ARTFUL TEACHING AND LEARNING ABROAD: AN ARTS-BASED EDUCATION ABROAD RESEARCH (ABEAR) STUDY By Karenanna Boyle Creps A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education -- Doctor of Philosophy 2020 ABSTRACT ARTFUL TEACHING AND LEARNING ABROAD: AN ARTS-BASED EDUCATION ABROAD RESEARCH (ABEAR) STUDY By Karenanna Boyle Creps Over the last three decades, there has been a surge in short-term, faculty-directed education abroad programs sponsored by U.S.-based postsecondary institutions. Surprisingly, there is little research that examines pedagogies faculty program directors enact on these programs, which can leave them with few resources to support their work with students abroad, beyond their own on-campus teaching experience. This arts-based education abroad research (ABEAR) project is designed to provide an opportunity for discourse and reflection on the multiple pedagogies I enacted as a faculty program director by asking: how do I, as a faculty program director, perceive student learning from arts-oriented1, experiential, and place-based pedagogies on two education abroad programs designed to introduce rising freshmen2 to undergraduate education? I will respond to this research question through an examination of the program pedagogies I created and enacted on two such programs, contextualized within Elliot Eisner’s curriculum theory (2002) and John Dewey’s experiential learning theory (1938, 2005), as well as within education abroad research literature. Through the methodological frameworks of performative autoethnography and a/r/tography, I examine my design and enactment of arts- oriented, experiential, intercultural education abroad pedagogy on two Michigan State University (MSU) First-Year Seminar Abroad (FSA) programs. MSU offers these programs to rising freshmen 1 In this dissertation, I use the term, arts-oriented, to describe program curricula and my pedagogical practices as grounded in arts education content and practices, though not focused in deep learning of a particular art form. This term describes learning with and through the arts with a focus on introducing students to new epistemological frameworks for reflecting upon and learning from their experiences on the programs under study. I also use this term to differentiate arts-based research from arts-oriented curricula and pedagogies. 2 A term used at MSU for students entering their first year of college. This term is used in the MSU community without reference to a specific written definition. as an introduction to life in a university community. My “findings” chapter is offered as both a dramatic and performance text (a performance of the dramatic text for a live audience), both of which extend the examination of a/r/tifacts, the evidence of pedagogy I collected for this study, to a larger conversation about the pedagogical possibilities of education abroad programming. I approach this dissertation project as an a/r/tographer, which is to say that my combined identities of artist, researcher, and teacher inform and resonate throughout the project. This dissertation makes two important contributions to the education abroad research community: first, it is designed to inspire dialogue about the pedagogical possibilities of arts-oriented intercultural education abroad; and second, this study introduces a new methodological term, Arts-Based Education Abroad Research (ABEAR), to signal the application of Arts-Based Education Research (ABER) methodologies to the unique learning context of education abroad. Copyright by KARENANNA BOYLE CREPS 2020 This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Linda Boyle Creps and James R. Creps, along with Glenn M. Schmieg, who all taught me to delight in the life of the mind and to love life with every corner of my heart. I would never have gotten here without your love and faith in me. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation has been imagined, shaped, and brought to life through the participation, support, care, friendship, and love of many individuals. My gratitude extends well beyond these pages. My sincerest thanks to the wonderful FSA students and colleagues whose consent made this project possible. You have taught me how to be a better as a teacher, researcher, and artist. Thank you to all the coffee shops and purveyors of delicious food and free wifi where I have planted myself to work on this project. You have been a balm, a soothing place of ritual, and motivated me to keep on working. I thank the students and educators who have helped me find my way to this project (and beyond) at: Greenhills School; Innisfree Equestrian Center; the Certified Horsemanship Association; the University of Michigan Residential College and School of Music, Theatre, and Dance; Ann Arbor Community Recreation and Education; Lycée Jean Monnet; Collège Élisée Mousnier; Lycée Valin; World Learning; the Emerson College MA in Theatre Education program; and, of course, MSU. This dissertation couldn’t have been written without the combined efforts of: Marwan S. Abouljoud, Susan Bamford, Tom Blaske, Shani Feyen, Jeffrey A. Frey, Todd Getzen, Timothy Heilman, Lindsay Hill, Beverlee Kerby, Richard Kustasz, Dan C. Langhorst, Lisa Laughman, Linda Leone, Amy Lukos, Donalee Markus, Lori Kron Naughton, Patty Renaud, Virginia Rutan, Charles Seigerman, Bethany Snow, Chris Sovey, Amy Stygles, Andrew Tobias, John F. Turck IV, William Truluck II, Linda Wells, Allison Leigh Wood, Maria Zanini, and Deborah Zelinsky, among many others. vi I am so grateful for friends and colleagues at MSU, whose guidance, friendship, love, support, and faith in me gave me the courage to complete the CITE doctoral program: Laura Apol, Lynn Aguado, Alicia Alonzo, Sara Bano, Bree Becker, Julie Bell, Alecia Beymer, Erin Bronstein, Christine Caster, Abraham Ceballos, Katie Romportl Cook, Lisa Domke, Todd Drummond, Chris Dubbs, Terry Edwards, Rebecca Ellis, Brandy Ellison, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Olivia Furman, Edward Gildner, Kaitlin Glause, Qiana Green, Hannah Franklin Grisham, Christa Haverly, Wanfei Huang, Abubakar Idris, Amber Nicole Johnson, Durrell Jones, Scott Jarvie, Lorri Jenkens, Chris Kaiser, Andrea Kelly, Laura Kennedy, Yuya Kiuchi, Bethany Laursen, Jill Manske, Denise Maybank, Jill Manske, Joanne Marciano, Don McClure, Cori McKenzie, Kristin Meyer, Nguyen Huy Cuong, Sean Nicholson, Jennifer Owen, Natasha Perez, Tessa Paneth-Pollak, Amy Peebles, Marliese Temme Peltier, Kristina Persenaire, Adam Schmitt, Rebekka Sherman-Loeffler, Alison Singer, Sarah Stapleton, Iwan Syahril, Isabella Tirtowalujo, Vivek Vellanki, Kris Windorski, Dwi Yuliantoro, and Aaron Zimmerman. Heartfelt thanks to my friend-family beyond MSU: Aixa Aleman, T.J. Awrey, the Carpman family, Jane Chevako, Denise Zakiya Fair, Olivia Furman, Hélène Iracane, Nancy Keyes, Mary House Kumar, the Lawrence family, the Levine family, the Lyttle family, the Pasquet family, Julia Ma Powers, Leora Sapon-Shevin, Amanda Sardone, Elizabeth Bovair Schill, Erin Farrell Speer, Emily Temple, Dave Tattan, Trisha Terteling, Janine Woods Thoma, Billiam West, and Anna Wijetunga. Jim Lucas and Paul Brown: Thank you for supporting the FSA programs and for the opportunity to work with and learn from two wonderful groups of students and colleagues. vii Inge Steglitz: You and the DSAF are the reason this study was imagined. I am so grateful to you for this, for the many trainings, and for your friendship. I cannot wait to work with you again. Lynn Fendler: Your advice has been instrumental to my success at MSU, and I know it will guide me for the rest of my career. Thank you for your generosity as an educator and mentor. Avner Segall: You have forever altered my understanding of pedagogy in ways that have been creatively generative and so exciting. Thank you for helping me reimagine what it means to teach and learn. Thanks, too, for the fantastic chocolate, gelato, and pastry recommendations! Rob Roznowski: Your ideas about constraints and creativity continue to inform my teaching, learning, and artistic practice, both at home and abroad. Thank you for helping guide this project. Janine Certo: I cannot thank you enough for your support through the last few years as my advisor, dissertation committee chair, fellow poet and foodie, and dear friend. You helped me learn that I am an artist and that artistry belongs in the academy. Grazie mille! Liz Gil, you are a steadfast and devoted friend. I’ve learned so much from our conversations and from the way you live your values every day. Gracias por tu amistad y amor. Soobin-a! Dear and precious friend, your brilliant mind, mischievous sense of humor, and absolute candor have made this doctoral journey so much more fulfilling than I ever could have imagined. viii Joni Starr: Joni, we’ve lived so many different parts of our lives together, and I’m deeply grateful for your presence throughout. Thank you for being in my family and for inviting me into yours (and Mark’s and Juli’s and the Riddles’ and and and…!). To the Boyles and the Creps: I’ve never needed the love and support of my family like I have across the last few years. All of you have helped me cherish many joys and overcome seemingly impossible challenges to finish grad school. I am profoundly grateful for each of you and love you dearly. Glenn: Thank you for helping me rethink the how and what of teaching in such joyful ways. You inspire me to keep asking questions, telling fantastic jokes (O Sisyphus!), ravaging crossword puzzles, and declaring my place in the wilderness to all in hearing range of a good bellow! Chris: Set-designer, shoulder-to-cry-on, jokester, deep-thinker, mischief-maker, treasured friend, and my dear love: I need a poem to say everything I want to say to you here. Suffice it to say: my life is so much better for your presence in it, including and well beyond this dissertation. I’m so deeply grateful and honored to continue living and growing with you. I love you way. Mom: There are no words to express the depth of my gratitude for being your daughter. You have stood by me and believed in me when so few would, you have loved me fiercely and without reservation, and you help me remember Dad’s continued presence throughout it all. This dissertation exists because of you. You have helped me come home to myself again and again. Thank you for being my Mom. I love you very much. ix PREFACE In the summer of 2014, I was a Michigan State University (MSU) Doctoral Study Abroad Fellow, sponsored by the MSU Office for Education Abroad, to observe an undergraduate education program supported by that institution’s History Department. The program’s coursework and field experiences focused primarily on the history of World War I in England, France, and Germany during the centennial year of the start of the war. I observed this credit-bearing short-term3 education abroad4 program as a form of apprenticeship in preparation for creating and leading future education abroad programs as a faculty program director. Our itinerary took us from Germany to France and then concluded in London, and, because of the cultural richness of the cities and towns visited, we incorporated site visits that gave students the opportunity to visit culturally significant locations they might never have visited otherwise. The British Museum was one of these sites. The faculty program director asked the graduate program assistant and me to create an assignment for the museum visit, just to make sure students really did explore the site and learn from it. Despite memories of being irritated by assignments I had done for K12 teachers who wanted to ensure we students “paid attention” during field trips, the graduate program assistant and I dove eagerly into creating what amounted to a reproduction of the very assignments I dreaded as a K12 student, adjusted a bit for postsecondary-level students. The primary intention of the assignment was to get students to reflect on three specific exhibits to spark their curiosity about the 3 Short-term education abroad programs are generally considered to range from one to eight weeks in duration in a country other than one in which the student participant(s) home institution is based (Spencer & Tuma, 2002). 4 The Forum on Education Abroad’s Glossary defines education abroad as “Education that occurs outside the participant’s home country. Besides study abroad, examples include such international experiences as work, volunteering, non-credit internships, and directed travel, as long as these programs are driven to a significant degree by learning goals” (2011, p. 12). I use the term in this dissertation to include all of my education-oriented experiences abroad, because my design and direction of the two education abroad programs examined in this dissertation are heavily informed by my prior education abroad experiences and research. x enormous diversity and complex history of the Museum’s collections. We chose three exhibits we thought would help students problematize and possibly deepen their interest in the Museum: Pharmacopoeia’s 2003 Cradle to Grave exhibit on the average Western man or woman’s anticipated medication consumption across their lifespan; a student-selected artifact from Rooms 42-43: The Islamic World Room (n.d.); and the Rosetta Stone (196 BCE). I was filled with anticipation as we crossed the enormous plaza in front of the gargantuan museum entrance, complete with colossal ionic columns. Secretly, I wondered how long students would linger in the museum before tearing themselves away to have dinner on their own (there was no group dinner scheduled for that evening). This was the British Museum, after all, and it was still early in the afternoon. Once we entered the immense Great Court, its ceiling of undulating windows flung my heart to the heavens. I watched students pour over maps of the museum to find the three artifacts about which we’d asked them to write. There were murmurs of “Ok, I’ll go to that one, first,” “Let’s meet here later,” and “When do you think we can get to that pub down the street? I hear it’s really great.” The more I overheard, the faster I felt my exalted heart crash back towards the earth, through the window-ceiling, and shatter on the floor at my feet. Several of them were speaking as if they only cared about the assignment grade. I walked from one assigned exhibit to another, watching the students as they glanced through the posted labels that explained the exhibits, dragged their eyes across an artifact (perhaps lingering for a moment to wonder), took a couple of notes (or photos), and sped onto the next artifact. Then, students proceeded from the third artifact directly to the pub, as planned. To be fair, there was a handful of students (perhaps three?) who lingered there for an hour or so, exploring more of the museum’s collections. The heartbreak I felt about this site visit lasted long beyond the program itself. I remained flabbergasted about this experience and began looking inward, rifling through my perceptions of all xi the program’s other site visits. Were there other moments like these I’d somehow overlooked? How was I determining the success or failure of any given site visit? How could students slide through that museum so easily, seemingly without a thought about the potential one-in-a-lifetime nature of the visit? We’d had other site visits that were of general European cultural significance, rather than directly linked to the WWI program theme. I agreed with the faculty program director about deciding to take advantage of our proximity to those extra sites -- he reasoned it might be the only opportunity the students would have to see places like Wartburg Castle, where Martin Luther translated the bible into German; the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, where Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is kept and a person can stand on both sides of the Prime Meridian; and Buchenwald, the former Nazi (and later Soviet) concentration camp, where prisoners worked in a gun factory, making weapons for their captor’s armies, and where so many people were tortured, poisoned, shot, or worked to death. Prior to the Buchenwald site visit, I worried about my role as pseudo-program-assistant (officially there to observe and, unofficially, an eager extra program assistant and T.A.), because I knew enough about the Holocaust and about Buchenwald itself to know I’d probably be too overwhelmed to act as an on-site instructor. The faculty program director told the group to dress up for that site visit, and the students appeared to understand why. The visit began with a video that gave a quick historical overview of the site. It taught many of us that the Soviets used the site as a work camp after the Second World War. The students were visibly subdued throughout the visit and maintained respectful silence or quiet conversations about what they were seeing or thinking while at Buchenwald. The following morning, we gathered for class and had a productive and serious conversation about the experience. They composed poetry in response to the site, and the poems revealed a historical awareness about the site that was apparent during the visit, itself. xii While ruminating on the very different responses the students (and I) had to visiting Buchenwald and the British Museum, I surmised that the students probably had a general understanding of what the Holocaust was, what Buchenwald was, and of the terrible history of the site. We (the faculty director, program assistants, and I) hadn’t discussed the Holocaust, specifically, prior to the Buchenwald visit, beyond a general “this is where we’re going tomorrow and you need to dress respectfully for this site visit.” The WWI-focused course materials didn’t describe it. In retrospect, I imagine that the students knew about the Holocaust, because it has commonly been discussed and portrayed in popular U.S. media over the last few decades, held up as an example of how the U.S. and its allies transformed the world for the better through their efforts to fight for the freedom of oppressed peoples. Similarly, we never discussed the British Museum or the artifacts it contains and certainly didn’t make explicit any connection there might have been between the museum’s artifacts and the focus of the program, itself. Pedagogically, we treated that visit the same way we treated the Buchenwald visit, except we didn’t ask the students to dress up beforehand and didn’t have a conversation about the museum during a class meeting subsequent to the visit. While there isn’t a way “to prove” that the students’ apparent lack of engagement with the museum was due to some pedagogical failing, especially at the time of writing5, my instincts as an educator who has taken students on various site visits/field tips in different countries, across more than a decade of professional training and experience in both domestic and international settings, made me suspect that the students’ disinterest was likely connected, at least in part, to a lack of pedagogical support to contextualize and prepare them for the British Museum site visit. As an educator, I am loath to excuse myself from working towards greater student engagement and deeper learning by blaming students for being “kids these days,” who, once they 5 Five years after this program occurred. xiii know they’ve done enough to get the grade they want in class, are categorically incapable of being interested in anything beyond themselves. I have been privy to conversations in various postsecondary faculty program director/general education abroad program leader training meetings in which this kind of assumption has been openly stated as Fact, which is why I mention it here. I argue that this is a gross underestimation of students’ capacity to learn and thrive as intellectuals and human beings. In Eisner’s words, “There is no need to assume that beyond a certain age the capacity for growth ceases. On the contrary, growth is always possible and terminates only with the termination of life itself” (2002, p. 240). As for the British Museum, we on the program directorship team (the faculty program director, two program assistants, and I) were thrilled that the students would have the opportunity to spend time at this world-famous institution---an institution that we (or at least I) assumed students would consider it a privilege to be in the presence of artifacts representing a tangible and problematic cross-section of cultural histories from around the globe. Reflecting on this profoundly disappointing experience, I resolved to examine my own practice in designing and enacting place- based and experiential pedagogies, informed by my own expertise in the arts, for/on an education abroad program. This dissertation and the interactive performance text it contains is my open examination of these practices, and I will rely on the response of readers of this text, as well as the responses of successive live audiences of the performance text, to continue to expand and refine my conceptions of the educational possibilities of education abroad. xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... xvii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... xviii INTRODUCTION: BUENOS DIAS! BON DIA! EGUN ON! BUONGIORNO! UFF-DA! ......................................................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: ALL ABOARD TO GO ABROAD: A LITERATURE REVIEW OF THE DESIGN AND ENACTMENT OF PROGRAM PEDAGOGIES ............................................. 6 Community Building.............................................................................................................................. 15 Intercultural Education ......................................................................................................................... 17 Place-Based Pedagogies ......................................................................................................................... 23 CHAPTER 2: “YES, AND…”: THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................................................................................................ 27 Experiential Learning Theory ............................................................................................................... 28 Building from Where They Are: Arts-Oriented Pedagogies ............................................................ 39 Explicit Pedagogy ................................................................................................................................... 56 CHAPTER 3: WELCOME TO COLLEGE, NOW LET’S LEAVE THE COUNTRY: FIRST-YEAR SEMINARS ABROAD ................................................................................................. 63 Faculty Program Directors, Program Assistants, and Third-Party Providers (TPPs) .................. 63 Program Structure .................................................................................................................................. 67 FSA Course Goals and Expectations .................................................................................................. 72 Student Success ...................................................................................................................................... 74 General Education ................................................................................................................................. 76 First-Year Seminars ................................................................................................................................ 77 Global and Intercultural Learning at MSU......................................................................................... 79 Integrative Studies and FSA Course Goals ........................................................................................ 82 CHAPTER 4: PERFORMANCE AND NON-CONFORMANCE: ARTS-BASED EDUCATION ABROAD RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES (ABEAR) ............................... 86 New Terms: An Introduction .............................................................................................................. 88 Performative Autoethnography ........................................................................................................... 92 A/r/tography .......................................................................................................................................... 97 Concluding Thoughts ............................................................................................................................ 99 CHAPTER 5: LET’S COUNT OFF ONE MORE TIME!: ADVENTURES IN EDUCATION ABROAD PEDAGOGY ............................................................................................. 101 CHAPTER 6: ALLEZ-Y! BUT WHERE?: CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FIELD AND RESEARCH TRAJECTORY ................................................................................................................. 170 Contributions to the Literature on Program Pedagogies ................................................................. 171 Learnings ................................................................................................................................................. 177 xv Research Trajectory ............................................................................................................................... 181 Methodological Contributions ............................................................................................................. 183 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................................. 189 APPENDIX A: Spain Program Syllabus (Including Book Assignments and Itinerary) ............. 190 APPENDIX B: Italy Program Syllabus (Including itinerary) .......................................................... 202 APPENDIX C: Italy Program Book List ........................................................................................... 225 WORKS CITED .......................................................................................................................................... 228 xvi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: First-Year Seminars Abroad: Course Goals and Example Assignments .............................. 84 Table 2: Spanish Steps Poetry (Individual Poems Shared with Individual Audience Members) ...... 158 xvii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle ........................................................................................... 34 Figure 2: Pre-De/Perform/ance Projection ............................................................................................. 101 Figure 3: Images on Audience Handout (made6/drawn by the author) ............................................... 102 Figure 4: De/Perform/ance Title Slide Projection .................................................................................. 103 Figure 5: Mobile Phones Projection ........................................................................................................... 104 Figure 6: Audience Participation Projection ............................................................................................. 105 Figure 7: Dissertation De/Perform/ance Title Projection ..................................................................... 106 Figure 8: A Really Great Pub Projection ................................................................................................... 108 Figure 9: British Museum Artifacts Projection ......................................................................................... 109 Figure 10: British Museum South Entrance Pediment Projection 1 ..................................................... 110 Figure 11: What They’ve Seen Projection ................................................................................................. 112 Figure 12: British Library Projection.......................................................................................................... 112 Figure 13: British Museum South Entrance Pediment Projection 2 ..................................................... 113 Figure 14: British Museum Great Court Projection ................................................................................ 115 Figure 15: Blank Screen Projection ............................................................................................................ 118 Figure 16: So, What Happened? Projection .............................................................................................. 120 Figure 17: What Now? Projection .............................................................................................................. 121 Figure 18: British Museum Site Visit Issues Projection .......................................................................... 122 Figure 19: Theoretical Backup: Dewey Projection................................................................................... 124 Figure 20: Theoretical Backup: Eisner Projection ................................................................................... 125 Figure 21: Let’s Do This Projection ........................................................................................................... 129 6 Many thanks to Vivek Vellanki for this helpful photography term. xviii Figure 22: First-Year Seminar Abroad (FSA) Programs Under Study Projection .............................. 130 Figure 23: Future Alma Mater Projection 1 .............................................................................................. 131 Figure 24: Book List Projection .................................................................................................................. 132 Figure 25: LMS Group Discussion Thread Projection ........................................................................... 133 Figure 26: Responses to Question 8 Projection ....................................................................................... 134 Figure 27: Future Alma Mater Projection 2 .............................................................................................. 135 Figure 28: Welcome to College! Projection .............................................................................................. 136 Figure 29: Airport Projection ...................................................................................................................... 139 Figure 30: You Might be the Student Who… Projection ....................................................................... 140 Figure 31: Activity Objectives and FSA Goals Projection ..................................................................... 141 Figure 32: First College-Level Research Project Projection ................................................................... 142 Figure 33: In-Country Orientation Projection .......................................................................................... 144 Figure 34: Student’s Research Analysis Projection .................................................................................. 147 Figure 35: Other Student Research Projection ......................................................................................... 148 Figure 36: Spain! Projection ....................................................................................................................... 149 Figure 37: Today’s Itinerary Projection ..................................................................................................... 150 Figure 38: Traditional Catalonian Cooking Class Projection ................................................................. 151 Figure 39: Flamenco Dance Class Projection ........................................................................................... 153 Figure 40: Morning Mindfulness and Stretching Projection .................................................................. 154 Figure 41: Flamenco Reflections Projection ............................................................................................. 156 Figure 42: The Spanish Steps (Rome) Projection .................................................................................... 157 Figure 43: Uffizi Gallery Projection 1 ....................................................................................................... 161 Figure 44: Uffizi Gallery Projection 2 ........................................................................................................ 162 Figure 45: Uffizi Gallery Projection 3 ........................................................................................................ 162 xix Figure 46: Uffizi Gallery Projection 4 ........................................................................................................ 163 Figure 47: Uffizi Gallery Projection 5 ........................................................................................................ 164 Figure 48: Margaery Tyrell Projection ....................................................................................................... 165 Figure 49: Liberty Joy Morissey Projection ............................................................................................... 166 Figure 50: Heidi Gans Field Notes, Spain 2017 Projection .................................................................... 167 Figure 51: Gratitude Projection .................................................................................................................. 169 Figure 52: Spain Program Itinerary ............................................................................................................ 195 Figure 53: Why Go There? Presentation Groups .................................................................................... 206 Figure 54: Italy Program Itinerary .............................................................................................................. 212 Figure 55: Italy Program Book List ............................................................................................................ 226 xx INTRODUCTION: BUENOS DIAS! BON DIA! EGUN ON! BUONGIORNO! UFF-DA! Experiential educators often quote a Chinese proverb, sometimes attributed to Confucius: ‘Tell me, and I will forget; show me, and I may remember; involve me, and I will understand’” (Steinberg, 2015, p. 211). This multimethod7 arts-based dissertation project examines my experiences designing and implementing a combination of pedagogies for/during two short-term8 First-Year Seminar Abroad (FSA) programs9, sponsored by Michigan State University (MSU): one in Spain (summer of 2017) and one in Italy (summer of 2018). This research project is undergirded by my professional and academic experiences as a student10, chaperone11, group leader12, doctoral fellow13, and faculty program director14 on education abroad programs in Europe and Asia, from 2000 to the present. It is also heavily informed by my training and experience as an artist15, a humanities scholar16, theatre educator17, teacher educator18, and arts-based researcher. I call upon my artistic/scholarly identities, 7 Multimethod arts-based research employs two or more art forms in the research endeavor (Leavy, 2018). 8 Short-term education abroad programs are generally considered to range from one to eight weeks in duration in a country other than one in which the student participant(s) home institution is based (Spencer & Tuma, 2002). 9 For more information, see: https://educationabroad.isp.msu.edu/students/getting-started/fsa/ 10 I was a secondary student on a non-credit-bearing high school French class field trip to France. 11While an English Language Teaching Assistant in Southwestern France, I was one of eight faculty chaperones for ninety-six teenagers on a high school English language immersion field trip to Southeastern Ireland. 12 During the summers of 2008 and 2009, I was a program leader for a non-credit-bearing experiential high school summer abroad program focused on French language immersion and theatre performance. 13 I was a doctoral fellow on an MSU College of Education Fellowship to Enhance Global Understanding graduate student study tour on Java and Bali in Indonesia. The following year, I had a Doctoral Study Abroad Fellowship, co- sponsored by MSU’s History Department and the MSU Office for Education Abroad (formerly, the Office of Study Abroad), in England, France, and Germany. 14 I use the term “faculty program director” to identify faculty who design, plan, guide, and teach for/on postsecondary education abroad programs. 15 I identify as a theatre artist and poet. 16 In 2006, I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Performance - Acting from the University of Michigan’s (UM’s) School of Music (now the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance). That same year, I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Arts and Ideas in the Humanities from UM’s Residential College, with a studio arts focus on Creative Writing and academic focus on Performance History. I later earned a Master’s degree in Theatre Education, as well as K12 Theatre Educator certification in Massachusetts, from Emerson College. 17 See footnote 12. 18 Classes I have taught in MSU’s College of Education include: TE430: Introduction to Arts in the Classroom, TE431: Learning through Drama, TE:432: Learning through Movement, TE491: Creative Arts for Children, TE501/2: Art Internship Field Instruction supervision, and TE802/4: Reflections and Inquiry for Teaching Practice (Art Education). 1 research interest in experiential and arts-oriented19 pedagogies, and my prior education abroad experiences for both the design and the research of the first two education abroad programs that I designed and faculty-directed. This confluence of identities led me toward an approach to research I had not yet seen named in the field, but concluded was appropriate for this research project: arts- based education abroad research (ABEAR). The research question guiding this dissertation is: how do I, as a faculty program director, perceive student learning from arts-oriented, experiential, and place-based pedagogies on two different education abroad programs meant to introduce rising freshmen20 to undergraduate education? Given the considerable diversity of postsecondary programs abroad, the growing presence of education abroad programs across the globe, and the broad array of faculty program directors’ academic specializations, I intend to contribute to conversations among fellow education abroad researchers and faculty program directors to “encourage [them] to pose questions and make connections among ideas and experiences” (Carroll, 2018, p. 1) about the roles and responsibilities associated with faculty program directorship, including program design and implementation, in this experiential, intercultural, and place-based undergraduate education context. I am engaging in arts- based education abroad research (ABEAR) with the arts-oriented pedagogical intention of facilitat[ing] the construction of multiple and even contradictory understandings [by] creat[ing] a space for a conversation of many voices [and] interpretations [that may] generate additional questions and lead to examinations from multiple perspectives. Ambiguity, often a characteristic of artwork, is an asset rather than a problem 19 In this dissertation, I use the term, arts-oriented, to describe program curricula and my pedagogical practices as grounded in arts education content and practices, though not focused in deep learning of a particular art form. This term describes learning with and through the arts with a focus on introducing students to new epistemological frameworks for reflecting upon and learning from their experiences on the programs under study. I also use this term to differentiate arts-based research from arts-oriented curricula and pedagogy. 