Spring 2007 Newsletter
International Faculty Development Seminars
The Benefits on a Personal, Professional and Institutional Level
With recent initiatives to internationalize U.S. university campuses, our institutional partners have conveyed a crucial need to include faculty development in these initiatives. In response to this call, IEA's recent annual Faculty Development Seminar to Costa Rica was designed to provide faculty and study abroad administrators the opportunity to explore options for internationalizing their teaching methods through personal experience abroad, an introduction to overseas pedagogical perspectives and professional development workshops.
Deliberate international exposure and hands-on experiential learning are powerful tools for professional development. The following scenarios emphasize the stark contrast of educators who have had international experiences compared to those who have not.
For faculty and administrators who have not traveled abroad, their challenge is formidable. Put yourself in their shoes and try to describe the vanilla-like fragrance of orchids growing in Costa Rica's cloud forests to your botany class or the size of a carnivorous snail to a group of biology students if you have never smelled or seen one. Convince one of your students that living with a host family while studying abroad will enhance their acculturation process when you yourself have neither met such prospective host-families nor seen their homes. Attempt to internationalize your curriculum if you have never been exposed to non-western modes of teaching or conducted research outside of the United States.
Conversely, now imagine advising a U.S. student about the merits of a home-stay experience after having just had the personal experience of sitting a Tico's porch eating home-made empanadas, sipping freshly squeezed guanabana, and feeling genuinely invited and welcomed into Costa Rican culture. Then contemplate how much better you could relate to your students' culture shock after standing in a room of laughing Spanish speakers and experiencing that absolute feeling of isolation and confusion that comes from language barriers. Finally, consider the academic validation you would feel if you had the opportunity to meet your Costa Rican faculty counterpart, who has conducted similar studies to your research on "watershed land use," "culture learning assessment," or "music archiving." International networking can offer an alternative academic perspective due to historical, cultural and societal constructs.
Clearly, faculty and study abroad administrators who draw from personal and professional experience are far more prepared and effective educators. Furthermore, this type of experience will yield a more diverse faculty, which will enhance classroom learning as well as assist in institution-wide internationalization initiatives. Indicated in the scenarios above draw from specific incidents from this year's Faculty Development Seminar held in Costa Rica at the end of January. The seminar was designed to ensure maximum exposure and learning from Costa Rica's cultural classroom. The program was comprised of interactive workshops, panel discussions, focus sessions and excursions. Our group included several faculty members, a Vice President of Academic Affairs, a Cross-Cultural Trainer, Study Abroad Directors and Administrators and a licensed medical doctor, M.D.
Below, several participants share their own reflections in order to emphasize the impact of such professional development opportunities. As seen through these testimonials, participation in international training programs benefit educators' personal and professional development, their respective home institutions, the host institutions abroad and the overarching goals of increasing international awareness and globally responsible citizenship.
I have traveled to Costa Rica three times. Each experience contained a different look at people, places and culture. The current seminar took a rich look into the culture and people of Costa Rica. We were able to experience daily life, warmth and family - experiences enriching me as an educator and more importantly as a person. Many travelers may experience Costa Rica as a tourist but few experience this place as a Costa Rican. My experience on the seminar provided new insights into this wonderful place. (Read more...)
My original study abroad intent was to return to Costa Rica with students to study cloud forest and tropical ecology. My understanding and experience through the seminar is more encompassing now. The culture and language I see as essential - experiences greatly enriching the lives of our students. Understanding environmental protection and love of nature is integrated into the people. Students need this experience to produce live changing attitudes in their lives. Attitudes and thinking we need to be influential in our communities as environmental leaders. I intend to return to Costa Rica next time with plans to integrate myself and the students into Costa Rican life. I believe the benefits are limitless.
Dr. Tom Shahady
Professor of Environmental Science
Lynchburg College
The activity-packed seminar was very rich in educational experiences and ideas for future planning. The seminar covered site visits to culture and language learning centers, apartments for students, home stay alternatives, UGA Research campus, and Cloud forest, to name a few.
The lectures provided opportunity for participants to interact with local professors and staff. As a coordinator for Interdisciplinary Global Studies Certificate program and a professor of international management, I took away lots of ideas from the seminar (Read more ...)
There were lots of opportunities to plan short and long term faculty-lead experiences abroad. Presentations from the host sites explained approaches to teaching both culture and languages. I was able to visualize the situation (living and learning) for potential students from my university.
This week I applied the "Cultural Competency Exercise" presented by Dr. Deardorff in my international management course and the reaction was positively great! The Office of International Programs in my university will host a workshop on short term Experience abroad in March. Dana and I will be sharing our experiences as well as recommend Intrax as a possible partner.
The pre departure planning and reading materials made it possible for participants to identify key objectives for attending. My university is in the process expanding our faculty lead and short term study abroad and I found answers to my questions. I was particularly pleased with the small number of participants and the diversity of disciplines. It was possible and easy to interact with everyone and learn from their respective programs.
I will definitely recommend the Intrax Faculty Development Seminar to Universities and will plan to attend another seminar if I have the opportunity.
Dr. Chiekwe Anyansi-Archibong
Professor of Strategic & International Management
Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Global Studies Certificate Program (GSCP)
North Carolina A & T State University
I was initially approached by my supervisor about participating in this experience, and was drawn in because this was not going to be the traditional "site-visit" of an affiliate partner. We were going to have the opportunity to participate in some seminars centered on issues relevant to international education and study abroad. Therefore, I really started to view this opportunity as a professional development/site visit endeavor. I was additionally interested because I had never been to Costa Rica before and it is a popular destination for students at our university. We send several short term programs there as well as individual students on language acquisition programs (Read more ...)
Since I have never participated in a program quite like this, I entered into it with very few expectations. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the entire program. We were able to incorporate on-site exposure, networking with colleagues in the field, and professional development into a very short time frame.
Our university is relatively new to internationalization so it was a great opportunity to learn from others. We received relevant handouts to the seminars that we participated in and I will share those readings with peers in my office. I think we could all learn from them. Additionally, I'm hoping to stay in touch with other participants and use them as continued resources as our university expands its international offerings. I do think the tools and skill sets I learned while participating in this program will continue to influence and help guide the direction that my office will go.
Bridget Carey
Assistant Director
Western Illinois University
The Seminar exceeded my expectations. I signed up for the Seminar for professional development and to gain more exposure to topics within international education. This was the first time I attended a Seminar like this and I found it to be very rewarding. It was nice to be in the role of the student, participating on a short program. (Read more ...)
The content was a good mix, with exceptional presenters, which made it really interesting to be a part of… The size of the seminar was perfect, so networking and information sharing happened easily and naturally over meals and on the bus. Had the group been much larger, sharing probably would have been much more limited - it really was the perfect size group... We don't have time to reflect and discuss topics on a daily basis, so this seminar was a great way to expand my knowledge base, as well as share ideas and resources with others. I had the opportunity to stop, look, listen and appreciate while on this program. Costa Rica is a very beautiful country with a good awareness about environmental issues. I went home and started recycling!
Michele Poleski
Associate Director of International Programs
Plymouth State University
Intrax Education Abroad is currently in the development stages for next year's International Faculty Development Seminar. We will provide further information on the seminar at this year's NAFSA: Association of International Educators National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. IEA's seminars are open to faculty and study abroad administrators from U.S higher education institutions. If you would like to learn more about faculty development programs, please contact Lorien Liptack, Academic Relations Manager at lliptack@intraxstudyabroad.com.
