scholarly journals Virtual Exchange in Global Health: an innovative educational approach to foster socially responsible overseas collaboration

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Bowen ◽  
Michele Barry ◽  
Ashley Jowell ◽  
Diana Maddah ◽  
Nael H. Alami
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Educational Approach ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Early Results ◽  
Health Programming

AbstractEducators who design and manage study abroad programs face a series of ethical responsibilities. Meeting these responsibilities is critical in the field of global health, where study abroad programs are often designed to provide healthcare services in under-resourced communities. Leaders in global health have thus formed working groups to study the ethical implications of overseas programming and have led the way in establishing socially responsible best practices for study abroad. Their recommendations include development of bidirectional programming that is designed for mutual and equitable benefits, focused on locally identified needs and priorities, attentive to local community costs, and structured to build local capacity to ensure sustainability. Implementation remains a key challenge, however. Sustainable, bidirectional programming is difficult and costly. In the present study, authors questioned how technology could be used to connect students of global health in distant countries to make socially responsible global health programming more accessible. Drawing on empirical research in the learning sciences and leveraging best practices in technology design, the authors developed a Virtual Exchange in Global Health to connect university students in the U.S. with counterparts in Lebanon, who worked in teams to address humanitarian problems in Syrian refugee camps. Early results demonstrate the value of this approach. At dramatically lower cost than traditional study abroad—and with essentially no carbon footprint—students recognized complementary strengths in each other through bidirectional programming, learned about local needs and priorities through Virtual Reality, and built sustaining relationships while addressing a difficult real-world problem. The authors learned that technology could effectively facilitate socially responsible global health programming and do so at low cost. The program has important implications for teaching and learning during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

Opening the Door to Study Abroad From Community Colleges

2019 ◽  
pp. 22-36
Author(s):  
Julie Baer
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Community Colleges ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Student Characteristics ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
The Past ◽  
Time Period

Drawing upon data from Open Doors®, this chapter highlights the unique characteristics of study abroad from community colleges over the past decade. It explores patterns in destinations, durations, and student characteristics for study abroad at community colleges over this time period. Through lessons learned from IIE's Heiskell Award winners and Generation Study Abroad (GSA) community college commitment partners, the chapter will conclude with best practices from community colleges that have made commitments to increase and diversify their study abroad programs.

Striving to Meet Global Health Competencies Without Study Abroad

2020 ◽  
pp. 104365962095319
Author(s):  
Roxanne Amerson
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Global Learning ◽  
Innovative Learning ◽  
Travel Abroad ◽  
Diverse Cultures

Introduction: The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has radically changed the future of study abroad, yet students require the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to provide care for diverse cultures across geographical boundaries. The purpose of this article is to facilitate innovative learning opportunities in order to meet global health competencies in the physical or virtual classroom when study abroad is not feasible. Approach: Based on a review of published literature related to global health competencies and nursing over the last decade, a description of suggested global learning activities is provided. Results: Few research publications exist to describe activities for meeting global health competencies when travel abroad is restricted. The proposed activities provide a foundation to address the gap in literature and to establish a trajectory for future research. Discussion: The challenge is to demonstrate evidence of global health competency attainment when students are confined to their local community.

scholarly journals Global Citizenship through Global Health

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-147
Author(s):  
Lee Stoner ◽  
Michael A. Tarrant ◽  
Lane Perry ◽  
Mikell Gleason ◽  
Daniel Wadsworth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Collaborative Study ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Lifestyle Behaviors ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Study Abroad Program

A collaborative study abroad program (between one New Zealand and one U.S. university) on the theme of global health has been offered three times in Australia with 59 students registered to date. The course was developed because it is believed that higher education can play a role in improving global health through the fostering of global citizenship A global citizen is one who is aware of global issues, socially responsible, and civica lly engaged. From this perspective, personal health is not solely an individual , self serving act; rather, the consequences of an individual’s lifestyle behaviors have deep and wide consequences extending to the community, national, and global contexts. Our paper provides a narrative on the framework used to develop the aforementioned global health study abroad course, including 1 ) an initial discussion on the intricate relationship between global citizenship and global health; 2 ) previous evidence demonstrating that short term study abroad has the potential to foster global citizenship; and 3 ) the specific process used to develop the current short term, faculty led, interdisciplinary, experiential study abroad course.

