Fostering your students' critical reflection and communication
The written word is central to Abroad View’s mission. We recognize that students need encouragement and guidance in the process of critical reflection and writing development. This was the impetus for creating a virtual writing center. Increasingly, however, students are not just expressing themselves through words but also through image, sound, and new media forms, such as blogging, audio recording, and digital storytelling—all of which are incorporated into this website for your students.
Communication and expression are crucial for students in processing and reflecting on the meaning and value of their journeys. E.M. Forester said it best when he wrote, "How can I know what I think, until I hear what I say.”
Or, as Paulo Freire, the 20th century Brazilian educationalist, wrote, in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, "Authentic thinking—thinking that is concerned about reality does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication."
By helping our students express themselves in their preferred medium, we not only help them generate knowledge and create meaning for themselves but for others, too. Stories are powerful: they enthrall, they relay truth about the human experience, and they instruct.
As William Hoffa writes in "Ancient Roots and Modern Premises: Learning Through Exploration and Travel," the foreword to his book A History of U.S. Study Abroad: Beginnings to 1965, the larger purpose of the traveler's knowledge quest was "to bring new knowledge home for the betterment of the clan, tribe, or nation…long before there were books or libraries to house them, received wisdom was passed down orally."
While the oral tradition lives on today as an effective means of communication (e.g. talking with friends and family, giving presentations to groups of people, etc.), there are many other mediums for students to share their knowledge, experiences, and interpretations of the world.
What might your students have to say?
Why Tell Stories | The Written Word | Citizen's Journalism |
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This section archives audio and video clips of education abroad students and alumni giving thought to the value of storytelling. |
| This section houses some of the best writing Abroad View has published, such as Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, and Poetry from its annual Writing Contest. We provide Resources, Tips & How-To, Writing Exercises, and information on Getting Started, Developing your Story, Grammar and Style, and Getting Published. We are actively compiling a list of student- and campus-produced publications and journals of international writing. |
Citizen journalism, also known as "participatory journalism," or "people journalism" is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis. The concept behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create or enhance media on their own or in collaboration with others. Students abroad are particularly well poised to engage in citizen journalism because there are many under-reported and newsworthy stories taking place all around the world every day. A student studying in a country during the time of a political election might write about it for his or her blog, for example; or, a student dissatisfied with U.S. coverage of a particular topical regional or world issue may have the opportunity to do his or her own research in-country and then write an article. Another student might snap a photo of a momentous event happening in his or her country of study and post it to Abroad View's webzine. Or, he or she might videotape a similar event and send it to Abroad View or post it on YouTube. As PBS journalist and media expert Mark Glaser says, "All these might be considered acts of journalism, even if they don’t go beyond simple observation at the scene of an important event. Because of the wide dispersion of so many excellent tools for capturing live events — from tiny digital cameras to videophones — the average citizen can now make news and distribute it globally, an act that was once the province of established journalists and media companies." |
Audio |
| As travelers, students abroad are absorbing new sounds, from listening to foreign languages being spoken all around them to hearing the rhythms of another culture's beat. With the myriad of tones taking students in, they should be encouraged to record what they hear, conduct research through audio interviews, and report through this stimulating medium in order to more fully bring their listeners into the places about which they are teaching us. Besides the compelling creative value of audio, it is an excellent practical medium for students to capture interviews or oral research for subsequent writing and reporting or for academic work such as theses; recording conversations also can be an excellent way for students to continue improving their foreign language acquisition when they return home. |
There are legitimate concerns among education abroad professionals about giving each and every student their own blog. As Corinna Lewis, Cornell Abroad's Information Services Coordinator and developer of the Cornell Abroad Blog Journalist program (listen to Corinna's interview with AV), says, "Blogging is a very public activity. Anything that gets posted on the Internet stays there." Since students don't always think before they post, or because some want to talk more about the bars they visit than the host families they come to know, we agree blogs on education-based sites can't be a free-for-all. Abroad View has learned a few good practices through Blogging the World, an exemplary "guided blogging" initiative developed by Barbara Ganley, a lecturer for the Middlebury College Writing Program. Stacey Woody Thebodo, Assistant Director, Off-Campus Study at Middlebury College, summarizes these findings: • Blogs can be an effective tool to encourage reflective writing and to encourage students to take ownership for their education. • Study abroad advisers do not have to be "techies" or expert writers to implement blogging and to encourage their students to write blogs abroad. • Providing guidance (even training) to students before and during the time of their blogging, as well as challenging student bloggers through feedback and focused questions can challenge them to think beyond themselves and day-to-day events and instead to reflect more deeply on and explore their cross-cultural encounters and experiences. • Someone at the home institution needs to be the "blogmaster." Abroad View's Blogs section contains more information on Blogging the World as a best practice. While our site has the capacity to host blogs free of charge for students, we host blogs selectively, reviewing students' proposals first to ensure high quality. The AV website is not seeking to duplicate the effort of study abroad offices and colleges that host their own students’ blogs, but we are interested in knowing about these so that we can review and possibly link to them. Please e-mail us if you would like to share the blogs you host for your students. We also recognize that many students maintain worthwhile blogs on independently hosted blogging sites, and thus we solicit students' “best blogs” to which to link. |
Video Shorts (also referred to as Digital Stories) are a new form of expression that start with the written word and then combine image, sound, and voiceover to mesh the layers of a narrative. This medium is being used in creative writing and video production courses at a growing number of colleges and high schools, and as social networking technologies in building communities. Students abroad can use this medium to capture one or more aspects of their time in a foreign country. Often, current affairs and social commentary are woven into videos as a main component. Types of digital stories and video Abroad View includes are: • Self-reflective narrative: written and recorded in a first person voice—recalls a personal story or journey • Documentary short: a sociological or ethnographic piece that tells a story about one’s interactions with local culture and community • Stories without words: an image based narrative that depicts experiences through photographic images or footage and ambient sound • Flash fiction: a creative short story or poem transformed into video format: adding image and sound to the text layer of a basic narrative |
Doug Reilly, assistant director for The Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Union College Partnership for Global Education, writes in Photographing to Explore, "Good photography forces you to really look at the world around you…becoming a better photographer necessitates learning how to see the world around you in a more intense, purposeful way than you've ever looked at it before. As a traveler, it involves tuning your eyes to see culture. A good photograph can also help you understand the world around you, and can help you better communicate that understanding to others." The photography section contains Abroad View's gallery, as well as photo essays, and slideshows. You'll find Resources and Tips & How-To. |
When students are living and traveling abroad, the arts become a powerful vehicle through which they can access and better understand a culture. Whether it’s through Spoken Word, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts, Music, or Literature the arts give students a way to learn about and express the richness and nuances of the communities and cultures in which they are immersed. |
When encouraging students to tell stories, document the sounds and sights around them, and engage in research abroad, we emphasize how important it is for them to act in a culturally sensitive manner, respect the populations with whom they are working, record truthfully, use technology and multimedia tools in responsible and effective ways, and to give back to the communities that make their stories and work possible. |
