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Focus October 2015 | Volume 2 | Issue 1

FORUM The

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Why Does The Forum Collect Data, and Why Should You Care?

O ne of the founding pillars of The Fo-rum on Education Abroad is the col-lection of useful data that informs the

field. From its early years, The Forum has con-ducted surveys and reported information that has helped to advance quality education abroad to benefit students. Colleagues who have served on our Data Committee over the years have done outstanding work to gather and re-port the kind of information that is both mean-ingful and useful, and they deserve our thanks and praise. I invite you to visit The Forum’s web site to view the impressive results of their work: www.forumea.org/resources/data-collection

Typically, The Forum conducts two or three surveys each year and achieves an impressive response rate of around 40%. However, given the importance of the data that The Forum collects, we would like to see a much higher response rate. We plan carefully to avoid asking the member-ship to respond to too many surveys in order to prevent “survey fatigue.” When you do receive a request to complete a Forum survey, know that it is an important opportunity to provide the type of information that will bene-fit the entire education abroad field.

Why is it important for Forum members to complete surveys? Here are my top five reasons:

1. Each time you complete a survey you help to benchmark operational, curricular and other types of education abroad practices. Colleagues want to be able to learn from other institutions that are like their own so that they can improve what they do. At our conferences and meetings, during QUIP reviews and workshops, The Forum is often asked: “What

Brian Whalen, President & CEO, The Forum on Education Abroad

President’s Corner

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do other institutions and organizations like mine do?” Contributing to the data that represents all of the different types of Forum member in-stitutions helps us, as an organization and as a field, to answer this question. Ultimately, the answers reflected in the data should lead to improved practices. For example, the 2007 Survey on Program Manage-ment helped institutions and organizations to improve their financial and administrative practices in a wide range of areas. The 2015 State of the Field Survey (due out within the next month, so please watch for it) adapts questions from this earlier survey and will provide the very latest data in the important area of program management.

2. Because when we have data, we can respond to challenges and issues based on fact, not anecdote. Data is a powerful tool not only for bench-marking and improving practice, but also for advocacy. Did you know that according to the 2013 State of the Field Survey 70% of respond-ents “strongly agree” or “agree” that they use the field’s Standards of Good Practice to shape their policies on education abroad? Knowing this provides important information about how well (or not) the membership and the field exercises quality oversight of education abroad. This is es-

pecially important today given the efforts at both the state and federal levels to en-act legislation under the assumption that there is a problem of oversight of educa-tion abroad programming. What is the true picture? Knowing what percentage of institutions report that they use the field’s Standards helps to provide at least part of an answer about the field’s commitment to quality oversight.

3. By completing surveys, you assist The Forum to develop meaningful, practical resources for its members that respond to your needs. The programs, trainings and resources offered by The Forum grow out of the data supplied by the membership. In this way, these resources are directly related to the needs of your institution or organization. For ex-ample, the Curriculum Cooperative was developed because in a 2012 survey about the strategic plan, members strongly recommended that The Forum develop resources to support curricular design and best

“Ultimately, the answers

reflected in the data

should lead to improved

practices.”

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practices. Remember: when you complete the next Forum survey, you are helping to develop programs, services and resources that will benefit you and your organization.

4. When you consistently respond to Forum surveys, you support the ac-cumulation of longitudinal data that helps to shed light on trends and changes in the education abroad field over time. This allows all of us to as-sess how well we have addressed documented historical issues and to plan for future challenges and oppor-tunities that might be indicated by the data. For example, it is interest-ing and valuable to examine the top issues reported by Forum institutions and organizations in the five State of the Field Surveys since 2006, and ask how much progress we have made in addressing these concerns. Moreover, knowing what the cur-rent, shared concerns are among the education abroad community helps us to mobilize broad-based efforts to address them. Data gathering and analysis help to shape our future.

5. Finally, by participating in a Forum data collection project or survey, your organization participates in the central mission of The Forum: to improve the quality of education abroad to benefit students. Completing a survey means much more than simply checking boxes or filling in the blanks. Participation in these efforts demonstrates your support of quality edu-cation abroad and the continuous improvement of programs.

