COIL in practice: UP and UPEC students learn together across borders
How can students gain international experience without going abroad? One answer is COIL – Collaborative Online International Learning, a method promoted and developed within the Aurora network that connects teachers and students from universities in different countries through online collaboration. Aurora helps academics learn how to use the method, find international partners and develop joint teaching activities.
This spring, COIL brought together students from two Aurora member universities – Palacký University Olomouc and Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC) in France. Their shared membership in Aurora provided the framework for the collaboration between Dana Ondrušková from UP and Corentin Mariette from UPEC.
Between 26 March and 16 April 2026, six UP students and 28 UPEC students worked together within a course focused on Economic Intelligence & Strategy. They developed a work plan, divided tasks, agreed on a methodology, exchanged information and jointly prepared a final presentation delivered via Microsoft Teams.
International learning as part of a regular course
COIL enables academics from different universities to connect their existing courses and give students an authentic intercultural learning experience. Teachers find a partner who teaches a related subject and jointly design a part of their courses. Some activities can take place together online, while students can work on other tasks separately in international teams.
For Eliška Herinková, a student at the Department of Economic and Managerial Studies at the UP Faculty of Arts, the collaboration offered first-hand experience of working across cultures and academic environments:
“As part of the COIL project, I collaborated with students from a French university on a project focused on analyzing a French company operating in the Czech environment. It was a challenge at first. We had to divide the work, align our schedules, and navigate the differences between our academic systems. However, it was a highly rewarding experience, whether it was overcoming language barriers or discovering cultural differences. Although I had doubts in the beginning, I now know it prepared me well for working in an international environment, and I will definitely use this experience in the future.”
The international project was incorporated into a specialised French-language seminar taught by Dana Ondrušková and formed only one part of the semester.
“I was fortunate to find a COIL partner at Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC) for my specialised French-language seminar. Despite differences in group size and academic focus, we developed a successful collaboration for part of the semester. Participation was compulsory, as it offered students an excellent opportunity to practise French in an authentic context.”
The project therefore combined subject-specific learning with language practice and the development of skills students will need in their professional lives.
“From a teaching perspective, I value the multiple benefits of this collaboration. While working on a marketing project, students also developed key soft skills: organisation, planning, intercultural cooperation, and communication in a foreign language in an online environment. These demands closely reflect the realities of their future professional lives.”
A flexible method for different subjects
One of the advantages of COIL is its flexibility. Collaboration can last for only a few weeks, as in the UP–UPEC case, and can be adapted to different subjects, group sizes and learning objectives. At the same time, it requires teachers and students to respond to practical challenges such as different schedules, technical conditions or varying levels of engagement.
Ondrušková sees precisely this combination of authenticity and adaptability as one of the method’s strengths:
“The experience confirmed me that COIL can enrich academic teaching and be adapted to different groups, subjects, and learning objectives. It also requires flexibility, for example classroom technology, unexpected absences, and varying levels of reliability within teams. This combination of authenticity, challenge, and adaptability makes COIL unique and highly valuable. I therefore intend to continue incorporating it into at least part of my courses whenever possible.”
Would you like to try COIL in your course?
COIL can be a practical way to bring an international dimension into your teaching without redesigning an entire course or requiring students to travel abroad. By connecting with a colleague who teaches a similar subject, you can create a more diverse study group, exchange teaching ideas and materials, and give students experience of intercultural cooperation.
Finding a suitable teaching partner is also supported through Aurora activities such as the COIL Fair, where academics can meet colleagues and start developing joint projects.
If you would like to try the COIL method or find out more about the opportunities available through Aurora, contact Karolína Berousková from the UP Aurora Office at karolina.berouskova@upol.cz.