Education Commons^™

Wmu International News Fall 2013, Haenicke Institute

WMU International News

In this issue:

• Empowering global engagement across the arts and sciences
• Employees abroad: Spanish immersion program expands understanding of international education
• Excelling in public relations key goal for Chinese twinning student
• WMU cultural anthropologist examines migration and lupus in Ecuador
• Ambiguity of borders continues to intrigue alumna from Berlin
• Visits to 35 countries complements global studies major
• Veteran administrator tapped to lead University’s international initiatives
• Future Iraqi engineer discovers the world at WMU
• WMU alumna coach points Japanese tennis player to Kalamazoo

Unalienated Recognition At The Core Of Meaningful Exchange Between School And Community. A Response To "Unalienated Recognition As A Feature Of Democratic Schooling", Robin R. Sears

Democracy and Education

I apply the concept of unalienated recognition as a form of democratic exchange, introduced by Rheingold (2012), to a different educational setting. Through a case study of the School for Field Studies international environmental programs, that are, like Rheingold’s study school, field based and community centered, I explore the hypothesis that today’s undergraduate students’ desire to serve and to solve can be usefully harnessed in formal coursework and research to address real problems at their foundation. I link the cases by building on Rheingold’s use of the concept of boundary objects as an organizing principle behind the success in motivating …

Challenging Problematic Dichotomies: Bridging The Gap Between Critical Pedagogy And Liberal Academic Approaches To Global Education, Michael W. O'Sullivan Dr., Harry Smaller

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This empirical exploration examines two case studies involving secondary school students’ involvement in global education. The paper begins with brief discussions of three related concepts (global citizenship education, study abroad, and international service learning), followed by a description of the case studies and an analysis of our empirical findings. We conclude with some comment on the possible connections between our findings and the ongoing tensions between advocates of explicitly critical/transformative pedagogy, as compared to those favouring a liberal academic perspective – suggesting that, in some circumstances at least, there may be more similarities than differences in outcomes for individual students …

Meeting The Predeparture And Reentry Needs Of Onu Spanish Study Abroad Students, Rachel M. Groters

Honors Program Projects

The purpose of the Predeparture and Reentry Needs project was to examine the reentry adjustment of Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) Spanish students who had already returned home from required study abroad experiences in order to craft predeparture and reentry programs based on findings. In Phase 1, the researcher recorded qualitative interviews in March and April of 2012 with 22 ONU undergraduate students who studied abroad in Spanish-speaking countries before the spring 2012 semester. Then the researcher listened to each interview again, taking notes on each and transcribing quotes. The researcher found that all students experienced some level and kind of …

Passport To Colby: When Students Start Colby With A Semester Abroad, They Arrive On Mayflower Hill With A Different Perspective, Ruth Jacobs

Colby Magazine

Mid year admits talk about the excitement, anxiety, and rewards that come with starting Colby in Spain or France.

International Education Exposure In Secondary Schooling: Impacting Academic Outcomes Among Urban Girls Of Color, Tiffini L. Andorful

Dissertations

Existing literature reveals a gap in research on high school students of color studying abroad. Therefore, this study seeks to provide an understanding and explanation of how international educational travel experiences and global education impact the educational outlook of urban high school girls of color. This study proposes that a positive educational outlook including a student's academic engagement, educational aspirations, motivation, perception of the world, and self-efficacy can later generate school persistence and predict high school completion despite the increasing rates of minority female dropouts and the potential effects of race, class, and gender.

Through a qualitative case study and …

The High Impact Of Education Abroad: College Students' Engagement In International Experiences And The Development Of Intercultural Competencies, Michael J. Stebleton, Krista M. Soria, Blythe Cherney

Michael J. Stebleton

This multi-institutional study attempts to discover whether different international activities in which students participate yield different outcomes for the development of students’ global and intercultural competencies. The five international travel and study abroad measures analyzed include students’ participation in a university study abroad program; study abroad program affiliated with another college or university; travel abroad for cross-cultural experiences or informal education; travel abroad for a service learning, volunteer, or work experience; and travel abroad for recreation. The research question that guides this inquiry is as follows: controlling for other factors, is participation in these five types of international travel activities …