COIL@UArctic Global Peace Webinar: Report and Recording Now Available
The COIL@UArctic Global Peace Webinar invited colleagues from around the world to reflect on Global Politics and New Technology: Is this the end or the beginning for COIL? The webinar offered a space to share insights and explore how COIL and new technologies can be used as tools for understanding, cooperation, and global peace.
Read the report of the webinar, written by Izzy Crawford, lead of the Thematic Network on Collaborative Online International Learning and Biodiversity Education across the Arctic Circle (COIL@UArctic), and watch the recording of the webinar below.
We are meeting at a moment of profound global uncertainty. Geopolitical tensions are rising, trust across borders is fragile, and education systems everywhere are navigating rapid technological change. At the same time, we are witnessing extraordinary advances in digital platforms, AI, data science, remote sensing, and open educational tools — technologies that can either deepen divides or help us build new bridges. Collaborative Online International Learning, or COIL, sits right at this intersection.
COIL was never just about connecting classrooms. At its core, COIL is about human connection: creating shared learning spaces where students and educators engage across cultures, disciplines, and perspectives. It offers a way to practice dialogue, empathy, and collaboration — skills that are urgently needed in today’s world. Yet COIL does not exist in a vacuum. It is influenced by politics, access to technology, institutional priorities, and global power dynamics. So the question before us is not simply whether COIL will survive turbulent times — but how we can reimagine and strengthen it. How do we depoliticize COIL while still engaging with real-world challenges? How do we responsibly harness emerging technologies — including AI and global data systems — to expand access, deepen learning, and support peace-oriented collaboration? And how do we ensure that COIL remains inclusive, ethical, and grounded in shared human values?
Technology-enabled collaboration can transform learning — especially when students work together on authentic problems such as environmental monitoring, citizen science, and community-based research. These experiences don’t just build technical skills; they help young people see themselves as global citizens and co-creators of knowledge. This webinar provides an opportunity to reflect honestly, share insights, and imagine new pathways forward with a renewed commitment to use COIL and new technologies as tools for understanding, cooperation, and global peace, wherever you live in the world.