The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers limited funding to support instructors in developing Global Classrooms to strengthen faculty partnerships and research, diversify pedagogical practices, and deepen student learning.
Illinois Global Classrooms is a COIL initiative aimed at supporting students and instructors to structure Collaborative, Online, and International Learning experiences, facilitated by technology, between students at the University of Illinois and students from international partner institutions. In this program, you connect with an international partner who teaches in a similar or complementary discipline to develop a virtual project with concrete goals and deliverables, and you implement it in one of your existing courses. Projects vary in scope and duration, but typically last between six and eight weeks.
In collaboration with the campus-wide study abroad community, and with support from the European Union Center, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Center for Global Studies, the College of LAS identified Global Classrooms as a priority to extend and expand our global learning reach, as well as to democratize access to global learning. In addition to strengthening faculty partnerships and research, diversifying pedagogical practices, and deepening student learning, Global Classrooms has been shown to help students to see their own discipline from multiple perspectives and to interrogate their assumptions in new ways.
Course Proposals
The study abroad offices are seeking proposals from faculty interested in developing a collaborative online international learning opportunity for undergraduate students. Preference will be given to approved, degree program courses. We are especially interested in supporting first year and/or intro level courses.
Please be advised that funding availability may vary. Interested individuals are encouraged to discuss future opportunities with their college contact listed below.
Contact Information
If you have college-specific questions, please contact:
- College of ACES: Ali Freter (freter1@illinois.edu)
- College of AHS: Dustin Tarter (dtarter@illinois.edu)
- College of Education: Allison Witt (awitt1@illinois.edu)
- College of FAA: Rebecca Paez-Rodriguez (rp16@illinois.edu)
- Gies College of Business: Nicole Lamers (lamers@illinois.edu)
- Grainger College of Engineering: Kate Abney (kabney@illinois.edu)
- College of LAS: Julien Berthelon (berthel2@illinois.edu)
- College of Media: Katie Clark (keclark@illinois.edu)
- All other colleges: Joy Phaphouvaninh (joypha@illinois.edu)
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an international partner?
It is helpful if you already have a relationship with someone who teaches in your area, however, there are resources to help us connect with those faculty if connections do not already exist. We hope to have more capacity to assist with matching interested faculty in the future as our infrastructure develops.
How does this benefit our department?
Global Classrooms is not merely an exchange program between people of different cultures. It is rather an opportunity for both faculty and students to collaborate on projects across institutional practices and structures.
Our mission aims to create a community of participants and a collaborative space in which to share projects and ideas. You will be in contact not just with your international partner, but with other faculty in different stages of the Global Classrooms process, from a variety of disciplines.
What kind of technology do I need to use and what tech support will be available to me and my teaching partner?
Global Classrooms are aimed at supporting you as an instructor to structure collaborative international learning experiences, facilitated by technology, between your students and students from international partner institutions. The variety of technology and software that can be used is not endless, but there are a variety of solutions that can be used to account for differences in accessibility, infrastructure in your partnering country or institution, and time zone differences. We have many options to work with!