Innovative Pedagogies COIL Workshop series: Foundations & First Steps
You are warmly invited to join the first session in a three-part workshop series introducing Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). This 90-minute online session is designed for colleagues who are new to COIL and interested in exploring its potential for embedding international collaboration and intercultural learning within existing curricula. The session will provide an overview of the pedagogical foundations of COIL and engage participants in structured activities to begin mapping how a COIL component could be developed in their own course context. We will also consider case studies and how they used digital platforms, experiential learning tools, in intercultural collaboration.
As higher education institutions confront the growing need for culturally agile educators and globally competent graduates, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) emerges as a powerful, inclusive, and practice-oriented model. In this session, we will explore how COIL addresses the demand for cross-cultural teaching capability (Esche, 2018) while offering students meaningful, accessible international experiences without the need for physical mobility.
This workshop is the first in a 3-part series, designed to guide educators from COIL curiosity to project readiness.
- Pre-Session Readings: Drawing on case studies from UoG participants will reflect on how strategic choices in experiential learning tools and digital platforms can enhance collaborative and intercultural learning (Chan et al., 2020; Khan et al., 2021).
- Online Session: Throughout the session, we will highlight how COIL fosters a sense of digital empathy, belonging, and global connectedness among diverse student groups, setting the stage for inclusive and transformative educational practice.
Participants will engage in interactive activities including guided self-reflection, contextual mapping of COIL opportunities in their own courses (using the CIVIS COIL AGORA tool), and group discussions.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this workshop, participants will:
1. Understand what COIL is, and its core principles and benefits
2. Identify potential opportunities and challenges in their own teaching contexts
3. Begin brainstorming a potential COIL project idea
4. Understand next steps and support available for developing a COIL proposal
Session 1 layout
- 1st workshop: 10/12 (Wednesday) from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. (CET)
- Duration: 90 minutes (online)
- Audience: Academics and Admin staff new to COIL
- Goal: Introduce participants to COIL and guide early-stage project brainstorming
Workshop Agenda
|
Time |
Activity |
Purpose |
|
0:00–0:10 |
Welcome & Icebreaker |
Set the tone |
|
0:10–0:20 |
Presentation: COIL Foundations (part 1) |
Introduce key concepts |
|
0:20–0:30
0:30-0:50
|
Activity 1 – “Top 3 Questions” Presentation on COIL (part 2)
|
Reflect on what they want to know about COIL |
|
0:50–1:10 |
Activity 2 – COIL My Context Mapping (1) |
Get participants thinking about how COIL might apply to their course and encourage early project idea development using the CIVIS COIL AGORA’ |
|
|
|
|
|
1:10–1:20 |
Group Sharing & Challenges |
Group reflection, surface obstacles and curiosities |
|
1:20–1:30 |
Wrap-Up, Support Info, and Next Steps |
Introduce what’s coming next and support options |
Activity Descriptions
Icebreaker
Prompt: “If you could connect your students with any place in the world, where would it be—and why?” Use chat or Mentimeter for quick sharing.
Activity 1 – “Top 3 Questions about COIL from PPT”
- Use Jamboard or Google Doc.
- Participants list their top 3 questions.
- Discuss common themes live.
Activity 2 – COIL in My Context Mapping
Prompt participants to map out subject, level, potential global theme, student type, and tools they use. Encourages connection between their practice and COIL. Use CIVIS COIL AGORA
Group Reflection (10 mins)
Ask: “What would be your biggest challenge starting a COIL project?” Use polls or word cloud for engagement.
Requirements
No prior experience with COIL is required. This session is exploratory in nature and aims to support early-stage thinking toward future project development.
Professor
Dr Gabriella Rodolico is Director of Internationalisation and Senior Lecturer in Science Education at the University of Glasgow’s School of Education. She leads global engagement by embedding systems-thinking approaches, expanding Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), and enhancing student and staff mobility through innovative, inclusive pedagogies.
