Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) International Business (IB) program as a case study to illustrate how experiential learning theory (ELT) can be put into practice in an education abroad context through pro-active intervention and through supporting immersion activities inside and outside the classroom. Design/methodology/approach – This paper will use the IB program at DIS as a case study to illustrate how a holistic approach to study abroad is put into practice and how it aligns with the current theories in experiential learning and intervention in student learning during the study abroad process. It will examine various elements of the IB program as well as self-assessment data gathered from students through evaluations and a unique survey. Findings – Through concerted intervention efforts, DIS is exposing students to different perspectives as well as professionals within the Danish and European business communities, utilizing real-world case examples, making students active participants in their learning, strengthening their intercultural skills and preparing students to be able to reflect on and articulate what it is they have learned abroad. Based on student self-assessment, students agree that DIS is helping them prepare for the global work place. Research limitations/implications – This paper is limited to the experiences and practices within DIS IB program and all student data come from their own self-assessment and do not do pre- and post-testing to measure students' intercultural gains. Practical implications – This paper should be useful to higher education institutions and study abroad programs looking to enhance the experiential learning opportunities for business students abroad. Originality/value – This case study serves to illustrate examples of ELT in practice and intervention in student learning abroad with a particular focus on skills needed for business students in a global work place.
ABSTRACT In the spring of 2020, as COVID-19 forced the suspension of most U.S. education abroad programs, study abroad students returned home, summer programs were canceled, and international educators pondered the unlikelihood of resuming fall 2020 study abroad; larger questions about the future of international education and global learning with limited student mobility weighed heavily, two small liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania, Haverford and Dickinson, and the membership of the Community-based Global Learning Collaborative started reimagining the future of global learning. What drove us was our collective commitment to building just, inclusive and sustainable communities, a spirit of collaboration and a desire to seek out future-forward and innovative opportunities for continued global learning. Around the world, xenophobia and nationalism were on the rise. One of the clearest continuous mechanisms for combating those horrors, student international mobility, would cease. It was clear that global educators had to do something, but what? This article is a case study about how we began to answer the question of what we could do. It follows the evolution of our thinking, emergent projects, lessons learned and new collaborative pathways.
In early April of 2020, amidst astoundingly sudden suffering and disease, the novelist Arundhati Roy challenged the world with a provocative article, asking: Could the pandemic be a portal to better possibilities? Might we shed, “our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas,” leaving those things behind? Moving beyond the pandemic moment, might we walk “lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it”? Over the past two years, driven in part by the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, scholars and practitioners have proposed, reviewed, and refined articles centered on the theme of this Special Issue, “Listening to and Learning from Partners and Host Communities: Amplifying Marginalized Voices in Global Learning.” We see, through these examples, that another world is possible – and that our colleagues and networks are leveraging global education in processes and toward outcomes that transgress the limited colonial and unidirectional models that have been preeminent. Global education is being instrumentalized toward ends that support the co-creation of more just, inclusive, and sustainable communities. Thirty-one authors and co-authors, over a third of them situated in the Global South, have contributed eight articles that systematically demonstrate processes for learning from and amplifying historically marginalized voices in global learning. The result is a clearer light shining on the next steps the education abroad sector must take, if it wishes to live up to its ideals of contributing to a more just, peaceful, equitable, and sustainable world. Abstract in French Au début du mois d’avril 2020, et au milieu de souffrance et de maladie très stupéfiantes soudaines, le romancier Arundhati Roy avait mis le monde avec un article provocant en question, en demandant: la pandémie pouvait- elle être un portail aux possibilités meilleures ? Pouvons-nous diffuser, ‘’nos préjugés et la haine, notre avarice, nos banques de données et les idées mortes derrière : en laissant ces choses-là derrière ? En mouvant au-delà pendant la pandémie, pouvons- nous marcher lentement, avec moins de bagages, prêt à imaginer un autre monde, et à y combattre ? Au cours de deux dernières années, entrainées d’une part, par la perturbation de la pandémie de COVID-19?, des savants et praticiens ont proposé : révisé et réforme les articles focalisés sur le thème de cet problème spécial, Ecouter à et apprendre des communautés des associes et hôtes Amplifiant des voix marginalisées dans l’Apprendre global. A partir de ces exemples, nous voyons, qu’un autre monde est possible – et que nos collègues et réseaux utilisent beaucoup d’influence en éducation globale dans de processus afin d’obtenir des résultats qui transgressent de modèles coloniaux et unidirectionnels limités qui ont étaient prééminents, L’éducation globale est en train d’être instrumentalisée vers de fins qui appuient la Co-création des communautés plus justes, inclusives, et soutenables. Trente-un autuers et co-auteurs, sur un tiers d’eux situés dans le sud global, on contribué huit articles qui ont démontré systématiquement de processus d’apprendre de voix historiquement marginalisées en apprendre global. Le résultat est une lumière plus brillante pour des prochaines étapes de l’éducation que de secteur plus élargi doit prendre s’il souhaite vivre selon ses idéaux de contribuer à un monde plus juste, paisible équitable et soutenable.
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