COIL in Mineral Engineering

In essence, the course is shared between the four institutions. So, we have students and a lead instructor at each site, and all four sites meet together on a weekly basis (one 3-hr block). We use that time mainly for discussion and activities, with out-of-class reading, video review, or research assignments to prepare.

For me, the most important thing is partnering with people I trust and can count on. With a good team in place, define the VGC goals and then get to work on coordinating the main tasks and schedule. Maximize opportunities for participants to interact with each other–this is what makes VGC a value-added endeavor.

It is imperative to stay organized, and a course like ours requires a lot of upfront coordination to set the stage for a smooth term. We try to lay out the schedule and assign module leads well before the course starts, and it’s always a bit of challenge because the academic terms, breaks and holidays never perfectly align across the participating sites. I think it is also important for the teaching team to have clear responsibilities. For example, who will take care of course-wide communications, or questions from students? How will we grade group projects? It's definitely more work on the front end than a traditional course, but the return on investment is huge.

Mining is a global sector with unique challenges and opportunities at every site, and an inherent need for interdisciplinary teams to design and manage all aspects of an operation. By connecting with our international partners–and those in Colorado–we can bring a wide range of expertise and viewpoints into the classroom and learn more about emerging trends and best practices worldwide.

Year after year, students say that getting to share their learning and experiences with peers at other sites is the best thing about this course. We build student-to-student interactions into a lot of our shared meeting time, and we always assign a group project where the groups include members from different sites. In addition to learning about mining and sustainable development in different regions, the students practice key professional skills like working across time zones and with team members who have very different backgrounds and cultures. Plus, the students get the benefit of learning from four different instructors.

I love getting to work with this group of collaborators. They are each brilliant, and I probably learn more than the students each time we offer the course. It’s also a great way to observe and pick up new teaching tricks. Everyone is trying to bring their best to this course.

I started teaching a course by the same name in 2013. However, it has evolved a lot since then. At first, the shared course format was more of a way to connect classrooms and offer content to different sites. The course has become more about collaboration, leveraging the expertise and networks of our teaching team and the interests of our students to intentionally design and implement a successful course. The diversity of each cohort gives every term its own character.

Honestly, after thinking about the type of expertise that would add to the course content, I was mostly interested in finding collaborators I would enjoy working with. I was already working a bit with Professor Restrepo in Colombia on some student exchange activities. He has really great experience with outreach to mining communities. I knew Professor Smith via some engineering education research initiatives. While she works within a Mining Engineering program, she is a cultural anthropologist. She brings a critical lens of social science to our course. Later, Professor Castillo reached out with an interest in joining our course. He had actually participated in the course as a student, so we were thrilled to welcome him to the team. His expertise is in mineral economics, which has been a valuable addition.