20 A term used at MSU for students entering their first year of college. This term is used in the MSU community without reference to a specific written definition. 2 because it promotes a proliferation of interpretations. Arts-based pedagogies can be said to be generative; they seek to open up issues or phenomena, leading to further musings, questions, and connections (Carroll, 2018, p. 3). I urge the reader to maintain an awareness of the triple-layered engagement with the artistic epistemologies that are a throughline of this project. That is, I will describe the two arts-oriented programs abroad under study through an ABEAR lens for the arts-oriented pedagogical purpose of “open[ing] up new considerations for the aims and the form of what [faculty program directors] teach” (Eisner, 2002, p. 201). While there remains a relative lack of literature on the specifics of program pedagogy, and even less about short-term programs designed for rising college freshmen, the education abroad research literature discusses various reasons for postsecondary education institutions to support education abroad programs. Briefly, some of those reasons are: essentially, working towards world peace (e.g. Lutterman-Aguilar & Gingerich, 2002; Reilly & Senders, 2009); intercultural competence development (e.g. Doyle, 2009; Nguyen, 2017; Wong, 2015, 2018); the development of intercultural communication skills/understanding (Dervin, 2009; McComb, Fedele, Brunese, & Simpson, 2019; Phillion, Malewski, Sharma, & Yang, 2009; Pipitone, 2018); and educating towards global citizenship (Gordon, 2014; Laliberté & Waddell, 2017; Stoner et al., 2019). This dissertation is designed to address specific pedagogical practices through an ABEAR examination of a/r/tifacts21 in ways that invite dialogue about program pedagogy in relation to various learning trajectories examined in the education abroad research literature. This ABEAR dissertation project contains six chapters. In Chapter One: All Aboard to Go Abroad, I review the education abroad research literature on short-term, faculty-directed, credit- bearing, education abroad program pedagogical practices, including community building, 21 The evidence generated through pedagogy examined in the present study. 3 intercultural and place-based pedagogies, followed by a brief discussion of faculty roles on these programs. I examine current calls for further research on program pedagogy to which this dissertation is a response and introduce Arts-Based Education Abroad Research (ABEAR). ABEAR is the research methodology of this dissertation. In Chapter Two: “Yes, and…”, I provide an overview of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks that support the combination of pedagogical practices I enacted on the two programs under study. Specifically, I discuss how the current study is situated within the theoretical literature of experiential learning theory, arts-oriented education, and explicit pedagogy, which dovetail with Chapter 1’s discussion of the literature on program pedagogy. Because of the dearth of education abroad literature focusing on arts-oriented pedagogies, I use the latter part of this chapter to conceptualize the potential applicability of certain sensibilities inherent to the forms of arts-oriented pedagogy I enacted in ways that might inspire faculty program directors’ design of programs in education or in other academic subject areas, anywhere in the world. Chapter Three: Welcome to College, Now Let’s Leave the Country contextualizes the FSAs under study within the larger landscape of undergraduate education at Michigan State University (MSU). In Chapter Four: Performance and Non-Conformance, I describe the two ABEAR methodologies I use to interpret art/i/facts22 in the study, namely: performance autoethnography and a/r/tography. Chapter Five: Let’s Count Off One More Time! offers the dramatic text that opens my interpretations of the art/i/facts under study to the reader and is the basis of the performance text23, Let’s Count Off One More Time!, that live audiences of this research will witness. In the last chapter, Allez-y! But Where? I 22 An inclusive term I have created to be used in place of and beyond the concept of data in social science research. This term is defined more fully in Chapter 4. 23 As part of the dissertation defense, the performance text will be presented in the form of a theatrical performance, based on the dramatic text contained within the dissertation document. This performance will be recorded and available as audiovisual media within digital copies of the dissertation. The digital version of the performance text will not be incorporated into the dramatic text as a form of replacement for the live performance, but as a reference to reveal some qualities of the performance text in more detail than that provided in the dramatic text. See Chapter Four for more information about the performance and dramatic texts of this dissertation. 4 discuss contributions this study makes to the field of education abroad research as well as to the ABER literature, and, finally, I discuss my research trajectory beyond this dissertation. 5 CHAPTER 1: ALL ABOARD TO GO ABROAD: A LITERATURE REVIEW OF THE DESIGN AND ENACTMENT OF PROGRAM PEDAGOGIES EA program directorship vastly expands the traditional on-campus role(s) and teaching experience of prospective program directors…. Program directors enter environments in which they engage students as whole beings (head, heart, and hands) and across their various ways of learning and being in the world, and they do so more or less at all hours of the day. In addition, within the education abroad context, learning occurs before, during, and after the on- site experience, taking place in settings ranging from curricular/academic to cocurricular and extracurricular/social (Steglitz, Roy, & Akulli, 2017, pp. 273 - 274, emphasis added). For this review of the education abroad research literature on program pedagogies, I was primarily interested in finding articles describing specifics of program pedagogies on credit-bearing, short-term, undergraduate programs that examined one or more of the following: intercultural education abroad, as well as arts-oriented, experiential, explicit, and place-based pedagogies on these programs. The current study is focused on the intersection of these ideas during two education abroad programs, not on examining each pedagogy on its own. The author grounded this combination of intercultural education abroad pedagogies by working to build a community of mutual support, care, and trust, which was reinforced through various community building activities throughout the program. In order to examine the literature most relevant to the study, I began by reading through the most recent 10 years of Frontiers24, the foremost journal of education abroad scholarship in the U.S., and, possibly, the world. Special issues of this twenty-three-year-old journal have focused on topics as wide-ranging as: the sciences and education abroad, language learning in the education abroad 24 Due to a copyright labeling issue, some of the Frontiers articles in this literature review predate 2009. The author chose to retain these articles because of their substantive contributions to the current study, as well as the limited amount of research literature on the topics covered in this dissertation. 6 context, assessment of learning outcomes of education abroad programs, undergraduate research abroad, education abroad and the city, and religion and education abroad, among others. I found several publications that discussed language-learning abroad in this review, but they were not relevant to the current study. The programs under study did not focus on learning local languages beyond basic greetings, finding bathrooms, and words to reinforce polite behavior. In addition to reviewing academic journals, I drew upon literature I encountered at various faculty program director training opportunities at the institution sponsoring the programs under study, Michigan State University (MSU). Search terms for each of these three bodies of literature included: undergraduate education, short-term programs, education abroad, study abroad, experiential learning, curriculum, pedagogy, and faculty. Much of the literature I found in response to those search terms through Google Scholar and the MSU Library catalogue concerned student populations different from those with whom I worked. My FSA students were all U.S. citizens and rising college freshmen. The FSA programs were designed for students with a wide range of scholarly interests, which, again, limited the amount of literature relevant to the current study. I excluded literature related to learning outcomes assessment, which often focuses on examining intercultural competence development by administering pre- and post-program tests, like the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory), GPI (Global Perspectives Inventory), the BEVI (Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory), or any of the other twenty-six intercultural competence assessments listed in the ETS Research Report, Assessing Intercultural Competence in Higher Education: Existing Research and Future Directions (Griffith, Wolfeld, Armon, Rios, & Liu, 2016). A detailed examination of any these standardized learning assessments is beyond the scope of this dissertation, as were discussions of: working towards world peace (e.g. Lutterman-Aguilar & Gingerich, 2002; Reilly & Senders, 2009); intercultural competence development (e.g. Doyle, 2009; Nguyen, 2017; Wong, 2015, 2018); and 7 educating towards global citizenship (Gordon, 2014; Laliberté & Waddell, 2017; Stoner et al., 2019), despite the title of the program in Spain, which includes the words global citizenship. Additionally, I found no arts-based education abroad research (ABEAR), though there was one arts-informed article in Frontiers by David Wong (2018), who examined student-reported intercultural learning outcomes through a literary analysis of truthfulness in Shakespeare’s King Lear. In this article, Wong discusses the danger of assuming that students’ responses to reflection activities to be accurate descriptions of their lived experiences, because reflection activities have become something of a ritual in education abroad. In the article, he discusses his own astonishment at his students’ positive assessment of an intercultural learning experience he felt had gone horribly awry. Grounding his argument in the experiential and intercultural education literature, Wong suggests that education abroad program participants say what they’ve learned to say during group reflection time to convince faculty program directors (and, Wong alludes, themselves) that they have learned what they were supposed to learn from whatever experience is being discussed. The experiences the students had impacted their responses to assignment prompts, and, in turn, the assignment prompts were meant to enhance their learning experiences. In this dissertation, I use the term, arts-oriented, to describe program curricula and my pedagogical practices as grounded in arts education content and practices, though not focused in deep learning of a particular art form. I did not find a discussion of arts-oriented pedagogy in the education abroad research literature, and I will reserve the discussion of arts-oriented pedagogy for Chapter 2, which examines theoretical and conceptual framework for this study. I also use the term arts-oriented to differentiate discussions of arts-based education abroad research (ABEAR) from arts-oriented curricula and pedagogies. Arts-oriented pedagogies support experiential learning in productive ways. Assignments that ask learners to think about particular experiences in the field through particular art forms have the potential to enliven different types of 8 awareness, and thereby reflection about those experiences. For instance, when students were asked to write a story about an inquisitive young child who snuck into the Uffizi Gallery was closed for the day, they had to reimagine the gallery into a kind of playground for a child, complete with hiding places and physical interactions with the various statues, paintings, and architectural details the child would encounter. If they had been asked to sketch the Laocoön and His Sons sculpture, they might not have paid attention to potential hiding places and the potential for playful interaction with various objects in the museum. On the other hand, sketching the Laocoön sculpture might have put them in the position of paying attention to how many snakes were in the sculpture, encouraged them to read the sculpture’s museum label to better understand what is happening in that work of art, or inspired them to pay particular attention to the scale of the artwork in comparison to the windows and doorways near where it has been placed. Still other prompts could have directed their attention at the behavior of the people visiting the gallery, the lighting in the room, how they were feeling in the presence of some work of art, how challenging it might be to carve a statue out of marble, or any number of other arts-oriented reflections. I should note here that a thorough review of literature on arts-oriented pedagogies was beyond the scope of the current study, especially since the majority of research on arts-oriented pedagogies is conducted in classrooms, not on education abroad programs. Every class I teach begins with a focus on building community among and with my students, built on trust that allows room for experimentation with ideas and concepts. These group dynamics are even more important to cultivate on education abroad programs, when students will inevitably encounter situations in which they have to rely on me and/or each other for anything from help with homework to finding emergency medical support for unexpected illness or injury to sitting with them outside St. Peter’s Basilica when their agoraphobia leads to a panic attack. Situations like these are made so much more difficult if there isn’t a well-established relationship of trust among the students and faculty directorship team. Of course, in my training as an arts-based 9 researcher, I have learned about many different artistic approaches to thinking with and through the arts, and this knowledge about various artistic engagements with ideas has most certainly influenced the arts-oriented program pedagogies examined in this dissertation. I include the literature on intercultural education, because it is foundational to both programs. Intercultural learning is the driving force behind my education abroad pedagogies. Within the intercultural education pedagogies I designed and enacted, I relied heavily on place-based education practices, because both programs focused on learning about local arts and culture in ways that highlighted the uniqueness of each cultural context we studied. Given the experiential learning inherent to the design of the programs under study, I examined ten years (Volume 31, Issue 3, March 2009 - Volume 42, Issue 3, September 2019) of the Journal of Experiential Education for relevant literature. Because much of the experiential education literature is foundational to the theoretical framework of this study, I will reserve my discussion of that literature for Chapter 2: “Yes, and…”: Theoretical and Contextual Framework for Programs Under Study. For the same reasons, I will reserve my discussion of explicit pedagogy for chapter 2 of this dissertation, as well. In the sections that follow, I discuss research literature related to the following components of program pedagogies enacted by faculty on education abroad programs, including: community building, intercultural education, and place-based pedagogies. I will then provide a summary of current critiques of and calls for further research in the field, and conclude with an introduction to Arts-Based Education Abroad Research (ABEAR), a substantive and compelling approach to education abroad research, which is employed in this dissertation. Throughout this chapter, I use the term, pedagogy, to indicate a specific component of teaching practice on education abroad programs. For the purposes of this dissertation, I define pedagogy as the enactment of teaching through carefully-designed learning experiences, as well as 10 the itinerary and content selection for coursework, prior to the start of a program. In this dissertation, pedagogy also includes actions I took as faculty program director “on the ground,” to support student learning through face-to-face interactions, cultural mentoring (described below), and supporting students’ intellectual and affective learning, which includes introducing students to ways they might process complex learning experiences (see below). I include intention in my definition of pedagogy in this study, because, in this dissertation, I describe, to some extent, how my intentions for what I hoped students would learn from an experience guided how I designed those learning environments/experiences. However, building an education abroad program to foster specific learning outcomes and then faculty-directing it are two very different endeavors. As Eisner writes, “Planning and teaching profit from flexibility, from attention to the changing colors of the context” (2002, p. 164). To borrow an Eisnerian metaphor, “maintaining a set of priorities in the curriculum is much more like nurturing a friendship than installing a refrigerator in the kitchen” (1994, p. 53). It is worth noting that there is considerable concern about common assumptions made about student learning on short-term education abroad programs in the education abroad research community. Several chapters in NAFSA: Association of International Educators’ The Guide to Successful Short-Term Programs Abroad (Chieffo & Spaeth, 2017) touch on the landscape of assumptions various stakeholder populations can have about the academic rigor of student learning abroad. For instance, in their chapter, Designing the Academic Course: Principles and Practicalities, Swart and Spaeth describe a common misconception about the educative value of short-term study abroad courses across stakeholder populations: “Many administrators, faculty, parents, and students -- including academically serious students -- suffer from mistaken impressions of short-term study abroad courses. Some perceive them as a ‘term off,’ a kind of tourism with college credit and entertaining yet academically ‘lightweight’ experiences” (p. 103). In his chapter, Reflections from the Field: A 11 Provider’s Perspective, Steinberg writes that “some traditionalists in study abroad are vocally unhappy with the trend toward short-term programming. A travel program of two or three weeks, they say, does not allow for student immersion in another culture” and adds that those “traditionalists” are also skeptical (to put it mildly) about the possibilities of language-learning and personal growth across such a short timespan abroad, among other concerns (p. 349). In their chapter, Program Design for Intercultural Development, Peifer and Meyer-Lee describe how some faculty program directors ...from fields that have not traditionally been associated with intercultural competence development (e.g., the natural sciences, history, or business) may question how to create a rigorous program that both enhances students’ cross-cultural skills and maintains the integrity of discipline-specific learning objectives. …[and] may resort to developing program content that simply transports their disciplinary knowledge to an international location” (p. 158). Finally, as Anthony Ogden writes in his review of the research literature related to short-term education abroad programs, Those who subscribe to intercultural learning as a rationale for education abroad often assume that students become more interculturally competent and thus, more aware of their own culture, and become more respectful of other cultural systems. However, students, like most international sojourners, enter new cultures with pre-existing notions of a place and a people (2017, p. 16). On the other hand, I am drawn to this work because of the student learning I’ve witnessed and experienced, myself, during the eleven education abroad experiences I’ve had across the last twenty years. As Christopher S. Gunter writes in his chapter, Reflections from the Field: A Student Perspective, in the same NAFSA guide mentioned above, “...for me, studying abroad [is] not just an academic experience, but a life experience” (2017, p. 361). After I graduated from college, I moved 12 to France to work as a Assistante D’Anglais (English language teaching assistant) through the Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale (Ministry of Education) in France. At that time, the U.S. was embroiled in a war that continues to this day, and I was frustrated by many of the actions U.S. government leaders had taken in the aftermath of 9/11. I decided to move to France, in part, because I wanted to have the opportunity to experience life in a different cultural context, get some perspective on what it means to be a U.S. citizen, and make my citizenship something I chose, versus something I was born with. Several years of graduate schooling later, I recognize that there were many levels of privilege involved in this decision, including the freedom to openly share this decision in a published dissertation. That said, I moved to France and was completely captivated by what I interpreted as an inundation of details about the ways in which people went about living their lives. Visiting Monet’s home and gardens in Giverny or the chateaux of the Loire Valley obviously gave me much to think about in terms of, among other things, the context of French (and European) history, but that was only the beginning. I witnessed multiple workers’ strikes, including a fisherman’s strike that was accompanied by burning tires; experienced the famously tedious administration française (the attention to an extremity of bureaucratic detail that inspires eye-rolls of resignation from even the most patriotic of French citizens); was spared considerable medical expense by the country’s socialized medical system, when a newly-developed shellfish intolerance led to a three-day hospitalization; watched as one of my students had to wait to put on her hijab until she left the grounds of our public high school (they were forbidden in public schools across the country); taught in a national school system that is still guided, in many ways, by the Napoleonic Code; and, of course, I made sure to learn as much as I could about la cuisine française, which has deeply impacted my relationship with food in many, many ways. At the end of this period, I chose to remain a U.S. citizen and retain as much as I could from what I had learned during two academic years’ teaching overseas to remind myself that everything from cooking an egg to joining a union, 13 from the relationships I have with family members to how I vote involves myriad choices, both large and small. The big take-aways for me, grounded largely in these experiences, were that learning more about how others live in the world can enrich my imagination about how a life can be lived, as well as weave cross-cultural connections that humanize individuals across cultural difference. At the heart of every education abroad program I lead is a desire to positively expand what students imagine about themselves and the world around them and to humanize the individuals and communities my students may perceive as cultural “others.” I do not position myself as the all-knowing expert of a particular context, but as a guide or facilitator of and co-learner with my students, because, for me, education abroad is, indeed, a life experience, a perpetual learning opportunity. With those ideas in mind, I have created this ABEAR dissertation to reveal student learning experiences through my lens as a faculty program director, while also making room for students’ own perspectives on their experiences and learnings in the form of a/r/tifacts of student coursework, primarily featured in Chapter 5 of this dissertation, Let’s Count Off One More Time: Adventures in Education Abroad Pedagogy. In this dissertation, I share my own thoughts about student learning and ask audiences of the work to draw whatever conclusions they will about how this project addresses common assumptions of education abroad described in the paragraphs above and in multiple chapters of this dissertation. The primary pedagogies discussed in short-term education abroad literature include: community building (Deringer, 2017; Jolley, Brogt, Kennedy, Hampton, & Fraser, 2018; Paras et al., 2019; Peterson, 2002), experiential education (to be discussed in the second chapter of this dissertation), explicit pedagogy (to be discussed in the second chapter of this dissertation), intercultural education (Chen, 2002; Deringer, 2017; Dervin, 2009; Harper, 2018; Jolley, Brogt, Kennedy, Hampton, & Fraser, 2018; Laliberté & Waddell, 2017; Niehaus, Reading, Nelson, Wegener, & Arthur, 2018; Peterson, 2002; Reilly & Senders, 2009; Savicki & Price, 2017; Steinberg, 14 2015, 2017; Williams, 2009, 2017; Wong, 2015, 2018), and place-based pedagogies (Deringer, 2017; Harper, 2018; Jolley, Brogt, Kennedy, Hampton, & Fraser, 2018; Moseley, 2009). In the sections that follow, I will detail how each of these topics are discussed in the research literature on education abroad, and I will conclude the chapter with current calls for research in the field, followed by a description of Arts-Based Education Abroad Research (ABEAR), a new methodological approach to education abroad research introduced in this dissertation. Community Building While education abroad literature has a significant number of articles that touch on place-based literature, there is less literature related to community building among students and program directors on these programs. Teaching to build community among students and program directors, while central to the programs under study, is rarely discussed in the education abroad literature. I first encountered the term during my study of drama-in-education practices. Brian Edmiston, a Professor of Drama in Education at The Ohio State University, describes successful community building as a situation in which, “people must identify their selves with the social life of a group sufficiently that each is an active agent in the ongoing creation of that community through social participation in shared activities” (2014, p. 72). For instance, when the students on the Spain program participated in the Castellers de Barcelona workshop, they were experientially learning how to build multi-story towers made of humans with their own bodies. This workshop was deeply place- based, because the Castellers engage in a movement practice unique to the Catalan context. In the workshop, students needed to be in very close proximity to each other in order to form a strong base for the two- and three-story tower of people they created during the workshop. Before creating the towers, they had to help each other wrap long bands of fabric around each other’s waists, because they needed to climb up each other’s bodies by grabbing or stepping onto the fabric, 15 holding on with their fingers and toes to remain steady in the tower. The students successfully worked together to create multiple stable towers. This challenging workshop would have been infinitely more difficult without the commitment students already had to trust each other to (in this case, literally) support every member of our group, throughout the program. Two components of community building that support student learning stood out in the education abroad literature are: creating a supportive community of learners and establishing trust between students and faculty program directors. In their multi-institutional comparative study of students’ intercultural learning on six short-term study abroad programs in Canada and the U.S., Paras et al. (2019) relied on a mixed-methods approach to assess students’ intercultural learning and found that group dynamics did have an impact on students’ intercultural learning throughout an education abroad program. They describe the value of positive group dynamics among participants as an important support structure for student learning, and many of their research subjects (recent education abroad students) emphasized “the importance of feeling comfortable with their peers and how this benefited their learning. The pre-departure training contributed to this by providing time for students to get to know each other, as well as begin to trust each other” (p. 37). Students are more likely to trespass the outer edges of the familiar if they feel comfortable and supported in doing so alongside their classmates, who, in turn, understand that part of being in a strong community is supporting each other. This produces more opportunities for affective learning within/among a group of education abroad students and the members of the faculty program directorship team. Familiarity among group members can lead to insights about each individual in a group, which can increase the likelihood of interpersonal relationships that can reinforce feelings of comfort and trust. Paras et al. (2019) and Peterson (2002) both describe the value of affective learning among students in ways similar to those of Lutterman-Aguilar and Gingeritch, whose Frontiers essay outlines their understanding of educating for global citizenship through experiential 16 study abroad pedagogy, affirm that pedagogy “involves the whole student on both the affective and cognitive level, engaging the learner in the learning process by connecting the subject matter to the life of the student” (2002, p. 54). The more individuals within the community are seen as individuals and group members simultaneously, the more likely that those individuals feel they are part of the group, a position which can create feelings of safety and comfort in the midst of unfamiliar contexts. Further, in their qualitative comparative research of two different approaches to field experiences on short-term undergraduate education abroad programs, Jolley, Brogt, Kennedy, Hampton, and Fraser (2018) discuss the value of faculty program directors’ work to maintain an awareness of the affective landscape of students on these programs. This awareness could serve to help faculty subsequently modify pedagogy to become more inclusive of student responses to learning experiences, thereby opening up opportunities for them to learn both from a learning experience and from students’ own responses to that experience. Intercultural Education Considerable overlap exists in the place-based education abroad literature with intercultural education abroad literature (Chen, 2002; Dervin, 2009; Deringer, 2017; Harper, 2018; Peterson, 2002; Reilly & Senders, 2009; Savicki & Price, 2017; Steinberg, 2015, 2017; Williams, 2009, 2017; Wong, 2015, 2018). The authors, who combine intercultural education with place-based education, do so with the pedagogical practices noted above. Wong (2018) has a helpful definition of intercultural learning that serves to inform the discussion throughout this section: intercultural learning is “becoming more inclined to see, value, and respond to others and one’s own culture” (p. 41). The following few paragraphs will discuss the different ways intercultural education is taken up in the literature, when it is conceptualized separately from the pedagogies previously described in this chapter. 17 In their examinations of the “bad feelings” students experienced during a short-term undergraduate study abroad program in Guatemala through post-program student interviews, Laliberté and Waddell (2017) emphasize the educative value of cultural mentorship in-country throughout a program abroad, such as when Laliberté and Waddell conclude that “cultural mentoring should be expanded to include emotional mentoring to help students from reverting to emotional processes that reinforce the status quo and inequality. For example, emotional mentoring could help students avoid falling into the shame-to-charity narrative” (p. 91, emphasis in original). Despite scant mention of this concept in the education abroad literature, this was a guiding principle of the pedagogy I enacted on the programs under study. This pedagogy (in the form of cultural mentorship) overlaps quite a bit with my understanding and implementation of community building on these programs. A faculty program director’s behavior when interacting with students implicitly or explicitly communicates intra-group behavior expectations and can reveal the kinds of relationships the faculty program director expects students to have with them25, with the program assistant(s) (if any are present to support the program, on campus or abroad), and with each other. For instance, I encountered a faculty program director who chose to build community with students by taking the male-identifying students to a park, where he gave them cigars and scotch, while the female-identifying program assistants and female-identifying students were encouraged to have a “girls’ afternoon” elsewhere in town. There was no discussion of a separate activity for gender non- conforming students, though no students openly identified as such, nor was the idea of gender non- conformity discussed at any time during the program. That same faculty program director would participate with the more extroverted and “popular” students in making fun of students with less social capital during a group outing and within earshot of the victims of this hurtful behavior. During the last few days of this program, it came out that a handful of the male-identifying students 25This pronoun is used to be inclusive of all gender identities. 18 were actively pursuing sexual relationships with some of the female group members, as well as with in-country locals, throughout the second half of the program in ways that were irrevocably damaging to group dynamics and deteriorated intra-group trust. The students who bore the brunt of this teasing remained perpetual outsiders for the duration of the program. I am not going to claim that these destructive group dynamics were solely caused by the faculty program director’s cultural mentorship, but those behaviors certainly did not help. As a counter-example, during on-campus pre-departure orientation on both programs under study, students and the program directorship team (two faculty program directors leading two different academic “tracks,” and the program assistant) met for at least an hour to draft group norms and behavior expectations. The students and program directorship team agreed to honor those expectations, which were later shared electronically with everyone in the group, faculty directorship team included. Students on the Spain program each signed a contract drafted to include both institutional and intra-group behavior expectations, and the students on the Italy program verbally agreed to their contract. I did not perceive a noticeable difference in behavior across the groups when students decided to sign or verbally agree to those contracts, though the behavior of both groups of students consistently supported group cohesion in ways that were not present in the scotch-and-cigars program mentioned above. I should note here that the program with more problematic cultural mentoring was a month-long undergraduate study abroad focused on history in multiple European countries and included student who were U.S. citizens and a few students who were citizens of other countries. The programs under study, on the other hand, were two-week first- year seminars in a single country, designed to introduce rising college freshmen to undergraduate education. As mentioned earlier, all of the students on the programs under study were U.S. citizens, though one student on the Spain program was a dual citizen of Cuba. 19 Given what I have witnessed of the strong impact of a faculty program director’s cultural mentoring practices on education abroad programs, I was surprised to see scant mention in education abroad literature about the pedagogical impact of faculty interactions with students and locals in-country, particularly in terms of intercultural education. However, education abroad has a history (and present, in many cases) of determining the value of programs primarily by the number of students participating on them (Ogden, 2017; Twombly, Salisbury, Tumanut, & Klute, 2012), which is reflected in the relative dearth of research literature on program pedagogy. Indeed, in their book that examines the history and current state of the field, Twombly et al. observe that “it seems that the continued emphasis on participation, under the assumption that deep, sustained learning is somehow automatic or inevitable, may actually have made the likelihood of a meaningful education impact less predictable and therefore less certain” (p. 109). Additionally, the majority of faculty program directors on short-term undergraduate education abroad programs are not education researchers. Just as I will mention in my Chapter 2 discussion of explicit pedagogy, I will note here that I describe some of the specifics of cultural mentoring in this chapter to clarify exactly what it can look like for faculty program directors unfamiliar with this type of program pedagogy. Education researchers may (correctly) identify that much of what I describe in this section is not the sole provenance of education abroad, that it is an example of good teaching practice in many learning contexts. I have witnessed cultural mentoring on education abroad programs that seemed to lead to both positive and negative interactions among students on a program abroad with each other and with in-country locals. Students may observe how a faculty program director interacts with locals in- country and students then understand that the observed behaviors are possible, if not explicitly promoted, in the new cultural context. Faculty are models for interacting with locals in-country, whether they intend to be or not. Of course, their behavior doesn’t always result in mimicry by the 20 students. During the traditional Catalan cooking class on the Spain program, I saw a few students look at each course of the multi-course meal they’d help prepare with trepidation. They looked at members of the program directorship team, myself included, delighting in each new dish, looked at their plates, took a deep breath, and tried gazpacho (or what-have-you) for the first time. One student later confessed that she ended up inconspicuously spooning a little on her salad, because it “tasted like salad dressing;” others said it tasted like a vegetable smoothie; others raved about how delicious and refreshing it was; and still others politely tried it before quietly putting down their spoon and waiting on the next course. This instance of cultural mentoring in service of experiential intercultural education was grounded in the group norms and expectations established during orientation and reinforced by the program directorship team’s demonstrated alignment with those norms and expectations. Students likely had several reasons for behaving in the ways they did during the meal, and consistent cultural mentoring by the program directorship team was likely one of them. Everyone participated in preparing the food, took the risk of trying something new, and chose what they communicated about what they tasted with grace. During both programs, I worked to remain mindful that my own behaviors aligned with the group norms established during orientation. The students witnessed my behavior, and it likely impacted their impressions of how seriously I took those norms, which may have also impacted their behavior. Students hear how they are encouraged to behave within new cultural contexts from faculty program directors, program assistants, third party providers, guest lecturers, guides, and even sometimes in course assignments in which they are learning about the local culture. However, if they observe anyone in the program directorship team, particularly faculty, behaving in ways that contradict group norms and behavior expectations in interactions with new people and cultural contexts, it might make them question, or even disregard, those norms and expectations. 