Virtual Exchange Courses - Fall 2026

Each semester, ECU offers courses across a variety of disciplines that use a virtual exchange format. In these courses, students engage with peers around the world while they:

Discover and explore global cultures
Build cultural awareness and intercultural communication skills
Strengthen career-readiness skills such as adaptability, critical thinking, digital literacy, teamwork, and leadership

ECU offers two types of virtual exchange courses: Global Understanding (GU) and COIL.

GU courses are built around regular engagement with students from multiple partner institutions around the world. Topics are broad and multidisciplinary, making GU a strong option for students seeking an introductory global learning experience. Students who complete GU are also eligible for a study abroad scholarship. See details below.

COIL courses integrate international collaboration into a specific subject area, allowing students to connect global learning directly to their field of study.

Whether students choose GU or COIL, virtual exchange offers a practical way to build valuable career-readiness skills and gain international experience as part of their ECU coursework.

Explore Global Understanding Courses

Explore COIL Courses

Global Understanding

In the Global Understanding courses, students work with peers from two – three partner institutions around the world for approximately 4 – 6 weeks each. Bi-weekly video conference discussions, chats, and collaborative student projects provide personal, global experiences that promote cross-cultural understanding as students build intercultural communication and collaboration skills. Examples of topics covered throughout the semester include college life & education, work & careers, family & traditions, stereotypes & prejudices, gender, meaning of life & religion, mental health & wellness, and many more.

Most GU courses fulfill either a Social Science (GE:SO) or Humanities (GE:HU) general education requirement. All eligible students who take a GU course and apply for a scholarship to study abroad from the Thomas W. Rivers Foreign Exchange Scholarship are guaranteed a minimum $500 award.

GU Fall Classes 2026

Class	Section	Mode	CRN	Time	Attributes	Instructor
ANTH 1050: Global Understanding	001	F2F	85588	MWF 8:00 - 8:50 am	GE:SO	Sara Page
ANTH 1050: Global Understanding	002	F2F	85621	MWF 8:00 - 8:50 am	GE:SO	Blakely Brooks
ANTH 1050: Global Understanding	003	F2F	86090	MWF 8:00 - 8:50 am	GE:SO	Blakely Brooks
ANTH 1050: Global Understanding	006	F2F	86093	MWF 9:00 - 9:50 am	GE:SO	Blakely Brooks
ANTH 1050: Global Understanding	004	F2F	86091	TTH 8:00 - 9:15 am	GE:SO	Blakely Brooks
ANTH 1050: Global Understanding	005	F2F	86092	TTH 8:00 - 9:15 am	GE:SO	Blakely Brooks
ANTH 1050: Global Understanding	601	DE	85591	TTH 9:30 - 10:45 am	GE:SO	Dakota Pavell
ANTH 1050: Global Understanding	602	DE	85716	T 7:00 - 9:50 pm	GE:SO	Blakely Brooks
ANTH 1050: Global Understanding	603	DE	86175	T 7:00 - 9:50 pm	GE:SO	Blakely Brooks
HMGT 3200: Dimensions of Tourism	601	DE	81749	TTH 8:00 - 9:15 am		Cynthia Deale
HNRS 2011: Global Understanding: The Power of Place	002	Hybrid	84016	MWF 8:00 - 8:50	GE:HU, WI	Melanie Robbins

Course Descriptions

View the full course spotlight

Explore tourism, including the processes, activities, and outcomes arising from the relationships and interactions among tourists, suppliers, governments, communities, and surrounding environments involved in attracting and hosting visitors within domestic and international settings.

How does where you’re from shape how you see the world? In this course, you’ll explore the connections between geography, culture, and human experience by examining communities across the globe. Additionally, virtual engagement with students in other countries will help illuminate how place influences cultural perspectives, identities, and ways of life.

Global Business

The Global Business course is designed to help students develop intercultural communication and collaboration skills relevant to business, assess cultural differences in business practices in international contexts, and build problem solving and strategic decision-making abilities through collaborative projects. The collaborative portions of the course focus on a few key general topics including business protocols and etiquette and the business environment and systems, then focuses on various business aspects (leadership, entry mode, location choice, competitive advantage, and market segmentation) through the lens of e-commerce.

Class	Section	Mode	CRN	Time	Instructor
MGMT 3552: Global Perspectives in Business	601	DE	82236	MWF 9:00 - 9:50 am	Tope Bello

Global Environment

The Global Environment course explores and analyzes environmental issues at local, regional, and global scales. Over the semester, students will use real-time videoconference and chat to collaborate with peers at three different partner institutions around the world to explore the interconnectivities of global environmental problems as well as how different countries, cultures, and governments approach and address these problems. The course will provide an overview of several environmental topics, including traditional and alternative sources of energy, natural resources management and policy, the sustainability of ecosystems, climate change, and environmental cooperation and conflict.

