Program Overview

Virtual Exchange/Collaborative Online International Learning

Virtual Exchange (VE) or Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is an innovative pedagogy that allows professors and students to use technology to engage with their peers at universities around the globe.

Program Overview

VE/COIL takes place within two or more courses taught by professors in different countries and might span from a few weeks to an entire semester. Using a computer or phone with internet access, students meet and interact through synchronous and asynchronous meetings in which they exchange experiences and ideas and work together in teams to complete projects that are graded by their respective professors.

Benefits

Throughout the academic year, the Center for Teaching and Learning will share information in a newsletter designed to help students learn about VE as well as find a faculty partner in the country of their choice.

By the Numbers

• 93: Virtual Exchanges/COILs implemented since 2020
• 40: UT Dallas partner institutions located in 22 countries
• 3,172: UT Dallas and international students engaged

VE/COIL Projects

Fall 2025

Dr. Christine Veras and Dr. Katrina Rushing

• Partner: Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Brazil
• Course: ANGM 4322 – Experimental Animation, Fall 2025
• Description: This interdisciplinary VE/COIL project brought together animation and music students from UT Dallas and UTFPR in Brazil to explore the creative intersections of sound and image.

Dr. Irina Panovska

• Partner: University of Marburg, Germany
• Course: Contemporary Economic Policy – Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023
• Description: Students enrolled in Dr. Irina Panovska's undergraduate economics course on Contemporary Macroeconomic Policy at UT Dallas and students from Dr. Bernd Hayo's Macroeconomics II in Marburg will work on a joint project that studies the behavior of unemployment and inflation in G7 countries.

Dr. Carol Cirulli Lanham

• Partner: Sheffield Hallam University, England
• Course: EPPS 1110 – Critical Issues in the Social Sciences, Fall 2025
• Description: Dr. Lanham is leading two VE/COIL projects this semester that explore cultural lag, the gap between technological change and society's ability to adapt.

Dr. Ben Porter

• Partner: Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México (Mexico City)
• Description: This initiative connects ECS students from different majors with peers at Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México in Mexico to build a computer-vision application for pet identification.

Dr. Matthew Heins

• Partner: Institute-Mines Telecom Nord Europe, France
• Course: EE 4301 – Electromagnetic Engineering – Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
• Description: Students from both institutions create interdisciplinary research posters related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Dr. Octavious Smiley

• Partner: Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México (Mexico City)
• Course: STAT 3355 – Introduction to Data Science, Fall 2025
• Description: Students from UT Dallas and Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City are collaborating in mixed international teams to analyze real-world datasets.

Dr. Kate York

• Partners: Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Paraguay; Colegio Bayard, Argentina
• Course: NATS 4341 – Project-Based Instruction – Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
• Description: The UTeach Dallas program in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics prepares students for math and science teaching careers in the K-12 setting.

Professor Mary Beth Goodrich

• Partner: Deakin University, Australia
• Course: ACCT 6341 – Planning Control, and Performance Evaluation, Fall 2025
• Description: Graduate students studying accounting at UT Dallas collaborated with peers at Deakin University to explore entrepreneurship through product development and performance evaluation.