21 Relying on data from a survey of 473 faculty members who recently led short-term undergraduate study abroad programs from 72 U.S. colleges and universities, Niehaus, Reading, Nelson, Wegener, and Arthur, in their 2018 Frontiers article, Faculty Engagement in Cultural Mentoring as Instructors of Short-Term Study Abroad, point out that the faculty program directors they studied engaged in four kinds of cultural mentoring behavior: expectation setting, explaining the host culture, exploring self in culture, and facilitating connections. They included the following behaviors as examples of expectation-setting: the discussion of students’ overall expectations for the program, their expectations of the host culture, and the students’ expectations of themselves while immersed in the host culture. They identified the following behaviors as evidence of faculty mentoring through explaining the host culture: conducting discussions of the cultural differences between the host culture and the U.S. (the country in which their home institutions were based), discussions of specific encounters students would be likely to have or observe in the host culture, and explaining aspects of the host culture students observe while abroad. Another cultural mentoring technique the researchers noticed was that of helping students explore their own selves in the new cultural context, including: discussing similarities/differences between student expectations and experiences, discussing how the group was being perceived by the host culture, discussing how locals reacted to students’ various observable/disclosed characteristics, providing advice about navigating cultural issues in-country, discussions about students’ cultural backgrounds or the definition of culture or the process of adapting to a different culture or discussing intercultural competence. Finally, Niehaus et al. (2018) gave examples of faculty engagement with cultural mentoring focused on facilitating connections, including discussions of students’ prior knowledge related to their experiences in-country, and helping students make connections between their prior experience and experiences in-country and/or helping students compare/contrast different experiences in- country (p. 84). They affirm that “Faculty members who teach short-term study abroad courses are 22 well-positioned to serve as cultural mentors for students due to the intense nature of these courses and the high levels of faculty-student interactions that can take place during the time abroad” (p. 80), while acknowledging that they were observing faculty behaviors, not the educative effectiveness of those behaviors in terms of student learning outcomes. Place-Based Pedagogies Since experiential education isn’t necessarily geographic-location-specific, I draw upon the research literature on place-based education abroad pedagogies to ground my understanding of experiential education on these programs in specific geographic locations, which is also one way to support my intercultural education pedagogies. Because study abroad programs occur in places that are in a country(ies) different from that of the home campus, it follows that study abroad program directors and scholars draw on place-based pedagogies. In his 2018 qualitative study, Locating Self in Place During a Study Abroad Experience, Nevin Harper examined student journal entry assignments, his observations during a three-week-long undergraduate study abroad program in the Bolivian Andes mountains, and notes from his own field journal to determine how his students constructed meaning about place(s) and how that meaning impacted their sense of self during and after the program. Harper describes place as “both geographical and perceptual” (2018, p. 297) and expands the definition by “adopt[ing] Agnew’s (1987) definition, which consists of three dimensions: (a) place as physical location, (b) sense of place (attachment or meaning of place), and (c) place as cultural flavor or locale” (p. 297). Place- based education, therefore, requires pedagogy that integrates this multi-dimensional conception of place into the learning experience of students on programs abroad. It works to problematize students’ notions of place in ways that call upon a fuller investigation of lived experiences, both prior to and during programs abroad. It asks them to engage in a refraction of the information they 23 encounter by “center[ing] learning by integrating and elaborating the experience, the academic subject matter, and the context by examining assumptions and biases” (Pagano & Roselle, 2009, p. 228). Indeed, a faculty program director who incorporates place-based program pedagogy in an attempt to broaden/deepen student learning is working against what Twombly, Salisbury, Tumanut, and Klute refer to as the contact hypothesis, the assumption that the experience of visiting a new environment will lead to deep intercultural learning (2012). In his review of the research literature on education abroad and call for further research in the field, Ogden argues against the contact hypothesis when he writes …there is very little evidence that supports the claim that the mere act of traveling abroad, without well-structured and intentional facilitation, supports student learning and development (Vande Berg, Paige, and Lou, 2012). It could be argued that the various programming on U.S. campuses (e.g., lectures, films, coursework, living with an international student, having an international conversation partner, community outreach programs to immigrant populations, etc.) could potentially achieve some or all of what is expected of education abroad programs – all available without ever leaving the United States. Some international experience isn’t necessarily better than none at all (2017, p. 16). In the programs under study, the primary planned avenues of place-based education, beyond the learning experiences themselves, were with and through the arts. I’ll touch on these assignments in the Arts-Oriented Pedagogy section, later in this chapter. Next, I wish to share conceptual terms across the experiential education abroad literature that are not explicitly connected with Dewey or Kolb’s theories, including: pedagogy at the nexus of experiential education and critical thinking (Reilly & Senders, 2009), and the navigation of experiential education on a comfort/discomfort continuum (Harper, 2018). Harper expands on notions of experiential and place-based education through a discussion of a continuum of 24 comfort/discomfort during learning experiences by describing students as emerging adults, “leaving their comfort zone” to “seek developmentally increasing opportunities for challenge and new experiences” (2018, p. 303) while abroad. This aligns with Reilly & Senders’ discussion of experiential education as a form of shepherding students from experience into critical reflection. Critical reflection often takes place after learning experiences and within students’ “comfort zone,” and thus gives them reprieve from the flood of novel experiences by returning to the familiar company of their classmates, program faculty, or even to a quiet corner of their own mind. After those reflection periods, which often take place during class meetings, among peers, or during personal time, students are expected to return to place-based experiences in the local culture for more experiential learning. Reilly and Senders, however, describe their approach to teaching and learning on these programs as Critical Study Abroad, because they focus on teaching and learning to actively encourage students to think about ameliorating cross-cultural relationships in an effort to actively improve the state of a world in perpetual and dangerous conflict (2009). While one of my existential goals of education abroad program directorship is, indeed, to create intercultural learning encounters in the hope of making some small contribution to the possibility of world peace, I have not found FSA programs, which run for 10 - 14 days during a movement of major life transition from high school to college, to be the right context for this kind of deep intercultural education curriculum. This is not to say that such lofty educational goals are not possible – I just have not yet found an approach to these programs that supports deep student learning in this realm. During the programs under study, students’ Field Notes Journal assignments and much of the coursework students did during class meetings, such as translating site visit experiences into a series of tableaux (a drama-in-education pedagogical practice, conceptualized in the next section of this chapter), did give them opportunities to reflect on “big picture” issues and ideas, from their developing identities as emerging adults to the complexity of intranational politics in Spain or Italy and beyond. I have 25 included examples of this kind of student learning in the dramatic/performance text of Chapter Five. To get at larger ideas like these, I incorporated artistic practices and epistemologies into program curricula and pedagogies that, as E. Carolyn Sturge Sparkes writes in her ethnographic dissertation, Being and Becoming an ‘I want to learn’ Person: Participating in an Arts-Oriented Learning Environment: “for what they enabled students to do…[They are] a tool not only for gathering information but for connecting the knower with his or her external worlds” (2005, p. 267). On the programs under study, I enacted arts-oriented pedagogies to encourage students to “produce imaginative work” (p. 267) that could encourage students to encounter novel experiences as opportunities to see new possibilities of living and being in the world. In this way, I worked to generate receptivity to unfamiliar cultural contexts in lieu of frustrations that can exacerbate culture shock, curiosity about the new in place of what can become a dogged search for the familiar. As Sparkes articulates, ...an arts-oriented learning environment is a context in which participants derive meaning from both their public and private worlds and learn to communicate these meanings meaningfully [sic]. Such an environment draws in and draws out. It fuses together holistically and dynamically. Blending the private and public worlds balances the two essentials of learning what Laveault referrs to as “match” and “mismatch.” In the arts- oriented learning environment, things connect, even as they differ. (p. 268). These arts-oriented pedagogical practices will be discussed in more detail in the next chapter, along with a discussion of experiential learning theory and explicit pedagogies within the context of education abroad. 26 CHAPTER 2: “YES, AND…”: THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK [T]he aim of education can be conceived of as the preparation of artists, namely, people who make things well. (Eisner, 2002, p. 15) In this chapter, I detail the educational theories undergirding this study and define conceptual terms. The reader will recall that this research project is an exploration of my first two experiences as a faculty program director on First-Year Seminar Abroad (FSA) programs, which are described in Chapter 3. I designed these programs with particularly close attention to pedagogy. Throughout this chapter, I use the word pedagogy to describe both my approach to instruction and the intentions that guided my instructional practice within any given learning environment and with the admission that faculty program directors teach within a learning context of innumerable factors that are well beyond their control, including and well beyond the geographic context, sociocultural and historical moment during which the program takes place, and the unique personalities and life experience of each student on the program. My pedagogical design was guided, in part, by the overarching goals of the FSA program at Michigan State University (MSU), the home institution of these programs. I intended to address, through pedagogy, what I perceived as moments of student disengagement from learning experiences during programs with which I had previously been involved as a student, chaperone, program assistant, program leader, and program fellow. While I recognize that some scholars situate explorations of pedagogy within the context of curriculum, I focus primarily on pedagogy in this dissertation, because “[r]egardless of how elaborate [curriculum] materials might be, the teacher serves as a prime mediator regarding the way they will be used and under what circumstances” (Eisner, 2002, p. 185). In this chapter, I will discuss my engagement with experiential and arts-oriented education theories and then situate the practice of explicit of pedagogy within these theories: experiential 27 learning theory (Chen, 2002; Deringer, 2017; Dervin, 2009; Dewey, 1938; Ellinghaus, Spinks, Moore, Heatherington, & Atherton, 2019; Harper, 2018; Kolb, 2015; Lutterman-Aguilar & Gingerich, 2002; Montrose, 2002; Nguyen, 2017; Pagano & Roselle, 2009; Peterson, 2002; Reilly & Senders, 2009; Savicki & Price, 2017; Steinberg, 2015; Stoner et al., 2019; Williams, 2009, 2017; Wong, 2015, 2018); arts-oriented pedagogies (Boal, 1985; Dewey, 2005; Edmiston, 2014; Eisner, 2002, 2004), and conclude with a discussion of explicit pedagogical practices within the context of education abroad (Chen, 2002; Hamilton, Rubin, Tarrant, & Gleason, 2019; Lutterman-Aguilar & Gingerich, 2002; Peterson, 2002; Williams, 2009). It is worth noting here that the experiential learning theory literature examined in this chapter is all focused on experiential learning within the context of education abroad. Since the experiential learning theory literature that discusses education abroad is limited in quantity, it is not a surprise that all of the texts referenced in this chapter are grounded in the same epistemological framework of psychology. Experiential Learning Theory Experiential learning is one of the more prolific themes across education abroad literature related to program pedagogy, since a common reason for students to take the time and financial resources to go abroad is to experience learning contexts that do not exist in the U.S. In this section, I will describe John Dewey’s work on experiential education theory and how Kolb grounded his theory about an experiential learning cycle in Dewey’s ideas. I will conclude this section with an example of how these theories have been applied to education abroad pedagogy. So, what did Dewey mean by the term experiential learning? Couldn’t all learning be assumed to be experiential, since all learning can be interpreted as the product of experience? “Isn’t study abroad experiential education by definition? No.” (Lutterman-Aguilar & Gingerich, 2002, p. 43). Lutterman-Aguilar and Gingerich (2002), Peterson (2002), Stoner et al. (2019), and Wong (2018) all 28 reference Dewey’s concept of educative and mis-educative learning experiences to help distinguish the kinds of experiences that do and do not support the kind of learning an educator might intend to support. Dewey defines a learning experience as mis-educative when it “has the effect of arresting or distorting the growth of further experience” (1938, p. 25). Stoner et al. conducted a mixed-methods case study that focused on three iterations of a global-health-focused, short-term, faculty-directed, interdisciplinary, experiential undergraduate study abroad program, developed as a collaboration among postsecondary institutions in New Zeeland, Australia, and three U.S.-based universities. This study was written to examine student identity development as global citizens through their participation on those programs. These researchers leverage the concept of mis-educative experience to describe learning experiences that lack critical reflection. They argue that “an educative experience should serve as a departure point for learning, not an end result” and that educative experiences should “focus[ ] on inspiring learners to pursue their own learning and meaning-making” (p. 134). For example, I have included an examination of what felt like a mis- educative learning experiences at the British Museum in multiple chapters of this dissertation to illustrate this concept, while I have included evidence, in the form of student coursework, about multiple learning experiences on both the Spain and the Italy FSA programs to illustrate the students’ educative experiences. Ellinghaus, Spinks, Moore, Hetherington, and Atherton (2019); Lutterman-Aguilar and Gingerich (2002); Montrose (2002); Pagano and Roselle (2009); and Peterson (2002) all go beyond Deweyan conceptions of experiential learning when they place the responsibility for the creation of students’ educative learning experiences squarely in the hands of faculty program directors. They expect faculty to teach students to think critically about learning experiences to ensure that the students are, indeed, experiencing academically productive education. Dewey, on the other hand, in his Experience and Education (1938), argues that educators cannot control what students learn, though 29 they can craft learning environments for students to enter and learn whatever they will learn. Faculty program directors construct a collection of learning contexts with whatever prior knowledge they have of these experiences, and then the students enter those environments, replete with individual and group variables beyond anyone’s foresight or control. The scholars listed in this paragraph, including Dewey, value reflection as a component of experiential education. While this dissertation is written about the program pedagogies I enacted as a faculty program director, I do not think that full responsibility for student learning on these programs rests squarely in anyone’s hands at any given moment of the experiential learning process. As Dewey writes, “Perhaps the greatest of all pedagogical fallacies is the notion that a person learns only the particular thing he is studying at the time” (cited in Eisner, 1994, p. 87). To claim that the education abroad learning experience begins and ends at a specific moment in time, which is the implication of much of the intercultural competence testing currently in use in the field (for over 30 examples of this kind of testing, see: Griffith, Wolfeld, Armon, Rios, & Liu, 2016), runs against Deweyan experiential learning theory and my own varied education abroad experiences across the last twenty years. That said, because of the amount of time, energy, and interpersonal interaction that faculty program directors have with students throughout these programs, the work of faculty program directorship commonly goes beyond academic interactions and into the realm of faculty’s “head, heart, and hands” (Steglitz, Roy, & Akulli, 2017, p. 273). For instance, at various points on the programs under study, I took on the following roles: as an instructor, I supported student learning in the classroom; as a sort of resident advisor (commonly known as an “RA” in college dorms), when a serious conflict arose among a group of students in the same dorm apartment in the middle of the night; as a makeshift school nurse (a term more commonly used in K-12 education) to support a student through a panic attack in St. Peter’s Basilica; as a camp counselor, emphasizing how the experiences and behavior of individual students could significantly impact the experience of the rest 30 of the group; as a liaison among the group, local partners supporting our program in-country, and the university back in East Lansing, MI; and as a guide when students had to get to a specific location in a specific timeframe, among many others. The roles one will need take on as a faculty program director can be unpredictable, though they often fall into familiar patterns. While faculty program directors juggle their numerous roles on each program, their work as faculty ought to include an awareness of how they ...explicitly design[ ] and deliver[ ] each [education] abroad program around clearly identified educational outcomes; [can’t] assum[e] that any and all [education] abroad experiences improve intercultural competence; …reconceptualize[e] [education] abroad as part of an integrated educational experience; [and] refram[e] how institutions assess the impact of [education] abroad... (Twombly et al., 2012, p. x). This dissertation’s examination of pedagogy aligns well with the sea change that is currently taking place in the field, a sea change that is bringing discussions of program pedagogy to the fore, and results, in many cases, in research that reflects on and grows from John Dewey’s experiential education theory (1938). I must note here that I did not design and faculty-direct these programs with Deweyan experiential education theory in mind. I received experiential education training through my work for the Experiment in International Living26 in 2008 and 2009; from the Michigan State University’s (MSU’s) Office for Education Abroad (OEA) Doctoral Study Abroad Fellowship27 program in 2014; and from numerous faculty program director trainings run by MSU’s OEA, from 2014 to the present. 26 For more information, see: http://www.experiment.org. 27 Inge Steglitz, the first author of the book chapter that contains this citation, co-created the Doctoral Study Abroad Fellowship (DSAF) I mention in this chapter. She was involved with the construction of the curriculum for DSAF fellows and was present at nearly every training workshop related to the program, instructing or supporting instruction. While I had certain inclinations towards this approach to education abroad during prior experiences, this fellowship program introduced me to new ways of thinking about program pedagogies and faculty roles in more holistic ways, which was doubtless influenced by Dr. Steglitz’s involvement with the fellowship program. 31 The Experiment is currently in its 87th year of operation and is the oldest immersive experiential intercultural education program for high school students in the U.S. MSU’s OEA has been lauded by US News and World Report as among the top ten education abroad programs in the U.S. for several years in a row28. My pedagogical practice on these programs was grounded in my education abroad experiences and training across a span of twenty years. It was only after the conclusion of both programs under study that I learned just how Deweyan my approach to experiential education had become. In his Experience and Education, Dewey states, “the central problem of an education based upon experience is to select the kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively in subsequent experiences” (1938, pp. 27-28), which, again, aligns with the intentions driving the pedagogical design of the programs under study. I wanted to expose students to unfamiliar experiences with the goal of preparing them for processing future novel experiences, such as those they would encounter throughout the program and into the start of their first year on campus at MSU. Aside from the books they read at the start of their FSA program, students’ experiences were the primary texts of their in-country syllabus29. In selecting these experiences, I worked to “arrange conditions that are conducive to community activity and to organization which exercises control over individual impulses by the mere fact that [the students would be] engaged in communal projects” (Dewey, 1938, p. 58). Some of these experiences were transformed through coursework into works of art, opportunities for dialogue, notes jotted or sketched in their field notes journals, moments in their mini-documentary course projects, or analyzed in their final course papers. In this way, I addressed the First-Year Seminar Abroad goal of introducing students to postsecondary academic life by establishing a framework for processing complex experiences within the context of 28 For more information, see: http://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/study-abroad-programs. 29 See Appendix A for the Spain program’s syllabus and Appendix B for the Italy program’s syllabus. 32 arts-oriented, experiential, intercultural, and place-based education, which is not commonly experienced in U.S. K-12 education. Throughout the program, students had opportunities to explore how various artistic frameworks could potentially help them make sense of the novel, acclimate, and return to the edge of their zone of comfort, possibly a little further afield than it might have been before. Dewey argues that the educator’s role is to “influence directly the experience of others and thereby the education they obtain places on [the educator] the duty of determining that environment which will interact with the existing capacities and needs of those taught to create a worth-while experience” (1938, p. 45). His assertion that When education is based upon experiences and educative experience is seen to be a social process, the situation changes radically. The teacher loses the position of external boss or dictator but takes on that of leader of activities (1938, p. 59, emphasis added). beautifully encapsulates my own understandings (and goals) for experiential, arts-oriented intercultural education abroad. I hoped that the ways in which I, as an educator, prepared the learning environments might impact the ways in which the students processed their experiences within those environments. I worked to welcome dialogue that opened discussions and self- reflections about the lenses through which they might be examining experiences, because “Frame of reference matters; frames influence both what will be seen and what will be made of what is seen” (Eisner, 2002, p. 108). If the students learned a little about their own epistemologies because of these programs, it could alter the ways in which they examine, comprehend, and/or act in the world around them in the future. While designing these programs, I wanted to create learning environments in which Deweyean collateral learning could take place. Collateral learning, or the “formation of enduring attitudes, of likes and dislikes… for these attitudes are fundamentally what count in the future. The most important attitude to be formed is the desire to go on learning” (1938, 33 p. 48) is connected to educative experiences that inspire further curiosity about related experiences (this relationship need not be linear or logical). Kolb relies upon Dewey’s experiential education theory for his more structured framing of experiential education. He expands upon Deweyan notions of critical reflection practice in response to learning experiences to define specific stages of the learning process though his Experiential Learning Cycle (2015): Figure 1: Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle30 In this model, “[g]rasping experience refers to the process of taking in information, and transforming experience is how individuals interpret and act on that information” (Kolb, 2015, p. 51). In Kolb’s cycle, built on Dewey’s experiential education theory in Experience and Education (1938), a learner first has a concrete experience, then reflects on that experience, extrapolates an abstract conceptualization of that experience, and then proceeds to actively experiment with new ideas that result from that learning cycle, which takes them to a subsequent concrete experience, reinitiating the cycle. In their article reviewing best practice literature related to experiential pedagogy 30 (Kolb, figure in Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning Through Research, n.d.) 34 in the service of global citizenship, Lutterman-Aguilar and Gingerich (2002) rely on Dewey’s experiential education theory, along with Kolb’s cycle of experiential education (along with Paulo Freire’s education theory, which is beyond the scope of this dissertation) to describe the architecture of education abroad pedagogy. This collection of ideas, along with Eisnerian notions of education, described below, has been generative for my developing understandings of experiential learning theory in general. My program pedagogies involve a considerable amount of pre-program planning that is then heavily informed and altered by learning experiences in-country and by the ways students respond to them. Reliance on such a structured understanding of the experiential learning process as Kolb’s would make me feel like my program pedagogies need, to invert an Eisnerian metaphor, to be more like a lecture and less like a conversation (2002). My combination of program pedagogies could be seen as discursive in that I was pedagogically improvising within the overall curricular foci of each program, responding to students as they navigated learning experiences and the unpredictable nature of travel with a collection of individuals at a particular moment in history. Williams (2017) relies on Kolb’s cycle as a jumping-off point to her own version of experiential meaning-making pedagogy to transform experiences abroad into educative experiences. She explains her PRISM approach: [T]his [approach] provides students the opportunity to go beyond the visible and see their host culture and its people in nuanced and complex ways (Williams, forthcoming). The PRISM helps students get Prepared, make it Relevant, get Involved, make Sense, and make it Matter (Williams, 2017). In this approach, I provide videos to get them prepared and readings to make it relevant, which form the context for their learning. Next I ask them to get involved by giving them assignments to do with people in their community, which forms the opportunity for 35 learning encounters. Then I provide guided questions for them to structure their thinking and make sense of their encounters. Lastly, I encourage them to practice what they have learned by making it matter, leading to their next encounters being richer and deeper (p. 24, emphasis in original). In her article about the application of this approach to experiential education abroad pedagogy, she found that students in the PRISM group produced writing that “tend[ed] to [contain] more analysis, contextualization, and critical thinking” than the “more unstructured, open instruction” the control group received, at least in the context of her research on a program she took to Europe (2017, p. 28). Wong (2018), in his critique of assumptions of intercultural learning as a result of reflection practices abroad, warns that both the Deweyan and Kolbean understandings of reflection as a crucial part of the experiential learning process may have become so popular, in and well beyond education abroad pedagogy, that reflection has become a well-rehearsed ritual of pedagogical practice for both faculty and students, even though “research evidence supporting the effects of guided reflection has been inconclusive” (p. 39). He warns that critical reflection, when transformed into a ritualized practice, runs the risk of undermining the very reason for its use, and can lead to mis-educative reflection practices. Wong goes on to say that undergraduate students, particularly those who identify as “good students,” understand that particular reflection practices seek particular “correct” responses to demonstrate anticipated learning outcomes, and these students often know how to respond to reflection questions in ways that make their faculty program director (and often, the students, themselves) believe they’ve learned what was intended (p. 44). Wong discusses how such reflection practices tend to rely heavily on verbalized responses to reflection prompts and warns: “There’s no denying the special status given to language [in reflection practices]. However, our privileging language makes it difficult to consider other possibilities for 36 how intercultural learning might occur” (2018, p. 47). Relatedly, Eisner reminds his readers that “The assumption that language will always serve as an adequate means for describing what students are to be able to do and know is itself problematic” (2002, p. 165). Like Wong, I was concerned about the influence of ritualized reflection practices on the programs under study, and, like Eisner and Wong, I was also concerned about using reflection practices that depend heavily upon specific kinds of verbal communication, which I think of as “scripts,” to process learning experiences. At the same time, I do believe that verbal reflection practices, problematic as they may be, are still worth incorporating as part of the education abroad experience. While a graduate student, I participated on two education abroad programs that incorporated a scant number of sporadic group reflection opportunities, and both of those programs concluded with shattered group dynamics, elaborate and divisive cliques, and student conflict that was never (or feebly) addressed (and clearly never resolved) at any point in either program. I would rather go through a ritual of reflection, quietly listening for what is being communicated, how it is being communicated, and how it does or does not align with what I observed among the students during the day’s activities, than faculty-direct a program without verbal group reflection. John Dewey conceptualized different artistic practices as unique forms of communication that are best understood on their own terms, that “each art speaks an idiom that conveys what cannot be said in another language and yet remains the same” (2005, p. 106). Like Dewey, I see art forms as sources of unique languages and means of reflecting on lived experiences. Adopting arts- oriented pedagogical practices, bolstered with arts curricula, is one way to undermine many response tropes with which program participants might be familiar. To be clear, I am not arguing that arts- oriented pedagogical practices are the only way to break students out of ritualized reflections and encourage deep learning. Adopting arts-oriented pedagogies31, bolstered with arts curricula, is simply 31 I will discuss arts-oriented pedagogies in the next section of this chapter. 