1st Edition

Student Learning Abroad What Our Students Are Learning, What They’re Not, and What We Can Do About It

    470 Pages
    by Routledge

    470 Pages
    by Routledge

    A central purpose of this book is to question the claims commonly made about the educational benefits of study abroad. Traditional metrics of enrollment increases and student self-report, and practices of structural immersion, are being questioned as educators voice growing uncertainty about what students are or are not in fact learning abroad. This book looks into whether these criticisms are justified—and what can be done if they are.The contributors to this book offer a counter-narrative to common views that learning takes place simply through students studying elsewhere, or through their enrolling in programs that take steps structurally to “immerse” them in the experience abroad.Student Learning Abroad reviews the dominant paradigms of study abroad; marshals rigorous research findings, with emphasis on recent studies that offer convincing evidence about what undergraduates are or are not learning; brings to bear the latest knowledge about human learning and development that raises questions about the very foundations of current theory and practice; and presents six examples of study abroad courses or programs whose interventions apply this knowledge. This book provokes readers to reconsider long-held assumptions, beliefs and practices about teaching and learning in study abroad and to reexamine the design and delivery of their programs. In doing so, it provides a new foundation for responding to the question that may faculty and staff are now asking: What do I need to know, and what do I need to be able to do, to help my students learn and develop more effectively abroad? Contributors:Laura BathurstMilton BennettGabriele Weber BosleyJohn EngleLilli Engle Tara HarveyMitchell HammerDavid KolbBruce La Brack Kris Hemming LouKate McClearyCatherine MenyhartR. Michael PaigeAngela PassarelliAdriana Medina-López PortilloMeghan QuinnJennifer Meta RobinsonRiikka SalonenVictor SavickiDouglas StuartMichael Vande BergJames ZullWhile the authors who have contributed to Student Learning Abroad are all known for their work in advancing the field of education abroad, a number have recently been honored by leading international education associations. Bruce La Brack received NAFSA’s 2012 Teaching, Learning and Scholarship Award for Innovative Research and Scholarship. Michael Paige (2007) and Michael Vande Berg (2012) are recipients of the Forum on Education Abroad’s Peter A. Wollitzer Award.

    PREFACE PART ONE. SETTING THE SCENE 1. Student Learning Abroad. Paradigms and Assumptions—Michael Vande Berg, R. Michael Paige, and Kris Hemming Lou 2. Why Students Are and Are Not Learning Abroad. A Review of Recent Research—R. Michael Paige and Michael Vande Berg PART TWO. FOUNDATIONS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING 3. Taking Stage Development Theory Seriously. Implications for Study Abroad—Douglas K. Stuart 4. Paradigmatic Assumptions of Intercultural Learning—Milton J. Bennett 5. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). A New Frontier in Assessment and Development of Intercultural Competence—Mitchell R. Hammer 6. Using Experiential Learning Theory to Promote Student Learning and Development in Programs of Education Abroad—Angela M. Passarelli and David A. Kolb 7. The Brain, Learning, and Study Abroad—James E. Zull 8. Anthropology, Intercultural Communication, and Study Abroad—Bruce La Brack and Laura Bathurst 9. The Psychology of Student Learning Abroad—Victor Savicki 10. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Support of Student-Centered Learning Abroad—Jennifer Meta Robinson PART THREE. PROGRAM APPLICATIONS. INTERVENING IN STUDENT LEARNING 11. Shifting the Locus of Intercultural Learning. Intervening Prior to and After Student Learning Abroad—Laura Bathurst and Bruce La Brack 12. Beyond Immersion. The American University Center of Provence Experiment in Holistic Intervention—Lilli Engle and John Engle 13. The Maximizing Study Abroad Project—R. Michael Paige, Tara A. Harvey, and Kate S. McCleary 14. Facilitating Intercultural Learning Abroad. The Intentional, Targeted Intervention Model—Kris Hemming Lou and Gabriele Weber Bosley 15. Developing a Global Learning and Living Community. A Case Study of Intercultural Experiences on The Scholar Ship—Adriana Medina-López-Portillo and Riikka Salonen 16. An Experiment in Developing Teaching and Learning. The Council on International Educational Exchange's Seminar on Living and Learning Abroad—Michael Vande Berg, Meghan Quinn, and Catherine Menyhart CONCLUSION 17. Intervening in Student Learning Abroad. Closing Insights—Kris Hemming Lou, Michael Vande Berg, and R. Michael Paige

    Biography

    Michael Vande Berg is vice president for Academic Affairs at the Council on International Educational Exchange. He completed his PhD in comparative literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He has held leadership positions at several institutions that are unusually committed to the international education of their students, including Georgetown University; the School for International Training; Michigan State University; Kalamazoo College; and el Instituto Internacional, in Madrid, Spain. Michael has authored a wide range of international education, intercultural relations, and comparative literature publications, including Spanish-to-English translations of two classics of 20th-century Spanish literature. He has been the principal investigator of several study abroad research projects, including the Georgetown Consortium Project; frequently consults with faculty and staff about international education topics; and leads intercultural workshops in the United States and abroad. A founding board member of the Forum on Education Abroad, he now serves as a senior faculty member of the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication. Michael is also the recipient of The Forum on Education Abroad’s 2012 Peter A. Wollitzer award. R. Michael Paige was professor of international and intercultural education in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota. He was the cofounder of the university’s Comparative and International Development Education (CIDE) program and the EdD program for International Educators. His research focused on the impact of study abroad, the development of intercultural competence, the internationalization of higher education, and global engagement. He codirected or served as a research consultant on a number of major studies including Maximizing Study Abroad, the Georgetown Consortium Project, CIEE’s Transformative Power of Study Abroad, and Study Abroad for Global Enga

    "Voici un gros et grand livre: gros parce qu’il fait 440 pages, riches et denses, grand parce qu’il est intéressant, important, essential. Contenant dix-sept chapitres écrits par des spécialistes et praticiens de l’interculturel, il constitue une synthèse des plus remarquables sur le sujet [des études] à l’étranger."

    French Review Vol. 87.1

    "The book is a good source for study-abroad professionals and has the ability to provide direction for programs needing new life breathed into them, particularly at a time when budgets are shrinking, calls for accountability are increasing, and students deserve, more than ever, to have truly meaningful study-abroad experiences."

    Peggy Delmas, University of Southern Alabama

    The Review of Higher Education

    "Argues for the re-evaluation of longstanding assumptions and practices in study-abroad programs."

    The Chronicle of Higher Education