Browsing by Subject "International education"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Becoming global without leaving home: internationalization at home, a case study of San Jorge, a Spanish Private University
    (2013-08) Sierra Huedo, Maria Luisa
    The process of campus internationalization at San Jorge University, a small private Spanish university is analyzed as a case study in this dissertation. San Jorge University was selected as a unique case because of its recent creation and its being one of the first Spanish universities to implement and adapt to the Bologna process. The assumption was that the main Internationalization at Home (hereafter, IaH) elements were being implemented at USJ. The complexity of the analysis of an institutional internationalization process is found in how each one of those internationalization elements are connected to each other affecting the implementation of the whole process. Therefore, the main conceptual framework used was Mestenhauser´s systems perspective for understanding internationalization. To analyze and describe the current status of IaH at San Jorge University, an explanatory case study methodology was followed, using document analysis, focus groups, in-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observation as main methods for data collection. The findings of this study reveal that although there is no formal IaH policy at USJ, the main IaH elements are actually being implemented. Identified are both institutional and individual factors influencing such a process. The implementation of a supra national reform implemented in a private institution, is found to be greatly influenced by the institutional structure, policies, strategies, degree programs and educational model. However, the main IaH element, an internationalized curriculum, is being promoted by active faculty who are key champions of change. Transformational leadership has been found to be the key to implement important changes. The combination of institutional and individual factors, with both top-down and bottom-up leadership, have proven to be the right combination to promote internationalization initiatives.
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    The burden of privilege: navigating transnational space and migration dilemmas among Rwandan scholarship students in the U.S.
    (2014-08) Baxter, Aryn Raye
    This dissertation is an ethnography of the transnational education space inhabited by higher education scholarship recipients from Rwanda pursuing undergraduate degrees in the United States. It examines how this space is produced through the representational practices of actors in the U.S. and Rwanda and, in turn, constitutes the relationships, dilemmas, transformations, and representations that occur within these spaces. Employing a transnational lens, the study describes a space of opportunity as well as tension between contrasting narratives of change, national and familial priorities, and the "magical" expectations of various actors that contrast with students' lived experiences of undergraduate education in the U.S. Most centrally, it argues that navigating the diverse expectations associated with a U.S. education is a significant yet under-addressed challenge faced by scholarship students from low-income and post-conflict contexts. Understanding this burden--the burden of privilege--is its primary focus.The study demonstrates that spatial analysis offers a promising approach for illuminating the experiences of internationally mobile students and for informing the design and implementation of international higher education scholarship programs. It concludes that scholarship students would benefit from program designs that create space for open dialogue about the migration dilemmas that accompany international mobility, particularly those related to the weighty expectations of family and nation for those privileged to have received scholarships to study in the U.S. This is particularly crucial for programs involving youth from low-income and post-conflict contexts--a group for whom the burden of such a privilege is particularly pronounced.
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    Factors influencing the decision to study abroad for students of color: moving beyond the barriers.
    (2009-08) Kasravi, Jinous
    U.S. higher education institutions, professionals in the field of international education exchange, and the federal government recognize the importance of a study abroad experience for American undergraduate students. While the total number of U.S. undergraduate students studying abroad has continually increased since the 1980s, the number of participating students of color remains low. The purpose of this study is to move beyond the barriers and outcomes of study abroad, and focus on those students of color who have made the decision to participate and the factors that influenced their decision. The barriers between applicants and non-applicants are also explored in order to recognize similar or different factors between the two groups. Using Fishbein and Ajzen's (1970) theory of reasoned action, this study seeks to address the personal, social, and institutional factors positively influencing students of color to decide to study abroad; how the factors differ by demographics; and the barriers applicants and non-applicants encounter in their decision. Using a mixed methods approach this study focuses on two groups of students. The first group consisted of undergraduate students of color who had recently been accepted to a study abroad program through the University of California, San Diego in 2008. The second group included all sophomores and above, regardless of race, who had decided not to apply for a study abroad program. The personal and social factors were found to be the primary factors influencing the student's decision to apply. Finances and academics were the main barriers students in both groups faced in their decision. Despite these barriers and family or cultural resistance, the students in the first group overcame the obstacles through information seeking, use of external messengers, personal determination, and internal drive in deciding to participate in study abroad.