37 one way to undermine many reflection response tropes with which program participants might be familiar. Reflecting back to Williams’ PRISM approach (2017) with some Deweyan modifications, arts-oriented pedagogical practices are simply the way I prepare learning environments on programs abroad by scaffolding learning in ways that make experiences relevant to what is being studied. When the experiences are relevant, students may get more deeply involved with those learning experiences to make sense of them in ways that could matter during and, possibly, beyond their time in-country. My program pedagogies are grounded in the arts because my own experiential intercultural learning process is rooted in the arts. Next, I wish to share conceptual terms across the experiential education abroad literature that are not explicitly connected with Dewey or Kolb’s theories: the navigation of experiential education on a comfort/discomfort continuum (Harper, 2018) and pedagogy at the nexus of experiential education and critical thinking (Reilly & Senders, 2009). Harper expands on notions of experiential and place-based education through a discussion of a continuum of comfort/discomfort during learning experiences by describing students as emerging adults “leaving their comfort zone” to “seek developmentally increasing opportunities for challenge and new experiences” (2018, p. 303) while abroad. This aligns with Reilly & Senders’ discussion of experiential education as a form of shepherding students from experience into critical reflection, and both of these discussions depart from the Deweyan focus on the preparation of learning environments by their focus on directly working with students’ learning processes. This kind of critical reflection can take place after learning experiences and within students’ “comfort zone,” and thus gives them reprieve from the flood of novel experiences by returning to the familiar company of their classmates, program faculty, or even to a quiet corner of their own mind. After those reflection periods, which often take place during class meetings, among peers, or during personal time, students are expected to return to place-based experiences in the local culture for 38 more experiential learning. Reilly and Senders, however, describe their approach to teaching and learning on these programs as Critical Study Abroad, because they focus on teaching and learning to actively encourage students to think about ameliorating cross-cultural relationships in an effort to actively improve the state of a world in perpetual and dangerous conflict (2009). I do not believe I have that degree of control over students’ learning process, though I do think that giving students a variety of learning environments for experiences, processing, and reflection is very important. While one of my existential goals of education abroad program directorship is, indeed, to create intercultural learning encounters in the hope of making some small contribution to the possibility of world peace, I have not found FSA programs, which run for 10 - 14 days, long enough to really dig into the idea of world peace with students. Building from Where They Are: Arts-Oriented Pedagogies Art provides the conditions for awakening to the world around us…[and] permission to engage the imagination as a means for exploring new possibilities. The arts liberate us from the literal; they enable us to step in the shoes of others and to experience vicariously what we have not experienced directly” (Eisner, 2002, p. 10). As I wrote in the last section, my pedagogical framework for these programs was grounded in the arts because of my academic and professional background, not because I believe that arts disciplines provide the only or best practice for intercultural teaching and learning abroad. While I do provide details about the arts-based pedagogies that formed the academic bedrock of these programs in this section, I include details about my reasoning behind these assignments to reveal how I think about program pedagogy. These thoughts are meant as a pedagogical Rosetta Stone, so that faculty from academic disciplines outside of the arts have more information to think about forming or adapting their own program pedagogies, appropriate to their respective academic disciplines. For “[e]ach of 39 the fields or disciplines that students encounter provides a framework, that is, a structure, schema, and theory, through which the world is experienced, organized, and understood” (Eisner, 2002, p. 13). For instance, a faculty program director from any academic discipline can share in new experiences with students as a co-learner, a pedagogical move I detail in the coming paragraphs. I incorporated artistic practices and epistemologies into program curricula and pedagogies not “for their own sake, but for what they enabled students to do…[They are] a tool not only for gathering information but for connecting the knower with his or her external worlds” (Sturge Sparkes, 2005, p. 267). On the programs under study, I enacted arts-oriented pedagogies to encourage students to “produce imaginative work” (Sturge Sparkes, 2005, p. 267) that could encourage students to encounter novel experiences as opportunities to see new possibilities of living and being in the world. In this way, I created learning environments that I hoped would inspire receptivity to new cultural contexts in lieu of frustrations that can exacerbate culture shock, as well as encourage curiosity about new experiences to temper to what can become a dogged search for the familiar. As Sturge Sparkes articulates, ...an arts-oriented learning environment is a context in which participants derive meaning from both their public and private worlds and learn to communicate these meanings meaningfully [ibid]. Such an environment draws in and draws out. It fuses together holistically and dynamically. Blending the private and public worlds balances the two essentials of learning what Laveault refers to as “match” and “mismatch.” In the arts- oriented learning environment, things connect, even as they differ. (p. 268). Eisner defines artistic connoisseurship as “recognizing and appreciating the qualities of a particular, but it does not require either a public judgment or a public description of those qualities. The perception and appreciation of a particular requires a sensory memory” (1994, p. 215). I understand connoisseurship as a highly subjective sensibility that is likely as variable as the 40 individuals who engage in assessing the artfulness of any object, being, or experience. We perpetually encounter sensory stimuli that could be seen as works of art by some and as unremarkable by others, depending on their perspective at the moment of the encounter. For instance, on each program under study, there was a student who responded to the aesthetics of learning environments in similar ways, because, at least in part, of their cultural backgrounds. In his field notes journal for the Spain program, Nilas Martins wrote: I personally loved the [Basilica] Sagrada Familia [in Barcelona]. Because I'm Catholic, I really connected with the church and felt a deeper connection with God. I have not been a religious person and am still in a self conflict [ibid] over if I will even continue being active in the Catholic Church. Visiting the Sagrada Familia definitely impacted me. When we got there, I thought it was going to be an overhyped tourist destination that would end up being boring. When I got there, however, I was in awe and wonderment. The designs on the outside of the church showing the crucifixion of Jesus really moved me. There are no words to describe what I felt but it was different. Watching the end of Jesus's life on earth displayed through a plethora of well depicted [ibid] statues was the highlight of my trip. Once we got inside, I was in even more awe. The church was huge and very beautiful. The way the lights flooded in made it look like the place could have been made by God. I have always heard of Antoni Gaudí but now I understand him at a deeper level. When the Sagrada Familia gets finished, I would love nothing more than to go to Barcelona and visit it. (2017). Meanwhile, on the 2018 Italy program, Margaery Tyrell shared: I was raised in the church, but I hadn’t found any joy in knowing God and I didn’t have a relationship with Him. I didn’t believe I needed to be saved. Cut to Italy. I was excited to walk the streets that many of the most famous artists in all of history used to walk daily. I was not prepared for what I would encounter there – right around the corner from our 41 hotel: the Duomo. This was the first piece of art I saw in Italy, and it is so magnificent. During the Renaissance, the Catholic Church hired artists and architects like Cambio and Brunelleschi to build cathedrals to show off the wealth of their city and reflect the glory of God, which is what the Duomo began to do for me. Throughout the next two weeks, we visited many museums full of religious art, and I began to rethink my religion. The moment that really hit me, though, was seeing the gold-encrusted stained-glass window on the far wall of St. Peter’s Basilica. We’d been walking what seemed like all day, and it was incredibly hot in Rome. The basilica was covered in cool marble, and the grandeur of the building and the light streaming through the window gave me the feeling I had always missed from religion in my previous understanding… “all over Italy are views to make you understand God as the first and finest artist of all” [(Dunant, 2003, p. 365)]. And not only the man-made, but the landscape, too. In the end, beauty (or aesthetic appreciation) is so firmly in the eye (and lived experience) of the beholder (or connoisseur or critic) that I dare not presume to differentiate Art from art from artful experience for my students. Defining what Art/art/artfulness could be is a complex philosophical question that is beyond the scope of this dissertation. During the programs under study, I worked to support my students’ learning experience by creating learning environments throughout each program within arts-oriented reflection practices, including writing a 20-word fairy tale about the Oma Painted Forest (Spain), creating an advertisement to promote tourism in Orvieto (Italy), or assembling a series of three theatrical tableaux to communicate their responses to a particular learning experience (both programs). In this way, it is my hope that they can learn that coursework is not designed for them to produce a “correct” answer, but to create a response that is unique to who they are in that moment, which is of value in ways that go well beyond the earning of a course grade. 42 In crafting curricula for the programs under study, I relied upon student-generated course content, like the poetry, drawings, and short stories they created in response to prompts about a learning experience to introduce students to multiple forms of knowledge production through their own subjective interpretations of local people and contexts, along with reflections on students’ own fluid identities in their transition from high school to college. Arts education encourages students to have “heightened sensitivity to the expressive form… and the promotion of students’ understanding of the social context -- its values, its technology, its culture -- [gives] rise to [students’ art]work, itself” (Eisner, 2002, p. 121). Arts education creates epistemological frameworks upon which students may rely to connect them with who they are when they encounter an experience, to how they process that experience, and to the knowledge they take away from the experience. According to Eisner, arts education is congruent with mindfulness practice. Indeed, in my own artistic training, mindfulness was foundational to my artistic development. The process of arts- oriented reflection can tap into habits of mindful awareness of context, reinforced through in-class mindfulness practices, such as guided meditation, conversations about the flavors of local dishes they prepared, or heightened attention paid to the affect a room creates, which can further support student learning abroad during what can be an overwhelming inundation of the unfamiliar. “These activities of learning how to attend and taking the time to do so are potent means for enriching our experience, and it is the enrichment of experience that much of art is about” (Eisner, 2002, p. 208). Arts-oriented reflection activities can remind students to be attentive to their surroundings and their situatedness in intercultural encounters, thus offering more means, and therefore more opportunities, of enhancing and deepening students’ intercultural learning throughout their time abroad. Again, in Chapter Five, I provide multiple examples of instances when interculturally- oriented, arts-oriented pedagogical practices, within the experiential education context, offered 43 opportunities for deeper learning, such as Kevin and Katie’s mini-documentary about a visit to Guernica on the Spain program. The arts-oriented coursework on these programs32 was designed to make room for students’ responses to cultural contexts they encountered, while reinforcing their intercultural learning. As Eisner affirms, “What we see is not simply a function of what we take from the world, but what we make of it” (2002, p. xii). In the case of my engagement with experiential education pedagogy to support intercultural learning grounded in the arts, what students made of their experiences in Spain or Italy is the heart of the program curriculum. In other words, the program curricula centered on content learning through making. This form of experiential education creates opportunities for students to share their learning with other group members (including their faculty program director), guided by the learning environments I created within course assignments. I worked to make room for students to self-teach through following their own intellectual and artistic interests, should they choose to do so. One assignment that highlights a degree of self-selected learning through following each students’ own intellectual and artistic interests on the Italy program was that they were each asked to select a different book from a list of possible course texts that fell within the overall program theme of Italian art and culture across the history of the peninsula, divided by time period (Ancient Rome - Middle Ages; Renaissance - 18th century; 19th - 21st century Italy). Of course, there is the chance that some (or all) students didn’t enjoy reading and/or didn’t have any interest in learning about Italian history. While participation on the program could represent their personal interest in something related to Italy, the choice to participate at all could have been made by the student or 32 There are examples of this coursework briefly described in this chapter, described in greater detail in the written and performance texts of Chapter 5, and in the two course syllabi in the Appendices. The Spain program syllabus is Appendix A and the Italy program syllabus is Appendix B. These syllabi include program itineraries and assignment prompts. 44 someone on the student’s behalf, so there was a chance that some (or all of the) students weren’t interested in participating in the program in the first place. In fact, there was at least one student on each program who confided to me that they hadn’t really wanted to go abroad on an FSA program, but that their parents had decided that they would, no matter what. Happily, the students who shared this with me were doing so to emphasize how happy they were to be part of the program. Of course, this is not to say that all students were glad they had participated on the program. I did not ask them if they were, especially given the pressure they might feel to respond positively to their faculty program director. Students had assignments that asked them to return to ideas they encountered in their self- selected course text throughout the program, most notably in their final minidocumentary projects. Here is an example of the reference requirement for one of these assignments: The video must contain images/video footage/field notes/music to a theme that is informed by both of your books and taken from specific experiences you had in Italy. Avoid generalizations (e.g. “This trip made me a better person,” “College is easier because of this program,” “My life is forever changed,” etc.). Support your claims with visual/verbal evidence (e.g. “College is easier because of this program. For instance, I began fall semester with good friends from the program. Here’s an image of Maxwell and me at an MSU football game, Daisy and I made this video the weekend after we both got into the same sorority, and this is an excerpt of a group project Jobari and I worked on for an art history class, where our time together in Italy was really useful in helping us complete the group project on Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel,” etc.). (Creps, Appendix B, 2018). As will be described more in Chapter 3, I designed the program itinerary as a series of learning environments to welcome sense-making of the local context through the integration of 45 many different kinds of arts-oriented learning experiences into the curriculum of the local context. My pedagogical efforts were grounded in experiential education practices to expose students to contradictions that would problematize generalizations about people living in a particular country. For instance, content learning on the Spain program focused primarily on the Catalan and Basque cultures, along with books that described those and other subcultures across Spain. While in- country, students had day trips to rural settings in the Basque region, historical tours of Barcelona (the Catalan capital city) and Guernica (capital city of the Basques), performances of local performing artists (such as the Rumberos! Pugin a l’Escenari! Catalan dance concert in Barcelona), a pinxtos (Basque tapas) tasting tour in Bilbao, and various other activities unique to the two cultures we studied in Spain. The Italy program was structured in similar ways, except that we focused more on comparing multiple periods of cultural history on the Italian peninsula. I reinforced learning from/through these experiences with arts-oriented coursework, which undergirded learning through what Eisner terms as somatic knowledge. He writes “[i]n a sense all these capacities for human experience are resources the artist can call upon for the crafting of the image. In the hands and mind of the artist they are avenues for communication” (2002, p. 19). He adds, “Arts education has a major role to play in creating situations through which the senses can be refined” (2002, p. 108). My program pedagogy was constructed with an awareness of the powerful impact intentional engagement of the senses can have on learning and the creation of art. Thus, reflection practices grounded in the arts can build upon each other to heighten students’ awareness of the somatic knowledge they take in during a particular experience in-country, while, simultaneously, that experience, itself, can inspire the creation of new works of art. Students had the opportunity to create artistic coursework through their reflection process to examine what they learned from course texts (including nonverbal texts, such as those texts that increased their somatic awareness), as well as on the ways in which their intellectual understandings of an event or 46 context intersected with the somatic knowledge they gained. I treated all of these somatic and intercultural learning experiences as course texts throughout each program. In fact, I subsume the discussion of intercultural education practices within this discussion of arts-oriented pedagogy, because the aesthetic awareness that pervades my pedagogical practices in the context of arts education makes room for noticing, experiencing, and reflecting upon new information in ways that can heighten students’ awareness of local culture(s). On these programs, I extended this learning into reflections on the impact of their presence in various contexts. This additional emphasis is particularly evident in the title of the Spain program: Who Do They Think You Are? Exploring Global Citizenship through Culture and the Arts in Barcelona and Bilbao, Spain. My intent for the learning environments I created in arts-oriented reflection assignments was to give them tools to unravel complex layers of meaning, impressions, and physical/emotional landscapes with artistic languages that do not transcend other forms of communication so much as communicate specific kinds of ideas in ways that differ from non-arts-oriented pedagogical practices. As Dewey argues, Each [artistic] medium says something that cannot be uttered as well or as completely in any other tongue. The needs of daily life have given superior practical importance to one mode of communication, that of speech. This fact has unfortunately given rise to a popular impression that the meanings expressed in architecture, sculpture, painting, and music can be translated into words with little if any loss. (2005, p. 106). Just as learning a different language can give a person different ways of understanding the world and their place in it (e.g. imagine the impact of learning the 50 words Inuit peoples have for snow), learning and engaging in various artistic languages, like Georgian folk dance, Javanese gamelan, a Brecht play, or Gabriel García Márquez’s 100 Years of Solitude, can broaden and deepen student 47 reflections on new ideas, especially when they have the opportunity to bring the ideas to life with their own bodies, experimenting with the choreographed movements of Georgian folk-dancers, feeling the vibrations of Gamelan gong-chimes, exploring the physical transformation intended by a Brechtian monologue, or simply immersing themselves into Márquez’s magical realism. Each experience creates opportunities for unique and valuable forms experiential learning. On both programs, students had opportunities to explore several artistic languages to process inter-/intrapersonal learning experiences, in addition to learning about and from the cultures in which we were immersed. I taught to support their “escape [from] the traditional habits of daily perception, namely, to avoid the rapid classification process that we all engage in to get on with our lives” (Eisner, 2002, p. 68). Part of the pedagogical advantage of taking students abroad is also part of what can challenge students who go abroad in the first place: the new cultural context(s). While abroad, students can be immersed in a sea of cultural cues that they’ve never before encountered or understand as meaning something different from what they mean at home. For instance, during the Catalan cooking class, students made gazpacho soup from scratch, under the direction of their local cooking instructors. During the meal that followed, all of the students tasted the gazpacho, and a few of them simply wouldn’t tolerate the cognitive dissonance of consuming cold soup. Soup, for them, is warm or hot, but never cold. One student poured her gazpacho on her salad, asserting that it tasted “just like salad dressing.” Whether or not the students finished their homemade gazpacho, they all had a somatic experience with it. Workshops (like the cooking class), guest lectures, tours, and other course activities all harkened back to the overarching program themes of learning about various cultural contexts through in-country experiences and examining those experiences through the arts. I chose to reinforce these connections by pointing them out to students, day after day, and asking them to return to the course themes in multiple assignments throughout and following the in-country 48 portion of both programs. Eisner would term these teaching practices as reinforcing the explicit curriculum (1994) of these programs. Throughout both programs, I also worked to support the implicit curriculum (1994) of what the program taught because of the nature of its design. The implicit curriculum afforded students artistic opportunities that might encourage them to imagine the world in new ways, as well as reimagine who they were in it. The reflection exercises I assigned throughout both programs gave students room to make observations about experiences, as well as observe how they interpreted those experiences, and what those reflections might reveal about the ways in which they think and learn. In a way, I was asking them to “read” and learn about local cultures, as well as from and about themselves, through coursework, so that they might “learn how to become the architect[s] of [their] own experience and therefore learn[ ] how to create [themselves]” (Eisner, 2002, p. 24) in new ways. To be clear, this implicit curriculum does not assume that students have had no agency in constructing their own lives up until the time of the program, but that they might discover new ways of thinking about themselves and their lives because of the arts-oriented program pedagogies I describe. The explicit curriculum on both programs focused on the somatic knowledge they gained from experiential, place-based, intercultural learning, grounded in the knowledge gained from the books they read, the guest lectures they attended, the sites they visited, and the people they met, and processed this knowledge through arts-oriented reflections in various art forms. One of the advantages of using arts-oriented pedagogies on FSA programs is how unfamiliar rising first-year students tend to be with arts-oriented and somatic ways of knowing. Arts-oriented epistemological frameworks disrupt some of the dominant narratives about teaching and learning in K12 education, such as the standardization of testable knowledge, the emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subject area knowledge as essential for “college and career readiness” among students across K12 grade levels, and the relegation of arts education to “specials” (electives 49 students can take if they have room in their course schedule) or, even worse, the defunding of arts education programs altogether, in favor of investing resources in what are often considered more important (and more testable) subject areas in K12 schooling. Arts-oriented pedagogy that supports experiential intercultural education is a hard push against many of these K12 narratives, especially with students transitioning out of K12 schooling. Another form of implicit curriculum these programs are designed to support is that arts subject area knowledge, arts-oriented learning, and artistic projects are legitimate and valuable forms of education. My priority for student engagement in arts-oriented learning was not for them to sketch professional-quality drawings, create Oscar- winning documentaries, or write prize-winning poetry. I designed these programs to expose students to multiple forms of arts-oriented learning as an intrinsic component of their intercultural learning experience. Students had opportunities to learn from themselves by reflecting upon who they wished to be and who they thought they were through a learning environment that emphasized heightened artistic awareness of their experiences throughout both programs. It follows, then, that I assigned daily arts-oriented field notes journal entries that centered coursework on their interpretations of in- country experiences. Of course, not every learning environment was encountered in the ways I’d hoped. For instance, I scheduled a Catalan cooking class during the Spain program’s stay in Barcelona, the heart of Catalonia. I chose this learning environment to incorporate the culinary arts as an arena of cultural practice and also because local cuisine is central to how I contemplate culture. Additionally, I remembered a watershed moment in my early twenties that completely altered my relationship with vegetables, a food group that hadn’t ever appealed to me very much. While living in France, I became friends with a woman who cooked everything from scratch and who involved me with meal preparation, along with extensive (and welcomed) lectures about the ways in which every ingredient nourishes and supports a healthy life. By the end of my second year in France, I was 50 so in love with the gorgeous variety of flavors, textures, and smells that could emanate from the most common of vegetables (onions, spinach, radishes, etc.) that I returned to the U.S. with a passion for cooking and embrace of new flavors and cooking techniques that will last me the rest of my life. What better opportunity for an exploration of connoisseurship than a cooking class that draws students into the details of qualities of taste, smell, and touch. What an opportunity for the development of somatic knowledge of the complex endeavor of creating and consuming a multi- course meal while learning about the cultural histories at play in the selection of ingredients and methods of preparation? I believed that a Catalonian cooking class might be a learning environment that could begin to open the students’ eyes to the wondrous variety of food and flavor. Surely, participating in the creation of gorgeous dishes made with familiar ingredients like tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, onions, sugar, and milk would be a gateway for my students, right? Some students dove right in, cracking eggs and chopping vegetables, delighted to receive some coaching from the cooking instructors. Others hung on the edges of the action, and they participated when directly asked by an instructor. During the multi-course meal that followed, I noticed that student responses to each course ranged from swoons over every course to tentative tastes of a morsel from each plate, before politely waiting for everyone to finish eating. That evening, I learned that the same two students who had gone to the local Burger King at least once every day we were in Barcelona went straight (and hungrily) to their favorite local franchise after the conclusion of the cooking class. This was one of many opportunities I had to learn that my own “aha!”-inducing learning environments were not going to have the same impact on everyone I taught. Much like I did for the flamenco class that I thought everyone would enjoy later that day, I encounter experiences that remind me students will engage with learning environments to whatever degree they are willing to do so. These moments are also reminders that I am not going to know when student behavior in learning environments reflects a dramatic departure from their zone of 51 comfort or the fatigue they’re experiencing from being overwhelmed by a new cultural context or something else altogether (e.g. putting raw squid on a paella pan can require a lot of courage, is a way to be minimally involved in an activity, or reminds them of the cooking they saw at their recently-deceased grandmother’s house). Determining whether students’ engagement with learning environments represents a breakthrough or a “failure” (whatever that may mean) is often too complex of an endeavor in experiential education for faculty program directors to understand. Program faculty have to do the best they can with the resources at their disposal. Fortunately for the programs under study, arts-oriented pedagogies create learning environments with room for ambiguity, should the students choose to express complex ideas about learning experiences. If students are actively learning, content knowledge will follow and will be dependent on their personal experiences with course texts. While this is true for any course curriculum students might encounter, my hope was that the uniqueness of these somatic encounters with course texts would make the impact of their unique life experience and perspective much clearer than it would be if they were all tested on the same readings about the same ideas in the same way. Instead, I assigned what amounts to a series of experiments with various arts-oriented learning modalities about whatever course texts they encountered as individuals, filtered through their own unique perspectives. While “curriculum provide[d] frames for reading the world” (Eisner, 2002, p. 85), how students “read” their FSA experience and what they learned from it was, in the end, primarily up to them, as is true for any course they take. The artistic assignments and coursework were designed to provide conditions for students to awaken more fully to the world around them (Eisner, 2002). One in-class drama-in-education activity was inspired by Augosto Boal’s forum theatre, an artistic practice from his Theatre of the Oppressed (1985) to embody and explore social encounters and relationships. I, as the facilitator (or joker, as Boal would put it) did not provide students with “solutions” or explicit guidance for 52 resolving the situations they explored through drama-in-education activities. Instead, I encouraged them to imagine their way through complex experiences they might have in-country. In Boal’s words, In the forum theater no idea is imposed: the audience, the people, have the opportunity to try out all their ideas, to rehearse all the possibilities, and to verify them in practice, that is, theatrical practice… It is not the place of the theater to show the correct path, but only to offer the means by which all possible paths may be examined (p. 141). For instance, around the midpoint of the in-country portion of the Italy program, I gave small groups of students a slip of paper that described different stages of culture shock identified by a researcher I found through a Google search. This forum-theatre-inspired activity was not focused on reinforcing the veracity of the culture shock text. I designed this activity to bring a collection of ideas about culture shock to life and then open up opportunities for the students to engage in artistic reflection about the texts. This activity was meant to create a learning environment in which students could rehearse responses to challenging intercultural encounters and compare the texts they were given with their own lived experiences in-country up to that moment. Each group created a short scene to illustrate the culture shock concept detailed on their slip of paper and then created a second scene to show how one might modify one’s engagement with the intercultural encounter for a more pleasant (and potentially more educative) experience. After each pair of scenes, the students in the audience would identify elements in the scene that felt familiar (either because of their own experiences or observations they’d made about others), and then the presenters would read what was written on their paper. After all of the scenes were performed and slips of paper read, we had a conversation about how fully the prompts described students’ experiences adjusting to new cultural contexts. We also discussed the various adaptations that could be made for more productive intercultural learning in these encounters. The conversation was joyful, animated, and resulted in 53 open and thoughtful reflection on intercultural learning experiences during their first week in Italy. Other arts-oriented in-class activities included: collaging with found materials to illustrate feelings in response to reflection prompts; five-minute drawings to represent an experience; and further drama- in-education activities that focused on students’ learning about and/or reflections on program experiences. During class meetings, I made room for considerable “pedagogical improvisation in the service of meaningful teaching and learning” (Eisner, 2002, p. 164), trailing ideas that bubbled organically out of in-class activities. I often looked to my drama-in-education training for activities that would continue students’ explorations into important ideas. One of the primary drama-in- education tools I used on these programs was tableaux, which uses “the dramatic elements of silence and stillness. Having students/participants illustrate their “concretized thought[s]” (Morgan and Saxton, 1987, p. 110) in tableau form allows a facilitator to immediately see how their understanding is being shaped” (Prendergast & Saxton, 2013, p. 110). Multiple tableaux can be combined with meaningful physicalized transitions from one to the next to enhance and extend the ideas a group of students is working to express. The use of tableaux to express ideas and describe experiences is “a shared mode of discourse” (Eisner, 2002, p. 95) through this work. The class could then discuss any number of topics related to those tableaux images. As the course instructor, I took responsibility for calling the students’ attention to qualities in the work they produce[ed] that need[ed] attention of one kind or another… [to] invite students to think about the content of their work in new ways and to experiment with ways to strengthen what need[ed] attention” (Eisner, 2002, p. 153). As students create tableaux, I coach them about the audience’s point of view, including cheating out to better fit into the audience’s sight lines or avoiding upstaging their fellow performers. I work to 54 help them attend to the details of their physical presence onstage, making sure that they are incorporating the details of positioning of their major joints, fingers, head, and face. I saw those class meetings abroad as opportunities for students to regroup, immersed in the familiar feeling of each other’s presence in the room. Because experiential, intercultural learning can be exhausting, especially since FSA programs are meant to serve as students’ vehicle of academic transition from high school to college, students need space to safely decompress. I began FSA class meetings with mindfulness meditation, gentle yoga, or other centering practices as a way to get students focused on class by taking a break from interacting with the world outside the classroom. I chose to incorporate mindfulness practices into the first few minutes of class, because I had experienced the benefits of these practices as a student, myself. As Deringer states, “Being mindful of what is meaningful to students helps students to learn subject matter with greater depth and intensity. Mindfulness and [place-based education] share the goal, and in many cases the outcome, of providing engaging learning experiences for students” (2017, p. 339). I framed these activities as optional -- students were welcome to participate or to simply observe. For both programs, I requested a “dance-studio-like space” for regular class meetings, better-suited to mindfulness exercises, gentle yoga practice, and physical drama-in-education activities. These studio spaces also allowed for a much wider spectrum of physical movements and positions, so that the students could explore embodied processing of ideas and feelings through techniques like tableaux. Throughout both FSA programs, from orientation to my last interaction with students as their instructor, I strove to build community among the students, wherever in the world we found ourselves, so that they might feel supported, responsible for supporting peers, and comfortable approaching me with any question, concern, or celebration throughout our work together. Community building among students on these programs, and, indeed, in any class I teach, is 55 essential to establishing relationships built on trust, which then help create a safe space for intellectual and artistic experimentation. Practices to build community practices can transform learning in two interrelated fundamental ways: collective experiences are qualitatively different from individual ones; and each of us can learn collaboratively in ways that we cannot learn alone (Edmiston, 2014, p. 71). Explicit Pedagogy The literature suggests that one component of those engaging learning experiences is the faculty program director’s explicit disclosure of their own pedagogical intentions to the students on their programs. In her article, Writing to Host Nationals as Cross-Cultural Collaborative Learning in Study Abroad, Leeann Chen builds on the idea of sharing the purpose of coursework with students. She suggests that faculty program directors from U.S.-based institutions could broaden and deepen the impact of intercultural learning experiences by incorporating writing assignments that ask students to write about their developing understandings of the in-country context to a local audience while abroad. In her Frontiers essay, Writing to Host Nationals as Cross-Cultural Collaborative Learning in Study Abroad, which is grounded in her own experiences as a faculty program director and research literature from the field (she was doubtless limited by the scant amount of current literature on writing assignments on study abroad programs), Chen explains: American students are accustomed to studying with a syllabus. If we do not spell out policies to make sure they do their homework, many students probably will not do it or not do it well. Likewise, in study abroad, if we do not have an effective means of encouraging them to interact with host locals, many students probably will not make an effort of doing so. (2002, p. 153). 56 Chen’s point is particularly relevant to the programs under study, because all the students on both programs had U.S. citizenship and attended high school in the U.S. (they were beginning their U.S.