partner institutions, a site of interest or for purposes of field work. ERASMUS+ funding is available for students and teachers participating in this type of short term mobility.
COIL courses are flexible forms of international exchange that are relatively easy to organize. They open up new opportunities especially for students who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to participate in other forms of international exchange.