• The Forum on Education Abroad's 5th Annual Conference on "Being There: Teaching and Learning Abroad," will take place from Feb. 18-20, 2009, in Portland, Oregon. This year's conference will focus on the unique opportunities and challenges of teaching and learning at education abroad sites. A particular emphasis will be on the dynamics of education abroad student learning and the best practice strategies that assure high quality in education abroad teaching and learning. For more information, or to register, please go to www.forumea.org.
  • The Forum on Education Abroad, Abroad View's Strategic Partner and Sponsor, is the only organization whose exclusive purpose it is to serve the field of education abroad. Recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission as the Standards Development Organization (SDO) for education abroad, the Forum’s Standards of Good Practice are recognized as the definitive means by which the quality of education abroad programs may be judged. The Forum’s Quality Improvement Program for Education Abroad (QUIP) uses the Standards as part of a rigorous self-study and peer review quality assurance program that is available to all Forum institutional members.

    Forum members include US colleges and universities, overseas institutions, consortia, agencies, and provider organizations. The Forum focuses on developing and implementing standards of good practice, encouraging and supporting research initiatives, and offering educational programs and resources to its members. Its mission is to help to improve education abroad programs to benefit the students that participate in them. It is achieving this goal by establishing standards of good practice, improving study abroad curricula, and promoting data collection and outcomes assessment, all to advocate for high quality education abroad programs.

Education Abroad Professionals

Best Practices for Enhancing Education Abroad | Fostering Critical Reflection |
Conference Archives | Participate in Activities & Initiatives | Key Online Resources | Recommended Reading

Abroad View Magazine

Did you know that you can order Abroad View magazine for free?
Academic institutions, education-based organizations, and libraries may order up to 300 copies. Abroad View magazine is distributed biannually in September and February. Please click here for more information. Participating institutions are listed here.

Visit Abroad View's webzine for regularly updated articles, information, and events. You and your students are welcome to send submissions and suggested resources.


Best Practices for Enhancing Education Abroad

Thank you to Danuta Majchrowicz, former Abroad View Editorial Board member, for her significant contributions to this section.

BELOIT COLLEGE:
Beloit College's annual International Symposium day is a campus-wide event, when students who have studied in another country (whether by coming to the U.S. or going to a country outside the U.S.) make presentations about what they have learned. While some students focus on the intercultural aspects of their learning, others present research conducted abroad or participate in panel discussions focusing on current international events.

CORNELL ABROAD
Corinna Lewis, the Information Services Coordinator at Cornell Abroad, discusses her interest in cross-cultural learning, Cornell’s blog journalism program, and using new social networking tools for more effective outreach among study abroad students. Listen to the audio file.

HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES AND PARTNERSHIP FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION
HWS and PGE developed an approach to study abroad programming called "Integrated Program Design" (an article on this is at www.iienetwork.org/page/84648/. This approach frames students' time abroad with rigorous pre-departure and re-entry work, providing a more continuous and intentional international experience. Among its initiatives include Assistant Director Doug Reilly’s Photographing to Explore: a workshop and handbook that explore critical reflection through photography. Doug and anthropology professor Stefan Senders also collaborated to create the International Writers’ Workshop for returned study abroad students.

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION INSTITUTE
Milton Bennett, an intercultural education expert, talks with study abroad professionals about how they can help students maximize their experiences abroad. Listen to the audio file.

JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY
The Office of International Programs (oIP) at JMU serves as the central University office regarding international education, with an organizing and integrative function in addition to leadership responsibilities in identifying and facilitating global education initiatives. The oIP has been committed to many scholarly and programmatic initiatives that enhance international experiences for its students at home and abroad. In addition, many of its presentations on topics such as international service learning and internationalizing the campus are available on its website. The presentation Assessment Basics: Getting Started on an Assessment Protocol has a companion piece—a downloadable PDF Assessment Tools of Intercultural Communicative Competence, contributed by Dr. Lee Sternberger, Associate Provost and Executive Director of the oIP at James Madison University. Permission to use this document came from the author, Alvino E. Fantini, Brattleboro, VT, 2006.