- based postsecondary education on the programs under study). Peterson extends the argument for openly discussing the impetus underlying pedagogical moves with students: Just as articulating mission clearly is more important to non-mainstream than mainstream organizations, so articulating pedagogy is more important when the educational model departs significantly from what is typical. Pedagogical issues should be discussed not only with home-campus faculty or advisers, but also with program participants. Students become better partners in the educational enterprise if they clearly understand what the program is trying to do and why it has chosen the methods it uses” (2002, p. 173). Explicit pedagogy has the potential of further solidifying group unity, including (to a certain extent) faculty program directors. When faculty program directors share the intentions behind the pedagogical moves they make, they are owning the part they play in students’ education abroad experience and acknowledging (at least implicitly, if not overtly) that students share the responsibility of working towards achieving those learning goals. If program faculty never discuss their pedagogical intentions with students, students might struggle to identify why they are doing whatever learning activity they’re doing, which, in turn, could negatively impact student learning, since students might not be able to contextualize the experience within the learning objectives of the program. Case in point: Chapter Five’s dramatic text contains a poem that illustrates one example of a learning experience for which students were given no framework to explain the pedagogical intention behind a site visit to the British Museum. The Doctoral Study Abroad Fellowship (DSAF) program at MSU allowed me to do just that on a history program focused on WWI, and is, in fact, what inspired this dissertation. However, 57 there is another possibility worth scholarly attention: perhaps there is an assumption that the driving educative force of these programs is the environment in which these programs are based. As Twombly, Salisbury, Tumanut, and Klute put it, “the beliefs about the positive effects [of education abroad] are are so deeply ingrained in our higher education narrative that even lukewarm results are interpreted and repeated over and over again taking on fairy tale status” (2012, p. 108). Perhaps there is an assumption that the local context, the compelling argument for studying abroad in the first place, is so experientially educative that pedagogy has been less of a concern. Normally, curricula are framed by pedagogues and their approach to teaching (Eisner, 2002). So, if an educator relies on instructional methods similar to those they use in lecture halls on their home campus, accompanies students on site visits, and tells them, many of whom have never before traveled abroad, to go out into new surroundings for an experiential education on their own, the students could still learn much about the local context, educative or miseducative though that experiential learning might be. My experiences in this study suggest this is a gamble. When all is said and done, students don’t have to go abroad to get a postsecondary education. Indeed, the author of this dissertation did not participate on a study abroad program during her college career. When students do go abroad, they, their families, and/or their financial aid package are paying for a more expensive form of college education. Why should they dedicate considerable (and usually limited) financial resources to go abroad on a pedagogical gamble? The central argument of this dissertation project is not that arts-oriented pedagogies are the best way to support student learning on short- term education abroad programs. The central assumption of this dissertation project is that program pedagogy matters. Pedagogy involves crafting learning environments in which students first experience the curricula of these programs, experiential or otherwise, particularly when they are immersed in a new culture and cannot rely on their own cultural shorthand to get their bearings, in 58 a unique learning context, one in which students’ previous conceptions of “doing” learning might actually impede their learning abroad experience. For instance, a student who goes to bed every night at 9:00pm, so that they can be up in the early morning the next day, well-rested, and ready to learn might struggle to adjust with the Spanish cultural practice of beginning dinner at or later than 8:00pm. They would have to recalibrate habits they may have had for years, and this can be frustrating and disorienting. Lutterman-Aguilar and Gingerich, in their Frontiers article, Experiential Pedagogy for Study Abroad: Educating for Global Citizenship, discuss the tension between the notion that experiences are educative and the need for experiential pedagogy to scaffold student learning towards the development of global citizenship. While a discussion of the notion of global citizenship is beyond the scope of this dissertation, one of the central features of the programs examined in this study is experiential education. Their article examines the nexus of experiential education and study abroad research literatures to support their “Key Principles Guiding Experiential Pedagogy in Study Abroad” (2002, p. 48), drawn from the National Society for Experiential Education’s “Principles of Good Practice” (1998); Mintz and Hesser’s key principles of service-learning (1996); and their own experiences. They, too, argue for explicit pedagogy on programs abroad, this time in the context of experiential education. They direct faculty program directors to: ...explain their educational philosophy to students because many may have developed “authority-dependence” to the extent that they “assume education means listening to teachers tell them what to do and what things mean. Freire points out that if a liberating teacher asks students to co-develop the class with her or him, the students often doubt that this is “real” education” (Shor, 1987, p. 29). Hence, experiential international educators need to be prepared to help students become open to new ways of learning (2002, p. 72). 59 In other words, there are some writers who suggest faculty program directors would likely improve the learning experience for their students by discussing how they teach and why in learning environments the students may have never before experienced. Pedagogy, in this case, goes beyond supporting course content and focuses on providing some context for the learning environment of the program. In my experience, this conversation needs to be had prior to traveling to the host country and needs reiterated at multiple points throughout the in-country portion of the program, particularly for a program with as full an itinerary as that of both programs under study. Enacting explicit pedagogies proved invaluable on these programs. I gave students clear explanations of my pedagogical intentions behind the experiences I included as part of these programs. When students are in cultural contexts for which they have no sociocultural shorthand for what is happening around them, they tend to ask a lot of questions. These questions can get repetitive and are often, though not always, about the day’s schedule or where something is or why we’re doing something that’s on the day’s itinerary. I put the program itinerary into the syllabi of each program in hope of helping students get a sense of what to expect each day of the program. I worked to be as explicit about my pedagogical choices as I could throughout both programs, especially since students may not have inherently understand the relevance of certain activities, especially if those activities’ relevance is apparent to the faculty program director, for they run the risk of assuming that the inherent value of a particular experience is obvious to the students. Explicit program pedagogy is something that is mentioned in the literature, though not extensively. I include it in this literature review because its absence played an important role in a formative experience at the British Museum, described in the Preface and in the dramatic and performance texts of this dissertation, which continues to guide my pedagogical choices on these programs. While explicit pedagogy is, itself, identified as a productive pedagogical practice in the education research literature more broadly (e.g. in English as a second language instruction: Burns 60 and de Silva Joyce, 2008; in early childhood education: Clarkin-Phillips, 2018; in literacy instruction: Mills, 2011; in training teachers to mentor preservice teachers: Hudson, Spooner-Lane, and Murray, 2012), I make a point of describing it in this dissertation, because most education abroad faculty program directors are not education scholars, and there is no guarantee that faculty program directors have pedagogical training, let alone pedagogical training in the unique and complex teaching context of education abroad. It is also likely that they have not spent time studying education abroad program pedagogy. To close this chapter, I remind the reader I draw on Deweyan (1938) and Kolbean (2015) experiential learning theories, in order to examine the ways in which Dewey conceptualizes experiential learning theory and Kolb describes the experiential learning praxis. I also see experiential learning theory and arts-oriented pedagogical practice as intimately related in the context of this study. Like Wong (2018) and Eisner (2002), I am concerned that experiential learning praxis often relies quite heavily on verbal reflection practices that seem, at times, ritualized to the point of undermining their purpose and potentially leading to what Dewey defines as mis-educative experiences (1938) that do not encourage further reflection but rather lead students to stop reflecting on a particular topic or idea. Therefore, secondarily and throughout, I draw on arts- oriented pedagogical practices to encourage reflection through engagements with content that are grounded in arts-oriented ways of knowing, which are frequently novel approaches to reflection for some or all students. Arts-oriented education practices ask students to think within a variety of artistic paradigms in ways that may require different kinds of thought and reflection in a variety of ways. On the programs under study, my arts-oriented education practices were created with an eye towards mindfulness practices and implicit/explicit curriculum, so that students would have the opportunity to connect with how they were feeling in a particular moment, while I worked to support the explicit curriculum of the syllabi and the implicit curriculum of honoring their ideas, 61 experiences, and unique perspectives throughout the program. In Chapter 3, I will further contextualize the programs under study and how they are situated in the undergraduate curriculum at Michigan State University. This will include descriptions of how the learning environments and program pedagogies described in this chapter align with undergraduate course requirements and the overarching goals of First Year Seminar Abroad programs more broadly. 62 CHAPTER 3: WELCOME TO COLLEGE, NOW LET’S LEAVE THE COUNTRY: FIRST-YEAR SEMINARS ABROAD Driven by efforts to further internationalize undergraduate education and encourage more freshman to study abroad, John Hudzik, then-dean of Michigan State University’s (MSU’s) International Studies and Programs, requested that the Office of Study Abroad33 create the inaugural First-Year Seminar Abroad (FSA) program, which ran at full capacity with 35 rising freshmen34 in the summer of 2003. That program was in Quebec City (Steglitz, 2010), and MSU’s FSAs have since grown to become a regular fixture of MSU’s summer course offerings35. In this chapter, I will describe the academic context of FSA programs within undergraduate education at MSU and then provide examples of how the programs under study fit within the academic framework of FSA programs. Faculty Program Directors, Program Assistants, and Third-Party Providers (TPPs) FSA programs often have two tracks, or courses, running simultaneously during the in-country portion of the programs, each with their own faculty program director (the FSA course instructor) and academic focus, which was the case for both programs under study. During the 2017 program in Spain, my program, Who do they think you are? Exploring Global Citizenship through Culture and the Arts in Barceloana, Spain traveled in tandem with a program called, Popular Youth Culture in Spain. During that program, students on both tracks went to all the same site visits on the itinerary, because there was so much overlap in terms of site visit relevance to both groups. One or two of the site visits were more geared towards one program or the other, like the site visit to Camp Nou, FC Barcelona’s 33 Now known as the Office for Education Abroad (OEA). 34 Rising freshmen are undergraduate students who are beginning college the autumn immediately following their high school graduation. 35 I am indebted to Dr. Inge Steglitz, Dr. James Lucas, Dr. Yuya Kiuchi, Shawn Nicholson, Lynn Aguado, and Paul Brown for conversations, meetings, and training sessions to help me gain a fuller understanding of FSA programs at MSU. When information in this chapter is not directly cited, I learned it from these individuals in the combination of circumstances mentioned in this footnote. 63 home soccer stadium, or our program’s day trip to the remote art installation, Oma Painted Forest, and the paleolithic caves of Santimamiñe, which contain wall art by early humans, both in the mountains of northeastern Spain. The other faculty program director, Arvid Rosengren, and I were able to accommodate and integrate each of these site visits into both course curricula, and the students never expressed frustration to us (in fact, some expressed delight about site visits like these). In Italy, the foci of the two tracks were a little less similar. My program, Which Italy? Exploring Italian Art and Culture from Ancient Rome to the Present Day in Florence, Orvieto, Ostia, Vatican City and Rome traveled with the program, Bureaucracy, Bonfires, and Bloodbaths: Power and Political Intrigue from the Classical to Modern Italy. While we did travel together and had very similar itineraries, there were a couple of site visits that our tracks did separately. For instance, when the other faculty program director, László Seregi, took his students to the Camera dei Deputati, home of the bicameral Parliament of Italy, my students and I participated in a Commedia dell’Arte workshop to learn, both through lecture and practice, about this early form of Italian professional theatre. My students and I spent an entire afternoon at the Agricoltura Nova (the New Agriculture Cooperative), a polyculture36 organic farm that is an active participant in the slow foods movement, which began in Italy, and provides work for refugees, individuals with disabilities, and local Italians. During our afternoon at the farm, László’s group went on a guided tour of the Museo del Risorgimento (a museum dedicated to the history of the Italian unification during the 19th century) and the Altare della Patria (the Victor Emmanuel II Monument in Rome, created in honor of Italy’s unification in the 19th century). When tracks travel together and participate in (mostly) the same site visits, it lowers program costs37, thanks to group travel discounts. Each FSA group (that is, both tracks traveling together) has 36 A farm that produces multiple agricultural products simultaneously. 37 This was discussed during faculty training, and both our TPPs and the MSU Office for Education Abroad Business Office stressed this during multiple meetings. However, no exact calculations of the cost difference were provided, so I cannot provide further detail about how much money was saved due to the large group size. 64 a program assistant, who is responsible for: supporting program logistics, helping students with health or safety issues, maintaining contact with third-party providers (defined in the next paragraph), staying in touch with MSU’s Office for Education Abroad about any issues that arise in- country, disseminating announcements about the coming day’s activities via web-based group text messages (seemingly every student used a smartphone in-country or spent their free time with someone who did), and helping the faculty program directors manage class meetings or group site visits. This was especially helpful when things don’t go to plan, which happens all the time during international travel with a large group. The program assistants on both programs were instrumental to each track’s success on both programs. In cases of lost luggage recovery in the airport, students needing a doctor in the middle of the night, supporting my work with a high-tension roommate conflict in the middle of the night, liaising with MSU to report significant issues and shepherding a student through the incident reporting process, providing a third perspective to reflect on individual students experiences and the relative success of the program as a whole, among so many other essential support duties throughout our time with the students, on-campus and in-country. A capable and proactive program assistant can improve program quality immeasurably, and the program assistants on both programs were extremely capable and dedicated to their work. In both Spain and Italy, the program directorship team (faculty program directors and the program assistant) relied on third-party providers (TPPs) to support the programs, from helping develop the program itinerary months ahead of the start of each program and on-the-ground support in-country. TPPs are independent organizations that have contacts and/or offices in- country that help with logistics, planning, reservations, and general program support prior to and during the in-country portion of an education abroad program. Their knowledge of and familiarity with the in-country context, connections with local educators and service providers, familiarity with the content and quality of various site visits and academic opportunities, along with their local 65 language fluency, make them an indispensable source of programmatic support. Before the start of the program, the TPPs made reservations based on what each faculty program director wanted to include on the itinerary, suggested alternate activities when certain site visits or guest lectures were not possible, and made in-country travel and hotel reservations. In-country, they met us at the airport, hosted welcome and farewell group meals, acted as translators (sometimes at the last minute), hosted course meetings in their student centers, had regular check-ins with the program directorship team to make sure things were moving along smoothly, acted as additional program assistants when individual students needed extra support (such as taking one student to the police station when her iPhone was stolen), and provided in-country orientation programs in each major city in which either program was based. Our TPPs, in both cases, were organizations that were hired by MSU’s Office for Education Abroad and were not otherwise affiliated with MSU. Despite the fact that both programs ran in European countries and TPPs are often multinational organizations, each program was managed by a different TPP. Faculty program directors, program assistants, and TPPs on both programs under study worked together nearly every day of both programs. The Italy program’s visit to the Vatican provides a great example of the wonderful synergy that is possible when all of these individuals work together to support an excursion. When both Italy tracks visited the Vatican Museum, we had to get thirty students, a TPP tour guide, two faculty program directors, and one program assistant through a crowded entrance after standing in a very long line in the hot summer sun. After the whole group entered the lobby, the TPP guide went to stand in line at the ticket counter, and our group stood together by the wall, dwarfed by the impressively enormous number of people squeezing through the area to get into the museum. When the guide finally came back to us, we each got a ticket, went through the entrance, and reconvened on a (very) sunny outdoor patio inside the Vatican, just beyond of the mass of tourists plowing through seemingly every corridor. As we always did 66 whenever the group went anywhere together, we had the students count off. There was a student missing. So, while the two faculty program directors made sure the twenty-nine remaining students stayed where they were, the program assistant went back into the fray to find the missing student. At the same time, our TPP guide went to pick up the lavalier speakers and headphones through which we would hear her talk about the things we saw in the museum. After a few minutes, the program assistant came back with the missing student, who, we later learned, had taken an approved detour to the bathroom and simply got lost in the crowd. This simultaneous collective effort to find the missing student, keep the rest of the students together, and continue working to get the audio lavaliers together so that our group could hear the guide while we toured the museum meant that an issue that could have derailed the visit for a much longer time was reduced to a delay of a few minutes. This swift resolution of the issue also saved everyone from the significant amount of anxiety and stress that builds when someone is missing in a crowded place, and there are not enough people to tend to the issue at hand and manage the rest of the students and manage moving the site visit forward in a museum that is not suited to loitering during the height of tourist season. Program Structure The program begins before the students arrive on campus. Their faculty program directors usually contact them in June with an introduction to the program and assignments to complete prior to on- campus orientation. In the case of the programs under study, students received an email from me as an introduction and welcome to the program, as well as an invitation to complete their first course assignments and purchase their course texts. In my effort to include as much content as possible and to potentially tap into students’ interests related to the course on the Spain program, I randomly assigned pairs of students different books to read in preparation for their time abroad. Because I had an odd number of students, one student was assigned a book to read on her own. Some students 67 seemed to be interested in their books and referenced them once or twice in-country, beyond the presentations I’d asked everyone to do to connect the content of their books with site visits and activities in-country. In order to potentially tap into a greater diversity of student interests for the Italy program, I posted a list of 22 books related to Italian art and culture across three broadly- defined historical periods: Ancient Rome through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance through the 18th Century, and the 19th through the 21st Centuries. This proved to be a more intellectually fruitful arrangement, and several students referenced their chosen books on multiple occasions throughout the program to explain an idea, ask informed questions, or identify mythological/real individuals or social movements depicted in the works of art we encountered and in the artistic practices we experienced. Because FSA programs are housed within the Office of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education (APUE) and are a unique approach (for the MSU community) to acclimating rising freshmen to undergraduate education, students are asked to complete pre-program online modules and participate in post-program “unpacking” sessions with FSA administrators on campus in the fall to assess the impact of the FSA programs on the following students success metrics: college transition, analytical thinking, cultural understanding, and integrative reasoning (Lucas, personal communication, March 29, 2018). An examination of the ways in which student development across these metrics due to their FSA experiences is beyond the scope of the current study, and the FSA administrators, in an effort not to burden program faculty with additional program-related responsibilities, did not involve faculty program directors with this research, beyond letting them know that it was happening, touching base about a single program-specific question, and letting them know about trends they had begun noticing across the data they’re in the process of collecting. As of his email to FSA faculty program directors on March 29, 2018, Dr. Lucas wrote that “learning outcomes continues to show strong growth relative to the college transition, and data 68 suggests advancement in analytical thinking and cultural understanding. Not so much evidence of integrative reasoning. As you know, we are continuing to look at new ways to embed assessment of these areas, and I hope that our new modules will help considerably.” During the planning process for the next program I’m scheduled to lead, I learned that the FSA program fee structure was designed to provide students with all the materials they would need to successfully complete coursework. In other words, the people who designed the program did not want students and their families to pay anything more out-of-pocket than the program fee and travel costs to participate in the FSA courses. The FSA program administration has been in transition and has been streamlining the faculty training process to better share information about faculty program directorship across programs38. The current expectation that students’ program fees will cover all course materials allows the FSA administrators to ship course materials directly to students in their homes prior to on-campus orientation, if needed. This is very helpful for courses that require all students to read the same course texts for a program, but it gets more complicated when students are self-selecting the course texts they are reading, which they select in their own time during the month or so before on-campus orientation. For the next FSA program I am scheduled to lead, we worked through this issue by deducting the highest reasonable cost for the most expensive book on the list from everyone’s program fee. They will be informed of this when they get their packing list and initial course email prior to on-campus orientation. I am willing to commit so much energy to this budgetary shift because many of the students on the Italy program responded so positively to the opportunity to follow their own interests when selecting their own course text. I shared a course materials packing list with students on both programs under study in my introductory email. Next time I lead a program, I know to ask the program administrators to buy the colored pencils, pencil case, pencil sharpener, glue stick, and the like and to help me distribute them among the students 38 Thanks to the hard work for Drs. Sheila Marquardt and Jim Lucas on this transition. 69 during on-campus orientation. Students on both programs under study received their field notes journals and a pocket language guide upon their arrival on campus for orientation. My future students will also receive their journals and language guides at the start of orientation. Each group of FSA students that travels together has on-campus orientation scheduled across the two or three days before they leave the country together with their program directorship team. The students on the programs under study were the only FSA students we encountered on campus during both the Spain and the Italy programs’ on-campus orientations. This seclusion provided the students an opportunity to focus on getting to know their classmates/travel companions, as well as their program directorship team, before leaving the country together. While on campus for orientation, students are housed in Michigan State dormitories for two nights while attending sessions that include health and safety information; an introduction to a local language of their destination (when needed); community building with peers and the program directorship team; and a brief orientation about on-campus resources, including health and safety information, dorm cafeteria locations, computer lab locations, and the like. Students have their first few class meetings during on-campus orientation, as well. On the third day of orientation, both groups piled, luggage and all, into a chartered bus for the airport, arriving early for flight check-in. The extended amount of time we had before boarding our airplane was convenient for students to pick up snacks and any personal items they may have forgotten, before participating in an intra-group research project that I detail in Chapter 5. This project required my students to interview all program participants and later share their analysis of that information with the whole group in-country. The more students understand themselves as part of an interconnected community of learners in a shared learning experience based on trust and mutual support, the more learning is possible among group members. This activity incorporates an experiential introduction to research, a prominent component of campus life at Michigan State, while allowing them to get to know a little bit more about each other. 70 The group flies together to their destination and hits the ground running. Their time in- country begins with a second orientation about life and resources in-country, run by the affiliated, locally-based TPP. Then, there is a welcome meal and activities are typically planned through dinnertime. They typically arrive at their first in-country lodgings exhausted. Their subsequent time in-country is full of site visits, tours, workshops, classes, cultural excursions, guest lectures by local experts, course readings, homework, an occasional and strategically-scheduled tourist activity39, and a bit of free time. After the close of the in-country portion of the program, most students and at least one MSU member of the program directorship team fly back to Michigan together and then make their separate ways home. After the start of the fall semester, students are expected to complete some form of final project, attend a special “unpacking your study abroad” session (run by the Office of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education, which, along with the Office for Education Abroad, manages the FSA programs), and are required to meet one last time as a track. After the Spain program, I attempted to set up a rehearsal schedule that would support the development of a devised theatre performance to reflect on their FSA experience and its impact on their first few weeks on-campus. I learned that the first six weeks of a student’s first year of college is a very busy time, as they learn as much as they can about academic, athletic, spiritual, and social opportunities and organizations across campus, while also taking multiple college-level courses. I quickly discovered that creating a devised theatre rehearsal schedule was, in fact, impossible, because it was impossible to have the whole group present at any time during seemingly any day of the week. This is why I changed the students’ final course project from a theatre production to a small collection of documentary films, which students could create on their own time. The culminating 39 A popular option is taking students to a beach on one of their last days in-country. Everyone is ready to take a breath, relax, and unwind near the end of a busy program, and, in my experience, students almost universally love spending time at the beach. 71 on-campus class meeting for both programs was a screening of all their documentaries that was open to the public. After the final on-campus class meeting at the beginning of October, grades are submitted in mid-October, and their FSA counts as one of their fall semester courses. As described later in this chapter, students can select how the three course credits they earn through their FSA program will apply to their course requirements for graduation. FSA Course Goals and Expectations FSAs are designed with an eye to address the following overarching course goals: ● Introduce students to scholarly and academic life at MSU; (sic) ● Expose students to education abroad, global and cultural learning, and a content area; (sic) ● Help students develop a meaningful relationship with peers, faculty, and staff to support their personal and academic success; (sic) ● Help students gain confidence and skills related to their college transition (Office for Education Abroad, n.d.). About these programs, the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education (APUE) writes: “MSU has designed the first-year seminars abroad (FSA) programs to represent best practice in global, integrated learning and education abroad pedagogy” (2018, p. 140). In service of these prescribed learning outcomes, the university affirms that these courses “connect[ ] to several institutional priorities,” including general education and integrative studies; first-year seminars and student 40 The 2017 iteration of the document was unavailable, though the Assistant Dean of Global Education and Curriculum, Dr. Jim Lucas, assured me that the learning goals hadn’t changed significantly from 2017 to 2018, and likely hadn’t changed at all. 72 success; and global and intercultural learning (Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education, 2018, p. 1). Additionally, in order to support student learning in a diversity of content areas and to capitalize on the scholarly interests of faculty program directors to create dynamic and engaging learning experiences abroad, FSA program content guidelines encourage faculty program directors to ...teach from their passion and create… [courses] that begin during the programs’ on-campus program orientation, continue on site, and conclude with one or more follow-up sessions during the fall semester. [Programs] are designed to make optimal use of program locations and feature thematically related excursions as well as local guest speakers (Steglitz, 2010, p. 51). These guidelines allow faculty program directors a lot of freedom when designing educative experiences on these programs. I was able to create multidisciplinary arts-oriented teaching and learning practices to support experiential learning related to each program’s interdisciplinary academic focus. Since MSU requires its undergraduate students to take courses in a variety of content areas to best support a comprehensive undergraduate education, it is relatively easy for students to fit their FSA coursework as fulfilling course requirements in the same way that courses on campus fit within their schedule of required courses. Across both programs, I prioritized the “how” of student learning (pedagogy) over establishing predetermined and fixed texts in the curriculum (the “what”), which is consistent with FSA course goals. I gave students assignments during and outside of class that required the practice of various art forms (languages), open to whatever content fit the assignment parameters (so they 73 knew my expectations for the shape41 of the final product). I created open-ended assignments that gave students an “opportunit[y] to talk about their own work in relation to what they learned from doing it...to reveal outcomes of which the teacher [was] unaware” (Eisner, 2002, p. 186). Through open-ended assignments contained within a particular arts-oriented epistemological framework (e.g. poetry, drawing, video, etc.), I strove to give them the opportunity to generate works of art as “medi[a] for advancing their own education” (Eisner, 2002, p. 194). For instance, several of the arts- oriented verbal reflections (in the forms of poetry, and creative fiction, among other coursework) encouraged writing with an aesthetic awareness that possibly shifted the content of student work away from reflections that might have focused on more direct analysis of their experiences before, during, and after these programs. I see the reflection activities and assignments I assigned throughout both programs as “periods of genuine reflection… to organize what has been gained in periods of activity in which the hands and other parts of the body beside the brain are used” (Dewey, 1938, p. 63), as well as periods of reflection in which the parts of the body are used to process information originally processed in the brain (e.g. after a guest lecture or to process what students learned from their books). Student Success MSU’s Student Success Initiatives are described by Jennifer Wells (Senior Program Officer, Gates Postsecondary Success) and Alexander Nicholas (Program Officer, Gates Postsecondary Success) as focused on ...how [the institution] aligns around a shared approach to transform higher education models for colleges and universities so that more students – especially low-income, students 41 “The word shape speaks to the form of our work but also to how the form shapes the content” (Leavy, 2015, p. 2, emphasis in the original). 74 of color and first-generation students – graduate at higher rates, with high-quality degrees or certificates at an affordable price (Michigan State University, 2018a, p. 2). To this end, FSA tuition costs and program fees (for site visits, group dinners, guest lecturers, and other costs related to student learning) are billed through students’ normal fall semester tuition channels and can be rolled into their financial aid package. There are some scholarship opportunities to fund student participation on these programs, and most scholarships, though not all, are designed to fund students with “financial need” (International Studies and Programs, n.d.). As a faculty program director, I was not involved with, nor privy to, information about students’ financial aid packages, though students often rely on scholarships or loans to participate on FSA programs. As far as helping improve student graduation rates is concerned, it is not difficult to imagine that students are more likely to stay in college through to graduation when they are interested in their chosen major, truly motivated to learn more about what they have chosen to study, and have access to/familiarity with on-campus resources to support their education. On one of the programs under study, Liberty Joy Morrissey, one of the students on the Italy program, provides a clear example of how her FSA experience inspired a dramatic shift in her intended academic trajectory. She switched her major from chemistry to philosophy upon her return to campus in the fall semester. In her 2018 solo mini-documentary project, she describes how her FSA program in Italy taught her that there are professional communities within the academy that support scholarship in the arts and humanities. She explains: Being abroad, however, allowed me to get out of the influences that surrounded me in my home environment. This was something I wasn’t even aware that I needed. In the midst of a culture completely unlike my own and separate from all the things I had known to constitute my life thus far, I began to be more cognizant of the fact that my life was my own. I could spend it fulfilling someone else’s ideal, or I could 75 spend it chasing opportunities like the one that led me to Italy and pursuing my true passions. Due to this realization, I changed my major to philosophy upon getting back to MSU and I’ve never been happier. I am so grateful to have had this experience (pp. 2-3). Here, Liberty explains that she learned what Eisner deems of great import for students to recognize, “[N]either meaning nor human intelligence is the sole province of literal language or of number” (Eisner, 2002, p. 205). In her mini-documentary, Morrissey spoke about the delight of finding academic communities focused on the development of new ideas and reflecting on experiences, stories, art forms, and cultures, including and beyond the career paths with which she was previously familiar. General Education Multiple courses across several content areas are required to fulfill undergraduate general education course requirements at MSU, which means that undergraduates must study a wide range of academic content, in addition to whichever courses are required for their chosen academic major(s) and minor(s), if applicable. These academic content areas include: academic writing, science, social science, mathematics, and various integrative studies (Office of the Registrar, n.d.). Given the interdisciplinary nature of FSA programs and the diversity of faculty program directors’ disciplinary foci, FSA programs may support student learning in one or more of these academic content areas. 