The climate and its impact on our planet and civilization is a defining challenge of the 21st  century. Higher education institutions have a great deal of power to shape how humanity responds. Educational institutions have the ability to teach students across disciplines and professions how to build systems of human resilience to ensure that decisions are made for responsible stewardship of our ecosystems and biological diversity.  The Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC) and the State University of New York’s Center for Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) have created the International Faculty Collaboration for Teaching Climate Resilience to help higher education institutions share knowledge and impart solutions by building and strengthening international higher education partnerships. This program will match teaching faculty with an international faculty partner, support the organization of reciprocal visits for faculty pairs, and deliver an online professional development and mentoring experience for faculty to co-develop and co-teach a collaborative online international learning (COIL) module related to climate resilience.     

The collaboration will provide a tool for your institution’s curricular internationalization strategy through professional development training for faculty and forming sustainable international partnerships between participant institutions. It is not necessary to have prior teaching or research experience on Climate Resilience topics; faculty in any discipline are eligible to participate.  The COIL modules are designed to be integrated into existing courses, therefore the program does not require the development of a new course. We are pleased to offer institutions and faculty this professional development and international partnership opportunity to involve your students in learning issues of global importance through sustained and meaningful interaction with their international peers at a low and sustainable cost.  

Program Activities and Timeline:

June 15, 2018  Applications close

June 15 - July 15, 2018  Partnership matching phase. If selected for the program, faculty are expected to be actively engaged in the partnership matching process..

August 6, 2018 - September 30, 2018 Information and support for reciprocal campus visit planning.  Participants are expected to visit their counterparts for one week during the Fall 2018 or Spring 2019 semester.  At least one visit must take place in Fall 2018. During that week the visiting professor will teach a class, meet with other faculty members in order to discuss future potential projects, give an open lecture to the community, and meet with his/her partner to discuss implementation of the COIL module the following semester.  

September 10 - November 19, 2018 Online COIL Academy for course development on Climate Resilience. The Academy is a focused online program on the process, concepts, and tools of working effectively to create and co-teach through the COIL modality.  Faculty teams will be provided technology, pedagogical and content knowledge mentorship (TPACK)  to develop and improve a task-based COIL syllabus by the end of the Fall 2018 semester. Participants will be expected to dedicate 3-4 hours per week to COIL Academy activities.

Fall 2018 and/or Spring 2019 (dates to be selected by participating faculty/institutions) Reciprocal Campus Visits

Spring Semester 2019 Faculty teach COIL module on Climate Resilience as part of scheduled courses.  Faculty teams co-teach their shared COIL course/modules during a portion of an existing Spring 2019 course, usually 4-8 weeks in duration.

March or October 2019 (optional) Faculty co-present their work at the CONAHEC annual conference in Spring 2019 and/or the COIL/International Virtual Exchange Conference in Fall 2019.

Eligibility:

• The program is open to teaching faculty in any discipline with an interest in combining climate resilience topics into an international partnership based on COIL pedagogy.
• Participants must be faculty/staff at an accredited institution of higher education in North America.  Faculty/staff from institutions located outside North America must be affiliated with the SUNY COIL or CONAHEC member networks.  If neither of these conditions apply, contact program administrators about participating.
• Eligible faculty must be teaching for-credit course(s) in an academic discipline or professional program at the undergraduate or graduate level during Fall 2018 and/or Spring 2019.       
• Faculty are expected to modify the course syllabus to integrate the co-taught peer-to-peer COIL module into a 4-8 week section of the course.
• Secure the required institutional support as outlined on the Confirmation of Institutional Support Form

Benefits:

• The program will match you with an international faculty partner and provide professional development for you on climate resilience topics and COIL based teaching methods.
• The program will help your institution form international partnerships and embed COIL know-how and experience as a tool of curricular internationalization.
• The program provides a low-cost replicable model in future semesters and expandable to new faculty/programs/courses.
• The program helps to address North American development priorities and UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• The program may lead to other internationalization projects such as dual-diploma programs, study abroad courses, international research work, exchanges, and more.
• Institutions that commit to initiating three or more faculty into the program will receive 1-2 hours of consultation on curricular internationalization.  

Costs:

The program fee of USD$ 1,850 per professor or USD$ 5,200 per institution for up to 3 professors (1 or 2 additional professors can be added for USD$ 1500 each).

Institutions are responsible for costs related to the reciprocal campus visits in addition to the program fee.

To Apply:

Visit http://bit.ly/applyIFC

As part of the application, participants are expected to complete an Institutional Support Form. Please see the application for details.

Application Deadline: June 15, 2018

Program Partners:

The Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC; http://conahec.org) is a membership-driven not-for-profit organization based at the University of Arizona which, since the early nineties, has fostered international higher education collaboration within the North American region and with select partners around the world. CONAHEC’s new North American Center for Collaborative Development (NACCD; http://naccd.org), announced as a key deliverable of the 2016 North American Leaders Summit, focuses North American collaboration on issues of regional and international importance. Thanks to the support of the governments of the USA, Canada and Mexico, the NACCD is creating communities of interest which connect North America’s indigenous peoples, support regional competitiveness while encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship and address issues related to climate resilience and clean energy.

The Center for Collaborative Online International Learning at the State University of New York (SUNY COIL Center; http://coil.suny.edu) extends significant international experiences to all students and faculty by facilitating online intercultural exchange. The COIL Center promotes collaborative international learning by connecting classes between US institutions and universities around the world, bringing international engagement into the curriculum. We support faculty and students who work with their peers in an online learning environment to explore important themes, issues, and ideas, preparing students to work in a multi-cultural and connected world.

If you have any questions, please contact CONAHEC Program Manager Gabriela Valdez gvaldez@email.arizona.edu