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    Future learning landscapes: international agroecology education and outreach through online social networks and geographic information systems
    (2014-06) Runck, Bryan Christopher
    Chapter 1: Given that much of the learning about international agroecology would ideally occur outside the classroom, Adventure Learning (AL) and Systems Action Education (SAE) can offer synergistic approaches that synthesize these methodologies into a cohesive student learning experience. This paper reports on the evolution of a series of international agroecology courses offered from 2009 to 2011 that progressively integrated AL and SAE approaches in course design. The courses were taught by a University of Minnesota professor as he bicycled across Africa (2009 and 2010) and South America (2011), exploring various landscapes, crops, climatic regions and food systems with students back home via distance technologies. End-of-course survey responses indicated that students 1) did not find the course any more rigorous than similar level courses, 2) found the course much more unique (p < 0.01), and 3) increased their desire to travel abroad (p < 0.01). Our examination also revealed challenges and opportunities inherent with AL and SAE-merged classrooms. Overall, we found that AL and SAE approaches could be integrated to enhance agroecology education and can make courses inspiring, challenging, and rewarding. The result could have implications for schools that seek to prepare students to work in a global environment.Chapter 2: In response to calls to further synthesize Systems Action Education (SAE) and Adventure Learning (AL), a new action education framework is presented called the Extended Classroom Framework (ECF) for teaching systems of analysis of food systems. ECF integrates SAE and AL with the Circulatory System of Science (CSS) to describe how the experiential classroom interacts with society. In the fall of 2012, the ECF was utilized to design a hybrid course (e.g. half face-to-face, half online) at the undergraduate level that explored four different international agroecoregions through the perspective of on-the-ground collaborators. By utilizing online geographic information systems and an online social network, students digitally explored the agroecosystems as open-ended cases with the guidance of the local collaborator. A pre-test and post-test of the Intercultural Development Inventory and the New Ecological Paradigm survey were given to the students. Students also wrote four reflective journals throughout the semester that were coded and thematically analyzed. 85.5% of students showed significant positive shifts individually in the developed orientation (p < 0.05). Additionally, four out of seven students showed significant decreases in their intercultural orientation gap. Every student ended the course similarly or less culturally disengaged to a primary cultural group, with 85.7% of students in the resolved category, which compares with 57.1% at the beginning of the course. NEP Survey had a poor response rate, and was statistically insignificant. Student reflective journals illustrated growth in considering agroecosystems contextually and as coupled human-environmental systems. These results show that the ECF offers a viable framework for developing student capacities to engage wicked problems.
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    Gender Gap in Studying Abroad
    (2016) LaCount, Emily
    Despite the apparent rise in countries offered, programs provided, variety of durations within the programs given, an unrelenting gender imbalance continues to exist between United States male and female college students studying abroad. This research study attempted to explore marketing, and particularly marketing materials, as a potential factor that could contribute to the definite dearth of American male college students traveling internationally to receive academic credit from home institutions. This research study aimed to discover whether a difference existed between the genders of college students concerning level of interest in receiving international education. This research study also utilized marketing to determine if there was influence of inclusion of models and/or gender of models in marketing materials on both student interest to participate in the study abroad program displayed and perceived likelihood level of actually taking part in the program. Students enrolled in the Labovitz School of Business and Economics at the University of Minnesota Duluth were surveyed about interest level in studying abroad, as well as placed in one of four mock advertisement conditions to inquire about interest in and likelihood of partaking in the promoted study abroad program. The findings from the survey’s respondents suggest that males retain a significantly lower interest level in traveling abroad while pursuing an academic degree. Male college students seem to be not affected by inclusion of models and/or gender of models in marketing materials, but American female students are considerably more sensitive to these factors in advertisements. These results imply that international education marketing can be carefully analyzed and utilized strategically to increasingly influence the college student population or even certain subgroups of college students to attain academic credit in a foreign country