I hope it is apparent that, while data collection alone does not ad-vance our collective goal of quality education abroad, it does provide criti-cally important information that assists The Forum and the education abroad field in multiple ways. So, when your institution or organization re-ceives a request in the next few weeks to complete the 2015 State of the Field Survey, please do so! You will not only be helping your organization to improve its own programs, but also you will be assisting our entire edu-cation abroad field to become better.

“...By participating in a

Forum data collection

project or survey, your

organization participates in

the central mission of The

Forum: to improve the

quality of education abroad

to benefit students.”

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Karyn L. Sweeney, Peace Corps, Southwest Regional Office

Reframing diversity: inclusive excellence

and education abroad

I n 2005, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) published a series of three articles on Inclusive Excellence. These arti-cles proposed shifting diversity efforts from a focus on numbers and

representation to a more comprehensive examination of the entire univer-sity system, including structures, policies, and processes. AAC&U continues its leadership in IE through the Making Excellence Inclusive initiative, call-ing for equity-minded practitioners and leaders who are willing to engage in difficult conversations to “uncover inequities in student success, identify effective educational practices, and build such practices organically for sus-tained institutional change.”

Inclusive Excellence reframes how we think about diversity in study abroad. Many of our con-versations and efforts focus on access, which is indeed important. We cannot, how-ever, solely focus on partici-pation rates and then ex-pect (or hope?) under-served students will thrive in our existing systems. The IE framework insists that we are deliberate in our efforts to recognize, support, and engage the cultural capital and strengths of marginalized populations to improve the quality of learning and development for all students. In addition to access and equity, other areas that need to be assessed include campus climate (at home and abroad), diversity in the formal and informal curriculum, and student

“Inclusive Excellence (IE) is the recognition that a community or institu-tion’s success is dependent on how well it values, engages, and includes the rich diversity of students, staff, faculty, administrators, and alumni con-stituents” (University of Denver).

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development and learning.1 Inclusive Excellence efforts must be grounded in data. We are not able to effectively support and empower students until we have a clear understanding of their experiences, opportunities, and challenges.

A number of U.S. colleges and universities are engaging in self-study to evaluate equity and excellence on campus. When possible, education abroad practitioners should become involved in these efforts, which will re-sult in a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities that ex-ist in our universities and organizations. Education abroad is considered a high impact educational practice, so equity in study abroad can contribute towards greater institutional goals for student success.

When I began my doctoral program in higher education, I had worked in education abroad for a decade. Once I started to engage in conversations with peers and study abroad alumni about identities and how we experienced dif-ferent educational spaces, I realized that my efforts to encourage diversity in study abroad participation over the years had been misguided at best, damaging at worst. I assumed that everyone expe-rienced higher education and interna-tional opportunities in the same way I

had as a White middle class woman. I often operated from a deficit model when working with students, focusing on the challenges I presumed (inaccurately) that they faced rather than their motivations, goals, or suc-cess. Once I began to do research with Black study abroad alumni, I real-ized that most of the beliefs I had previously held about their pathways to study abroad, experiences abroad, and outcomes were inaccurate. I share this because while Inclusive Excellence is concerned with systems and structures, we as individuals also need to do the uncomfortable work of identifying and confronting our biases and educating ourselves regarding the populations we hope to serve before we can effect change.

“We are not able to

effectively support and

empower students until we

have a clear understanding

of their experiences,

opportunities, and

challenges.”

1 Williams, D.A., Berger, J.B., & McClendon, S.A. (2005). Toward a model of inclusive excellence and

change in postsecondary institutions. Washington, D.C.: Association of American Colleges and Uni-versities.

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To assist member institutions in their diversity and inclusion efforts, The Forum on Education Abroad has created a new Working Group on In-clusive Excellence. This group will define Inclusive Excellence in the educa-tion abroad context; identify resources and develop guidelines; recommend needed research and data collection; and advise on the design of curricula for Forum training. As individuals, as institutions, and as a profession, it’s time for us to begin (or continue) our own difficult conversations in order to enhance the quality of our programs and experiences for students, and to include, value, and engage all who are part of the education abroad community.

