As a service to the international community we at CIEE have begun a series of essays to address hot topics in study abroad. Our ideas are not the only valid ones but are meant to increase the awareness of issues present in international education today.
Our first essay, How Are We Doing, addresses topics surrounding student goals, increasing community engagement while abroad, increasing pre-departure, on-site, and return programming, and re-thinking policies on grades and grading.
To read the complete first essay, please click here.
Our second essay deals with standards. There has been a good deal of buzz around standards lately. We believe that standards need to be substantive and commit providers to specific qualities and services.
To read the complete second essay, please click here.
Our third essay deals with the reality of today’s study abroad student in relation to dress, attitudes, and behavior, and how that affects, sometimes negatively, their cultural engagement abroad. We believe that by beefing up preparation and guidance related to cultural awareness before a student departs, our programs and outcomes will be stronger and more positive.
To read the complete third essay, please click here.
Our fourth essay deals with Millennial Generation parents, the reality of prescribed medication today, and how study abroad is, and should be, different than a semester at college here in the U.S.
To read the complete fourth essay, please click here.
Our fifth essay is a summary of the roundtable discussions held at the CIEE Annual Conference in Miami related to a research agenda for study abroad. We’ve combined the ideas with our own thinking and have outlined a research agenda. We’ll report on our progress at the CIEE Annual Conference in Seville, Spain in November 2006.
To read the complete fifth essay, please click here.
Our sixth essay points out that study abroad is all too often not meeting its potential for preparing students for life after graduation. It argues that for programs to meet this goal, they need to meet several minimum conditions. They need, for example, to be designed and delivered with student learning in mind, to offer students structured opportunities to engage local people, to provide them experience with local academic culture, and to feature regular and systematic evaluation of their effectiveness in promoting and supporting student learning.
To read the complete sixth essay, please click here.
Our seventh essay notes that there has been a great deal of discussion lately about numbers in study abroad. The essay raises three issues: whether all students really need to study abroad; how important the length of a study abroad experience is, in terms of learning; and whether students in cities like London and Florence – where large groups of Americans gather – are likely to have meaningful learning experiences. The essay concludes that while numbers are important, we would do better to focus on the academic, intercultural, and interpersonal needs of students—and to let the numbers take care of themselves.
To read the complete seventh essay, please click here.
Our eighth essay, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, discusses the importance of an independent evaluation process. By setting goals, the terms of evaluation, and inputs, the evaluation process can be effective in recognizing strengths and weaknesses of any program. We discuss the need for a dedicated, informed team, whether it be a team of one or a troika, who has a background in the field and is equipped with the necessary information to conduct a thorough evaluation. We also discuss the importance of follow-through, as completing an evaluation with no action (if warranted) is not worth doing. Finally, it is our belief that transparency is key to an effective process, as knowing it will be published raises the standards.
To read the complete eighth essay, please click here.
Our ninth essay, Down with America: Anti-Americanism in Study Abroad, addresses the diminished popularity of the U.S. abroad. However, rather than be vexed and disturbed by this situation, we see this time as a huge opportunity to reaffirm the value of study abroad for American college students. We think there are a number of things that all of us can do, or do better, to help students grasp and deal with this issue. First, a small number of case studies on anti-Americanism as part of the orientation process would be very beneficial. Second, a required cross-cultural learning course or segment should exist in every study abroad program. Finally, we should provide students practice in explaining their piece of the world to America when they return home. A take-home story for them to tell their friends and family about the wonderful things they saw abroad, things that might be different from what those friends and family know and/or understand. All these ideas are pedagogical, simple approaches and/or exercises in which students can engage to help assure they get full value learning abroad.
To read the complete ninth essay, please click here.
Our tenth essay, Beware the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, discusses commercialization in study abroad and consequently the over-population of American students in certain locations, resulting in the purposes of study abroad – cultural integration, language acquisitions, and personal exploration – difficult to achieve. We also touch again on the obsession the field has with numbers, rather than focusing on outcomes and the delivery of a quality experience, and improving the evaluation process in study abroad.
To read the complete tenth essay, please click here.
Our eleventh essay, Leadership, Management, & Study Abroad, discusses the challenges of management, leadership issues, and the field of study abroad.
To read the complete eleventh essay, please click here.
Our twelfth essay, Be Careful What You Wish For!, discusses the need to not confuse educational enrichment, abroad or otherwise, with study abroad and what we are willing to give up to make our study abroad “wishes” come true.
To read the complete twelfth essay, please click here.