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    I Am Because We Are: Identifying the Factors Influencing the Academic Experiences of African Leadership Academy Graduates Enrolled as Undergraduate Students at Duke University
    (2018-04) Bello Olamosu, Seun
    At the onset of Africa becoming the most populous continent in the world, there remains a wide gap in literature about the academic experiences of youth representing the vast diversity of the African continent. In an attempt to bridge some of the gap, the focus of this study is to identify the factors influencing the academic experiences of African Leadership Academy (ALA) graduates enrolled as undergraduate students at Duke University. Particularly, the influence of an ALA education on the academic experiences of the study participants in defining and achieving their academic success. Using a qualitative design, it was decided to use Astin’s Input-Environment-Ouput (I-E-O) model to guide the influence of an ALA education on the academic experiences of the study participants at Duke University. The findings show that due to personal motivation and the academic rigor of an ALA education, the study participants adapted relatively well to the academic expectations at Duke University. On the other hand, the study participants’ adaptation to the social environment was more difficult due to less preparedness on U.S racial context and individualistic cultural norms as encountered at Duke University. The findings show that the value based and afro-minded education at ALA played a significant part in giving the participants a clear focus for academic success as crucial to impactful personal and societal change.
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    Middle School Youth Perceptions of an International Education after-School 4-H Program
    (2010) Coit, Valerie; Rauschenfels, Diane; Hyman, Randy
    A series of seven focus groups were conducted to determine the perceptions of middle school youth on international education via after-school 4-H programming. Twenty-nine students in grades six, seven and eight participated by responding to an identical set of questions designed to encourage group discussion. The participants indicated little familiarity with international education concepts outside of language learning, expressed little interest in learning cross-cultural skills and any type of after-school program that incorporated elements typical of a classroom experience. They expressed a preference for programs that would allow them to focus on interests like sports and the arts. Their perceptions of 4-H indicated little knowledge of the program. However, this unfamiliarity did not carry a negative connotation. These results suggest that educators should ensure after-school programs offer experiences distinctly different from the typical classroom. If focused on international education, programs should provide meaningful opportunities to interact with people from other cultures and explore topics of interest to youth rather than factual information about other countries. These types of programs need to be promoted in a way that aligns with the interests of young people as simply learning cross-cultural skills is not viewed as a need or priority by teens.
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    Teachers' views regarding ways in which the intercultural competence of students is developed at an International school in Southeast Asia: a mixed methods study
    (2013-08) Hornbuckle, Gavin Christopher
    This study is a mixed methods investigation of teachers' views regarding the ways in which the intercultural competence (ICC) of students is developed at an international school in Southeast Asia. To gather data for the study a survey was administered to approximately 90 teachers in the high school section of an international school in Asia to which forty-six teachers responded. The statistical software SPSS was used to analyze the survey data. In addition, nine teachers were interviewed and administered the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Demographic data were also gathered. The results of the study indicate that, in the view of teachers, there are four primary ways that the intercultural competence of students is developed at an international school in Southeast Asia: 1) By spending time with students of other nationalities, 2) The way in which the curriculum is taught in the classroom, 3) By a school environment that is supportive of cultural diversity and 4) By being proficient in English. Results of the IDI show that the nine teachers to whom it was administered had a group Developmental Score that fell within the range of low Minimization, indicating a more ethnocentric world-view, which is consistent with other studies investigating the intercultural competence of teachers in K-12 settings. Teachers whose Developmental Scores fell within Polarization focused on student nationality, culture and difference to a greater extent than those whose Developmental Scores fell within Minimization. These finding indicate that teachers believe immersion in cultural difference is sufficient for the intercultural competence of students to develop, however a growing body of literature points out that this is not the case. The IDI results indicate that teachers may not be prepared to be cultural mentors. There is a need for increased focus on intercultural competence in leadership and professional development programs in K-12 settings, as well as further research into the outcomes of curricular and co-curricular programs in international schools.