UNC Launches Initiative to Connect Carolina Classrooms with the World
July 30, 2020UNC Global Affairs
The Old Well located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Twelve faculty members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were granted Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Partnership Awards through a new initiative launched in May, Connecting Carolina Classrooms with the World, from the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs for the 2020-21 academic year. Each award recipient is working with a peer instructor at an international institution to create shared learning experiences for students in both countries (or, in one instance, three countries).
Students will work together for at least three weeks, examining course topics from cultural and societal perspectives. For example, Lien Truong, assistant professor in UNC’s art and art history department, is offering an art course in Chapel Hill in which Carolina students will learn the material history and traditional Vietnamese silk painting techniques studied by their peers at the Vietnam University of Fine Arts (VUFA). Truong’s course will culminate in a portrait exchange between the students, with silk portraits painted by VUFA students and oil or acrylic ones painted by their peers at Carolina.
The Carolina faculty represent several professional schools and College of Arts & Sciences departments, and they are partnering with colleagues at eight international institutions, including UNC-Chapel Hill strategic partners King’s College London and Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador.
Each UNC-Chapel Hill faculty participant was awarded a $3,000 curriculum development award, and, when needed, an additional $1,500 for graduate student support for implementation of the first semester in which the course is taught.
Additionally, Sharon Cannon, clinical professor of management and corporate communication at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, also received a grant from the American Council on Education to support COIL activity in partnership with Sophia University in Japan.
“Students and faculty are using technology in powerful ways to ensure global learning continues even as international travel remains severely disrupted,” said Barbara J. Stephenson, vice provost for global affairs and chief global officer at UNC-Chapel Hill. “As we are all learning, global education, research, and collaboration can, with the help of technology, thrive even when we are physically at a distance.”
The initiative is organized by Katie Bowler Young, director of global relations for the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs, and Heather Ward, associate dean for study abroad and exchange. COIL Partnership Awards were offered for the 2020-21 pilot project in June, and future courses will be eligible for funding through Curriculum Development Awards for COIL administered by UNC Global Relations.
Below is a list of Carolina awardees and their partners. Please visit UNC Global’s webpage for more information on COIL Partnership Award recipients and course offerings.
Fall 2020
- Suzanne Gulledge, School of Education
Partner: Andreas Bonnet, University of Hamburg
UNC Course: EDUC 697, Education Minor Capstone - Elizabeth Havice, Department of Geography, College of Arts & Sciences
Partner: Majed Akhter, King’s College London
UNC Course: GEOG 803, Seminar in Nature-Society - Michael Kris, Department of Music, College of Arts & Sciences
Partner: Joseph Fort, King’s College London
UNC Course: MUSC 214.003, Brass Chamber Music - Kristin Papoi, School of Education
Partner: Nascira Ramia, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
UNC Course: EDUC 701, Practica Student Teaching - Markus Saba, Kenan-Flagler Business School
Partner: Ben Ngoye, Strathmore University
UNC Course: MBA 899, Healthcare in the Age of COVID - Amanda Thompson, Department of Anthropology, College of Arts & Sciences
Partner: Diego Quiroga, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
UNC Course: ANTH 190, Intro to Biocultural Medical Anthropology - Lien Truong, Department of Art & Art History, College of Arts & Sciences
Partner: Theson Nguyen, Vietnam University of Fine Arts
UNC Course: ARTS 322, Narrative Painting - Milada Vachudova, Department of Political Science, College of Arts & Sciences
Partner: Hanna Kleider, King’s College London
UNC Course: POLI 438, Undivided Europe
Spring 2021
- David Bond, Kenan-Flagler Business School
Partner: Marjolijn Dijksterhuis, University of Stellenbosch
UNC Course: BUSI 206, Business in Africa - Sharon Cannon, Kenan-Flagler Business School
Partner: Gavin Furukawa, Sophia University
UNC Course: BUSI 529, Intercultural Communication for the Global Workplace
This partnership received a Rapid Response Virtual Exchange/COIL Transformation Lab Award from the American Council on Education, with additional support from UNC. - Patricia Sawin, Department of Communication, College of Arts & Sciences
Partner: Tiber Falzett, University College Dublin
UNC Course: FOLK/ENGL 487, Everyday Stories - Adam Versényi, Department of Dramatic Art, College of Arts & Sciences
Partners: Kurt Taroff, Queen’s University Belfast; and Patrick Lonergan, National University of Ireland, Galway
UNC Course: TBD