Class	Section	Mode	CRN	Time	Instructor
GEOG 1250: Water in the Environment	601	DE	83239	TTH 9:30 - 10:45 am	LJ Palmer-Maloney

COIL

In COIL courses, students collaborate with a partner class at a university in another country as part of their coursework. Through discussions, projects, and other shared assignments, students engage internationally while applying what they are learning in a specific discipline. COIL courses are offered through a variety of departments and allow students to connect global learning directly to their field of study.

COIL Fall Classes 2026

Class	Section	Mode	CRN	Time	Attributes	Instructor
HDFS 3002: Family Systems and Parenting Across the Life Cycle	601	DE	82563	Asynchronous		Bernice Dodor
HLTH 3002: Women's Health Across the Lifespan	004	F2F	82710	MWF 10:00-10:50 am	EE:DL	Sarah Maness
NURS 6080: Theory for the Practice of Advanced Nursing	602	DE	84079	Asynchronous		Alexis Hodges
HNRS 2013: Economics of Health and Healthcare	001	F2F	84046	MWF 3:30-4:45 pm	GE:SO, WI	Vera Tabakova
HDFS 6213: Child Life in Healthcare Settings	601	DE	82684	TH 9:00-11:50 am		Priti P. Desai
SPAN 3001: Intermediate Spanish Communication Skills	001	F2F	85267	MWF 10:00-10:50 am		Javier Lorenzo
COMM 3104: PR and Corporate Writing	001	F2F	84859	MWF 10:00-10:50 am	WI	Carrie Meadows
SPAN 3003: Spanish for Heritage Speakers	001	F2F	85274	MWF 10:00-10:50 am	EE:DL	Laura Levi Altstaedter
SPAN 3003: Spanish for Heritage Speakers	002	F2F	85277	MWF 11:00-11:50 am	EE:DL	Laura Levi Altstaedter
ADRE 6310: Pre-practicum in Clinical, Addictions, and Rehabilitation Counseling	001	F2F	82819	TH 2:00-5:00 pm		CJ Clemmons-James

Course Descriptions

Explore how family systems and parenting practices shape child development across cultural contexts. Through a planned COIL experience, students will engage with international peers in online discussion communities to examine current parenting issues in the U.S. and around the world, applying course concepts to real-life perspectives and examples. Students will strengthen their critical thinking and communication skills while gaining a broader understanding of child and family relationships across cultures.

Explore women’s health from a public health perspective, with attention to the social, political, economic, and cultural factors that shape wellbeing across the lifespan. Through a planned COIL experience, students will engage with international peers to compare women’s health issues across contexts and contribute to a shared public awareness project. Students will gain a broader global perspective while strengthening their ability to analyze health issues and advocate for informed action.

Explore the theories and models that shape advanced nursing practice, research, leadership, and scholarship across healthcare settings. Through a planned COIL experience, students will engage with peers in Poland to examine how nursing theories are applied in different clinical and educational contexts, using structured exchange and reflection to connect theory to practice across borders. Students will deepen their ability to think critically about the role of theory in guiding nursing practice in a global profession.

Examine health and healthcare through an economic lens, considering how decisions are shaped by patients, providers, organizations, and governments. Through a planned COIL experience, students will engage with international peers to compare attitudes toward health, access to care, healthcare costs, and the strengths and challenges of different healthcare systems. Students will develop a broader understanding of how culture and context influence health and healthcare around the world.

Explore how children and families cope with hospitalization by examining psychosocial care practices in healthcare settings. Through a planned COIL experience, students will collaborate with peers in India to compare approaches to providing child- and family-centered care to promote pediatric emotional safety. Students will apply course concepts through shared projects while strengthening their professional communication and intercultural collaboration skills.

Build your confidence communicating in Spanish as you practice expressing ideas, opinions, and perspectives on topics that matter in everyday life and the Hispanic world. Through a planned COIL experience, students will engage with peers in Mexico in structured bilingual conversations connected to course themes such as culture, society, and academic life. Along the way, students will strengthen their Spanish proficiency while developing greater intercultural awareness and communication skills in a transnational setting.

Learn how public relations work in the real world, from crisis communication to media, consumer, and community relations. Through a planned COIL experience, students will engage with peers in China to explore how brands and products are promoted across cultural contexts, while strengthening their intercultural communication and collaboration skills.

Strengthen your Spanish while exploring contemporary issues that matter across communities and cultures. Through a planned COIL experience, students will collaborate with peers in Argentina to examine topics connected to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, comparing how these issues are understood and addressed in different contexts. Along the way, students will build intercultural communication, collaborative problem-solving, and digital collaboration skills through meaningful international teamwork.

Develop the foundational counseling skills needed for clinical, addiction, and rehabilitation practice, with particular attention to multicultural competence and professional growth. Through a planned COIL experience, students will engage with international peers in applied skill-building activities and case-based scenarios that highlight how culture, systems, and context shape counseling practice. Students will strengthen their micro-skills while building greater confidence in culturally responsive and ethical decision-making.