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7am-12pm Registration
8-9:30am Breakfast Plenary
Undergraduate Research Plenary
Bernhard Streitwieser, moderator
The annual Undergraduate Research Awards recognize rigorous and significant undergraduate research that is part of an education abroad program. The students will present their research, which demonstrates the highest levels of critical thinking, analysis, and creativity, and are outstanding examples of student learning outcomes in education abroad.
Winners of the 2008 Undergraduate Research Awards:
Lauren Gersbach (Butler University; The School for Field Studies/Centre for Rainforest Studies, Queensland, Australia) for “Alternative Mechanisms to Survive Severe Cyclones in Mabi Type 5b Rainforest Tree Species of North Queensland, Australia.”
Brittany Murlas (University of California Berkeley; University of California Education Abroad Program, Ghana) for “Mother Tongue Literacy in Ghana: A Sociolinguistic Approach.”
Student participation is sponsored by: SIT Study Abroad and Euroscholars
Forum Annual Business Meeting
Reports from Forum Board and Forum Council, announcement of results of Forum Council Election
Presentation of Peter A. Wollitzer Advocacy Award to David Larsen, Arcadia CEA
Named in honor of the first Chair of the Forum Council, the award honors a Forum member who has been remarkably effective in influencing educational institutions to understand and support education abroad through the effective dissemination of the fruits of the Forum’s other goals: standards of good practice, data collection and research, curricular development and academic design, and assessment.
Breakfast sponsored by
Institute for Study Abroad, Butler University.
9:45am-12pm Dialogue Sessions
A Good Return
A 28-minute video by Plenary Speaker Regge Life that focuses on the experiences of Americans returning from an overseas assignment. It is currently being used by a number of corporations and educational institutions.
The Growing Challenge: Applying Research Results to Enhance Student Learning Abroad
- Darla Deardorff, Michael Paige, Michael Vande Berg
Interest in study abroad research, and especially in studies that assess student learning abroad, continues to grow rapidly. A number of recently completed studies have yielded data that suggest steps that might be taken to enhance student learning. In this session presenters will review data from three recently-completed research projects and a research-driven model for developing intercultural competence. Participants will identify how these results might be implemented to improve study abroad policies and practices.
Study Abroad and Student Careers: The Missing Link
- Philip Gardner, Linda Gross, Inge Steglitz
Participants will learn about the development of a low-cost, high-impact collaborative program that engages returned study abroad participants in structured conversations designed to help them identify knowledge, skills, and attitudes gained during international academic experiences. The focus will be on how to conduct reflective interviews/conversations to help students mine their study abroad experiences for impacts, meanings, and stories they can use in application letters and résumés, job interviews, and graduate school application statements of intent.
12-1:30pm Lunch Plenary
Keynote by Regge Life
Sponsored by
Australian Education International.
1:45-3pm Dialogue Sessions
Decolonizing Study Abroad
- Mell Bolen, Bruce La Brack, Tony Ogden
Some critics assert that the behavior and expectations of a significant number of US students abroad bear an uncomfortable similarity to Colonial attitudes. This session will consider the dynamic interaction between the dominant secular-hedonistic ethos of many of today's educational travelers (the "colonial student"), the program models that foster them, and the unintended effects upon host communities. Presentations will explore ways to "de-colonize" student consciousness and create processes and programs that will lead to greater "mindfulness" and ethical responsibility.
Developing Intercultural Competence through Study Abroad
- Mitch Hammer, Michael Paige
Key innovative frameworks and assessment approaches for building intercultural competence through the study abroad experience will be presented. Difficulties in conceptual models that have traditionally guided study abroad will be identified and breakthrough strategies for overcoming these difficulties will be discussed. Presenters will share how theoretical frameworks, assessment approaches, and study abroad design considerations can be integrated to more effectively build intercultural competence—a core dimension of domestic and global leadership and citizenry.
Mapping the Boundaries in International Education
- Martha Merrill, Richard Rodman
Education abroad practices have changed dramatically in the last decade. Have education abroad theories changed as well? The presenters will ask the participants to rethink the basic boundaries of our field as we enter the 21st century. The question will be addressed from four perspective: using a matrix; reviewing the WTO’s Global Agreement on Trade in Services; revisiting the idea of “culture learning;" and engage the audience in a consideration of ethics.
Researching Education Abroad: Preliminary Findings from UT Austin
- Sarah Angulo, John Sunnygard
The session will discuss three research projects UT Austin is currently conducting: How Students Change Across a Semester Abroad; Academic Impact of Study Abroad; and Program Evaluations as a Measure of Success. Participants will consider how we can design programs to maximize and enhance changes which occur in students abroad and how we can effectively use research results to increase interest in study abroad among students, faculty, administration, and the media.
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