Students of Uzhhorod National University together with students of California State University Chico (USA) took part in the virtual academic exchange COIL
These days, Uzhhorod National University hosted a meeting dedicated to the completion of the international COIL virtual exchange project "Small Group Collaboration Using the Principles of Nonviolent Communication", which was implemented as part of the elective "Workshop Course on Nonviolent Communication (with the use of fiction texts)", which lasted from September to December 2022 and was attended by 18 students from different courses and specialties of UzhNU. The "Workshop on Nonviolent Communication" was focused on raising awareness of violent and non-violent ways of communication. During the course, as part of the COIL virtual exchange project, students from Uzhhorod National University collaborated with students from California State University, Chico (USA), in particular, 5 synchronous sessions were held, which were led by two teachers: Sue Peterson (USA) and Antonina Bulyna (Ukraine). The course and project were implemented online in English.
Project participants acquired skills in active and empathetic listening, identifying patterns of violent communication, and using the language of the heart in small groups.
The project was implemented as part of the Education USA Internationalization Leadership Academy program, which was launched in 2018 and includes a number of activities funded by the Office of Study Abroad of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to promote transnational university partnerships between the United States and Ukraine. The program provided an opportunity for faculty members (selected on a competitive basis) from 20 Ukrainian universities to create exchange opportunities for their students with students and faculty from U.S. universities through virtual technologies.
As part of the EducationUSA Internationalization Leadership Academy program, participants were trained to create virtual exchange modules using the COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) learning model, which was developed to implement internationalization strategies and is used by educators in many countries. In cooperation with the SUNY COIL Center, a center of the State University of New York, a leader in the field of Globally Networked Learning (GNL), representatives of the SUNY COIL Center shared the latest developments and experience in creating virtual exchange modules. The Leadership Academy activities included three stages:
1. Familiarization with the basic concepts of COIL.
2. Basic workshop on the COIL learning model (COIL Foundation Workshop).
3. Workshop on the development of modules based on COIL (COIL Design Workshop).
Advantages of the COIL model:
- non-bureaucratic implementation - no bilateral agreements are required;
- international and intercultural experience for students, often also the acquisition of foreign language skills, and digital competencies;
- providing opportunities to gain international experience also for non-mobile students (special care, employment).
The project was coordinated and implemented by Antonina Bulyna, a senior lecturer at the Department of English Philology at UzhNU.
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