LIVING ROUTES
Living Routes, an educational non-profit organization that partners with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to run semester, summer, and January programs based in “ecovillages” around the world, was the first study abroad program to institute a comprehensive carbon offsetting strategy. Living Routes Executive Director Daniel Greenberg contributed many recommended resources to Abroad View's Go Green section, and its website has resource listings too. Greenberg created a Carbon Commitment Calculator worksheet (downloadable Word document), which he uses when working with students and study abroad offices to explore ways they can measure, reduce, and offset greenhouse gas emissions in their own offices, programs, and travels.

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE:

Barbara Ganley, Middlebury College lecturer in the Writing Department, talks about the creation of "Blogging the World," a collaborative program involving Middlebury College, Haverford College, and Dickinson College students who blog individually and collaboratively while studying abroad. Ganley asks what impact might social software have on the study abroad experience? Does collaborative blogging between students scattered about the world enhance the educational value of travel? Might blogging for a global audience create opportunities for effective reflection and for contextualizing the immersive experience of living and studying away from the home institution?

Bill McKibben, America's leading environmentalist and a Scholar-in-Residence in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, shares his perspective on the role study abroad professionals can play in preparing students to travel and live abroad more sustainably. Watch video.

Catharine Wright, a Lecturer and Acting Director of Technology for Middlebury College’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research, teaches courses that explore diverse ways of thinking and writing about self and other; a range of genres and the process of writing; and the various roles of a writer. Two of her courses, Writing for Social Change, and Story and Ritual, feature online student discourse about social issues and multi-media service-learning projects. For more information, read Catharine’s essay on civic engagement.

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY:

Bernhard T. Streitwieser, the Associate Director of Northwestern University's Study Abroad Office and a part-time Lecturer in the German Department and the School of Education and Social policy, created a Global Issues Debate in which students can discuss with their peers in a deep and critical way what the abroad learning experience meant for themselves and for their host and home countries.

Jennifer Hirsch, a Lecturer for Northwestern University’s Department of Anthropology and Director of the Chicago Field Studies Program, designed a course called “Reading and Writing Culture” for students who have studied abroad during college and wish to continue learning about their host country and reflecting on their experience. A course description, readings, and assignments are at www.abroadview.org/faculty/hirsch.htm.

ST. OLAF COLLEGE
The International and Off-Campus Studies Staff members enhance students' global perspective by helping them encounter and understand changes confronting the world in a context of global community and world citizenship. You will find links for its “Reentry Strategy,” “World Issues Dialogue,” “Photo Contest,” and “Literary Contest” at www.stolaf.edu/international.

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC
Dr. Bruce LaBrack, Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at the University of the Pacific, created "What's Up With Culture," an on-line cultural training resource for study abroad. It has great information, piece by piece, section by section, outlining what students need to know before they go and upon their return. Another site detailing Dr. LaBrack's course is www.globaled.us/safeti/orientation.html (syllabus and workbook).

 


Fostering Students' Critical Reflection and Communication

Click here for a guide to using AV's Website to help your students express their international experiences and cross-cultural learning through words, images, and new media forms, such as blogs, audio recordings, videos, and digital stories.


Conference Archives

ConnectED Conference

  1. • Visit the post-conference section of the ConnectEd website to view the 2008 conference videos and to find out more about this innovative conference on how globalization is changing education and how to improve education throughout the world.

    • Read the article Unchaining Learning: ConnectEd Conference questions how globalization and technology are challenging the educational paradigms of bricks-and-mortar campuses."

The Forum on Education Abroad's annual conference includes programming developed by education abroad professionals for education abroad professionals to ensure engagement in thought-provoking dialogue. The roundtable format of sessions provides opportunities to present and evaluate case studies, discuss topics openly and collegially, and brainstorm real-world solutions.

  1. • View highlights from the 2007 conference.

