June 11-12, 2010

COIL Faculty and Staff visited Vilnius, Lithuania to present at the 1st annual EHU (European Humanities University ) elearning conference titled e-learning for a changing world: global and local needs. Prof. Jon Rubin provided the keynote address along with EHU Vice Rector Alaiksandre Kalbaska. SUNY was represented by faculty and staff from 5 separate colleges in addition to the SUNY Global Center. Presentations included the following:

• The American Community College:a model for Life Long Learning and University Preparation by Prof. Richard Cattabiani of SUNY Ulster;
• Teaching English Well Online by Goulnara Sadykova of SUNY Albany; 
• Virtual Learning Environments by Dr. Valeri Chukhlomin of SUNY Empire State;
• E-learning and the language challenge by Prof. Adrian Hull of SUNY Cortland;
• XCult: Three years of Cross-Cultural Video exchange between EHU and SUNY by Prof. Jon Rubin formerly of SUNY Purchase;
• Online Teaching Presence by Dave Decker of SUNY Albany;
• E-learning within a global context by Melanie Wilson of SUNY Global Center.

In addition to the conference, some COIL faculty were able to meet their EHU partner faculty for the first time face-to-face; conduct interviews for ongoing research; and work out plans for the 2010-2011 partnered projects between the two universities. Overall, it was a rewarding and fruitful experience for both SUNY and EHU.

For more information about the conference click here .

May 25th, 2010

COIL Faculty member, Prof. Anthony Lemieux (in picture), Keith Landa, Director of Instructional Technology and COIL director, Prof. Jon Rubin, all from Purchase College, gave a workshop at the SUNY Conference on Instructional Technologies (CIT) 2010 in Plattsburgh, NY titled Developing Collaborative Online International Courses. In this workshop, the history of COIL courses at SUNY was provided, and the dynamics of establishing and running globally networked courses was explored. Both Prof. Lemieux and Prof. Rubin provided an overview of their experience developing collaborative online international courses, with Dr. Landa providing an IT perspective to their projects.  The workshop concluded with participants pairing up to engage the Faculty Guide to COIL course development as they collaboratively explored hypothetical and potential courses they might develop internationally.

Click here for a description of the workshop.

March 24th, 2010

Prof. Jon Rubin was joined by fellow COIL faculty, Prof. Craig Little from SUNY Cortland, Prof. Wayne te Brake from SUNY, and remotely by Prof. Sarah Guth from University of Padua, Italy, to deliver a pre-conference workshop at the Forum for Education Abroad Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina titled:  Developing International Online Course Collaborations that build Bridges to Study Abroad. 

In this workshop, COIL faculty shared how their students have been working online with peers in other countries through shared syllabi in an experiential learning environment and how this engagement has internationalized their classes and has led to an increased interest in studying abroad on the part of the participating students. During the first hour of the workshop each presenter offered a case study of the course which they developed and taught. These included courses in history (Religion and Politics in Europe - TeBrake), sociology (Social Control - Little), the arts (Cross Cultural Video Production - Rubin), and language (Italian and English - Guth). Those participating in the workshop were primarily Study Abroad staff looking for ways to expand their programs with an online component.

The image shows Craig Little, in front of an easel with large orange Post-Its that participants used to individually identify what they felt to be the benefits and limitations of Study Abroad and of Collaborative Online International courses. This provided a template through which the workshop participants could consider ways that these two modalities could enhance and benefit each other.

For more information about the Forum on Education Abroad, click here.