William W. Hoffa, Adjunct Faculty, SIT Graduate Institute

Filling the education abroad

historical glass

I n an interview published in Transitions Abroad magazine in 2006, I was asked about the challenges I had faced over the previous eight years in trying to compile a history of U.S. study abroad, territory previously un-

explored and undocumented. Here is part of what I said at the time:

Reconstructing the past is laborious and precarious work. What one ends up with is always going to be less than the full truth, given the difficulty of having all possible sources at hand and interpreting them accurately. What I ended up with is indeed A history, and not THE his-tory of this subject. I hope and assume other histories will follow. I al-so learned that the original premise, that the field of international ed-ucation wants and needs to understand its origins, remains the case. Getting the facts straight is difficult enough, but the real challenge lies in seeing their meaning and relevance to contemporary readers. No-body doing a book like this finishes with absolute confidence that this has been done.

Indeed, there was, and remains, much more to do before we have that ‘full history.’

Given that this first volume concluded its chronology in the middle 1960’s, a second volume was needed to cover the growth and development of the field between 1965 and ‘the present,’ then 2010—and now, 2015.

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Accepting the truism that history becomes even more difficult to compre-hend accurately as it approaches the ever-evolving here and now, and tak-ing into consideration the incredible growth and diversity of these more re-cent decades, the decision was made to look at the 40 years following the middle 1960’s thematically. Further, given the breadth and depth of each chapter topic, a further decision was to have each chapter written by one or more authors. Thus the eleven chapters of Volume Two, were re-searched and written by 25 experienced practitioners. They cover the changing demographics of participating students; the expansion of geo-graphical locations, the economics of programming; curricular diversity; changing program designs and strategies; geo-politics and globalism; tele-communications and technology; campus internationalization, learning as-sessment; intercultural learning, and the evolution of qualitative standards and professional oversight.

Both volumes however rely on whatever information and perspectives the authors could gather from available written and oral resources: books, reports, papers, monographs, journals, conference sessions, SECUSS-L, and other on-line resources etc. The authors and editors necessarily also drew on their own personal and professional experiences working in the field, collaborating with colleagues within The Forum, NAFSA and other professional associations, advising and learning from students, directing, overseeing and assessing programs, doing the work of their respective campuses and organizations, reflecting on what they had seen and learned. The re-sult is impressive, as the field now has in print a 950-page historical overview of the background and foreground of U.S. study abroad, covering its bruited beginnings through ‘the present’ of 2010. This would seem to be sufficient. But it is still far from being definitive.

In short, our Study Abroad history glass is far from full, however much ‘water’ it contains. Apart from the mat-ter that ‘history’ can never be complete (since the clock keeps running), a truly definitive history assumes that all the relevant and essential facts and opinions, sources and insights, have been consulted, digested, analyzed,

“...Our Study Abroad

history glass is far

from full, however

much ‘water’ it

contains.”

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understood and synthesized, which is generally impossible. Those of us who have contributed to these two volumes would agree, I am certain, that the field resources that were ‘available’ to us represent only a small portion of what is ‘out there’ waiting to be discovered, gathered, and integrated into the content and perspectives of a more complete and accurate history.

Some of the history in the current volumes was written by people who actually lived it, who were there when it happened and were able to write, at least in part, from first-hand experience. Sadly but inevitably many pio-neers in the field have already passed away—some recently, such as David

Larsen and Joe Brockington. But most authors based their chapters on active research of the archival resources available to them. More-over, since writing an historical ac-count involves far more than gath-ering facts and information, we would most likely also all accept that the written record now in print can, should, and probably will, be augmented and corrected by those who follow us. There are two ways in which this can be done.

First, contributing to The Forum on Education Abroad Special Collec-tion, now housed within the Archives and Special Collections Department of Dickinson College. The Forum is seeking:

Materials relating to the development of education abroad as a profes-sional field within U.S. higher education;

Materials relating to specific education abroad programs of historical im-portance, such as those established early in the history of the field, or the first programs established in a particular geographic location or programs related to a particular academic discipline or topic;

Correspondence, photographs, training materials, meeting agendas and minutes, or other materials that provide meaningful and significant infor-mation about any aspect of the history and development of U.S. educa-tion abroad.

