COIL - Find Partners:

If you don't yet have a partner

Here are some suggestions how to get started in your partner search:

• Use the Unite! Find Partners tool 
• Contact your local COIL contact 
• Contact your local Unite! Key Liaison Officer
  
• Join the Unite! Seed Funding matchmaking events
• Ask around in your university’s academic community if they have connections in the other Unite! universities in your field of preferences. Don't forget to ask from your already existing collaborations.
  

Topics to think about when starting to look for a COIL partner:

• Think of a clear description of what you want to do, the key goals of the course and how you see the benefits and added value of the collaboration.
• Does your course content benefit from a certain geographic location/country?
• If yes, which Unite! partners would be the most suitable?
• Can you think of specific field of expertise that would benefit your course? Should the partner be the same discipline as yours, or are you interested in interdisciplinary cooperation? 
• What language(s) will be used?

Once you have found a partner

At the start of a cooperation it is very important that you discuss with your partner how you want to work together.

(Checklists - coming soon)

Here are some questions to discuss with your partner:

• What are your availability windows for collaboration?
  
• How much time can you commit to this project?
• Will there be any extended periods of absence during the project timeline?
• Can you provide insights into the teaching and learning approach you follow in your classroom/institution, including your educational philosophy, methods, and practices?
• Which specific aspects of the course/activity design and development will each instructor be responsible for?
• How will the workflow be established between you and your co-instructor, including content review, instructional material decisions, and other related tasks?
• How will you and your co-instructor determine the content to be used, and who will be responsible for reviewing, editing, and posting it online?
• What is the communication plan for students to effectively interact with you and your co-instructor throughout the course, and which tools will be used for this purpose?
• The institutional education system, culture and each partner’s (unspoken) expectations?
  

When you start the collaboration, what are some of the important aspects to keep in mind:

• Equal commitment: Partners should need to be somewhat equally committed to the project as well as in terms of the teaching load. Otherwise, this might reflect to the students’ cross-border collaboration and learning experience. Establishing a good balance can be challenging but communication and good preparation helps with this.
• Shared course development: the course syllabus is often a starting point for the discussion. However, it is good to take a step back and have a conversation about partners’ objectives for their respective courses and for the overall cross-cultural exchange. This approach allows for deeper revisions, going beyond simply adapting one teacher's syllabus to fit the other and thus deepening the mutual understanding of the cooperation.
• Differences in Institutional Cultures: It is important to keep in mind that although we are an alliance with somewhat similar cultures, we have different institutional cultures. In some countries the changes are not proposed by the teaching staff or the syllabus modification are done through a different process. Sometimes more senior administrative staff need to be involved in the project. Thus, please make sure you discuss the institutional cultures and hierarchies at an early stage as well as who all will be involved in the process.
• Keeping an open mind! This is very important in an alliance that is aiming to develop new educational offerings for the students. You do not need find a perfect counterpart course, but to be open to also other ways of using another teacher’s material or take into consideration different approaches that might enrich the course collaboration and thus the learning experience.