What’s an engaging, effective, and affordable way for faculty to teach and for students to learn through accredited courses in completely different countries – without ever leaving home?

COIL, Collaborative Online International Learning, offers rich opportunities by linking classrooms of two or more higher education institutions located in different countries, creating equitable team-taught learning with a shared syllabus that emphasizes experiential and collaborative student learning. Through COIL, students and faculty gain intercultural understanding as well as professional and international development. Students also learn more about their academic discipline from another perspective, and enhance their digital literacy skills in preparation for working in virtual teams.

Laurence Kaptain, DMA, Professor of Music and Entertainment Studies and the former Dean of the College of Arts and Media, University of Colorado Denver, United States, and Erika Granillo-Martinez, PhD, Assistant Professor of Business Logistics and English for Business, Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla, which is also known as Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla (BUAP), Mexico, combined efforts to create a COIL course module for their students.

The purpose of their COIL course module was to promote cultural wealth between Mexico and the United States through the exchange of traditions in music, food, costumes and emblematic places in order to experience coexistence between both countries. The non-credit module projects spanned four weeks; they were embedded into a for-credit course. Students who completed the course received a certificate showing dual-campus learning experience, which enables students to apply for different grants in COIL.

Academic learning for John Driskell, a Colorado resident and exemplary student in the Kaptain/Granillo-Martinez course, turned out to become an exciting, meaningful adventure for others in his family as well.

 “This interaction between family members and students in the Mexican music class happened quite often,” said Kaptain. “It reinforced the dynamism of our student body, their families, and the rich heritage of relatives from Mexico. John was an excellent student in my class.”

“It was such an odd coincidence that I happened to be working at home and my son was playing the course video without headphones in the same room,” explained Teri Driskell, John’s mother. She heard the terms “Purépecha” and “Tarascans” and asked her son about this.

“Purépecha is the name of my grandfather’s tribe in Mexico,” said Driskell. For several years, she and her siblings had been trying to find out more about their heritage, but many senior family members had since passed and the knowledge was gradually fading.

On the spot, she joined her son in watching the video and sent the newly found details to her relatives. It was a shared discovery.

Driskell observed that “John seemed to like the professor and the content.” As part of the course, he partnered with a student in Mexico to develop a project.

“I felt that it was so amazing that CU Denver would partner with an international university in this way,” she said. “It didn’t surprise me; I am an alum of CU Denver and loved it because it’s so diverse, not only because of the nationalities, but also because of the ages and interests.”

She recalled being a student in a literature class at CU Denver. “We had an 80-year old student who was auditing the class. He carried a wealth of knowledge and perspectives that were so helpful for me as a 20-year old.”

Driskell and her husband were “happy when our son decided to enroll in – and graduate from -- CU Denver.”

It was a full circle moment in many ways.

“This course opened a door for our family,” said Driskell. “The information and the experience opened a world of wonder for all of us.”

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Learn more:

College of Arts & Media, University of Colorado Denver, U.S.A. Founded in 1912 as extension center; CU Denver established in 1973; accreditation: HLC (Higher Learning Commission),  ABET (applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology), AACSB (business) for specific programs.

Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla, also known as Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla (BUAP), Mexico Founded in 1578 as Colegio del Espiritu Santo; autonomous since 1956; accreditation: SEP (Mexico), COPAES-accredited program.

Office of International Affairs University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz, U.S.A.