Kathleen Sideli and William W. Hoffa, 1st Forum Annual Confer-

ence in Santa Fe, 2004.

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Kelly McLaughlin, Assistant Dean of Assessment & Deputy Director of the Center for International and Professional Experience, Yale University

FROM the forum council chair

O ne of the more impressive aspects of The Forum, in my view at least, is its eager-ness to stay creative, flexible, and re-

sponsive. These are important traits for an organi-zation that seeks to guide and improve a field that itself is constantly evolving; and certainly forming strategic partnerships is one of the most obvious ways that The Forum stays not just relevant but al-so integral to conversations about education abroad, be that with government officials, parent groups, parallel organizations, and more.

Last September, The Forum announced one such collaborative effort alongside The New York Times in Education, this time to develop an inno-vative new resource for education abroad. As part of this collaboration, seven Forum member institutions were selected to participate in a pilot

Second, contributing your personal/professional memories and perspectives via the Forum Storytellers oral history pro-ject. While writing down our memories and experiences is the traditional means of preservation, actually telling them live to an active listener and having this con-versation recorded is a new and vital way of ‘making history.’ We all have stories to tell, but unless there is a means of transmission to others of what we have personally and professionally ex-perienced, no one will ever know them and they will be lost. The logistics and protocol for doing this can be found on The Forum website. Add your voice by telling your story. While a ‘full history’ of our field may never be encompassed, filling that glass with more voices and stories, so that it is more full, is a worthy and achievable goal.

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project to determine how New York Times content might be integrated into education abroad experi-ences to improve students’ learning and engagement. Luckily for me and my col-leagues at Yale, our cam-pus was selected for the project, and two of our in-structors utilized the oppor-tunity to great effect this summer.

One instructor, Colleen Kinder, is a travel writer and photographer. She teaches essay and travel writing at Yale along with a Summer Session im-mersive travel writing course in Auvillar, France. Her use of The New York Times focused on mirroring a weekly feature in the Times Travel Section called “36 Hours in …”. In this case, the assignment was titled “36 Hours in Bordeaux,” and students were given the following prompt:

Write a magazine or newspaper pitch for a short stay in Bordeaux, highlighting what a traveler might do given just two days. The chal-lenge is not to touch on all the obvious places, but to craft an itinerary (and outline it in your pitch) with a particular taste or theme, and to write it with flow, so that the reader (editor in this case) can imagine going from one itinerary item to the next. This will require research: both on Bordeaux, and on 36 hour formats. The New York Times Trav-el Section runs a 36 hours piece every week; examples abound.

One student’s reply to this exercise detailed how she would avoid the “renewed, reconstructed, modern” parts of the city and instead seek out “a beauty in Bordeaux that runs beneath the superficial reconstructions and the tourist traps.” And with great detail, much of which gleaned from The Times, the student rounds out a description of engaging with Bordeaux in ways that go well beyond a visitor’s overview of people and of place.

Jasmina Besirevic-Regan, the second Yale instructor to utilize The Times content through The Forum last summer, is the Dean of one of Yale’s

Pilot Program Participants and Forum Staff meet Michael Slackman, In-

ternational Managing Editor, at The New York Times.

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twelve residential colleges and is a faculty member in the Departments of Sociology, Global Affairs, Ethnicity, Race and Migration, and Ethics, Politics and Economics. Her current work focuses on the Bosnian Muslim identity and the disintegration of former Yugoslavia.

As part of her course in Dubrovnik, Croatia, students were encour-aged to use The New York Times archives and current online news articles in preparing final papers. Additionally, the class had a password protected course website for students, which included direct menu links to The New York Times online resources for both Dubrovnik and Croatia. As one stu-dent wrote:

The New York Times has a pretty neat search function on its website that lets you search the paper’s archives and see articles in their orig-inal format via “TimesMachine.” …

This article from April 23, 1922 is a profile of Stjepan Radic (The leader of the Croatian Peasant party). Interestingly, the Times rather

ominously writes regard-ing Radic’s want for an independent Croatia: “One thing should be borne in mind by all who value the peace of the world. A break-up of Yu-goslavia would not mean a return of the old re-gime … It would mean chaos in Central Europe, and no one knows what further world complica-tions.”

