COIL for high school: five shared tasks

Give teenagers a shared question to investigate

High school students can bring research, arguments and creative choices to an exchange with another class. Begin with a topic you already teach, then choose work that needs a partner's questions or ideas. A comparison becomes more useful when students use it to make or revise something together.

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) gives the exchange that shared purpose. SUNY COIL describes teachers designing the experience together and students collaborating on the activities. These five task types adapt that idea for teenagers; the main COIL guide explains the wider approach.

1. Compare places through a cultural exchange

Choose a local question both classes can investigate, such as how green spaces serve their communities. Students can describe what they notice, ask partners for context and use the comparison to question an initial assumption. Connect the task to your subject and an SDG when it fits.

For example, a class in New York could work with a willing class in Tokyo to compare public green spaces. Each group could prepare a short virtual tour using approved photographs, maps and descriptions. An interview with a city planner could add a perspective if both teachers can arrange it.

Ask students to identify one design feature they would adapt for their own area and explain why. A joint proposal should recognize local differences, costs and practical limits rather than assume that one city's solution will work everywhere. Share findings in a document or presentation, with a partner response before the final version.

2. Investigate a problem and propose a response

A global issue becomes easier to examine when students can gather local evidence. For a plastic-pollution task, agree what each class will count or record, how they will categorize it and which limitations to explain. Teachers should choose a school-approved activity and a setting students can access.

A class in California and a willing partner in Indonesia could compare records from local clean-ups or published environmental data. Before combining the findings, students should check whether the locations, dates and collection methods are comparable. Different results may reflect different methods as well as different conditions.

Have mixed teams propose a response, explain which evidence supports it and ask partners what would make it practical locally. The output could be a short action plan with a revision after feedback. Check which resources your chosen project includes and prepare the planning prompts and assessment criteria the task needs.

3. Co-create a digital story

Give the classes a shared theme and room to decide how to tell it. A short documentary, podcast or illustrated web story could explore school routines, a local festival or the role of technology in teenage life. Students contribute their own experience without speaking for an entire country.

For example, classes in the United States and India could create "A Day in the Life" stories, compare the details partners ask about and agree a joint sequence. Each group might draft one section, request feedback and add the explanation another class needs to understand it.

Choose school-approved recording, editing and subtitling tools that both classes can use. Check permissions and the agreed audience, offer a format without personal images, and ask students to explain their storytelling choices.

4. Debate an issue using evidence

Choose a question that fits the curriculum, such as climate policy or social media's role in democracy. Agree the format, speaking time, evidence requirements and discussion rules with your partner teacher. Give students preparation time for an argument, a question and a reply.

Students in the United States, Brazil and India could compare public evidence about media use, access and civic participation. Ask them to evaluate sources and distinguish a documented fact from an interpretation. Invite each student to support a position through research, with room to choose what they are comfortable discussing.

Teachers guide the discussion and intervene when needed. Use an external live-call tool if both classes can meet, or exchange recorded or written arguments and rebuttals. Finish by asking each student which counterargument they found strongest and whether it changed their position.

5. Research a question together

Turn a research assignment into a shared inquiry by choosing a question that needs evidence from both settings. Students could investigate how globalization affects a local tradition, then compare what their sources explain and where they disagree. Agree roles and a way to record source links before research begins.

In a history unit, willing classes in France and Morocco could investigate colonialism's influence on education using public historical documents and, where appropriate, school-approved interviews. Students should consider who produced a source, its context and what it cannot establish. Teachers choose the material and prepare students to discuss difficult histories respectfully.

Use a school-approved shared document to combine notes and references. Keep the source links beside the claims they support. A co-authored paper or presentation should show how both classes contributed and which conclusion changed after they compared evidence.

Plan the exchange before students begin

Choose one task and agree the learning focus, time, language support and shared output with your partner teacher. Keep it connected to a high school unit, and leave room for students to suggest a question or a way to present their findings.

• Start small: try an introductory exchange, perhaps over two weeks, to test the tools and reply routine before a longer joint project.
• Set clear objectives: name the subject knowledge and collaboration choices you will look for in students' work.
• Prepare for differences: practise respectful questions, ask for context and discuss how to clarify a misunderstanding.
• Build in reflection: use a journal, discussion or short recording to revisit what students learned from a partner.
• Keep technology manageable: agree the sharing space, external tools, access needs and a backup when a live call is not possible.

Class2Class lets teachers find partners, explore project ideas and use project chat and teacher messages. Teachers supervise the work and choose any external live-call tool. Read the current collaboration FAQ for the process; the teacher coordination guide gives a structure for dates, decisions and check-ins.

UNESCO's global citizenship guidance connects learning with respect for others and informed, responsible action. Use it to consider the purpose of your task. The global citizenship classroom guide offers more ways to connect that purpose to student choices.

Look for learning in the work students produce

The exchange gives teenagers opportunities to research, communicate, create and reconsider ideas. Choose evidence that shows what an individual student understood and contributed, alongside the group output. Drafts, partner replies and a short reflection give you something concrete to discuss.

• Compare a first draft with a revision and ask what the partner's feedback changed.
• Look for a relevant source, a supported claim and an explanation of uncertainty.
• Ask students to name an assumption they checked or a question they still need to investigate.
• Discuss each student's contribution and one decision they would handle differently next time.

Sources

• SUNY COIL Center. What is COIL?
• UNESCO. Global citizenship and peace education.
• Class2Class. Questions from schools, DPOs and partners.