Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons^™

Ease On Down The Road: From Diagnosis To Graduation And Beyond, An Auto-Ethnography, Amber M. Alford

Capstone Collection

This study was envisioned following a personal acknowledgement of perceived suppression of the author’s “unorthodox” approach to the research design process resulting in the desire to explore the role of the researcher’s experience in research design and ultimately in higher education. The author began feeling lost and overwhelmed in the pursuit of her Master of Arts degree. She felt that her particular values and methodology were not being validated or supported. Through the use of narrative, the author analyzes her own experience navigating higher education as one of the first in her entire family to do so, with the added …

Dynamic Media: A Need For The Dynamic Use Of Media To Meet Organizational Goals, Alexander J. Scott

Capstone Collection

This qualitative research study looks at how media can be used dynamically as a vehicle for study abroad students to create more meaningful engagements with the communities they visit. It takes a post-structural approach with an emphasis on how media supports participatory community-driven initiatives. It is the result of a 3-month participatory research process that looks at how media is emerging as a resource in some of the most remote communities in Nicaragua. The study was based on interviews with community stakeholders of the study abroad program, participatory observation, questionnaires, talks with community members, and the results of dynamic media …

Reflect & Connect- Helping Students Make The Most Of Their Study Abroad Experience, Rachael L. Dean

Capstone Collection

In our world of internationalization and global networking, students that study abroad have a definite advantage when transitioning into the professional world after graduating college. However, when asked, many have a difficult time articulating and marketing their international experience. When transitioning back to the United States and campus culture, students also go through varying degrees of reverse culture shock. They want to talk about their experience and share their newfound love of another culture, however many run into disinterested friends and glossy eyes.

The Education Abroad office at Central Palm International University is looking to expand their outreach and commitment …