Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL): Collaborate, Design, Engage in a Global World

Description: Adding a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) component to a course can enhance existing coursework, help students develop curiosity about the world and a deeper understanding of their own and other cultures, bolster the soft skills that many employers are looking for, and provide new perspectives on course content.

This 60-minute session will be led by Olga Asakalova (Associate Professor of English at La Guardia Community College), Teresita Levy (Chair of Latin American and Latino Studies and Executive Director of International Programs and Community Engagement), and Amanda Dubois-Mwake, Director of IPCE and adjunct instructor in the School of Education. The session is intended for faculty interested in exploring the foundations of COIL and participants will learn how to identify international partners and begin the collaboration process. Participants will use the COIL self-assessment checklist to develop course ideas for potential implementation during the Fall 2021 or Spring 2022 semesters.


Workshop Information

  • Workshop Date(s): April 29th
  • Time: 12:00 - 1:00 PM EST
  • Length: 60 minutes
  • Audience: All are welcome but instructional faculty new to online learning may find the session especially useful.
  • What to Bring: Very short reflections of your experiences from this past year.
  • Workshop Modality: Online Synchronous
  • Workshop Link: Zoom - Enter Meeting
  • Workshop Recording: View the recorded workshop

Facilitator Information

Amanda Dubois-Mwake 

Bio: Amanda Dubois-Mwake is the Director of International Programs and Community Engagement (IPCE) at Lehman College, and an adjunct instructor in the Department of Counseling, Leadership, Literacy and Special Education. A member of the Lehman College family since 2007, Dubois-Mwake has developed partnerships for Lehman students with local and global non-profit organizations to support communities in achieving their mission and vision, while matching student volunteers to their field of interest. She oversees a variety of programs within IPCE including Study Abroad, International Student and Scholar Services, Lehman LIFE Alternative Breaks, Service-Learning, Peace Corps Prep, and the newly formed Bronx Recovery Corps. She travels across the world with students to bridge service and the academic experience in partnership with faculty through experiential learning. Amanda delivers workshops on global citizenship and service across the US and has taught a number of globally focused courses at Lehman and abroad. Amanda holds a Bachelor's Degree from Bridgewater State University in Social Work and Theatre, and a Master's Degree in Higher Education Administration from New York University. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Global Leadership and Higher Education at Indiana Tech.


Olga Aksakalova, PhD

Bio: Olga Aksaklova, PhD serves as Associate Professor of English and Coordinator of the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) at LaGuardia Community College. She received her PhD in English from the CUNY Graduate Center with the focus on 20th century American literature, autobiography, and film studies. Her research, teaching and curricular/administrative projects emphasize transnational approaches. Dr. Aksakalova founded the COIL program in 2016 at LaGuardia and since then has supported the development of over 60 COIL projects and designed related co-curricular programming. Dr. Aksakalova is the recipient of several grants, including the Face Foundation grant Transitioning to Virtual Exchange that supports course collaborations between French institutions and LaGuardia, and a grant for developing internationalization at home from the US Department of Education program Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program.


Teresita A. Levy 

Bio: Teresita A. Levy is the Executive Director of the Office of International Programs and Community Engagement and Chair of the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at Lehman College. She is a trained historian and quantitative researcher, and her courses deal with the history of Latin America and the Caribbean and their diasporas. Her research focuses on the economic history of the Spanish Caribbean. Professor Levy’s book, Puerto Ricans in the Empire: Tobacco Growers and U.S. Colonialism, was published by Rutgers University Press in 2014.  In this book, Professor Levy argues that Puerto Ricans demanded and won inclusion in the U.S. empire, in terms that were defined not only by the colonial power, but also by the colonized. As Executive Director of the Office of International Programs and Community Engagement, Professor Levy is responsible for providing vision and implementing internationalization efforts at the Lehman campus. She often travels throughout the world creating academic partnerships, and her ground-breaking collaboration with two universities in Cuba was recognized in 2017 with an Innovation Fund award from the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Program. Professor Levy has a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in History from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York and a M.S. in Counseling from Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus.