Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) has enhanced its educational offerings by joining the State University of New York’s Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program, enabling its students to collaborate with peers worldwide without leaving campus. Through COIL, FDU students engage in project-based learning with international counterparts, preparing them for the global job market by enhancing skills necessary for working in diverse communities. Utilizing COIL Connect, a platform for university partnerships, FDU can match its courses with those at institutions across continents, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, for collaborative projects.
This semester, FDU has initiated ten COIL courses with a variety of international partners, covering disciplines that range from Digital Illustration and Design to Global Issues and Modern African History, among others. These courses, which do not need to be in the same subject area, offer students the opportunity to develop and apply transferable skills across different fields. The emphasis is on asynchronous, online collaboration, equipping students with vital technology and teamwork skills for a marketplace that values global networking and cultural diversity. The initiative underlines the importance of collaborative skills in today’s interconnected world, as highlighted by Agie Markiewicz-Hocking, Becton College’s COIL coordinator, and FDU’s provost Benjamin Rifkin.