The Outreach Triad for Successful Study Abroad Programs

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-119
Author(s):  
Jennifer Joy Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Community Partners ◽  
Program Administrators ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Funding Opportunities ◽  
Communication Methods

The old adage “build it and they will come” does not apply in the context of study abroad at the community college. Community colleges have historically struggled with study abroad enrollment due to a number of factors including inadequate funding, insufficient institutional support, and a lack of interest and awareness on behalf of their students. While there are many factors that go into successful programming for study abroad, one key element is outreach. This chapter will define outreach in terms of the marketing and communication methods to three key stakeholders in study abroad: students, faculty, and the local community. It will be argued that program administrators need to better understand the various ways in which outreach is used to increase both student enrollment, minority students in particular, and the number of faculty engaged in leading study abroad at the community college. The chapter will conclude by proposing some strategies for identifying funding opportunities from local community partners.

scholarly journals Curating Cartographies of Knowledge: Reading Institutional Study Abroad Portfolio as Text

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Julie M. Ficarra
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
International Education ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Political Complexity ◽  
The World ◽  
The U.S

The professionalization of the field of Study Abroad has led to an increase in research on the student experience as well as macro-level analyses of institutional ‘best practices’ for program development and implementation. Yet what has been largely ignored is the international education epistemology embedded in the curation of what I refer to as institutional study abroad portfolios (ISAPs) - the compilation of study abroad programs focusing on specific disciplines or learning activities in particular parts of the world. In this paper, I argue that by using ISAPs as a unit of analysis we can uncover political complexity that is often obfuscated both by institution-level policy analysis as well as program-level evaluation. I present an ISAP analyses of three post-secondary institutions in the U.S. that illustrates how ‘common sense’ geographical and disciplinary pairings come to produce ‘hidden curriculum’ which results in problematic and potentially unintended cartographies of knowledge legitimization.

Conceptualizing University Education Study Abroad Programs Using a Mutualistic Process

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 555-572
Author(s):  
Tara Johnson ◽  
Kristina Hains ◽  
Bryan Hains ◽  
Janela Salazar
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
International Education ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Local Community ◽  
University Education ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Global Citizens ◽  
Community Voice ◽  
Education Experience ◽  
Negative Impacts

As we continue to develop into a more globalized society, it is an expectation that students in higher education become global citizens. While the literature supports the notion that students positively benefit from international education experiences, little research has been done to determine what role the community plays, or what effects the study abroad experience has on the community in which the student population is engaged. This study introduces an innovative conceptual framework that overlays the biological concept of symbiosis on the international education experience. This unique conceptual framework shines a light on the study abroad experience from the community’s perspective, as well as illustrating positive and negative impacts of student interaction within the local community. The results indicate that not only is there a role for communities but also communities need to be included in the planning and creation of these experiences, ultimately leading to more mutually beneficial outcomes. Ideally, these findings could be used by educators to capture the community voice to create more mutualistic programs in study abroad.

Emplacing Berlin: Digital Itineraries and Short-term Study Abroad in the City

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Apgar
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Digital Maps ◽  
Short Term Study ◽  
The City

As destination of choice for many short-term study abroad programs, Berlin offers students of German language, culture and history a number of sites richly layered with significance. The complexities of these sites and the competing narratives that surround them are difficult for students to grasp in a condensed period of time. Using approaches from the spatial humanities, this article offers a case study for enhancing student learning through the creation of digital maps and itineraries in a campus-based course for subsequent use during a three-week program in Berlin. In particular, the concept of deep mapping is discussed as a means of augmenting understanding of the city and its history from a narrative across time to a narrative across the physical space of the city. As itineraries, these course-based projects were replicated on site. In moving from the digital environment to the urban landscape, this article concludes by noting meanings uncovered and narratives formed as we moved through the physical space of the city.

Identification of Current Best Practices for Short-term Medical Mission Trips and Adherence to Current Common Principles and Guidelines

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-82
Author(s):  
Susan Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Operational Practices ◽  
Descriptive Survey

Background:  Recent reviews of published guidelines for conducting short-term medical missions (STMM) identify significant concerns about the lack of adherence and of formal regulations concurrent with the increasing number of individuals and organizations participating in STMM. Method: A descriptive survey methodology was used. A 44-item survey that identifies current practices utilized by healthcare providers (HCP) who have participated in STMM was used based on the literature and prior research, and distributed electronically to HCP participating in STTM to identify current best practices and compare findings with the most recent recommendations for short-term global health activities. A focus on current operational practices was surveyed and analyzed to develop operational recommendations for the ethical and safe care provided during STMM. Results: Eighty-seven surveys were included in the final analysis, with 33% (N=29) serving as coordinators for the trip. The majority of the respondents were female (67%) and the primary roles represented were: MD (N=17; 20%), nurse practitioner (N=20; 23%), and registered nurse (N=18; 21%). A majority (N=48; 67%) traveled to South America or Latin America, with 38% (N=33) having participated in four or more STMM. Language proficiency was reported as deficient (N=35; 40%) along with little or no knowledge of the basic culture (N=39; 45%). Additional data were collected on trip preparation, clinic operations, and outcomes follow up. Conclusions: Using a convenience sample, the results of the survey provide information on the current best practices utilized by HCP who have participated in STMM and compare the findings to assess for adherence with the most recent recommendations for short-term global health activities. There was variation in the degree to which HCP were knowledgeable about specific aspects related to knowledge of local culture, language proficiency, and adherence to recommended practices for STMM. Additional research on STMM is needed, along with further exploration of how evidence based practices for STMM can be implemented to improve access and safety to the care provided while in the host country.

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