76 First-Year Seminars First-Year Seminars, whether on campus, away42 or abroad, are designed to “introduce students to social and academic life at the University (sic), providing a small-group experience to support students’[ ] transition to postsecondary education” (Undergraduate Education, n.d.). Education abroad is a place-based group learning experience, and, as such, it can be a deeply impactful personal, academic, and/or professional identity development experience for students, especially since they are making the transition to emerging adulthood and college. My experiential, arts-oriented, intercultural program pedagogy is designed to support student learning in all three of these identity realms. “In the arts, students need support, materials with which to work, and then they need to be let alone to explore on their own” (Eisner, 2002, p. 46). Arts-oriented education allows room for personal, academic, and professional development of rising freshmen on these programs. For instance, during the Italy program, Karin von Aroldingen student wrote about a particular experience in ways that speak to first-year seminar course goals. She described the impact of a course assignment I gave students during a Saturday morning class meeting in Florence in her final course paper. That morning, I walked the students from our hotel by the Duomo in downtown Florence to Florence’s Rose Garden. The garden overlooks the city from a hillside in the Oltrarno area, just below the Piazzale Michelangelo, and is far enough outside of the city center that the students hadn’t yet explored the area. I led them there on foot, from our hotel that stood next to Florence’s magnificent duomo, across the Arno river, and up the hill to the garden. Once there, students were to sit for thirty minutes and take field notes about what they observed, whatever they observed. I told the students we would rendezvous at Volume, a cafe in Piazza Santo Spirito, near the student center where we 42 First-Year Seminars Away are off-campus programs similar to FSA programs, save that they occur within the U.S. For more information, see: http://freshmanseminars.msu.edu/seminars/away. 77 met for class. I did not tell them how to get from the rose garden to Volume. Part of what they were learning “in class” that day was how to navigate from a new location back to a familiar one (wayfinding is an essential skill for incoming freshmen, new to MSU’s 5,200 acre campus43). The rose garden was high enough on the hill to give students a panoramic view of the city, and, with the Arno and Brunelleschi’s magnificent dome as landmarks, I surmised that they could find their way to the cafe. The students also had maps of the city and two full days in Florence behind them, so they would not be navigating completely unfamiliar surroundings. Karin von Aroldingen’s writing about that morning’s rose garden activity speaks directly to her increased awareness of what makes her personally feel good (“I was so genuinely happy”), of her academic/artistic ability development (“creating something I was proud of”), and, potentially, the germ of a future professional identity (“I finally started to take myself seriously as an artist”). She wrote: I will never forget looking out over Florence from the rose garden sketching the scene in front of me. I finally started to take myself seriously as an artist. Away from all the noise, alone, creating something I was proud of. My big strike of inspiration, falling in love with Florence and the world around me [sic]. All I wanted was to go back to that spot and spend my free afternoon sketching and maybe get some gelato from Vivoli, for that short morning I was so genuinely happy (Karin von Aroldingen, Final Grade Reflections Paper, FSA Italy 2018, emphasis added). 43 Data source: Michigan State University. (n.d.). MSU Facts. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University. 78 Global and Intercultural Learning at MSU MSU is deeply invested in further internationalizing44 its population of 50,344 students, who hail from across the State of Michigan, every State in the U.S., and 138 countries around the world45. MSU’s Global and Intercultural Learning efforts aim to “foster students’ ability to work across cultures, but also think about how different cultures and contexts influence how individuals frame and respond to these topics” (Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education, 2018, p. 1). To this end, FSA program curricula are informed by global and intercultural learning grounded in MSU’s Global Competency Learning Outcomes, as the Strategic Positioning of Michigan State University’s Boldness by Design website describes: A primary goal of Michigan State is to prepare all students with the knowledge and experience necessary to succeed in the global marketplace. Internationalizing the student experience--a campuswide [sic] initiative--will continue the university’s growth and leadership in international education (n.d.). MSU’s Global Competency Learning Outcomes are: analytical thinking, cultural understanding, effective citizenship, effective communication, and integrated reasoning. The Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education’s (APUE’s) 2018 First-Year Seminars Abroad: Academic Goals and Model document (n.d.) provides examples of ways in which the FSA programs can meet these learning outcomes. Because this dissertation is already focused so heavily on program curricula and makes specific reference to these learning outcomes in other chapters, I will only provide one 44 i.e. Having student populations from around the world. 45 Unless otherwise cited, all art/i/facts about the demographics of MSU’s student population are based on the 2016 student population, as reported by: Department of Inclusion and Cultural Initiatives. (n.d.). Data and information: Diversity at MSU. Retrieved from: http://www.inclusion.msu.edu/about/data-information/index.html. 79 example of a Global Competency Learning Outcome. This is an example of how the Spain program under study could meet that outcome. Global Competency Learning Outcome: Analytical Thinking Example from FSA Academic Goals and Model document: Use technology, human and natural capital, information resources, and diverse ways of knowing to solve problems. Example from an FSA Program Under Study (Spain): In Barcelona, we (the faculty program directors) had the students divide themselves into small groups create a (safe) itinerary of their own design. The students researched various websites to explore in the city and the information they’d gathered during the two and a half days they’d already spent in Barcelona. On the afternoon of their third day in the city, small groups of students set out to follow the various itineraries they’d designed. Some students encountered unexpected obstacles that unavoidably disrupted their plans. One group discovered that the Museu Picasso (Picasso Museum) only allowed a set number of visitors per day, and the students had arrived too late in the day to reserve a ticket. They were forced to rethink their afternoon plans, and, as they walked in the Gothic Quarter to figure out their next activity, they encountered a peaceful protest in the Plaça Saint Juame in front of Barcelona’s Casa de la Ciutat (City Hall). The students assessed the safety of the situation before going close enough to decipher what was being protested. They then examined the evidence at hand to determine the nature of the protest. In his field notes journal, Nilas Martins wrote: “The protest was very civil and everyone was obeying basic laws.” In her field notes journal, Neima Zweili noted: “I was surprised to find many children in the middle of this protest 80 handing out balloons and writing with chalk on the [pavement]. I quickly realized that it was a peaceful protest and by using my common sense I could tell by there [sic] poster that they were fighting against the government for doing illegal things and covering them up! [sic]” Hermione Manatee observed, “Through asking and using critical analysis, we found out that these people were from Morocco, which Spain has a military presence in” The students who witnessed this protest were inspired to discuss it later on, both during and outside of class, grappling with sociocultural issues of which they had not been previously aware. In her journal, Hermione Manatee reflected, “[I saw] no sort of news anywhere, no official person taking notes or news station with a camera. They played a recording of one of the men who was detained and in jail for standing up against police. I would love to research more about this topic, to get both sides of the story.” This student’s sudden awareness of the complexity of what she witnessed was sufficient to pique her curiosity beyond what she had observed that day. For a course assignment during the September that followed her FSA experience, Hermione Manatee created a one-minute mini-documentary about the impact of the program on the beginning of her freshman year at MSU. In it, she said “I need to be a better global citizen and look into other issues that don’t just affect me… [but] affect people outside of my country and community.” These students all reveal evidence of learning related to all of the Global Competency Learning Outcomes: analytical thinking, cultural understanding, effective citizenship, effective communication, and integrated reasoning. These reflections also reveal how the students grappled with comprehending a new cultural context, first by recognizing familiar cues they determined were evidence of safety, then by observing the “content” of the protest. Hermione Manatee’s comments reveal her desire to learn multiple 81 points of view about the issue being protested and her recognition that, in order to decide how she felt about the event, she needed to better understand the unfamiliar intercultural conflict that inspired the protest in the first place. In other words, these students were writing about their own intercultural learning processes in action. Integrative Studies and FSA Course Goals Because the academic content of FSA courses varies widely and is usually interdisciplinary in nature, rising freshmen can decide how their FSA course credits will help them advance towards graduation. They can opt for their FSA to count as three UGS (Undergraduate Seminar) credits, which simply count towards the 120 credits required for graduation. Otherwise, they can use the course credits to fulfill one of four integrative studies course requirements for all undergraduate students, regardless of major, including: Integrated Social Sciences (ISS), Integrated Arts and Humanities (IAH), Integrative Studies in Biological Science (ISB), and Integrative Studies in Physical Science (ISP) (Office for Education Abroad, n.d.). Prior to the on-campus FSA orientation, each FSA course must be preapproved by one or more of the MSU Centers for Integrative Studies (there are three, one for each type of integrative studies course: IAH, ISS, and General Science) to qualify to fulfill specific course requirements. Among other things, this increases the value of a student’s financial investment in one of these programs, because it helps them progress more swiftly toward graduation. Students can only enroll to fulfill one of the three optional integrative studies course requirements with their FSA course credits. No matter how students choose to use their FSA credits, all students in the same track have the same course assignments, site visits, guest lectures, and other activities as every other student in their program track (Office for Education Abroad, n.d.). Both FSA programs under study received course approval for ISS and IAH credit options, the learning goals for which are: 82 Integrated Arts and Humanities (IAH) Goals ● Become more familiar with ways of knowing in the arts and humanities and to be more knowledgeable and capable in a range of intellectual and expressive abilities ● To engage critically with their own society, history, and culture(s) ● To learn more about the history and culture of other societies. Integrated Social Sciences (ISS) Goals ● Assist students in distinguishing their personal assumptions and beliefs from conclusions based upon critical thought and the analytical exploration of human behavioral patterns and trends. ● Expand students' awareness of the ways that enduring and universal social issues and resolutions can be distinguished from those that are the consequence of specific or transient contemporary conditions. ● Provide multicultural, international and national perspectives on human behavior that address the particular challenges and opportunities for a multi-racial and multi-ethnic American society (Michigan State University, 2017, p. 1; Michigan State University, 2018b, p. 2). Since I have already described the curricula and pedagogies I designed and enacted to support student learning in a prior chapter, I will only provide three brief examples of coursework designed to address elements of FSA, IAH, and ISS course goals, here: 83 Course Goal Assignment Course Listing FSA “...expose students to the community of Michigan State University through interacting with new friends, staff, and faculty in an environment different from home.” IAH “Become more familiar with ways of knowing in the arts and humanities and to be more knowledgeable and capable in a range of intellectual and expressive abilities.” ISS “Assist students in distinguishing their personal assumptions and beliefs from conclusions based upon critical thought and the analytical exploration of human behavioral patterns and trends.” MSU Scavenger Hunt: Students were assigned to work in small groups during the first evening of their on-campus orientation at MSU. In small groups, they were asked to take photos of each other interacting with a site (the fountain in front of the MSU Library), an object (find a gorgeous plant on campus), or a specific individual (shake hands with someone you don’t know who has a PhD). Spanish Steps Haiku (Field Notes Journal Entry): Students were asked to observe three very different people on the Spanish Steps during the group’s site visit and write one haiku for the interior monologue they imagined each person might be having. After composing the three haiku, the students were asked to transform two of their haiku into tankas by adding two more seven-syllable lines to the end of those haiku. Orientation Observation Activity: In preparation for the Spain program, students took notes on Anthony Bourdain’s behavior on his Parts Unknown episode about Spain and on how the Spaniards he encountered responded to his presence and behavior in various Spanish settings (Vitale and Bourdain, 2013). They then watched an episode of I’ll have what Phil’s Having that was filmed in Barcelona (Bedolis, 2015) and took note of his interactions with Spaniards and their responses to him. After watching both videos, we had a group conversation about the interactions the star of each series had with Spaniards and how the Spaniards reacted to them. Table 1: First-Year Seminars Abroad: Course Goals and Example Assignments 84 In this chapter, I have described the institutional context of the programs under study. I have defined the professional language of First-Year Seminars Abroad, including descriptions of the members of the program directorship team: faculty program directors and program assistants, and the Third-Party Providers with whom they work in-country. I have described the learning goals of the FSA programs, as defined by MSU’s APUE, as well as the program structure. This chapter examined the FSA course goals and expectations, which align with MSU’s Student Success Initiatives, in addition to course requirements that students can choose to fulfill with the credits they earned on the programs under study in the following areas: general education, first-year seminars, global and intercultural learning, Integrated Social Sciences (ISS), and Integrated Arts and Humanities (IAH). In the next chapter, I will detail the arts-based research methodologies I employed to reflect upon the programs under study, which will contextualize this dissertation within the Arts-Based Education Abroad Research (ABEAR) community of scholarship, created in this dissertation. Then, in Chapter 5, the programs under study will be explored through the collaborative lens of ABEAR, described in Chapter 4. 85 CHAPTER 4: PERFORMANCE AND NON-CONFORMANCE: ARTS-BASED EDUCATION ABROAD RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES (ABEAR) [If] the relationship between the word and the world is socially negotiated[,] [w]hat we call an accurate description of the world is accurate only by virtue of social agreement. With respect to the nature of the world, it is no more accurate to report that a given state of affairs is a ‘bombing’ than to depict it in a painting such as Picasso’s Guernica (Gergen & Gergen, 2018, p. 56). so it might pound in a rhythm with others’. I want to be personally and politically entangled by scholarship. I want it to take away my sight and help me find it. I want it to break my bones and help me mend them. I want it to stop my heart I want it to make my empty arms ache Other-wise what is the autoethnographic point? (Spry, 2011, p. 212) In this chapter, I describe the three methodological approaches to arts-based education research for an embrace. (ABER) I employ in this dissertation. I begin by introducing a set of methodological terms I have created to specify the kind of education I am researching (education abroad) through ABER methodologies: Arts-Based Education Abroad Research (ABEAR). I then introduce the inclusive term I developed for the evidence I gather to support this ABEAR research project: art/i/facts. The section on new terms will be followed by a discussion of performative autoethnography (Denzin, 2014, 2018; Spry, 2011, 2016), an arts-based approach to research that generates dramatic and performance texts, terms I will define within that section. I will follow the description of performative autoethnography with a description of a/r/tography (Irwin & 86 Springgay, 2008; Irwin, LeBlanc, Ryu, & Belliveau, 2018; Gouzouasis, 2018), which heavily informs the structure of the performative autoethnographic text. This is a multimethod arts-based dissertation in which “two or more arts-based strategies are employed, whereas in mixed-methods design, an arts-based strategy is used in concert with a quantitative or qualitative method (Leavy, 2015, p. 23). As an experiential, intercultural arts educator who leads these programs, I, too, am perpetually learning how to create myself, right alongside my students. In this spirit, I resolved to behave on these programs as a co-learner, and not as an expert, when we encountered people and experiences in the field that were new to me. Of course, I maintained an awareness of the responsibilities I had to the group as their faculty program director. My investment in the FSA course goal and implicit curriculum in students’ learning how to learn in a postsecondary context extended to modeling my own behavior as an active, engaged learner, when appropriate. When designing these courses, I struggled with how I’d approach my work as a faculty program director in Spain, a country I’d only visited twice, and later, in Italy, where I’d only been once, a handful of weeks before the program began. This anxiety was enhanced by my concern about not having local language proficiency, in addition to never having formally studied anything related to Italy or Spain in almost two decades. So, I resolved to behave as a fellow learner of these unknown languages and cultural landscapes, alongside my students, while maintaining awareness of the responsibilities I had to the group as their faculty program director. I was invested in students’ learning how to learn, and I openly modeled my own version of active learning on these programs, when appropriate. I did not pretend that I knew what I did not in front of my students. I want them to know that they can rely on me for the knowledge I do have, on my desire to learn with them, and on my commitment to support them, should they encounter any of the countless challenges inherent to traveling abroad and following a packed itinerary with a group of recent strangers and a flood of new intercultural experiences. 87 As part of my efforts towards creating a “successful” program, I worked to raise students’ self-awareness to recognize when they “bumped into themselves”46 and encountered contradictions to their own expectations, habits, and practices. I encouraged students to see these encounters with themselves as opportunities to reveal forces impacting their ways of being in the world. We worked through these opportunities in artistic activities, “for it is in the arts that a special level of focused attention is realized… The arts help us become aware of ourselves. Indeed, at their best we use the arts to make ourselves” (Eisner, 2002, p. 112). These explorations provide “a way for study abroad students to talk [or draw or perform] or write about critical incidents as they happen while abroad and therefore analyze their initial responses, learning more and more about the culture...in the process” (Hoff, 2005, p. 34). New Terms: An Introduction Building on the ABER work of Tami Spry’s performative autoethnography (2011, 2016), in addition to Irwin and Springgay’s (2008) and Irwin, LeBlanc, Ryu, and Belliveau’s (2018) writings about a/r/tography, this multimethod dissertation research project is a work of arts-based education abroad research (ABEAR). This term is needed for three important reasons: the vastness of the field of education research, the corresponding vastness of the field of arts-based education research (ABER), and, finally the invitation that some forms of arts-based research make to learners through multimodal framings of research in ways that might translate across research disciplines. Research within the field of education as a discipline is so vast, encompassing innumerable types of education of individuals at any point in the human lifespan. ABER, though a newer approach to education research, is a research methodology that can be used to examine any phenomenon within the field of education research. Finally, education abroad research, albeit a much smaller subfield of education 46 Thanks to Jill Manske for this helpful turn of phrase. 88 research, is something to which researchers in every field of study who incorporate education abroad into their courses have access as a potential focus of their research. The use of the term, ABEAR, indicates a generalized, yet unique, methodological approach to research within the context of education abroad that may be perceived as more accessible to a wider research audience due to the possibility of multisensory and multimodal learning opportunities contained within some approaches to ABEAR. In this project, I name research subjects as the persons that they are in context47: students, colleagues, peers, supervisors, friends, and others, as is appropriate to their role(s) in a study. Similarly, my approach to education research aligns with the Standards for Reporting on Humanities- Oriented Research in AERA Publications, published by the American Educational Research Association (AERA). This project falls under one of the three categories of humanities-oriented research: ...an array of other approaches to studies in education such as critical, arts-based, and narrative that are not exclusively identified with any particular discipline but that more closely resemble the general methods of the humanities relative to the methods articulated in AERA’s Social Science Standards (Standards for Reporting on Humanities-Oriented Research, 2009, p. 482). Thus, I find the social science research term, data, incongruous and have replaced it with the word art/i/fact, a term of my invention. I define art/i/facts as the evidence I examine through my work as an a/r/tographer (to be defined later in this chapter), a term which also embraces the influence of the combination of personal identities of artist, researcher, and teacher that I bring to my research projects. I see art/i/facts as sources of information that can be examined aesthetically (art); subjectively, as the artist, researcher, and teacher in the dual roles of research participant and researcher on the project (i), and, finally, the term ends with a nod to the collection of information, 47 I do use synonyms to de-identify research participants as individuals. 89 which may or may not resemble social scientific data collection. The term art/i/fact summons up experiences one might have in a museum, say, where artifacts are carefully examined, researched, catalogued, and shared with the general public. In museums, references to characteristics of artifacts can be made through the use of jargon, and the public can decide how deeply they enter into thinking about an artifact in the way the jargon may suggest. The public also has the right to interpret artifacts in their own unique way, which may be unorthodox. I argue this freedom of interpretation is part of what makes museums a public good. I aspire to contribute a similar good to the education research community through my research. This museum sensibility may be also be awakened by the emphasis on fact in art/i/fact, though I highlight the word to emphasize that ABER is, indeed, about my interpretation of the experiences under study, grounded in my own understandings about truth and reality. Of course, emphasizing the art in the term calls attention to how aesthetics are valued in this type of research. It also serves as an alert to some sort of artistic expression in the work. To continue with the museum metaphor, the public is also free to make of artifacts what they will and interpret them how they choose. In conducting ABEAR, I understand my own research endeavors as “relational, meaning- making activit[ies]” (Leavy, 2017, p. 14). The research texts I create must allow for the possibility of many differing interpretations of art/i/facts48. I am interested in generating research products that “open[ ]up multiplicity in meaning making instead of pushing authoritative claims… [that] democratize meaning making and decentralize academic researchers as ‘the experts’... that evoke meanings rather than denoting them” (Leavy, 2018, p. 10, emphasis in original). Works of art are interpreted in at least as many ways as the number of people who encounter them, and this ABEAR project is no different. In fact, one of the aims and assets of this approach to education abroad research is that multiple interpretations of ABEAR research products can inspire fruitful dialogue 48 Defined later in this chapter. 90 among and across academic disciplines involved with the enterprise of education abroad programming, which could generate new ideas about teaching and learning in this unique academic context. Finally, the performance text49 of this research presents a potentially less time-consuming means of review than the massive text of a dissertation, because stakeholder populations could attend a performance of is and have a multisensory experience of the ideas presented through images, sound, theatrical interpretation, and interpersonal connection in about an hour, instead of sitting down to read the entirety of a 150+ page document (the whole dissertation). The textured experience of attending a live performance of arts-based research is made meaningful, as Leavy suggests, when arts-based researchers “concentrat[e] on self-expression as a vehicle of inquiry, not necessarily the principal objective” (2018, p. 31). In other words, in the case of the current study, the dramatic (and performance) text is composed in such a way as to bring a reader (or audience) along with me through the process of developing and faculty-directing an FSA program, rather than a journey into my emotional landscape for the sake of getting to learn more about moi. In the coming sections, I describe my engagement with each of these ABEAR methodologies with an awareness of the pedagogical merit of each. In other words, my objective with this research project is largely pedagogical. Rather than sharing a collection of stories that support a singular interpretation of art/i/facts in support of the development of best practice in education abroad pedagogy, I aim to inspire an audience to think in new ways about the pedagogies that can be employed in the unique learning context of education abroad. I designed and enacted program pedagogies with knowledge gained from my own lived experience as a faculty program director by entering into discourse about those experiences with an audience so as to better “treat [my] teaching as a form of personal research…[because] [w]hat [educators] need is critical yet supportive 49 Dramatic text that is performed for an audience. 91 feedback” (Eisner, p. 2002, p. 56, emphasis in the original). This dissertation is an invitation to dialogue about teaching and learning on education abroad programs that are described herein through ABEAR. Performative Autoethnography It is my intention that this performative autoethnographic project will provide an educative experience for audiences through witnessing my performing body [as] a praxis of evidence and analysis. [I will] offer [my] performing body as raw data of a critical cultural story… [which] rests upon reading and writing the body as a cultural text, as a personally political reflection whose evidence is an aesthetic/epistemic praxis based in performative writing” (Spry, 2011, p. 19 - 20). Through dramatic and performance texts in/from Chapter Five of this dissertation, I explore my personal and professional experiences as a faculty program director through reflections on: my own education abroad experiences as a faculty program director and, previously, as a doctoral study abroad fellow, grounded in nearly twenty years of academic and professional experience in the education abroad context. Encounters between these texts and audiences occur through performance: the text is performing something for its audience and the audience is interpreting that performance. Therefore, text, in its many forms, is a performance. And performance is ● Being ● Doing ● Showing doing ● Explaining showing doing (Schechner, 2002, p. 22). In other words, performances are happening everywhere, all the time, including education abroad programs. The focus of these programs is usually connected in some way to the experience of 92 witnessing and participating in the being, doing, showing doing, and explaining showing doing of local cultures and subcultural groups. In Chapter Five, I incorporate discussions about interactions with my FSA students and colleagues, as well as my interpretations of student coursework, which I will share directly with readers/the audience. I support my discussion of various experiences on the two programs under study by inviting the reader/audience to join me in reflecting on them, experiencing them through storytelling, my performance of a few different characters, visual images projected onstage, original poetry, and audience participation to help reinforce the affective experience of co- learning with a group of students through arts-oriented learning modalities. I am not an unbiased observer of these programs, and I will not pretend to be one. The performative autoethnographic approach allows me to explore meaning through two types of text and welcomes the reader/audience to interpret the work in whatever way they are inclined. This multi-textured approach to the texts of Chapter Five is inspired, in large part, by a production of Every Brilliant Thing, a play by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe (2015), presented by the University Musical Society at the University of Michigan -- Ann Arbor in September of 201750. This production broke the fourth wall51 by involving the audience in the story. Prior to the house lights being dimmed, which is a theatrical convention that tells the audience the performance is officially beginning, the actor, Jonny Donahoe, was warmly greeting individual audience members, and, when he sensed that they would be open to it, he would hand them a slip of paper with text on it that he would cue sometime during the show52. He also made note of audience members that he could invite to join him onstage to help him tell a multi-person story, like the audience member he asked to portray his dog’s veterinarian, while Donahoe held a (different 50 Macmillan, D. and Donahoe, J. (Writers), & Perrin, G. (Director). (September 16, 2017). Every brilliant thing. 51 “Breaking the fourth wall” is a term from the theatre that means a production engages with an audience directly in some capacity. 52 Donahoe, himself, described this process of finding willing participants from the audience during the talk-back that immediately following the conclusion of the play. 93 audience member’s) jacket as if it were his childhood pet. Donahoe was gracious and kind with every audience member who helped him tell the story. He helped generate this sense of welcome with asking the person in the lighting booth to turn on the house lights Richard Schechner differentiates performance and dramatic texts, explaining that, in a performance text, which is “everything that takes place on a stage that a spectator experiences, from the movements and speech of the dancers and/or actors to the lighting, sets, and other technical or multimedia effects” (Schechner, 2002, p. 193). The dramatic text exists on the page. It is the play, script, or music score, or dance notation that exists prior to being staged (Schechner, 2002, p. 193). Meanings are made and altered in the space of communication, whether that space is in a live performance (the performance space) or written on a page. between individuals and texts. For instance, to alert the audience to the many contributions assigning individual students different texts to read in preparation for their FSA program, I do not project and read a citation relevant to a particular site in something akin to a powerpoint presentation, nor do I read directly out of the book, itself. I ask an audience member, who received the relevant citation at the start of the show and tacitly agreed to read it to the audience, to read the quote as if they were an FSA student, contextualizing a site visit for their peers. The student mini-documentaries I feature at other points of the performance also reference specific understandings of what course texts can be, which further drives home the point that the programs under study were designed to be inclusive of many different perspectives, including those of each student. Through performance, an audience has the opportunity to understand this idea orally, aurally, affectively, and, in the case of the reader, through read-aloud and reading text on a page. “the term /text/ designates not only coherent and complete series of linguistic statements… but also every unit of discourse, whether verbal, nonverbal, or mixed, that... possesses the constitutive prerequisites of completeness and coherence” (de Marinis, cited in Schechner, 2002, p. 193). 94 Indeed, as described in the previous theoretical and conceptual chapter, I framed experiences in and outside of class, planned and unplanned, academic and social, as the primary texts of each FSA program. It follows, then, that I share some of those texts in their nonverbal form, though every text remains somewhat different from the experience it describes. For instance, a sunset and a photograph of a sunset are two different things, though the text of the photograph is meant to give one a sense of the experience (or text) of watching a sunset in the flesh. Similarly, performative autoethnography is sensitive to affect and aesthetics and embraces how, “Understood performatively, texts are transformable and pliable sign and/or symbol systems. Every text invites being remade into new texts” (Schechner, 2002, p. 193). The signs and symbols are well worth examination as texts as evidence of experiences. Plus, the performative autoethnographic approach allows a researcher to re-encounter the performance text every time it is performed, so that the meanings of the performance text can be a perpetual source of new ideas with each new audience and specific performance context (including performance space, time of day, moment in the performer’s life, etc.). Performative autoethnographic researchers can also learn from talk-back dialogues with readers/audiences of the texts, usually immediately following a performance, because The aim of performance is to bring self and other, the performative-I and the audience together so they can question, debate, and challenge one another. The performance resists conclusions. It is open-ended. It is committed to creating and keeping a dialogue ongoing. It is more like a hyphen, than a period (Conquergood, paraphrased by Denzin, 2018, p. 55). I hope that this dissertation inspires current and future faculty program directors to reimagine their work with students abroad and/or dialogue with the researcher and/or fellow audience members about possible pedagogical practices. Performative autoethnography gives me the opportunity to incorporate the works of art my students created for their FSA coursework, as those works were originally created (e.g. videos, 95 photographs), in an echo of that original creation (e.g. photographs of drawings and collages), or in a more theatrically enhanced manner (e.g. audience participation to give voice to students’ poetry during a performance). In this way, “no epistemological hierarchy exists between page, stage, word, or body; the body/self, the autoethnographic text, and the performance of the text contribute equally to the meaning making process” (Spry, 2011, p. 27-29). For instance, all of the students on both programs created more than one short documentary video to reflect on the experiences they had on the program and their immediate impact on the start of their freshman year. Rather than describe the documentary contents, share stills from the videos, or post a transcript of what was said in one or two of them, I can share these art/i/facts, in part or in toto, with an audience during the performance or embedded in digital copies of the dramatic text. In either case, audiences read the audiovisual texts, themselves, and witness, in the case of the videos, students’ tones of voice, choices of background music, the speed/types of transitions from one topic to the next. Furthermore, the performance text audience will see my physical responses to images and videos as we examine them together, hear my tone of voice as I discuss them, and see the affective impact they have on me, the person who designed the assignments and worked closely with the students in the first place. They will witness the affect my former students’ work has on me during the performance text, an affect that will be unique to every performance, impacted by the infinite configuration of ever-changing variables that always already make every moment of our lives unique. Indeed, the same is true for the dramatic text, as audiences/readers bring some element of the present into their interactions with a text. I am delighted to create texts that allow such room for perpetual reconceptions of these experiences. In these ways, “the performance does not ‘illuminate’ the text, rather [it] assists in the creation of the text; it is in itself performative” (Spry, 2011, p. 29). The art/i/facts I collected for this dissertation were gathered or generated in conditions that existed, regardless of the presence of a study or researcher. My students would have had the same 96 experiences with me throughout the program, without participating in this study. They participated in the programs for their own reasons. The only disruptions their participation in this research project made during the program were a brief discussion about the research project and its corresponding consent forms during on-campus orientation, their decision to sign and turn in the consent forms, an awareness that any audiovisual information I recorded or assignment they turned in might end up in this dissertation. After the conclusion of the Spain program, I invited the students to participate in a group interview during the March following the conclusion of their program. After conducting the group interview of some of the participants on the Spain program, I realized that I was more interested in what occurred during the five-month span of the program, itself, from the first emails to students to the conclusion of our final class meeting in October. Because of this, I did not conduct a group interview following the Italy program. A/r/tography A/r/tographical work is a specific category of [arts-based research] practices within education research. A/r/t is a metaphor for artist-researcher-teacher. In a/r/tography these three roles are integrated creating a third space (Pinar, 2004, p. 9). These practitioners occupy “in-between” space (Pinar, 2004, p. 9). A/r/tography merges “knowing, doing, and making” (Pinar, 2004, p. 9). (Leavy, 2015, p. 4, emphasis in original). A/r/tography recognizes an education researcher’s identities as an Artist, Researcher, and Teacher. These identities can be called upon all at once, in pairs, or individually at any point during any a/r/tographic research project. A/r/tography is an approach to research that brings “attention to the in-between where meanings reside in the simultaneous use of language, images, materials, situations, space, and time” (Irwin and Springgay, 2008, p. 106) and nestles snugly within performative autoethnography, because both approaches allow the researcher to have multiple 97 identities, rely upon the researcher’s broader (and possibly multiple) artistic abilities in the production of research products, and make room for pedagogical experiences throughout a project. As a theatre artist, I create performance text experience. As a researcher, I wonder at what this project might reveal about education abroad. And as a teacher, I will reflect upon the impact of the learning experiences I created for and with the students. The inclusion of a/r/tography within the context of this arts-based research project is essential, because it indicates and embraces my multilayered approach to the project as an artist, researcher, and teacher. Throughout this dissertation, whenever I discuss pedagogy, I am discussing my own work as an educator, which is a component of a/r/tography informing this research. Whenever I examine or describe components of the research that drove this study, I am writing as a researcher. When I engage in the writing or performance of artistic texts within this dissertation, my identity as an artist is central to the work. In performance, the living inquiry of a/r/tographic research requires a level of live improvisation akin to what is required of educators in the act of doing their work. For instance, when faculty program directors encounter the unexpected in the thick of a program abroad, an enterprise already rife with cacophonies of unpredictable and complex interpersonal, intrapersonal, and intercultural conflicts, as well as changes in the carefully-planned itinerary due to anything from food poisoning to unanticipated holidays53 or sudden venue changes54, they must be draw upon every professional resource at their disposal to improvise and adapt to continue to support student 53 For instance, while a graduate fellow on the 2013 MSU College of Education Fellowship to Enhance Global Understanding program in Indonesia, our group had a site visit to a postsecondary institute on Bali, which had been planned months in advance. When the time came for us to board the bus for the site visit, we learned that the visit had been canceled, because the institute was closed for a holiday. We were informed that this kind of scheduling conflict was not as rare as one might assume, because Balinese holidays follow a different calendar from the Gregorian one to which we were accustomed. 