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<\/p>\nStaff, students and international visitors recently celebrated the launch of CPUT\u2019s first Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Venue.<\/p>\n
The modern facility is based in the Engineering Building on the District Six campus and was made possible through the IMPALA project.<\/p>\n
Jon Rubin, who developed the COIL concept, said it is \u201ca way to connect the students in your classroom to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for your courses to be enhanced through the input of others and for you to contribute to the teaching and learning in other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Education students and lecturers Felicity Titus and Vanessa van Staden, who were involved in the COIL pilot project between CPUT and the University College of Leuven-Limburg, were given the opportunity to share their experiences. Four lecturers and 100 students from the two institutions were involved in the project and according to the CPUT lecturers it helped to \u201cbroaden the perceptions and worldview of our students\u201d.<\/p>\n
The University of Antwerp\u2019s Piet Van Hove, who is the IMPALA coordinator, said the project tries to bring together expertise and experience from the different partners in Europe and South Africa to advance internationalisation in higher education.<\/p>\n
The project provided the funding for the video conferencing equipment in the new venue, which will support the COIL methodology.<\/p>\n
Prof Ren\u00e9 Pellissier, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, said One Smart CPUT focuses on the two dimensions of human-centricity and \u201ctechnology-enabledness\u201d in order to provide a relevant and excellent higher education to our students.<\/p>\n
She said COIL is not only about the technology, \u201cit is about a new mind-set of learning in an expanded space where the learning can take place naturally and solutions-oriented, bringing internationalization to the classroom\u201d.<\/p>\n
This article was published on CPUT’s website:<\/em> https:\/\/www.cput.ac.za\/newsroom\/news\/article\/3689\/connecting-students-through-coil<\/a><\/p>\n Watch testimonials on COIL from Eva Haug (Amsterdam UAS), Felicity Titus, Vanessa Van Staden (CPUT) and two CPUT-students on the IMPALA Youtube channel<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Staff, students and international visitors recently celebrated the launch of CPUT\u2019s first … <\/p>\n