As evidenced in research on learning abroad¹, students learn differently when taught the same subject matter on campus as compared to in an education abroad situation. How will this course overseas be different from the same course taught in East Lansing?

This also reflects MSU's Undergraduate Learning and Global Competency Goals by contextualizing them within education abroad. This is a work in progress and is intended to expand and change as our thinking about student learning on education abroad evolves.

• Academic development and intellectual growth
• Personal growth
• Professional development
• On-campus internationalization of MSU
• Skills for engaging with culturally different others

Academic development and intellectual growth

Education abroad can...

• Provide a new perspective on the major through exposure to coursework based in different cultural frames of reference and/or taught by local instructors
• Expose students to academic content not available on the home campus
• Contextualize learning by linking it to local realities (including community engagement and service-learning) and related global dimensions
• Provide guided reflection on different ways of knowing
• Provide structured opportunities for comparative analysis, critical and creative thinking, and problem-solving
• Enhance students' country-, region-, and culture-specific learning through pre-departure, on-site, and post-program interventions focused on geography, history, politics, literature, etc.
• Motivate students to begin or continue learning another language by exposing them to structured situations, inside and outside of the classroom, which will significantly facilitate the development of language skills in the context of culture
• Engage students in research projects with local students and faculty
• Provide opportunities for students to give presentations about their education abroad projects/experiences on the home campus and/or at meetings of professional associations
• Stimulate students' sense of curiosity through engagement with the local cultures

Personal growth

Students can develop personally by...

• Forming meaningful relationships and friendships with local people through home stays, local clubs, volunteer opportunities, etc.
• Reevaluating their values, vocation, and personal ethics, facilitated by reflective journaling assignments and structured reflection sessions
• Expanding their comfort zone in a context of balanced challenge and support so as to enhance their ability to (inter)act in unfamiliar situations
• Experiencing a sense of self-sufficiency by mastering and reflecting on difficult situations
• Reflecting on issues of personal identity and interdependence in a global context
• Developing a sense of social responsibility through engagement with local communities

On-campus internationalization of MSU

Our students’ international learning experiences add value to the on-campus experience by…

• Infusing the classroom with the various cultural perspectives to better prepare students for education abroad and be more receptive to the global or comparative perspectives of returned education abroad students
• Building on faculty's regional expertise and connections to identify suitable locations and partner institutions, linking education abroad to faculty scholarship and research, and expanding existing institutional links and networks that contribute to the department's research agenda
• Including student research on education abroad programs
• Linking faculty and student expertise gained through education abroad with strategic initiatives at the departmental, college, and university levels, thus making education abroad programming sustainable

Skills for engaging with culturally different others

While skills including the ability to deal with ambiguity, be flexible, and take the perspective of a culturally different person, cut across the other three categories of student learning, they also warrant separate treatment as central to learning through education abroad.

Education abroad programs can facilitate intercultural learning by…

• Enhancing students' self-awareness and understanding of their own culture with opportunities to compare and contrast host country customs, values, and traditions with their own
• Allowing time for structured and unstructured encounters with local people and customs in a variety of contexts
• Providing opportunities for exposure to, interaction with, and reflection on everyday aspects of the host culture through taking classes at the local university, engaging in recreational activities with local students, home stays, service-learning opportunities, individual projects, participation in local customs/celebrations, etc.
• Encouraging students to experience the world through the eyes of the other culture by exposing them to the literature and arts of the local culture
• Preparing students for intercultural experiences through pre-departure orientation, readings, and other media
• Helping students realize and articulate their intercultural learning and identity development through post-program reflection
• Requiring attendance at regularly scheduled on-site reflection sessions during which critical encounters with the host culture are analyzed
• Helping students make connections between the host country's culture, society, history, politics, and arts

References

(1) Sutton, R., & Rubin, D. (2004). The GLOSSARI Project: Initial Findings from a System-Wide Research Initiative on Study Abroad Learning Outcomes. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10, 65-82.

Sutton, R. S., & Rubin, D. L. (2010). Documenting the academic impact of study abroad: Final report of the GLOSSARI project. Paper presented at the annual meeting of NAFSA: International Education Association. Kansas City.