A recognised educational innovator, she integrates virtual/extended reality (VR/XR) and generative AI into learning and teaching. She has led international VR projects, funded, for example, by British Council Going Global, building capacity with platforms such as ClassVR Avantis and HTC Vive Focus, and installing immersive technologies such as the Edify pod at the School of Education.
In COIL, Dr Rodolico designs and scales project-based, cross-institutional modules that connect Glasgow students with peers worldwide through co-taught, synchronous and asynchronous learning. Her approach prioritises intercultural competence, and aligns assessment across partners to embed COIL within programmes rather than as an add-on.
Her work includes co-leading the XR in Education White Paper, developing the widely adopted Generative AI in Education MOOC, and implementing COIL as a core internationalisation-at-a-distance experience that demonstrably improves student learning and outcomes. Her contributions have been recognised with the LearnSci Teaching Innovation Award (2021) and highlighted by Education Scotland and the Scottish Government.
The 1st African-European CIVIS Forum for Research and Education strives to leverage on the growing role of universities as proactive agents for global solidarity, sustainability, and inclusive development, as well as engines of transformation and joint knowledge production. We showcase African-European cutting-edge research addressing key societal challenges, encourage and codevelop new project ideas and educational offers, and engage with societal stakeholders across Africa and Europe in co-creating impactful solutions. In mutual trust, CIVIS universities across both continents reaffirm their shared responsibility.
The Forum unites interdisciplinary and transcontinental perspectives in a stimulating exchange via mixed panel discussions, tandem talks, and interactive poster pitches. Contributions address the added value of research collaboration with civil organisations and other non-academic actors, ways to build a decolonised African/European academic partnership, strategies to deal with the polycrisis in a complex world, ways to preserve our heritage of the future and pathways towards transregional sustainable development. Further topics include transcultural narratives and migrant storytelling, fostering participatory action research in vulnerable context, building transnationality through Open Labs, sharing joint African / European viewpoints on epidemiology, cultivating language beyond learning, and other more …!
Africa Charter for Transformative
Research Collaboration
Africa Charter for Transformative Research Collaboration
The Africa Charter for Transformative Research Collaborations, co-initiated by the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), articulates twelve principles and six aspirations for policy change, pushing the transformative ambition of research, redefining global research partnership, and re-balancing the global academic system. Building on the presence of the CIVIS Research Council, the Forum wants to find answers to the question, how our alliance can further contribute to progressive change in the spirit of the Charter and what implications the Charter has for research collaboration and intercontinental knowledge co-creation in CIVIS.
Hassan II University of Casablanca
Hassan II University of Casablanca (UH2C) is a major public research university located in Morocco’s economic capital. The academic foundations of the institution date back to 1975, while its current institutional configuration is the outcome of a strategic merger with Hassan II University of Mohammadia in 2014. UH2C comprises of 18 institutions divided between six campuses across Casablanca and Mohammedia, The university hosts a community of approximately 143,000 students who are enrolled in a variety of Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral programmes representing a wide spectrum of disciplines within exact sciences, technology, health sciences, arts, humanities, law, economics, and management. The languages of instruction are primarily Arabic and French, with a strong multilingual orientation. UH2C is supported by a dynamic research and innovation ecosystem structured around 99 laboratories and 10 Thematic Centers of Research and Innovation, providing a solid foundation for interdisciplinary and transnational collaboration.
The university has developed a strong international visibility through more than hundreds of cooperation agreements worldwide and sustained participation in major EU-funded programmes, including Erasmus+, Horizon 2020, and FP7. Within this framework, UH2C plays a central enabling role in the organization and hosting of the 1st African-European CIVIS Forum for Research and Education in Casablanca.
As an associate member of the CIVIS Alliance, the university contributes actively to the Forum’s scientific coordination, institutional dialogue, and logistical organization, fostering inclusive spaces for co-creation and joint agenda-setting between African and European partners. Reflecting its commitment to equitable and balanced intercontinental cooperation, UH2C ensures concrete support for participation by covering accommodation and onsite hospitality for partner institutions from Africa, thereby facilitating meaningful engagement and long-term collaboration. Through this leadership, UH2C reinforces the CIVIS ambition to transform shared challenges into joint solutions and to anchor African-European academic partnerships in mutual trust, reciprocity, and sustainable impact.
