Bold Challenge of Global/Digital Collaborative Education Begins: "SKKU WAVE (K-COIL)"

- Opening of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Classes with Prestigious Overseas Universities

Starting from the second semester of the 2023 academic year, our university will become the first domestic university to operate the SKKU WAVE (Worldwide Alliance for Virtual Exchange) program, a global online collaborative education initiative, in partnership with six prestigious universities from four countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and Singapore.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, advancements in digital technology-based learning platforms and online communication solutions have rapidly progressed. This has opened up avenues to effectively conduct diverse regular courses online (remotely) between universities, without incurring significant costs and time.

SKKU WAVE is a Korean version of the COIL program, benchmarking the COIL program of the State University of New York and the EDGE program of Pennsylvania State University. It has been redesigned to suit the educational environment of our university through several faculty workshops. Utilizing online platforms, SKKU WAVE will offer remote exchange programs in collaboration with overseas universities, encompassing various educational activities such as classes, team projects, and discussions.

The WAVE(K-COIL) courses will be conducted in both real-time (synchronous) and non-real-time (asynchronous) formats. Real-time classes will be conducted with universities in the Asia-Pacific region, such as the University of Queensland in Australia and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, where time zone differences are not significant. Non-real-time classes will be conducted in collaboration with universities in the United States and Europe, where time zone differences are substantial. Especially for non-real-time classes, digital communication solutions like social media and Zoom will be actively utilized to enhance interaction and team projects.

Dean Sanghoon Bae stated, "WAVE(K-COIL) will provide Sungkyunkwan University with a new opportunity to interact and collaborate with global students." He further emphasized, "Through online collaboration, students will form networks with peers from different countries and cultural backgrounds, thereby strengthening their global competence and aiding their growth into global citizens."

The upcoming WAVE(K-COIL) program, set to open in the second semester of the 2023 academic year, will consist of a total of six courses. These courses will cover topics of high relevance in various academic fields and global issues that allow for the sharing of cultural relativism and perspectives. The courses are as follows:

(Refer to the table below)

○ International Conflict and News Reporting (Professor Ray Hartman)

○ Embodied Interactive Media (Professor Jiyoung Lee)

○ Data Ethics and Societal Impacts (Professor Gayathri Nadarajan)

○ Curriculum and Education (Professor Jina Ro)

○ Frontier Energy Astrophysics (Professor Chang Dong Rho)

○ Introduction to Bioenergy Engineering (Professor Gahyun Baek)

▲ (first row starting from left) Prof. Ray Hartmant,  Prof.Jiyoung Lee, Prof. Gayathri Nadarajan

(second row starting from left) Prof. Jina Ro, Prof. Chang Dong Rho, Prof. Gahyun Baek

Additionally, the Division of Academic Affairs plans to significantly expand the WAVE(K-COIL) program's course offerings from the 2024 academic year. They also intend to collaborate with various higher education institutions from different countries that require advanced digital technology-integrated education, not just from English-speaking countries.