Fostering Global Citizenship in Higher Education Conference 2007: Strategies for Campus-Wide Collaboration. Watch videos and learn more about the conference outcomes.

NAFSA: Association of International Educators is a member organization promoting international education and providing professional development opportunities to the field. The annual NAFSA Conference is the largest and most important gathering of international educators, administrators, policy experts and world leaders.

Re-entry Conferences (coming soon)


Participate in Abroad View Activities & Initiatives

Closer Look: Abroad View magazine's thematic section explores an international issue or topic in global education from a variety of perspectives. We invite education abroad professionals to suggest future topics and to serve as guest editors. Please e-mail us with your suggestions or interest in participating.

Global Snapshot: This nationwide, annual intercollegiate event builds a picture of daily life in communities around the world, as experienced by U.S. college students studying abroad. The project was developed by the Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Union College Partnership for Global Education and is hosted by the Abroad View Foundation during International Education Week.

Green Passport: This program is an exciting new nationwide initiative that promotes socially and environmentally conscious studying abroad experiences. This fall Abroad View is piloting the program with Living Routes, Ithaca College, Middlebury College, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Meta Photo Contest: Margaret Riley, Duke University Director and Assistant Dean for Study Abroad, conceived of this idea for Abroad View to host an annual Meta Photo Contest to recognize and promote the many study abroad photo contests organized by U.S. colleges, universities, and study abroad programs. We ask Study Abroad Professionals to send the top 1 to 3 winning photographs from your college, university, program, or organization’s most recent contest. Photo entries are accepted throughout the year until the annual deadline: May 15

Student Diplomat Essay Competition: NAFSA: Association of International Educators and Abroad View host an annual Student Diplomat Essay Competition for current and recently returned study abroad students to submit compelling stories that articulate how their undergraduate international experiences have helped meet the United States’ need to understand global situations and compete in the global arena.

Undergraduate Student Research Awards: The Forum on Education Abroad, an Abroad View Sponsor, organizes the annual Undergraduate Research Awards Competition, which showcases the most rigorous and significant undergraduate research that occurs as part of education abroad programs. This research speaks to the many ways in which students come to understand other cultures and societies through a research framework and how they connect their learning overseas to their academic and professional pursuits.

Writing Contest: The Abroad View Foundation hosts an annual Writing Contest for all currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students and students who have graduated within the past year. The winners for each of three categories (Personal Journey, Viewpoint, and Inspiration) receive $150 and their submissions are published in Abroad View.


Key Online Resources

» Abroad View's Resources for Diverse Student Populations

» Forum on Education Abroad

» NAFSA: Association of International Educators' Knowledge Community for Education Abroad

» IIENetwork.org

» The Center for Global Education

» University of Michigan International Center

» University of Minnesota's Learning Abroad Center

» TransitionsAbroad.com and Transitions Abroad's Study Abroad Adviser Articles Archive

Additional Resources
» Saint Mary's College website has re-entry course resources, such as a collection of syllabi and a collection of conference presentations on re-entry courses.


Recommended Reading

Chisholm, Linda A. (2000). Charting A Hero’s Journey. New York: The International Partnership for Service Learning.

Eyler, J., Giles, D.E., Jr., and Schmiede, A. 1996. A Practitioner's Guide to Reflection in Service-Learning: Student Voices and Reflection. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.

Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad

  1. • Special Issue on Undergraduate Research Abroad (Volume XII November 2005)
    • The Practice of the Fieldbook: Facilitating and Evaluating Field-based Learning
    by Carol Brandt, Pitzer College, and Thomas Manle, Pacific Northwest College of Art
    • Involve Me and I Will Understand: Academic Quality in Experiential Programs Abroad
    by Michael Steinberg, IES

Maximizing Study Abroad: A Student’s Guide to Strategies for Language and Culture Learning and Use by Paige, Cohen, Kappler, Chi, and Lassegard. 2002. 237 pp. $12 from Univ. of Minnesota’s CARLA.