Benefits of COIL

Benefits for staff

COIL benefits for faculty members cannot be underestimated. From knowledge exchange to professional development and CPD - COIL is an opportunity for staff to form partnerships and collaboration for truly global education. 

Developing and running a COIL project is a great opportunity for faculty members to enhance their experience and expand their professional network. COIL is an opportunity to: 

• Experience how different institutions engage with their students
• Embed cross-institutional activities in an existing module
• Expand professional network and potential for future collaborations in teaching and research

Listen to Izzy and Tracy as they reflect on their COIL experience:

Colleagues and students at Conestoga College reflect on their COIL experience:

For more COIL testimonials, visit our YouTube playlist:

Benefits of working with Indigenous partners

Staff and faculty receive many of the same benefits in partnering with Indigenous people as students do. This includes learning about another culture, building community engagement skills and cultivating relationships, engaging in shared learning, learning about another worldview and how to co-produce knowledge, fostering social responsibility, and learning about ethical and respectful research practices. Faculty and staff also learn to broaden their perspectives, challenge their assumptions, and through this, experience both personal and professional growth. They get to engage with work that has great relevance and impact as they address community needs and contribute towards decolonization efforts.

Listen to Heather Sauyaq Jean Kwamboka Gordon speaking about the benefits of partnering with Indigenous students, staff and communities on COIL projects:

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Benefits for members of Indigenous communities

Where COIL projects are situated in Indigenous communities, there can also be benefits for members of those communities, as long as things are done in an appropriate way, following community leadership, self-determination, and needs.  

These benefits can include:  

• COIL projects can help build community capacity around research, co-production of knowledge, boundary spanning knowledge systems, communicating knowledge, and broaden partnerships.
• Engaging in these projects can also help communities preserve, pass down, and revitalize Indigenous Knowledge and culture. 
• These projects can also provide opportunities for community empowerment, development, self-determination, advocacy, awareness, and sustainability practices through capacity building, sharing knowledge, promoting the needs and rights of Indigenous people, and economic development. 
• Through engaging in these projects, community residents can learn and have improved educational outcomes through more experience, cultural exchange, and building partnerships and networks. This can lead to empowering youth to become future leaders in their communities. 

Benefits for students

Participating in COIL projects will provide students with skills and confidence to enter the global, multicultural, digitally competent workforce. Cross-cultural learning through COIL allows students to learn about, from, and with another culture that they may have never previously been exposed to. It builds common understanding across differences and friendships, which are critically important across the circumpolar North and the world, as we witness political dissidence and climate change pulling nations apart.  

COIL provides a space for experiential learning. Using freely available online technology, COIL projects enable more students to take advantage of the international collaborative learning opportunities, regardless of their geographic location. Although the students may not be able to physically travel to meet their partner site, they are there virtually, being hosted by their partner. Experiential learning is shown to boost student engagement, motivation, resilience, creativity, cultural awareness, empathy, and critical thinking, and help with real-world application, teamwork, as well personalising learning.  

Listen to Joanne and Darren talking about their COIL experience:

Student employability

COIL is an opportunity to learn about different cultures and make connections across the world, online, and in guided and supportive environment. It is designed to enhance graduate employability by promoting interdisciplinary, intercultural, and transversal workplace-ready skill development.  

Careers Consultant at RGU, Helen Scott, emphasises the many benefits participating in COIL projects can bring to the students:

To make the most of the COIL experience from employability perspective, students are encouraged to reflect on their participation in COIL activity. This reflection can help students to clearly articulate the obtained skills and experience on their CV, LinkedIn and job interviews with potential employers. 

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