UVM Global is committed to building academic connections through Virtual Exchange/Collaborative Online International Learning. VE/COIL modules expand students’ global engagement and intercultural competencies, and the pedagogical approach presents faculty and lecturers with an opportunity to give students a global experience.
UVM Global is supporting these connections by cultivating cohorts of UVM faculty and lecturers who attend VE/COIL training through the SUNY COIL Center and can then participate in a VE/COIL Community of Practice at UVM. UVM Global will pay for instructors’ training in the VE/COIL with the support of their unit head’s approval, and instructors are expected to implement VE/COIL in a course within the subsequent year.
What is VE/COIL?
VE/COIL connects classrooms with an internationally based faculty and classroom, where both faculty prepare in advance a joint project together, and then they co-teach or implement the project, connecting their students to their international peers of the corresponding faculty. The students get to know each other through ice-breaker activities and work through the project jointly. The modules tend to be a few weeks long, connecting the students through a series of sessions, in which they learn to communicate, collaborate, and navigate cultural differences and approaches.
VE/COIL can be:
Implemented in any discipline or connect students across disciplines
Graded activities in each participating course
Versatile, using any technology tools that serves the learning goals and are accessible
A few weeks to 15 weeks long
How does VE/COIL serve students?
Students engage with their counterparts in a high-impact practice that benefits:
- Adaptability
- Cultural sensitivity
- Intercultural understanding
- Digital fluency
- Collaboration
- Critical thinking
- Problem-solving skills
- Oral and written communication
VE/COIL can create opportunity for interdisciplinary teaching and learning; so do not feel that you have to partner with someone who is within your discipline.
How do UVM educators identify a VE/COIL partner?
You may decide to implement a VE/COIL module with an internationally based faculty colleague who you already have a relationship with.
Alternatively, working with the SUNY COIL Center, through their regular partnership fairs and Global Partner Network Directory, they can also help you identify an appropriate faculty partner.
If you are having difficulty identifying someone to collaborate with, you can also reach out to UVM Global for assistance.
How do I express interest in VE/COIL training?
Here’s the online form.
Please note that we will follow up with your department head to insure that they are committed to your goals of training and implementing VE/COIL a course within the next year.
How can I take my VE/COIL collaboration with my international partner to the next level?
- If you are interested in additional training from the SUNY COIL Center, contact UVM Global.
- If you are interested in developing and leading a travel study program (a short-term, faculty-led study abroad program) that engages with your VE/COIL partners, consult your Associate Dean to determine what may be an appropriate fit for your school/college. Review the Office of International Education’s website to learn more about developing travel study programs.
If you are interested in deepening your collaboration with your VE/COIL partner after at least 3 semesters of co-teaching together, submit a 1-2 page proposal to UVM Global that outlines your goals and the expected outcomes of collaborating. The proposal should contextualize the work you have done together thus far.
- Include no more than a one-page budget, detailing your expected expenses.
- Include a one-page timeline.
- Leveraging equal co-sponsorship from your college and department is required
- A letter of support from your department head is required.
Awards from UVM Global will not exceed $1500.Priority will be given to requests for conference presentations, other academic collaborations, and/or research or creative opportunities between the UVM instructor and their VE/COIL collaborator, where the colleagues are building on their VE/COIL work together.
Deadlines: January 31 2027 and March 31, 2027
Who do I ask if I have more questions or concerns?
UVM Global would happy to connect with you.