The main issue that the article presented is many employers disregard the study abroad experience due to the student's lack of presenting the experience.
"Research done by Michigan State in 2008 seems to back up her view. That year the employment institute issued a report stating that study abroad did not substantially increase a student's chance of getting a job upon graduation. Because many students could not explain their international experiences in a compelling way, the report said, many employers did not highly value those experiences.
'Students have given very little thought to how their study abroad has shaped and prepared them for the world of work,' wrote Philip D. Gardner, director of the institute. "In other words, graduating seniors have
flunked one of their most important exams—the hiring interview—because they were not prepared with appropriate examples of skills required from their international experiences.'" (Paragraphs 13 &14)While in the resume writing or the interview process, some students are not talking up their experience abroad. They are not presenting how it changed them as a person but also contributed to their education and their future careers.
The article then continues on describing on some programs are now taking this issue into consideration while sending their students abroad. Many programs are already requiring students to journal and go through a debriefing process, which provides the student to reflect and list out their objectives. At Clemson Univerisity, student's are required to document their experience in a different approach through multimedia.
"Tharon W. Howard, a professor of English, and his graduate assistant require students to engage with citizens in their host countries to complete their projects. After lessons in how to interpret cultural symbols and understand people who are different from themselves, students venture into foreign communities with cameras and notepads to investigate social issues, cultural artifacts, and business practices.
Randy D. Nichols, Mr. Howard's teaching assistant, says that exposure to a different culture will give students insight not only into alternative perspectives but also into their own identities. 'Oftentimes our own cultures are invisible to us until we encounter other cultures,' he says. 'The dominant culture names the other cultures, but it doesn't name itself.'
For Mr. Howard, who also directs a multimedia center at Clemson, the multimedia focus of the program is one of its most exciting features. He says that by giving students new communication tools, he is also giving them new ways of understanding and interpreting the world.
'There's that old adage that if you want to learn something, you teach it to somebody else,' he says. 'That's the underlying idea here.'
Through their blogs, students are linked not only to their professors and fellow students but also to the broader online community. And the interactivity built into the blogs allows students to have conversations with a wide range of people about their cultural discoveries.
The multimedia focus has also generated a great deal of student enthusiasm, says Mr. Nichols. 'Before now, these students were consumers of Web sites, not producers,' he says, 'but all of them will be working in the 21st-century workplace, and having these technological skills gives them a great sense of comfort.'" (Paragraphs 18-23, quotes taken from "Colleges Help Students to Translate the Benefits of Study Abroad", written by Ilana Kowarski, published by The Chronicle of Higher Education on July 22, 2010)
Not only do the blogs provide great publicity for the university and the study abroad program but the student learns how to present their learning experience professionally. This provides great practice for the student on where the student should provide objective material and the raw truth. Students are able to present issues and matters that really matter to them. From human trafficking to graffiti to status quo's, students are learning and presenting.
As most of you know, I am currently getting my masters in Higher Education and Student Development. So I'm still in the learning process in what goes on in the Higher Education world. I am also in the lovely thesis writing process. I am also writing my thesis on study abroad and how it affects the Latino/a Ethic Identity development on Latino/a students at a predominantly white institution. I also spent my first half of the summer in Ecuador working with a study abroad program as a student development staff member there. I am also a study abroad alumni. So...the topic of study abroad is one of my favorite topics in higher education (also: diversity, miniority, racial reconciliation, woman issues, and immigration issues). This article is an interest of mine because it's something that I hope to work in the future. I do have to admit that study abroad has the problem of the reputation of being a party semester in another country outside the eyes of the university. And yes, I do have some friends that have been their experience. But my experience and many others have been incredibly different. It changed our lives. We were pushed not only academically with lectures, papers and assignments, but in service learning and exposure. We were placed in situation's that normally would make our skin crawl. Well, enough of me ranting about how amazing my experience was...
My point is that it is true that we need to learn how to talk up our experience. It's part of the re-entry process as well. I remember hearing the saying "don't throw your pearls to the swine" (So true). Yet there is a different when talking to a prospect employer versus your best friend about your experience. All what your employer wants to know is what skills and objective did you possess and how can they be beneficial for the job. I love the fact that these article presented how important that needs to be for students to learn.
Now if you read the comments of the article, each person does have somewhat of a point. I would hope that they each obtain some sort of experience being abroad and have studied and worked within higher education. For me being a study abroad alumni, my experience has change
d my worldview and my character, but also my social skills, business etiquette, Spanish skills, cultural sensitivity, and etc. Because of the impact that study abroad had on my life, I have decided to work within the field to help other students experience the same. I hope and wish to work alongside the students for their study abroad experience to be fulfilling in their life and challenge them to the next level. I hope to widen their worldview, make them uncomfortable, realize it’s a bigger world out there, things happen outside of the USA, that happiness is not just in Facebook statuses and Twitter updates, and people have faith in all circumstances.If you ask me, I think an employer would like to hear that.
Disclaimer (kind of): I just want to end that what I am still a grad student and am learning about higher education. (Even if I am ten years into the profession, I will still be learning.) Main point is: that what I am saying take it with a grain of salt. I’m just speaking from my experience and what I have been studying. We all have different experiences and opinions.
(Pictures are from my study abroad experience in Nicaragua and Cuba)
No comments:
Post a Comment