International Storytelling

5/11/2016

The International Storytelling course at Kent State University combines engaged experiential learning with international work and recreation, allowing students to develop journalism skills while broadening their understanding of the world. Students enroll in a 15-week course, during which they learn about another country, plan and research stories they will cover there in multimedia reporting teams, spend two weeks in the destination country reporting stories in partnership with students from that country, and return to produce their stories for a multimedia website available to the general public.

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PROGRAM FEATURES

Education Abroad Program Name	International Storytelling
Level	Undergraduate
Number of Credits for Course	3
Number of Credits for Education Abroad Program	3
Does this course carry major/minor credit? Elective credit?	All
Typical Enrollment	15
Language of Instruction	English
Duration	Semester
Time Spent On-Site	Short-term: 3-4 weeks
Last Taught	Spring 2013
How many times has this course been taught?	3
Curriculum Strong Points/Innovations	While students attend class the entire semester, the bulk of the assigned course work must take place during the two weeks of international travel. The first nine weeks of the term provide time for research into the culture and current events of the destination country, with the goal of identifying relevant story topics. Completion of the stories and the course website occurs after the students return to campus but before the end of the semester.

FACULTY LEADER BIO

Gary Hanson
Affiliation: Kent State University
Gary Hanson is a 25-year veteran of television news. From 1984 to 1997 he was News Director of WKBN, the CBS television affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio. Prior to joining WKBN, Hanson was News Director of KXON-TV in Mitchell, South Dakota. He began his television career at WDAZ TV in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1971. He earned a B.A. in Speech from the University of North Dakota in 1973. Hanson received his Masters Degree from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University where he serves as a professor.

Mitchell McKenney
Affiliation: Kent State University
Mitchell McKenney joined the KSU faculty in August 2008 following an 18-year career in news, including a decade at the Akron Beacon Journal and Ohio.com, where he supervised online news, features, politics, in-depth and crime news reporters. Before the move to Akron he was a reporter and editor for The Palm Beach Post in southern Florida and at the Times-Union in Rochester, N.Y. He began teaching part-time in at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University in 2001. He holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Kent State.

Program Details

Develop and cover evergreen human interest news stories outside the United States.
Apply cross-platform writing, video and audio reporting and photography skills in a multimedia, team-approach environment.
Experience the culture of another country and develop a broader understanding of the world.

How does the course make use of modes of instruction, assessment, and learning at the study abroad site that may differ from home institution models?
While students attend class the entire semester, the bulk of the assigned course work must take place during the two weeks of international travel. The first nine weeks of the term provide time for research into the culture and current events of the destination country, with the goal of identifying relevant story topics. Completion of the stories and the course website occurs after the students return to campus but before the end of the semester.

How does the course enrich the classroom experience through use of location and/or unique resources?
At least one-third of Kent State students are first-generation college students, and most of our students work while attending college. It can be difficult for them to afford semester-long study abroad programs. Not only do they find it expensive to live abroad for a semester, but they can’t afford to be away from their jobs that long.
The International Storytelling course provides an option for students with financial constraints. Because the international travel for this course takes place over two weeks instead of several months, and because one of those weeks is Spring Break, this course is affordable. But because the course involves serious pre-trip preparation, expectations for professional-quality work during the international portion of the course, and intense follow-up after returning to campus, the course is not viewed as a lesser experience. Students who have taken this course value it for providing an actual international work experience, which serves them well in competition for internships and jobs, and for the close friendships they develop with the students at the partner university.

How is the course integrated into the curriculum of the home institution?
Students from many different majors are accepted into this course through competitive applications. Depending on the requirements of each student’s major, the course may be used to fulfill a general elective or an elective in the major, or it may substitute for a major requirement.

In addition, we have created a companion course called International Storytelling: Host. When students and professors from our partner institutions come to Kent State University for a reciprocal visit, Kent State students may receive credit for assisting faculty and staff in providing logistical support and content for their experience. Students in the host course may have been members of the International Storytelling courses that visited the guests’ country, but it is not required. Students in the host class spend time learning about the culture of the guests’ country and preparing to assist the guests with their planned journalistic and recreational activities.

Did you consult any resources on education abroad that were particularly helpful in designing this course? If so, please describe.
A similar course at Pennsylvania State University was the inspiration for this course, although there are substantial differences between the two. The Kent State University Office of Global Education has been invaluable in helping the course faculty select destination countries, identify partner institutions in those countries, complete MOU’s with those institutions, prepare faculty and student visas and passport applications, and countless other logistical details. Student evaluations of each iteration of the course are used to revise the plans for the next course offering.

If you feel that you have valuable information to contribute to this project that is not addressed in the body of this survey, please elaborate here.
At the end of the course students create a news site documenting their experience abroad. Examples from past trips include:
http://internationalstorytelling.org/china/
http://internationalstorytelling.org/india/
http://internationalstorytelling.org/brazil/about-the-project/

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