Find out more about UH2C at: www.univh2c.ma
About Casablanca
Welcome to Casablanca (or ‘Casa’, because you will hear that more often than the full name)!
Located on the Atlantic coast of northwestern Africa, Casablanca is an African city whose development has been shaped by sustained historical, cultural, and institutional influences from Europe. This dual character, African in context and experience, yet marked by European encounters, creates a shared and accessible space for participants coming from both African and European countries.
Casablanca, known over time as Anfa, Casa Branca, and Casablanca, is the largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco and a place shaped by many layers of history.
From its Berber and Phoenician origins, through Portuguese, Spanish, and French influences, the city has continuously reinvented itself, gradually emerging as Morocco’s main economic centre and one of its most cosmopolitan urban spaces.
Over the years, Casablanca has drawn academics, professionals, entrepreneurs, and artists, establishing itself as the country’s main gateway to global trade, finance, and higher education. This long process of transformation is visible in the city’s diverse population and distinctive urban landscape, where traditional Moroccan forms coexist naturally with Art Deco, modernist, and contemporary architecture. Moving through Casablanca, one senses clear shifts in atmosphere from one area to another.
From the monumental presence of Hassan II Mosque overlooking the Atlantic, to the dense streets of the Old Medina of Casablanca, and the calm, orderly alleys of the Habous Quarter, where craftsmanship and neo-traditional design meet. Casablanca has also occupied a lasting place in the global imagination through cinema, its name becoming legendary with the 1942 film Casablanca, while locally, its historic movie theatres reflect a deep and enduring relationship with film culture. Casa is a city that welcomes ambition and constant movement, it draws people in, and over time, invites them to find their own place in a city shaped as much by those who pass through it as by those who chose to stay.
Places to visit in Casablanca
Hassan II Mosque: One of the largest mosques in the world, dramatically located on the Atlantic Ocean and a major architectural landmark.
Old Medina of Casablanca: A dense historic quarter offering a glimpse into the city’s older urban fabric, markets, and everyday life.
Habous Quarter: Also known as the New Medina, combining traditional Moroccan architecture with 20th-century urban planning.
Villa des Arts: A contemporary art space hosting exhibitions, talks, and cultural events.
Ain Diab Corniche: A lively seaside promenade with beaches, cafés, and restaurants, popular both day and evening.
For more information about Casablanca, please visit the official city website at https://www.casablancacity.ma/fr
For those who wish to see more of Morocco during their stay, several cities are easily accessible from Casa by train:
- Visit to Rabat: Approximately 1 to 1.5 hours by train. Morocco’s capital city, known for its administrative institutions, historic sites, and coastal setting.
- Visit to Marrakech: Approximately 2.5 to 3 hours by train. A major cultural destination, famous for its historic medina, architecture, and vibrant public spaces.
- Visit to Fes: Approximately 4 to 4.5 hours by train. Renowned for its medieval medina and long-standing role as a centre of learning and scholarship.
Location
MOHAMED SEKKAT UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Located in the heart of the university campus on the El Jadida road, the Mohamed Sekkat University Library (BUMS) is a centre of excellence dedicated to study, research, and innovation. Designed to provide a comfortable and stimulating environment, BUMS caters to the diverse needs of students, faculty, and researchers.
The most convenient way to get there is by taking a red petit taxi (Small taxis are colour coded by city: red in Casablanca, blue in Rabat, beige in Marrakech…)
Please make sure the meter is turned on, as this is the fare you should pay.
Alternatively, you may use the inDrive app.
There is no tram stop directly next to the library; however, the tram can bring you close to the area, with the final part of the journey completed by taxi or on foot.
Tramway website: https://www.casatramway.ma/8MAD/ticket
Check the website for maps and routes.
Map Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Z32mrZ15SgmNjRAR6