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The SUNY COIL Global Commons is a six-credit, internationally-focused program that spans six weeks developed by innovative educators from across the State University of New York. Students will take action on one of six Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in partnership with a community-based or non-governmental organization from around the world.
“The idea for this program began in response to the disruption and cancelling of study abroad opportunities due to the global COVID 19 pandemic,” said Sally Crimmins Villela, Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Affairs. “We asked ourselves what we could do to keep SUNY globally engaged and help students take action towards a better world. For our 2021 course, we are designing the content to focus on racial and social justice.”
The SUNY COIL Global Commons program will prepare students to carry out storytelling projects with community-based organizations around the world through courses in Intercultural Storytelling and International Perspectives on the SDGs. These courses will provide the foundational knowledge that students will then apply to the development of projects with their international partners.
“Community-based and nonprofit organizations are doing important work aligned with the SDGs all over the world. However, these organizations often operate on very limited resources, and therefore face challenges in telling the story of their work and its impact,” said Mary Lou Forward, Director, SUNY COIL Center “SUNY students will partner with these organizations to help tell their story, providing materials that they can use in their work right away.”
The program incorporates two student engagement models developed at SUNY. Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) connects classes, students and faculty across differences in institutions, languages, cultures, geography, and disciplines through intentional collaborative online pedagogy. COIL methodology is incorporated into classes throughout SUNY to engage students in collaborative international projects with their peers at institutions in other countries. PEARL, developed by the Experiential Learning Network at the University at Buffalo, stands for Prepare, Engage and Add value, Reflect and Leverage, complementing COIL to create the educational foundation for the program.
In addition to involving students from institutions across the SUNY system, faculty from several SUNY campuses are involved in developing curriculum and delivering the courses. These faculty will also supervise student projects in partnership with the international organizations.
SUNY COIL Global Commons program will run from July 6 - August 15, 2021. All materials created for and used in the courses are Open Educational Resources (OER), therefore, there will be no instructional materials costs for students and these OER can be reused or modified by other educators to extend the value of this program.