As Jasmina wrote, for the instructor who is willing to be creative with his or her syllabus:

Incorporating the NY Times into our class curriculum abroad definite-ly proved more effective and efficient not only for my summer teach-ing experience, but also for my students. By using the digital NYT re-source, students were able to easily conduct archival research on

Pilot Program Participants meet in New York in December, 2014.

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Mary Anne Grant, President, ISEP

FROM the forum BOARD Chair

I IE’s first Generation Study Abroad Summit, held earlier this month, highlighted the national dia-logue that is emerging about the importance

and value of education abroad. Most conference participants work in the field and recognize the im-pact of study abroad on the personal, academic and future careers of those who participate, thus many of the plenaries and sessions were ‘preaching to the choir.’

However, among the most refreshing voices at the Summit were those of the Generation

various topics in the class and share their results with classmates in-stantaneously. I also required them to browse daily through the web-site for current events and other interesting information related to our class material and post their results on the class blog. This experience made the research process quick and effective and information shar-ing easy and fun.

So here, with just two examples, we see how an innovative partner-ship between The Forum and The New York Times resulted in students’ gaining deeper understandings not just of their physical surroundings abroad but also of historical and societal context. If one of our goals as in-ternational educators is to help education abroad students not simply to occupy spaces abroad but to experience the people and places there, then the real-life, broad contexts provided by The New York Times’ rich and ac-cessible archive offer an exciting avenue for instructors to challenge and to support their students’ learning while utilizing a trusted and comprehensive resource.

We should all give thanks to The Forum, to The New York Times, and to all of the creative instructors who are eager to ensure that our highest ideals for education abroad experiences steadily and ever more visibly be-come reality .

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Study Abroad Voices, former students whose stories and observations about their study abroad experiences and the subsequent impact on their personal and professional lives are inspirational. Several of the plenary speakers from the private sector also provided perspectives we do not hear often enough about the impact of study abroad for their companies. I would recall in particular comments from Peter Hancock, President and Chief Executive Officer of AIG, the insurance giant, who noted that study abroad serves their future employees by developing skills for teamwork, seeing the views and perspectives of others and being good listeners. It is important and useful for professionals in the field to hear such comments and will be even more so in the future as we are called to document and articulate why study abroad matters in higher education.

The Summit served as a touch point for sharing information and for considering how to increase participation in U.S. education abroad. It also underscored what a daunting task it is to double the numbers by 2020. In addition, frequent hallway conversations had to do with identifying the right program for each student, outlining to students what they can expect to gain from different kinds of experiences and then being able to docu-ment and articulate what they learn.

As the Standards Development Organization for the field, The Forum has an important role to play in the expansion and diversification of educa-tion abroad. And, it may be in this area of identifying and articulating learning outcomes that the organization is best positioned to provide even more resources than those currently available. The Forum’s Standards speak to the many aspects of education abroad including curriculum, learn-ing outcomes, data collection, health and safety, and other topics. Further, the Standards Guidelines outline best practices in growing areas such as in-ternships and service learning. The Standards and their accompanying re-source tools serve as a guide for all the various issues inherent in sound programming. As participation grows, The Forum can continue to serve by further investigation, research and development of more specific materials to articulate the benefits and value of education abroad in all its forms, from the introductory short-term program to the academic year language immersion experience.

In the coming year, The Forum Board will lead a new process to de-termine strategic directions for the next five years. There will undoubtedly

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Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of The Forum on Education Abroad.

The Forum encourages responses to the perspectives in this issue. Reflections, topic suggestions and other correspondence are welcomed, and all contributions will be considered for future publication.

Please send correspondence to: info@forumea.org

be opportunities for The Forum membership to engage in dialogue about the future of education abroad at this critical juncture. Indeed, we will need the voices, opinions and ideas of our broad constituency to continue to serve the field in new and creative ways, continuing the path of success that The Forum has enjoyed since its founding in 2001. You are cordially invited to share your thoughts and ideas about the future of our organiza-tion.

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© The Forum on Education Abroad Dickinson College

P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013

info@forumea.org +1 717 245-1031