54 During the FSA program in Spain, we were originally scheduled to watch a Sardana, a traditional Catalan dance that occurs in public spaces during festivals, holidays, or weekends. The itinerary was set for us to attend a Sardana dance that was conveniently located in one of the heavily-touristed areas of the city. Upon our arrival to Barcelona, we learned that the Sardana performance had been moved closer to the outskirts of the city to a location that would have required significant logistical work and extra expense that made attending the performance a complicated endeavor. We chose to forego the scheduled activity and gave our students an extra few hours of rest during our very busy program. 98 learning and well-being, sometimes at a moment’s notice. It is largely for this reason that my descriptions of the phenomena under study in this dissertation, particularly the pedagogies I enacted as a faculty program director, will echo my descriptions of a/r/tography as a research methodology. It is simply how I have learned to think, as a student, educator, artist, and researcher. Concluding Thoughts The performance of cultural texts occurs within the context of ...a global population of brains inhabiting an entire world of inanimate and animate entities, a population whose members are incessantly communicating with one another through every physical and mental instrumentality… Each of us is a microcosm, related in the deepest ways to the whole life-history of that lovely deep blue globe swirled over with the white whorls first photographed by Edwin Aldrin and Neil Armstrong from their primitive space chariot, the work nevertheless of many collaborating human brains” (Turner, cited in Schechner, 2002, p. 245). Just as the astronauts created a new way to frame life on earth through the artistic inquiry of photography, I am interested in creating opportunities to inspire new insights about teaching and learning on education abroad programs through performative autoethnography with an a/r/tographic lens. Through these arts-based research methodologies, I hope to contribute new perspectives on curricula and pedagogies to the field of education abroad, and, in doing so, I embrace the opportunity to teach and learn with others through examining research art/i/facts through the arts. Finally, my dissertation will not be “defended,” nor will it be “performed.” It will be a combination of those things, yet something altogether different. The de/perform/ance of my 99 dissertation will serve as an interactive and artistic invitation to dialogue about, or simply to ruminate on, the ideas this research project explores. 100 CHAPTER 5: LET’S COUNT OFF ONE MORE TIME!: ADVENTURES IN EDUCATION ABROAD PEDAGOGY This piece needs performed in a room with at least one projection screen, preferably multiple. Any LIGHTING should be dimmed to support the theatrical atmosphere of the performance space, yet leave sufficient light for the AUDIENCE to read black text on white sheets of paper. There need to be dimmable HOUSE LIGHTS that remain on a setting low enough to minimally impact image quality on the screen and bright enough for the AUDIENCE to read text on slips of paper and for the AUDIENCE to interact directly with the NARRATOR and each other. The NARRATOR is wearing an outfit that she normally wears while leading programs abroad: a dress that goes to the knee, capri-length leggings, durable walking sandals, and hair is up in a loose bun. All STAGE PROPERTIES are stored in wings or stored surreptitiously onstage. Figure 2: Pre-De/Perform/ance Projection 101 Prior to seating, the AUDIENCE will receive a piece of paper with the following information on it: Figure 3: Images55 on Audience Handout (made56/drawn by the author) Artful Teaching and Learning Abroad: An Arts-Based Education Abroad (ABEAR) Study An Interactive Dissertation De/perform/ance by Karenanna Boyle Creps Community Building: “[C]ollaborative tasks… build a history of positive community experiences in which people may delight in each other’s company, know what it feels like to make something together, and begin to build honest relationships grounded in moments of authenticity” (Edmiston, 2014, p. 71). Curriculum/a: “The curriculum is central to any educational enterprise. The curriculum constitutes that array of activities that give direction to and develop the cognitive capacities of individuals” (Eisner, 2002, p. 148). In other words, curricula are the “What” of education. Education Abroad: “Education that occurs outside the participant’s home country. Besides study abroad, examples include such international experiences as work, volunteering, non-credit internships, and directed travel, as long as these programs are driven to a significant degree by learning goals” (Forum on Education Abroad, 2011, p. 12). Faculty-Directed Program: “A study abroad program directed by a faculty member (or members) from the home campus who accompanies students abroad. Usually, though not always, brief in duration” (Forum on Education Abroad, 2011, p. 14). Faculty Program Director: “A university faculty member appointed to lead an education abroad program. The individual’s on-campus roles may include program development, advising, recruitment, admission, orientation, and advocacy. Faculty program directors may be called on to assume a range of important overseas responsibilities in the areas of administration, logistics, finances, and academics” (Forum on Education Abroad, 2011, p. 23). 55 Images made/drawn by the author, unless otherwise noted. 56 Many thanks to Vivek Vellanki for this helpful term. 102 First-Year Seminar Abroad (FSA): A short-term education abroad (EA) program for rising freshmen during the summer between their high school graduation and their first fall semester at Michigan State University (MSU). These programs are designed to introduce students to the academic, social, and global nature of undergraduate education at MSU. Pedagogy/ies: Instructional practices, including the intentions that guide faculty program director decision-making, as well as actions faculty program directors take “on the ground” with students to support learning, including guiding student engagement with curriculua to facilitate learning. The “How” of education. Short-Term: “Lasting eight weeks or less; may include summer, January, or other terms of eight weeks or less” (Forum on Education Abroad, 2011, p. 15). Third-Party Provider (TPP): “An institution or organization that offers education abroad program services to students from a variety of institutions. A program provider may be a college or university, a nonprofit organization, a for-profit business, or a consortium” (Forum on Education Abroad, 2011, p. 20). Performance PROGRAMS will be sitting on a table near the entrance of the performance space. The programs will contain the usual production information, in addition to the ABOVE TEXT AND IMAGES . Spanish Flamenco music will be playing softly in the background. Figure 4: De/Perform/ance Title Slide Projection 103 (NARRATOR enters, picks up a small pile of papers) Good morning (or afternoon or evening, depending on the time of day) and welcome to Let’s Count Off One More Time: Adventures in Education Abroad Pedagogy. Here are a couple of notes to get things started: Figure 5: Mobile Phones Projection Please silence your mobile phones or switch them off. Thank you. 104 Figure 6: Audience Participation Projection This performance involves some degree of audience participation. I will tell you what I tell every group of students I teach: you have the right to abstain from any of the activities I lead. You are welcome to simply observe, if you prefer. You don’t have to explain why you’re choosing to abstain. Each of these pages has an underlined title, followed by text. Periodically throughout the performance, I will cue particular readings written on one or more of these pieces of paper. Readers don’t have to memorize anything or come up here and tap dance or something. All a reader need to do is read the text on their paper after my cue. If you’re comfortable being a reader, please take a sheet or two when these papers pass through your hands. There may be more sheets of paper than readers, so, if you really like reading aloud, feel free to take a few sheets! If you’d rather not be a reader, no problem. Just pass along the whole pile of papers to the next audience member. Does that make sense? 105 (When the audience responds in the affirmative, NARRATOR hands the papers to audience members on either side of the room.) Thank you. Figure 7: Dissertation De/Perform/ance Title Projection NARRATOR: (After paper is mostly distributed) Welcome to my Dissertation De/Perform/anse! My name is Karenanna, and I will be your faculty program director on this morning’s (or whatever time of day it is during the performance) short-term education abroad program! This space is no longer the MSU Museum Auditorium (or wherever the performance is being held), but the site of our collective immersion into my own process of creating and enacting pedagogies on education abroad programs. 106 For the next hour or so, I’m going to share the ways in which I’ve designed and implemented pedagogies (or ways of teaching -- the “how” of education), and how they supported various course curricula, (the “what” of education) on two education abroad programs I faculty-directed in Europe. I’ll also share how the students on those two First-Year Seminar Abroad (FSA) programs responded to the learning experiences I created. Please note: all student work in this text is unedited -- you are going to see exactly what they created during this program. I do this to give you a more textured understanding of the learners on these FSA programs. FSA programs introduce rising freshman to college student life Fresh from high school, just a toe into college I’m their first instructor advisor facilitator guide grader tutor well, a lot, I’m their first Faculty Program Director (FPD) The focus: learning about local cultures with and through the arts. 30 students split between 2 courses 2 faculty same sites 107 different foci Arts and Culture vs. Youth and Sports Arts and Culture vs. Political Science 1 Program Assistant for both programs both countries both times Unique experiences each time skills transferable for everyone faculty, too Today could we all learn some more from each other with each other? We have the power to change what is possible for us all. (Beat.) Figure 8: A Really Great Pub Projection Before we get into the FSA programs, I need to tell you a story: 108 (10 second pause, so the AUDIENCE can read the British Museum description) Back in high school, I learned The British Museum was full of treasures, it saved precious things from ruin. (Projection: Elgin Marbles, Rosetta Stone, Hoa Hakananai’a, Egyptian mummies, and Samurai armor, NARRATOR points at each image as she describes them.) Figure 9: British Museum Artifacts Projection Elgin Marbles Rosetta Stone Hoa Hakananai’a Mummies salvaged from the Parthenon the score of ancient tongues lips sealed against an onslaught of expertise catalogued, displayed in unholy undress 109 Samurai armor ...among others But Pillage Plunder and Rape sweatless in a glass box displayed at the pleasure of the royal family. too complex for high school were saved for later (or never). Figure 10: British Museum South Entrance Pediment Projection 157 (NARRATOR as Faculty Program Director, MURRAY) Well over a decade later, A graduate apprenticeship 57 Text and formatting added to photo. ...abroad! 110 He says: We’ll reconvene at the British Museum at 2:00. He says: Can you write this homework assignment? (NARRATOR as PROGRAM ASSISTANT) I say: YES! You want critical thinking, right? (NARRATOR as Faculty Program Director, MURRAY) Just make sure they actually see something in there. (NARRATOR as PROGRAM ASSISTANT) Got it. The plan: have them see the Rosetta Stone then something they’d overlook then something to problematize extremist assumptions about Islam. Assign the artifacts. Typical field trip worksheet ...except Critical! No problem. A beautiful Museum Worksheet, finished in time for Lunch. These kids (eh-em) STUDENTS have been everywhere: week 3 of a month In Europe: Germany, France, now They’ve visited: The Stasi Archives (A Library of East German Spies) England. What opportunity! 111 Figure 11: What They’ve Seen Projection France’s subterranean Maginot Line - fallible, since Hitler still traversed the Rhine One guest lecture by Harrison’s pal, Layla’s brother, our hands on George’s sportcoat and Sargent Pepper! (two stories, among others) Figure 12: British Library Projection This morning? The British Library 112 where, of time, the Magna Carta rests, unwary And one young poet’s brief last story: Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori. (Beat.) Then: (Bum-ba-da-dum-dum-DUM!) Figure 13: British Museum South Entrance Pediment Projection 258 The British Museum! The South Entrance Pediment! Inevitable! Powerful! Giant! Roman-Looking! Permanent! Anonymous crowds stream in ants on stolen bread skitter towards treasures in Lilliputian dress a bolus of thousands feeds the leviathan, sneaks between the paws of this collonaded Cerberus guarding the land 58 Text and formatting added to original photo. 113 of the dead semper fidelis to old, bloodless gods, he snuffs out sweat, heat, the sun. Onward, my charges! Join the swarm and stick together, squeeze by his paws and metal detectors: I watch the guards for not so random searches of students whose ancestors made what this Museum contains, wary of new thieves Distribute tickets and worksheets before theft. Here are your tickets and worksheets. Have you got your tickets and worksheets? Endless tickets and worksheets, but that’s good, right? Ticketed, directioned, and worksheeted We release them into anonymity p e o p l e p a r t i c l e s in space ...and what space! 114 Figure 14: British Museum Great Court Projection59 (NARRATOR, as if blowing students gently into the Museum from her cupped hands) Plunge into the air and light, my darlings! Pour yourselves into Her Majesty's Great Court! (NARRATOR, gaze drawn upwards by the visual vacuum, gasps quietly -- in awe) Leaden weightlessness Opulent emptiness We’re not floating, we are pushed to the ground by the spinning earth yet my whole soul saturates every corner this undulating void my heart is taken hurled heavenward my mouth drowns agape with atmosphere 59 Text and overlaid image added to Ruusunen photo. 115 gentle breath extinguished for a channel dredged into my humanity. Nature magnified Heavens vivified Every nook entwines And seizes my spirit I swim and breathe in The Abyss. (Beat) One breath more (Beat) ...then The students: Have they forgotten and remembered themselves, too? Some gaze upwards then tiny groups cluster over maps the usual loners excluded the rest murmur assignments, ask companions: “Where’s the Islamic room?” “What do we have to write about?” “Is it room 42 or 43?” “Hey -- the Rosetta stone thing is right over there” “I think it’s both.” “Cool -- we can do that, first” “This shouldn’t take too long.” “But how long is this going to take? I heard there’s a really great pub down the street.” “What about the Cradle to Grave thing? Do you see it?” 116 “I wanna go drink there, too.” “I bet we can finish in half an hour.” “Let’s start over there.” “Yeah. Cool.” ...they fracture, tiny battalions and one or two alone and adrift. But all are gone the quintessence of “New World” efficiency Take a moment with me forget and then remember: time, space, silent stories… Look! How hard a people works to distract you with canticles of power? Think! Do you see how they toil to mask the shame of pillage, plunder, and rape? Do you recognize the dusty bones that built this?!?!? Talk with me! ...but here? I’ve been in school a long time! I can help you pull on the edges of fairy tales, cut through the sheen of hoarders and preservers of History! You need to know these things! Hell I’ll even help you with your homework! 117 Figure 15: Blank Screen Projection Where did you go? How did I fail you? Did I fail you? Why did you come ...and then go? I stoop and sweep the bits and pieces of the trampled dead of silentious dust and smudges 118 and follow while you take what you need to get a grade and then disappear into beer heads sour chips greasy hands and flirtations with the living. What happened? (Big beat.) (End of poem.) That day. Oh, man. That. Day. One of my first thoughts was: “Kids these days...blah, blah, blah.” WHAT? No. I’m an educator, not a bystander. 119 (sigh) So, what happened? At least three things: -Engagement -Cohesion -Empty experiences So what now? Why does this matter? Figure 16: So, What Happened? Projection 120 Figure 17: What Now? Projection Why does this matter to me? Why go? I worked for this visit I wrote the worksheets I was thrilled to be there What did we My sleeves were rolled: Put me in, coach! miss? I can inspire them make connections build community quash tourism! Or so I thought? 121 (Beat) Figure 18: British Museum Site Visit Issues Projection So, I set out to create an undergraduate education abroad program that addressed the issues I thought may have significantly contributed to the student behavior I witnessed at the British Museum: Possible contributing factors to student disengagement during the visit might have been: -The students received no contextual information for the British Museum site visit, beyond the fact that it was on the itinerary and the program directorship team was excited about it. -Neither the site visit nor the short answer homework questions were framed as having any apparent connection with the centennial of WWI, which was the theme of that program. One possible contributing factor to the lack of group cohesion might have been: 122 There was a lack of attention to developing robust connections among students and program directors built on trust and shared responsibilities to support every individual on the program (to generate trust and supportive intra-group dynamics) within the program’s pedagogy. Cliques formed at the beginning of our time in-country and excluded the same students throughout the month-long program. Finally, the students’ behavior seemed to reveal a preference for leisure and entertainment activities in lieu of scholarly engagement at a site they may have known nothing about. The short answer homework assignment, intended to “just make sure they see something,” did not appear to have done much in the way of piquing their interest in the Museum and its contents, which connects directly back to the disengagement issue at the site, itself. However! I thought I knew enough about education abroad, and about myself as an educator and education researcher, to craft a program that better prepared students for deeper academic engagement with site visits and other learning activities. I also thought that I could deepen students’ commitment to the well-being of every individual in the group and create a greater sense of group cohesion among students and the program directorship team. This dissertation examines the pedagogy I designed and enacted as a faculty program director on two successive First-Year Seminar Abroad programs at Michigan State University. I intended to create programs with the goals of deepening student interest in program activities and building and maintaining a sense of community among all of the students throughout each program. To take on this research project, I needed some serious backup. 123 Theoretical backup. Figure 19: Theoretical Backup: Dewey Projection John Dewey’s writings are foundational to experiential education theory and are therefore foundational to this dissertation. I’ll give you a moment to read through the citations written on this slide. (20 second pause) His language about the overemphasis of activities as ends, in and of themselves, speaks to me about one of the central issues of the ill-fated British Museum site visit: the lack of student engagement. Had we better prepared the students for this site visit, had we focused those preparatory discussions on the purpose of including the museum on the itinerary, we might have crafted what Dewey calls an intelligent activity. Instead, we confused the impulse to take students to the museum as a “must-see” 124 London destination with the purpose of supporting student learning related to the program focus of the First World War. The British Museum site visit, rather than serving as an educative experience that bolstered the momentum of student learning on the program, was miseducative, a non sequitur with seemingly no connection to the academic focus of the program. Dewey helps me contextualize the challenges of the British Museum site visit within experiential education theory and understand how I applied my artistic training and teaching experience to preclude those issues during the programs under study. Figure 20: Theoretical Backup: Eisner Projection Speaking of artistic training, the curricula and pedagogies of these programs were arts-oriented, meaning coursework was grounded in the arts without the intention of formally training students to be artists. I created coursework for both programs that asked students to experiment with various 125 art forms as languages through which they could process experiences and share ideas about those experiences. Eliott Eisner’s work on arts education helps me describe some of my aspirations for the impact of arts-oriented coursework on student learning. I’ll give you a moment to read through the Eisner citations on this slide. (20 second pause) The programs under study are designed, in part, to be an introduction to postsecondary coursework. As an education researcher and instructor of preservice teachers, I know that the standardized testing movement has pushed many K-12 teachers to “teach to the test”. Some teachers’ very livelihood is attached to their students’ test scores. I’ll spare you the lengthy discussion that we could have about the pressures of the standardized testing movement on teachers and students and skip to the part that connects with the programs under study: graduating high school seniors often graduate conditioned to anticipate that there is a single right answer for everything that counts, that they have to produce the right answer to get a “good grade” in a course. This obsession with the right answer conflicts with a common hallmark of postsecondary education in the U.S.: students are encouraged to examine and process ideas and then decide what they think about what they’ve learned. In K-12 settings, students are commonly asked to engage in convergent thinking, or thinking that leads everyone to the same conclusion, deemed the correct answer. In postsecondary settings, students are often asked to engage in divergent thinking, or thinking that leads everyone to their own unique conclusions. So, to help prepare the rising freshmen on these programs for this shift, I asked them, through arts-oriented assignments, to engage in divergent 126 thinking60. I focused my pedagogical efforts on encouraging students to amplify their own voices through arts-oriented assignment prompts. You’ll see some examples of this kind of course work in a few minutes. Suffice it to say, Eisner helps me articulate the connection between the production of artistic work and an education environment that encourages students to develop and share their own ideas. Eisner also points out that the creation of artistic work can open the imagination to “awakening to the world around us” and to “explore new possibilities” in that awakening, including “step[ping] into the shoes of others”. Doesn’t that sound like ad copy for education abroad? In this second citation, Eisner reveals a compelling overlap of arts education practice and some of the most prevalent learning goals of education abroad. When students engage divergent thinking to produce artistic work that communicates their unique perspective on an idea, an educator has to remain flexible enough to improvise pedagogical responses to students’ artistic work. During an education abroad program, faculty program directors are guiding students through the ever-changing sociopolitical and urban/suburban/rural/wilderness landscapes of an education abroad itinerary, while also remaining attentive to individual students’ responses to immersive intercultural learning. To give you a sense of what can happen, here are some of the things I’ve experienced on short-term education abroad programs:peaceful protests that revealed human rights violations on the part of the host country’s national government, a surge in Catalonian patriotism in anticipation of an October referendum for independence from Spain, an unanticipated national rail workers’ strike the day the group was supposed to cross a country by train, a program plagued with both fleas and lice, students on the program intimidating peers with 60 See Sir Ken Robinson’s lecture, Changing Education Paradigms, for a helpful discussion of divergent and convergent thinking: https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms 127 threats of violence or sexual advances, and, in one truly awful set of circumstances, the death of a member of the program directorship team while abroad with students. (Beat) These programs require the engagement of program leaders’ head, heart, and hands61 at any time of the day and in a wide variety of situations. “Pedagogical improvisation in the service of meaningful teaching and learning” is central to the success of education abroad programs. This work is far from easy. I need every ounce of energy and focus to faculty-direct these programs and respond to many, many layers of unpredictability. At the same time, these programs are often among the most satisfying pedagogical endeavors I experience. My arts-oriented approach to faculty program directorship allows for pedagogical (and curricular) flexibility that can match the continuously changing landscape of learning environments throughout a program. So, let’s do this. 61 Steglitz, Roy, & Akulli, 2017, p. 273. 128 Figure 21: Let’s Do This Projection This dissertation examines my pedagogical problem-solving to address the issues I’ve described. My research question is: How do I, as a faculty program director, perceive student learning from arts- oriented, place-based, experiential pedagogies on two different education abroad programs meant to introduce rising freshmen to undergraduate education? 129 Figure 22: First-Year Seminar Abroad (FSA) Programs Under Study Projection The programs under study are First-Year Seminars Abroad (FSAs), designed to introduce rising first-year undergraduate students at Michigan State University (MSU) to postsecondary education. The students on these programs can be enrolled in undergraduate programs in any of the 17 degree- granting colleges on campus, from the College of Communication Arts and Sciences to the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to the College of Music and beyond. I crafted these interdisciplinary arts programs with this diversity of student interests in mind, which is why the program titles speak to such a wide range of potential student interests. The first program ran during the summer of 2017 in Barcelona and Bilbao, Spain and named my intention for students to think about the implications of their presence in Spain on an education abroad program through “culture and the arts.” The second program took place the following summer in several cities with a broadened focus on intercultural education through the arts and across the cultural history of the peninsula. 130 Figure 23: Future Alma Mater Projection 162 Imagine it’s June. You’ve just graduated from high school, and you’ve started receiving emails and actual mail from the people running the FSA programs at Michigan State, your future alma mater. Your on-campus FSA orientation begins next month, right before you leave the country. 62 Text added to photo. 131 Figure 24: Book List Projection You receive an email from me, your faculty program director, to select and read a book from a list63 and complete your first online homework assignment on MSU’s online learning platform. The books on the list cover a range of topics, from food to political history to creative fiction to anglophone expat experiences and beyond. This breadth of literature was designed to appeal to a wide variety of student interests and connect those interests to the program focus. Once you’ve selected your book, you login to MSU’s online learning management system (or LMS) for your first course assignment64. I have asked you to share a little bit about yourself on a group discussion thread, which is only accessible to students enrolled in the course and me, your faculty program director: 63 See Appendix A for the Spain program’s book list (contained within the course syllabus) and Appendix C for the Italy program’s book list. Students on the Spain program were randomly assigned books to read in pairs or on their own. I was not satisfied with the level of student interest in their randomly assigned books, so, for the Italy program, I shifted to asking students to select their own books from a curated list that was posted on a GoogleDoc. Anecdotally, this seemed to generate more enthusiasm about the book assignments among a greater number of students. 64 I am not counting the FSA-wide pre-program online modules that are administered across all FSA programs as course-specific assignments, because they are designed to examine overarching FSA learning outcomes and I did not write or grade them. 132 Figure 25: LMS Group Discussion Thread Projection You are asked to respond to questions on a group discussion thread, which means that everyone in the class will see what you’ve written. I’ll give you a moment to read through these questions. (20 Second Pause) For this online introduction assignment, you can share as much as you want to share, take time to craft your responses as you wish, even heavily edit your photos, and you have my example to help you better understand what you’re being asked to write. Of course, this also gives you the opportunity to learn a little about me and your future classmates, before hitting the ground running at the start of on-campus orientation. 133 I’m going to focus in on just one of the questions, which should give you a sense of students’ expectations related to the program, itself: Figure 26: Responses to Question 8 Projection I’ve randomly selected six student responses from the Spain program to share with you today. As you can see, the themes of experiential and intercultural learning were consistent across these responses. This was consistent across both programs, as well. In these responses, you will see that some students on the Spain program were interested in speaking and/or learning more Spanish in interactions with locals. Students on the Italy program did not express much interest in learning Italian. 134 Figure 27: Future Alma Mater Projection 265 Now, imagine that it’s mid-July, and you’re sitting in the room with your classmates right now. Who’s who? Where’s the wrestler? The rock-climber? The one with a Netflix addiction? Then, your faculty program director says, 65 Text added to photo. 135 Figure 28: Welcome to College! Projection FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Welcome to college! I’m Karenanna Creps, your faculty program director. Please call me Karenanna. I am looking forward to spending the next two weeks learning with you. It was fun to learn a little bit about each of you from your online introductions assignment. We’re going to be spending the next 50 minutes or so learning more about each other, before we get into the nitty-gritty of the syllabus66, itinerary, assignments, readings, and other things. We will have ample time to review all of that information during orientation over the next two days. If you have questions about any of those things, you will have time to ask them. (NARRATOR, as an aside to the audience) 66 See Appendix A for the Spain program syllabus and Appendix B for the Italy program syllabus. 136 Side note: you’re still imagining you’re at orientation, but you don’t need to physically participate in what happens next -- just repeat what I say when I ask you to, if you’re comfortable doing so. You’re welcome to imagine standing up and moving around, if you’d like. (NARRATOR as FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR) So, in a moment, you’ll stand up and push your desks and chairs to the perimeter of the classroom, then come back to form a circle in the center of the room with me. Ok, go ahead and move those things to the side. (NARRATOR, as an aside to the audience, if needed) No worries -- you can stay there. (NARRATOR as FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR) People learn things in many different ways. While learning, some people doodle, some remember how things look, sound, or feel. Some people write things down, verbatim. Many people rely on some combination of cues to learn new things. This activity will give you a chance to learn each other’s names in multiple ways. You’ll say your name with a unique vocal quality, and you’ll move in a unique way while saying your name. Your movement and vocal choices should be connected to some aspect of who you are. For instance, if you love dancing, you might sing your name while moon-walking. After saying your name while doing the motion, the whole group will repeat the same movement and vocal qualities that you performed while saying your name back to you, in 137 unison. I’ll show you what I mean -- remember to repeat exactly what I say, how I say it, and what I do while saying it, back to me, in unison: (FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR speaks in a loud, deep, gravelly voice with hands on hips, waggling finger guns while speaking) Ka-ren-nan-naaaa! (AUDIENCE stays seated, but repeats name with vocal quality back to FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR. If the FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR feels the audience didn’t respond with enough gusto, she will prompt them to try again) Beautiful! I feel closer to all of you, already. (As NARRATOR) Now, imagine that we’ve gone around the circle and every single one of you has performed your own, unique version of your name. I always go a bit over the top with my demonstration, because the level of commitment I put into sharing my name often establishes the upper extreme of what students are willing to do with their own names. That is fine, as long as everyone can clearly hear each person’s name and see some form of mimicked movement in the group’s response back to each student. Some students (especially actors) don’t need much in the way of encouragement to add flair to the sound of their name. For others, participating in the activity at all is already a big deal and outside of their comfort zone. Bottom line: Every student is seen, recognized, and heard. 138 (Beat) Now, let’s take a look at the course titles and course-specific goals for both of these programs (we’ll discuss the overarching FSA program goals later). I’ll give you a moment to read through them. (NARRATOR waits for around half of the audience to look away from the projection before continuing) These course titles cover a LOT of territory, which allowed me the freedom to take advantage of learning opportunities and introduce students to various ways of knowing in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. I am not an Italy or Spain expert, but I am an artist, arts and humanities scholar, and educator. I took opportunities to be a learner, right alongside these students, during our time in the field, in the classroom, and even in the airport. Figure 29: Airport Projection 139 FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR: We’ve made it to the airport! Our whole group of 33 people has checked in, gotten through security, found the gate, and had time to buy snacks. NARRATOR: Now, we’re all sitting together at the gate, about 40 minutes before boarding time. There’s been a group count-off at every stage of this process. In the midst of shepherding everyone through the airport, I have to keep in mind that each student comes to this program with a different life history and may be feeling any number of feelings as we weave our way through the sterile metropolis within Detroit Metro Airport. Figure 30: You Might be the Student Who… Projection (To AUDIENCE) Could you help me create a soundscape of the student feelings listed in this poem? Please silently select a trio ideas to read aloud in unison with everyone else in this room. You can select whichever three you’d like. At my cue, which looks like this (gives a cue akin a conductor of an orchestra), I’ll ask you to read them in unison. (Beat.) Ready? (NARRATOR raises her hand like a 140 conductor about to begin conducting a symphony, then, when the audience looks ready, she cues the soundscape). Yup, that’s about what it feels like at the beginning of a program. Thank you for helping enliven these feelings beyond the screen. (Beat.) NARRATOR: Whichever student you happen to be, you’re now sitting at the gate with the whole group, which means both 15-student tracks, each track’s faculty program director, and one invaluable program assistant. At this point, I, your faculty program director, need to do what I can to keep all of my students at the gate for the next 40 minutes. Time is precious on a 10-day program like ours. This moment is an opportunity for an Airport Activity that supports further the forging of stronger connections among students and program directors among the students, while also supporting learning in service of the FSA Programmatic Goals: Figure 31: Activity Objectives and FSA Goals Projection 141 1) Keep everyone together at the gate until it’s time to line up for boarding. 