Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Welcome to session 6.02

15 September 2011

SAFSAStudy Abroad and Foreign Student

AdvisorsWHO:

EAIE members involved in providing services and guidance to foreign students and scholars, advising students about study abroad opportunities or promoting study abroad programmes in their institutions.

WHAT:

The focus of SAFSA is on enhancing intercultural communication skills, orientation and advising programmes, practical aspects of international programmes, promotion and advocacy of international mobility and quality in advising.

So SAFSA is a platform for discussion and networking with other professionals!

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

SAFSAStudy Abroad and Foreign Student

Advisors

For questions please contact any member of the SAFSA board:

Chair:

Karin Klitgaard Møller, University of Copenhagen Faculty of Life Sciences, Denmark

kkgm@life.ku.dk

Vice-chair:

Ingrid Gehrke, FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Austria

Ingrid.Gehrke@fh-joanneum.at

Board:

Barbara Boldt, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Barbara.boldt@epfl.ch

Kevin Murphy, CEA Global Education, Italy

Kevin.Murphy@gowithcea.com

Léa D. Senn, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy

lea.senn@unicatt.it

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Chair and Speaker:

Zachary Androus, CEA Global Education, Florence

Speaker:

Trevor Nelson, Iowa State University

Speaker:

Kevin Murphy, CEA Global Education Italy

Trevor Nelson - a brief introduction

What is experiential learning?

Theorists - John Dewy & David Kolb

Kolb's Learning Cycle

Kolb's Learning Cycle

• Reflection - An experience remains just that without reflection.

• Types of experiential learning:1. Internship

2. Practicum

3. Cooperative education

4. Field experience

5. Cross cultural experiences

6. Service learning

Increase in study abroad and experiential learning participation

1. Institutional motivations2. Student motivations

Working with partners and providers

Experiential Learning during Study Abroad in Florence, Italy

Prof. Zachary Androus, CEA Global Campus Florence

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

I am…

•a US trained anthropologist

•a professor in Florence teaching

• Communication and Global Competence

• Intercultural Communication (for International Fashion Merchandising and Marketing)

• Anthropology of Contemporary Italian Society

• Sport and Culture in Contemporary Italy

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Experiential Learning?

•what anthropology does as anthropology (participant-observation)

•what I do as a teacher abroad

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

What I’m talking about today draws on…

•my own participant-observation during Spring and Summer 2011

•site visits, demonstrations, field trips: six different courses across five different programs)

•surveys: six professors and one director representing 11 different programs

•Interviews with two CEA students.

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

The Professors I Surveyed…

represent eleven different programs

teach courses including

• Italian Culture and Society• Italian Urban History• Renaissance and Modern Architecture• Women in Italian Society• Feminist Thought• Anthropology of Fashion

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Professors on experiential learning…

•“absolutely essential”

•“crucial for the study abroad experience”

•“makes the difference between studying at home and studying in a foreign country”

•“the only way for them to learn”

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Course Related EL in Florence…

site visits/field trips:• museums• cinema• central market• artist/artisan studios• art galleries• local businesses

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Course Related EL in Florence…

observational/interactional

• «cultural encounter»

• scavenger hunt

• participant-observation

• conversation exchange

• special activities

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Course Related EL in Florence…

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Course Related EL in Florence…

Cooperating with the community: experiential learning activities abroad

Key Points and New Insights…

Faculty often use their own social networks to create EL opportunities for their students.

Life outside the classroom is always an aspect of students’ own EL but is not always brought into the classroom (my survey suggests that course topic or content may be a factor in this, but not necessarily)

Kevin Murphy

I am…

•a UK-trained art historian

•a professor in Florence teaching Art History

•Dean and Director of two Study Abroad programs in Italy

Experiential learning in Art History?

Well, Study Abroad itself is a form of experiential learning

butWhat should\can a foreign institution\provider

contribute?

• Local know-how• Institutional & faculty personal contacts• Safety• Well-rehearsed systems of validating the educational value of experience• On-site emphasis on careers value of experience - resume building advice. • Freedom to instruct (faculty-led programmes) • Technology and communication, for program administrators & instructors create strong links with home institution.

Local Library Membership Mission

CommunicationTolerance

PatienceIndependence

AdaptationAppreciation

Café Solo What kind of people are there? Outside? How do they use the space/s?What are they doing, how are they dressed?What interactions are taking place? Verbal? Non-verbal?What is the sound\smell environment? How do you feel being there? And making your order?How were you treated? …and so on.

Challenges

Experience is not enough – measurement is required

Contact hours and teaching on site?

Programme length – not realistic in a brief trip or tour of a foreign country.

Transparency of academic integrity (SVH)

Clarity of Intention.

The student, instructor, and study abroad administrator should determine and agree on the learning objective of any experience (sign a contract?):

• Why is the student going abroad?• What can be gained in a learning context from the experience?

See the “Principles of Good Practice” of the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE).