Skip to main content

Curriculum Development Awards for COIL

Curriculum Development Awards for COIL

The Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs (OVPGA) provides faculty with support and funding to integrate Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) activities into UNC-Chapel Hill courses. We’ll support faculty in working with a colleague at an international institution to develop collaborative, virtual activities for students at both institutions as part of regularly scheduled courses. This program is part of the Global Guarantee, Carolina’s commitment to ensuring that a global education is available to all students.

Designing a COIL Course

In collaboration with a faculty partner abroad, Carolina faculty will use pedagogical design to virtually engage students from each institution.

COIL activities should:

  • Take place over a period of at least three weeks
  • Support regular course objectives while also enabling students to examine topics from varied cultural and societal perspectives
  • Use technology, synchronously or asynchronously, to support goals of student learning

Example activities include reflection on shared content (readings, films, art, podcasts), small group discussions and group projects.

OPTIONAL: COIL courses may be eligible to fulfill the Experiential Education requirement in the Making Ideas General Education curriculum or the High Impact requirement in the IDEAs in Action General Education curriculum. To qualify, the course must include a minimum of 30 hours of connection with students at the partner institution and require a reflective essay or project about the course’s COIL components.

Award Details

Curriculum Development Award

Faculty from any UNC-Chapel Hill department or school are eligible for a $2,500 curriculum development award for COIL. The funds are disbursed as an overload payment in compensation for time developing and implementing COIL activities. If a course is co-taught, the award will be split between the faculty members.

Faculty may request an additional $1,500 award to fund graduate student support (student does not need to be identified at time of application).

The next deadline for new COIL courses is April 5, 2024 for Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 courses. Applications may be submitted at any time and are reviewed shortly after the deadline. Preview the application.

Apply

After faculty receive a COIL curriculum development award, faculty are eligible for additional funding:

If a faculty member has previously received a Curriculum Development Award for COIL, they are eligible for an additional award of $2,500 to continue integrating COIL into the same course with the same partner(s) in a future semester. Faculty may receive a repeat award up to two times.

Deadline: April 5, 2024 for Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 courses. Applications may be submitted at any time and are reviewed shortly after the deadline. Submit now!

After a faculty member has received a COIL award three times (one curriculum development award and two repeat awards), the OVPGA will offer up to $1,500 for the faculty member to travel to visit or host the COIL partners to foster collaboration, or to attend conferences or other professional development related to COIL. Interested faculty should contact program staff for more information.

The COIL Pub award is an excellent way to contribute to scholarship on the COIL pedagogy and receive meaningful recognition. The OVPGA offers a $500 award to faculty who publish academic articles related to their COIL teaching at UNC-Chapel Hill. Submit now!

The OVPGA encourages and supports COIL faculty to submit proposals to present at international and domestic conferences that focus on global teaching and learning, virtual engagement, COIL and aligned topics. These include but are not restricted to IVEC, NAFSA, AAC&U, LATAM and others. The OVPGA will cover registration and airline costs up to $2,000 for up to 4 faculty members each academic year.

Eligibility

  • Courses can be at the undergraduate or graduate level.
  • Courses must be 3 or more credits.
  • The course must be taught within two semesters of the award date.

If faculty are applying for student support, the selected student must be a full-time, degree-seeking UNC-Chapel Hill student at the graduate level.

Evaluation

Applications for curriculum development awards are reviewed by the Global Education team in the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs. The committee sends recommended applications to the vice provost for global affairs for approval.

  • Is the COIL activity clearly described, and will it effectively connect students from the two institutions?
  • Will the COIL activity support course learning objectives while also enable students to examine topic from different cultural and societal perspectives?
  • Does the COIL activity provide for experiential education and virtual collaboration among the students?
  • If graduate student support is requested, are the student’s responsibilities reasonable and specific? (graduate assistants may not teach or grade).

Application Resources

Award Inquiries

Emmy Grace, Program Manager for Global Education
Global Partnership and Programs, Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs
emmy.grace@unc.edu