2) Build community among students and let them get to know each other even better. 3) Take advantage of another opportunity to support the FSA Programmatic Goals. I’ll give you a moment to glance through those goals, now. (20 second pause) So, to do all of this, I give my students their first college-level research project67. Figure 32: First College-Level Research Project Projection FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR: We’re all here! Did everyone find snacks and the other things you wanted in the airport shops? (FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR waits for a response from the AUDIENCE) Great. 67 Thanks to Lynn Fendler, PhD, for teaching me this activity in several doctoral courses. 142 Please point to the nearest bathroom. (If AUDIENCE members don’t point at the bathroom, FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR fields this by saying, Glad I asked! It’s over there. FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR points towards the nearest bathroom to the MSU Auditorium, or wherever this is being performed, then repeats Ok, please point to the nearest bathroom. Great, thank you. When audience members point in the direction of the bathrooms, FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR affirms and confirms their response) Please point to where we’ll line up to board the plane. (Aside, as NARRATOR) We’ll say it’s over there. (FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR responds in much the same way as to the bathroom question, only the gate is imaginary). So, where will we line up to board the plane? (AUDIENCE responds). Excellent. (As FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR) Now, it’s time for your first college-level research project. (NARRATOR picks up her demo journal). Each of you will draw a research question out of this bag and then collect responses to that question from every single member of our group, including all students in both tracks and the program directorship team, before boarding time (so, remember to survey László Seregi, the other faculty program director, Marie Taglioni, the program assistant, and me, in addition to your peers). You should use the Field Notes Journal each of you received during orientation (shows audience journal) to record and analyze the data you collect in response to the question you draw. You will have until we line up to board the airplane (about 40 minutes) to collect data from everyone. If you need a little more time, you can finish collecting data while we’re waiting for our connecting flight in Atlanta. You have the duration of both of our flights to Italy to decide how to analyze your data and prepare 143 to present your data analysis and conclusions to the group. You can analyze and present your data in any way you’d like. NARRATOR: For brevity’s sake, I’m not actually going to give each of you a question to ask everyone in this room. Let’s look at just one example of how a student presented their68 research project findings. Allow me to set the scene: Figure 33: In-Country Orientation Projection Both FSA tracks and the whole program directorship team are in a large meeting room at our Third- Party Provider’s (TPP’s) local offices for an in-country orientation. They’re introducing our group to what everyone needs to know to navigate the local context and how the TPP supports our program. They discuss how they: supervise program logistics, address any urgent matters (like getting lost or dealing with lost passports), can make recommendations for things to do during free time, discuss 68 Pronoun used to be inclusive of all gender identities. 144 local health and safety concerns, and provide local guides/lecturers/translators, as needed, for program activities. Also: Our second flight landed four hours ago. Everyone found their luggage, got through customs, took the charter bus to the hotel, changed clothes, got back on the bus, and now we’re all sitting in the TPP’s student center. It’s midday, though it feels more like 6:00am. A tiny breath of a breeze is wafting through the large windows that open over a relatively quiet city street. It’s around 95℉ (indoors). The TPP has fans blowing softly enough so that everyone can hear the presentations and barely feel a breeze. The TPP presenters are speaking in strongly accented English. Everyone is sweating. I’m a student in this scene. (STUDENT retrieves backpack and chair, drops backpack next to the chair, and collapses into it, with a very quiet groan, then slumps in chair, looking exhausted and trying really hard to listen and be polite. She mumbles her interior monologue.) STUDENT: Oh my god, I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired. I’m so tired I’m not hungrybuttheyseem nice. Are they speakingItalianor… (almost drops into sleep during orientation intro, but catches herself before falling over) Whoa -- I’m awake I’m awake I’m in Italy pickpocketsgetwallets no notinmypants in my… gracias? (Noticing students getting something out of their bags) Wait -- what’s happening? The research thing? (Momentary panic) Ummm... (Fumbles madly in backpack for Field Notes 145 Journal) Did I leave my journal on the airplane? In the hotel? Where’s my...? (Finds journal, quiet sigh of relief) I hope I’m not first. Oh, good -- let her go first. (Suddenly alert and attentive) I don’t remember her question. What is she going to say about me? (STUDENT listens intently to presentation, which allows the audience to glance through the projected data analysis and conclusions) (Interior monologue continues) Ha! I’m in the convenience group with just about everyone else. Maybe we’ll be really good at finding bathrooms or something. (Smiles to self, then tries to quiet the smile to “play it cool”). Who’s next? (Looks around room, deep breath, tentatively raises hand) Here goes nothing! Play it cool. (Stands to present, journal in hand). (To AUDIENCE) My question was: Write a single sentence that uses all of the following words: cat, wooden, electric slide, and pancakes. 146 Figure 34: Student’s Research Analysis Projection As you can see here, I asked everyone but myself this question, since I’m the researcher, here. People answered in a variety of ways. I have chosen to pop-psychoanalyze everyone by looking at the ways each of you used certain words. This is what I have discovered about the people in our group: ● 56% of our group referred to the electric slide as a dance, which means that 56% of us are fun loving and spontaneous. ● 38% of us referred to the cat as wooden, which indicates that these people feel unstable in their current situation. ● 25% of respondents referred to the cat as being possessed by the author of the sentence, which probably means that those people are emotionally detached. ● 28% of you said that the cat ate the pancakes, which indicates generosity and humanitarian tendencies. ● 25% of us had the pancakes being eaten by the author of the sentence, which indicates that you are likely greedy, closed off, and paranoid. 147 ● 22% of you used the pancakes for some other purpose in your sentence, which suggests that you are creative and unique. ● 22% said that the floor was wooden, which likely means you cannot let go of the past. ● 10% of you said that the cat was dead, and you should be concerned about your sociopathic tendencies. ● 10% of you named the cat Pancakes, which indicates that you are overly sensitive and emotional. Thank you. (FSA STUDENT picks up backpack and puts journal into it, puts the backpack and chair off to the side.) Figure 35: Other Student Research Projection NARRATOR: Here are some examples of other students’ research projects, straight from their Field Notes Journals. Every student got a field notes journal at the beginning of orientation. 148 Not bad for their first postsecondary research project, eh? Now that we’ve got in-country orientation out of the way, let’s get moving! Figure 36: Spain! Projection Katie and Kevin created a mini-documentary project that should help us all get in the headspace of the Spain program with some of what they learned during the program. (Play video69) Really powerful stuff. (Beat) 69 To access the video for this slide, go to: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1u97mvxg6Ys1l89OjeQjHKMCa2DIZkYn8fHJgeOX8mDo/edit?usp=sharin g 149 Ok. Let’s jump into a couple of site visits on both programs. Figure 37: Today’s Itinerary Projection FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Good morning! Thank you for being up and ready to participate in all of today’s activities. Our schedule is pretty packed, and there’s a lot of variety in today’s itinerary. Please remember, as I have mentioned throughout our time together, education abroad is filled with opportunities for adaptation. Today is one of the busiest group activity days of the program. The busier the itinerary, the more opportunities we may discover for adaptation. Remember how the Sardaña performance got cancelled the other day because they changed the venue? The cancellation gave you more time to explore the city on your own, do coursework, or sleep. The things you’ll be doing today will create part of the multisensory tapestry of your intercultural learning experience. I encourage you to embrace each experience as an opportunity to expand what 150 you know about the places we have the privilege of visiting, the people we have the privilege of meeting, and the experiences we have the privilege of, well, experiencing. Anyone hungry? Let’s make our way downtown to today’s Catalonian Cooking Class! Figure 38: Traditional Catalonian Cooking Class Projection During this class, we’ll be learning about the cuisine of Catalonia, the region surrounding Barcelona. (FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR, looking for COOKING CLASS READER) Who read Discovering Spain: An Uncommon Guide? (FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR connects with READER) Could you read the section we talked about earlier? It’s directly related to today’s class. 151 COOKING CLASS READER: “One of the earliest European cookbooks, El Llibre del Cuiner, was published in the Catalan language in 1520 (then later translated to Castillian). Author Ruperto Nola… produced recipes featuring unusual food combinations that are still characteristic of Catalan cooking… By favoring stews and “composite” dishes featuring more than one main ingredient, and by joining the most unlikely and disparate elements, Catalans have created an imaginative, almost Baroque-style cuisine that is one more example of the Catalan love for shock and surprise” (Casas, 1996, p. 329) FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Thank you for being our group expert for today’s cooking class. FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR: After preparing and consuming that beautiful meal, we have a little bit of a break before heading to another part of the city for our flamenco dance class: (Audio for the first few seconds of the Flamenco Dance Class slide: A Flamenco recording, peppered with pregnant moments of silence) 152 Figure 39: Flamenco Dance Class Projection (FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR, looking for FLAMENCO CLASS READER) Who read Ghosts of Spain? (FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR connects with FLAMENCO CLASS READER) Could you read the section we talked about earlier? It’s directly related to today’s Flamenco class. FLAMENCO CLASS READER: “...A man draws the first few phrases of a song from deep inside him, and suddenly his friends are tocando palmas, beating out a complex, staccato, machine-gun rhythm with their hands. This, along with a dancer’s stamping feet, is the traditional source of flamenco’s percussion. If the song is successful, that might just be the start. The juerga -- the partying -- begins. Nobody can predict when it will end. 153 ...Good flamenco, I was constantly told, would make the hairs on my arm stand on end” (Tremlett, 2006, p. 152 - 3, 162). FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Thank you for being our group expert for today’s flamenco class. Figure 40: Morning Mindfulness and Stretching Projection NARRATOR: Imagine: it’s our 9AM class meeting the next day. Yesterday, we had a morning lecture about roughly 5,000 years of Catalonian history (she got through the WHOLE timeline!), a Catalan cooking class, a flamenco dance class, and an outdoor flamenco show that began at 10pm and was cancelled because of a downpour that began around 11pm. All of us had to run through the rain to get to the Metro station. We got back to the residencia around 12:30am. The next morning, we meet in our usual classroom, chairs and tables pushed aside to make room for floor work. Everyone is looking a little tired because of our full day yesterday. 154 We begin by recognizing the state of our bodies, engaging in some mindfulness practice, and doing some gentle yoga and stretching to wake ourselves up. FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Let’s engage in a little mindful breathing right now. As always, you are welcome to simply sit quietly during this activity, if you prefer. Please close your eyes. Let your hands rest softly in your lap. We are going to do some box breathing to increase our awareness of our own bodies today, in this space. I will guide you through box- breathing with a four count, so you’ll breathe in, hold your breath, breathe out, hold your breath, and then breathe in again to the count of four. Please breathe in when I begin the count. (FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR directs AUDIENCE through the exercise, counting to four for every interval. After two or three cycles through box breathing, FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR asks AUDIENCE to return to their normal breathing pace). When you are ready to continue, please open your eyes. Beautiful. Now, let’s increase physical awareness while you’re sitting in your seats. Again, you have the option to modify or abstain from movement, if you’d prefer. (FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR guides AUDIENCE through a round of Eagle Pose Arms, including the incorporation of back stretching). How did that feel? (FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR responds to however the AUDIENCE responds. If they say nothing, the FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR says something affirming and moves on.) Being in a room full of people breathing and stretching together always helps me find peaceful quiet. I hope you found some peace in this moment, too. Let’s move into our next activity. 155 FACULTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR: You’re going to take the next few minutes to create a drawing inspired by yesterday’s flamenco experiences, including the first 30 minutes of the Rumberos, Pugin a l’Escenari! dance concert (before the rain shut it down). Take out your journals and pencil cases. (pause) You may begin. NARRATOR: Here are the students’ responses to that Field Notes Journal prompt: Figure 41: Flamenco Reflections Projection NARRATOR: We’ve gotta keep moving, so let’s zoom over to the other FSA program for a few learning experiences in Italy. Since we were just in Spain, why not start with the Spanish Steps (which are in Rome)? They’re called that because there used to be a Spanish Embassy nearby. 156 While adjusting to life abroad, students are awash in an ocean of new stimuli, which can be pretty daunting. In my experience, students might respond to this overwhelm by turning inwards, which can distract them from looking outwards and taking the time to notice their surroundings. Figure 42: The Spanish Steps (Rome) Projection NARRATOR: Here, you see the two Field Notes Assignments the students were given related to their experience on the Spanish Steps. Let’s imagine the Spanish Steps as the students saw them. Those of you who have haiku- and tanka-style poetry under your seat: please pick that up, now. Take a moment to read your poems to yourselves and then look up towards me when you’re done reading. 157 (after AUDIENCE is mostly looking up at the NARRATOR) I am going to walk across this performance space, from one side to the other. When I pass in front of you, please start reading your poems aloud at whatever pitch and volume feels appropriate. Just so you know, you are welcome to be loud! Please wait for my cue to begin this Spanish Steps soundscape.. (NARRATOR walks to one end of the first row of the audience) Ok, let’s begin (uses a conductor-style cue to start the read-aloud and walks across the stage and in front of the audience). Haiku (Field Notes #8) Tanka (Field Notes #8, #9) Tanka (Field Notes #8, #9) A man curious looking where to go after he explores the Spanish Steps I look fly today My fedora is so dope Better watch that dirt We came together lights and camera selfie for the memories My wife got us lost Hunny what are you doing Let us go that way To the market we will go I am so hungry Crazy people here Always breaking monuments Silly tourist Never respecting the rules I guess it is okay I’m finally here The Spanish Steps are so great This has been my dream Rome is so beautiful now I feel like I’m finally at home I don’t like it here I’m too tired for this stuff Too much tourists I wish they would all leave so I could enjoy this place now This place is crazy I can’t believe I’m here It is beautiful The weather is very nice too The clouds really help cool me off Taking a picture he hopes it turns out well to post on facebook he craves validation from his friends back home Table 2: Spanish Steps Poetry (Individual Poems Shared with Individual Audience Members) 158 The little boy ran up To his mom and dad he went To ask for a coin His mustache is long His pants are cuffed too short His shirts flamboyant Child: I am so tired I am going to sit on these really big steps. Bright green floral shirt Reaching his hands up her skirt Why’s he such a flirt? Woman taking pictures Needs to look up to see real She still take pictures Table 2 (cont’d) Man sitting on bench Looking at Trevi fountain Turns and throws a coin Some day will return to Rome with the rest of his family Sitting all alone wating for her friend to come mad she’s taking long She wants to go out to eat She thinks she got lost selfie stick down low leg bent for that good angle damn I look so good I hope this pic turns out well I’ll take more – in case Sitting and staring Trying to take it all in Gone in a flash Pure enjoyment is gained Never want to leave this place Finally water rome is too hot for old gals my back hurts so bad wish my grandkids could be here so glad they’re now The beautiful woman stood there Her long dress flowed in the wind Her expression calm Her voice was soothing to him He stared at her lips My crippling knees Can’t climb this massive staircase I wish I was young I would sprint up the Spanish Steps and jump for joy On the stairs he sat there Watching as all the people pass Dreaming of friendship Hoping one person will stop and talk Wishing to engage Wearing a beret Wishing they would stay away Sitting far away People could be led astray If they sat by her one day I have heard that these Spanish Steps have beautiful Women nearby them I wish I had a 159eauty- ful wife to marry. Teen: It’s too hot out What is the wifi password? My feet are hurting She is a thinker I want to ponder her thoughts She is beautiful Why does she look so upset A brunette in some distress Is she hot or cold She’s seated upon the steps Gelato and sweat Gucci belt under her breast It seems she enjoys to flex I am in a suit It is so hot here oh my Time to go to work I am so afraid About how the future ends will I be okay? Or will things just stay the same Who is there to blame? I am so hungry I hope that I get pizza with cheese and ice cream or gelato. That sounds good. And maybe pasta. 159 Same old steps today The tourist never leave I want quietness Sweaty and smelly Can’t see anything but blue Stuck on my dad’s back Table 2 (cont’d) There was a girl who wanted to run away from bad thoughts in her head it gets harder every day there is no escape Mom: Rosy cheeks, gold curls Take a picture so it lasts Will he remember? He may not remember this He will remember the love. Small old man finds birds So happy to give them food Maybe we should help Wonder if he needs food too He wishes to eat like them. Lover: Stay right there, my love. The sunlight hits you just right I cannot capture your beauty All that I can do is stare You stare back and sigh I know. Blinded by the sun not sure where to go right now Does not have a job. ragged clothing covers him needs some water and some wine So many big steps I don’t think I will make it Time to turn around I really wanna reach it I can do it yes I can Made it to the top Time to take many pictures I need some water I just climbed so many steps The view is so beautiful Confused balding guy Bad at directions today Far too many steps Family driving him crazy next vacation has no Kids How did they build this? Did it take them very long? I will count the steps I keep on loosing my count I might as well just enjoy Boy skipping down stairs Happiest kid in all Rome Meets dad at bottom gives his dad a real big hug and off on their way they go. NARRATOR: Thank you very much. Well, as usual, our itinerary is PACKED today! Onto the next site visit! This time, we’re in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. 160 Figure 43: Uffizi Gallery Projection 1 This is one of the archways you can pass underneath to enter the Uffizi, which is here (points at the Uffizi in image). And this is Caravaggio’s Medusa. The students saw this portrait up close, during their time at the Gallery. During the class meeting that followed the Uffizi visit, the students made a series of 3 tableaux (theatrical sculpture created by living humans) to describe what it felt like to be in the Uffizi and how they responded to a particular work of art in the Gallery. 161 Figure 44: Uffizi Gallery Projection 2 Here, you see the students recreating the Uffizi’s courtyard archway, along with how it felt to pass underneath it for the first time. The enthusiasm of the student racing under the archway is balanced with a pickpocket in the background (somebody payed attention during in-country orientation!). Figure 45: Uffizi Gallery Projection 3 162 Here they are, showing how it felt to be immersed in floor-to-ceiling works of art, from the sculptures to the paintings to the building, itself. Figure 46: Uffizi Gallery Projection 4 See the resemblance? You see how the students were able to work together to create both the image of Medusa, with her snake-y hair, while also demonstrating the impact the painting had on them? Finally, students had multiple opportunities to reflect on their experiences by thinking through drawing in their field notes journals: 163 Figure 47: Uffizi Gallery Projection 5 This image provides yet another perspective on how a student saw the Medusa. While the neck, um, “strands” are pretty similar to those in the original painting, you can see that the face takes up much more space than in the original. The snakes, themselves, are somewhat muted in the student’s drawing -- they don’t have eyes or tongues. The look on Medusa’s face is the focus of both the painting and the drawing. This drawing (and this tableau) can be the jumping-off point for a discussion ranging from aesthetics to what individual students notice first to artistic interpretations of ideas to representations of Greco-Roman mythology to the impact of ancient mythology on the Italian Renaissance and beyond. Words can come in response to artistic expression, prior to artistic expression, or students can create art that exists in the wordless space of a particular art form. NARRATOR: On both programs, I encouraged students to engage with learning experiences through their five senses, as well as verbally (through speaking, hearing, writing, etc.) and physically. 164 Field Notes Journal assignments consisted of drawing, sketching, thick description, creative writing, story-telling, poetry, free-writing, and several other forms of writing, along with written essays about complex issues, like the varied and numerous contents of the Vatican Museum. Sometimes the combination of the book a student read for the course, site visits, class activities, social activities, and personal reflection time combined to create completely unexpected student learning. Here is one example70: Who knew? Figure 48: Margaery Tyrell Projection I promise I never discussed religion, my own or others’, outside of the context of site visits or discussions about history. Margaery discovered this part of herself at the nexus of curricula that I 70 To see Margaery Tyrell and Liberty Joy Morissey’s individual minidocumentary videos, go to: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18yJ0q2YCwG0k- uLgliwAKpZKXztz1_NzyE3CwnJMqHk/edit?usp=sharing 165 brought together to support my arts-based, experiential, intercultural pedagogical approach on the Italy program. While we’re on the subject of divergent learning and unanticipated student responses to assignments, let’s look at how Liberty Joy Morrisey responded to the same assignment on the same program71: Figure 49: Liberty Joy Morissey Projection NARRATOR: I did not tell the students what the specific content of their minidocumentaries would be, nor did I speak with any of them in a way that encouraged any particular religion or discouraged any major. I gave them the parameters of form for this project, because that is what I graded. The content of their work was up to them. 71 To see Margaery Tyrell and Liberty Joy Morissey’s individual minidocumentary videos, go to: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18yJ0q2YCwG0k- uLgliwAKpZKXztz1_NzyE3CwnJMqHk/edit?usp=sharing 166 Figure 50: Student Field Notes, Spain 2017 Projection Engage the five senses, Co-learn, co-experience Reflect through arts practices Homework is experimentation and information (No quest for perfection) As for assessment, Dewey said Perhaps the greatest of all pedagogical fallacies is the notion that a person learns only the particular thing he is studying at the time.72 Frankly, I dig that of course, his gender pronoun needs tending, but that’s the upside of 72 Dewey, J. (1939). Intelligence in the modern world: John Dewey’s philosophy. The Modern Library. The structure of this poem reflects my interpretation of his words. 167 presentism73, right? Nobody’s perfect. You can’t measure absolutely everything -- that’s hardly the point anyway That said, these programs felt one heckuva lot better than the British Museum. Take a deep breath, orientation begins take another, we’re over the ocean tend to culture shock: McDonalds in Spain experiences bursts into learnings they share then tearful goodbyes as they board the plane new journeys begin I watch them go ours have passed Time to start again. (Beat) Thank you for joining me today. FIN 73 See Fendler, L. (2008). The upside of presentism. Paedagogica Historica, 44(6), 677-690. 168 Figure 51: Gratitude Projection 169 CHAPTER 6: ALLEZ-Y! BUT WHERE?: CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FIELD AND RESEARCH TRAJECTORY Usually, people say that a truly artistic show will always be unique, impossible to be repeated: never the same actors, in the same play, produce the same show. Theatre is life. People also say that, in life, we never really do anything for the first time, always repeating past experiences, habits, rituals, conventions. Life is theatre... (Augusto Boal, in Schechner, 2002, ii). This arts-based education abroad research (ABEAR) project was designed to provide an opportunity for discourse and reflection on the complex pedagogical roles and responsibilities of faculty program directors on credit-bearing, short-term, undergraduate education abroad programs by asking: how do I, as a faculty program director, perceive student learning from arts-oriented, experiential, place-based pedagogies on two different education abroad programs meant to introduce rising freshmen74to undergraduate education? Through the methodological lens of ABEAR, this dissertation reveals the observed impact of arts-oriented, experiential, place-based pedagogies that are designed with the goal of fruitful intellectual and artistic student engagement throughout two different education abroad programs. These programs were meant to introduce rising college freshman to postsecondary education through intercultural education abroad with a community of their peers. This ABEAR study presented research art/i/facts to reveal what I interpret as the success of arts-oriented, explicit, experiential, place-based program pedagogies, which ultimately seemed to support students’ engagement with multiple forms of coursework (e.g. site visits, guest lectures, in-class exercises, course projects, and the like) on the two programs under study. The arts-oriented coursework allowed me to contradict the two-pronged heuristic of right and wrong which pervades much of U.S. K-12 education through the standardized 74 A term used at MSU for students entering their first year of college. This term is used in the MSU community without reference to a specific, widely-used definition. 170 testing movement and led to more examples of divergent thinking in student coursework than can be discussed in the pages of a single dissertation. Chapter 5 provides multiple examples of student coursework to reveal a diversity of unique perspectives that students generated in response to arts- oriented assignments and projects. In short, this dissertation project has confirmed, for me, that program pedagogy matters. In this summative chapter, I will discuss the ways in which the current study contributes to the research literature on program pedagogies on education abroad programs, including the rare contribution of a reflection on education abroad pedagogies “on the ground,” while also acknowledging the undergirding praxis linked to these practices. Following, I will describe the contributions this dissertation makes to the research literature on experiential learning theory, arts- oriented education, and on place-based pedagogical practices abroad. Afterwards, I will outline what I have learned from this project, followed by a description of my research trajectory beyond this dissertation. Finally, I will conclude with a description of the major methodological contributions that this project makes to the field of education abroad, namely the establishment of the ABEAR community and the introduction of an approach to ABEAR research that combines performative autoethnography and a/r/tography. Contributions to the Literature on Program Pedagogies “Applied research on pedagogy and other aspects of the study abroad experience can contribute in critical ways to improving such understanding. Case studies of different pedagogies and approaches can enrich our understanding of what constitute best practices and suggest new directions for the future” (Brandt & Manley, 2002, p. 140) Relatively little of the education abroad research literature on credit-bearing, faculty-directed, short- term, undergraduate programs discusses the details of program pedagogy “on the ground.” The 171 research literature I reviewed for this dissertation discusses current conceptions of pedagogy75 on credit-bearing, faculty-directed, short-term, undergraduate education abroad programs: as community building (Deringer, 2017; Jolley, Brogt, Kennedy, Hampton, & Fraser, 2018; Paras et al., 2019; Peterson, 2002), in the context of experiential learning theory (Chen, 2002; Deringer, 2017; Dervin, 2009; Dewey, 1938; Ellinghouse, Spinks, Moore, Hetherington, & Atherton, 2019; Harper, 2018; Kolb, 2015; Lutterman-Aguilar & Gengerich, 2002; Montrose, 2002; Nguyen, 2017; Pagano & Roselle, 2009; Peterson, 2002; Reilly & Senders, 2009; Savicki & Price, 2017; Steinberg, 2015; Stoner et al., 2019; Williams, 2017; Wong, 2015, 2018), as explicit within the context of education abroad (Chen, 2002; Hamilton, Rubin, Tarrant, & Gleason, 2019; Lutterman-Aguilar and Gingerich, 2002; Peterson, 2002; Williams, 2009), in the context of intercultural education (Chen, 2002; Deringer, 2017; Dervin, 2009; Doyle, 2009; Gordon, 2014; Gunter, 2017; Griffith, Wolfeld, Armon, Rios, & Liu, 2016; Harper, 2018; Jolley, Brogt, Kennedy, Hampton, & Fraser, 2018; Laliberté & Waddell, 2017; Lutterman-Aguilar & Gingerich, 2002; Nguyen, 2017; Niehaus, Reading, Nelson, Wegener, & Arthur, 2018; Ogden, 2017; Peterson, 2002; Reilly & Senders, 2009; Savicki & Price, 2017; Steinberg, 2015, 2017; Stoner et al., 2019; Williams, 2009, 2017; Wong, 2015, 2018), and as place-based (Deringer, 2017; Harper, 2018; Jolley, Brogt, Kennedy, Hampton, & Fraser, 2018; Moseley, 2009). It is important to note that much of the research literature on intercultural education focuses specifically on intercultural competence development and assessment, which is beyond the scope of this dissertation. Additionally, the research literature contained little discussion of pedagogical practices on the ground to expand on the ways in which EA program directorship vastly expands the traditional on-campus role(s) and teaching experience of prospective program directors…. Program directors enter environments in which they engage students as whole beings (head, heart, and hands) and across their various 75 Excluding the research literature on language-learning abroad. 172 ways of learning and being in the world, and they do so more or less at all hours of the day. In addition, within the education abroad context, learning occurs before, during, and after the on-site experience, taking place in settings ranging from curricular/academic to cocurricular and extracurricular/social (Steglitz, Roy, & Akulli, 2017, p. 273 - 274, emphasis added). In reviewing the research literature, I encountered calls for further research on faculty roles, responsibilities, and pedagogical practices (Brandt & Manley, 2002; Montrose, 2002; Moseley, 2009; Niehaus et al., 2018; Ogden, 2017; Stephens, Morford, Cihon, Forand, & Neri-Hernández, 2018). Admittedly, an examination of pedagogical practices in-country is a complex endeavor. Twombly et al. describe this challenge: When research can isolate the effects of study abroad independent of input variables and/or can compare equivalent groups of students who study abroad with those who do not, we often cannot control for the complexity of program differences much less individual variations in how students experience the sojurn. In fact, compared to the amount of research on study abroad outcomes, there has been very little on the actual experience abroad to help us contextualize outcomes (2012, p. 108). This dissertation is written to contribute to this gap in the research literature as well as suggest research methodologies that are well-suited to this complex research context. In this dissertation, I examined experiential education abroad primarily through a Deweyan theoretical lens (1938) and Kolbean framing of praxis (2015). I described the difference between educative and mis-educative experiences (Dewey, 1938) and concerns within the education abroad research community about the potential for verbalized reflection practices to transform into rituals that lose their educative qualities. The suggestion is that students understand the language they need to use to convince faculty program directors (and possibly the students, themselves) that experiences they have had met the group’s learning and growth expectations (Wong, 2015, 2018). In this 173 dissertation, I introduce the idea of arts-oriented pedagogical practices that disrupt the ways in which students may have previously experienced commonly-utilized reflective practices in experiential education settings. I describe the ways in which students responded to those novel approaches to reflection, which I feel is evidence of the educative nature of these pedagogical practices. As Eliott Eisner wrote, “The assumption that language will always serve as an adequate means for describing what students are to be able to do and know is itself problematic” (2002, p. 165). In this dissertation, I describe the use of language for reflection primarily in artistic terms, such as writing a twenty-word fairy tale, composing haiku and tankas, or translating concepts described in text into scenes that are performed by students for their classmates. This artistic engagement with words has the potential to take language out of the context of psychology (the discipline in which Dewey’s and Kolb’s work is grounded) and into new realms of reflection that require a different sensibility than the easily-worn “Let’s talk about this” approach (though that approach is certainly not without merit and was not entirely absent in the programs under study). While the primary focus of the current study was not explicitly on a discussion of intercultural education abroad, as defined by the research literature, the programs under study were designed to support intercultural learning, which is clear in the title of each: Who do they think you are? Exploring Global Citizenship through Culture and the Arts in Barcelona and Bilbao, Spain and Which Italy? Exploring Italian Art and Culture from Ancient Rome to the Present Day in Florence, Orvieto, Ostia, Vatican City, and Rome. Intercultural education is the explicit (and overarching) curriculum (Eisner, 1994) of these programs, explored largely through students’ somatic knowledge of experiences. As Eisner describes it, “[i]n a sense all these capacities for human experience are resources the artist can call upon for the crafting of the image. In the hands and mind of the artist they are avenues for communication” (2002, p. 19). He adds, “Arts education has a major role to play in creating situations through which the senses can be refined” (2002, p. 108). Learning environments on both 174 programs were created, whenever possible, with the aim of honoring and recognizing the important role the senses can play in students’ developing understandings of the people and places they encountered. In this way, I interwove Eisnerian somatic knowledge into my approach to place- based education to give students a multitude of opportunities to think about experiences in new ways. This dissertation offers an examination of intercultural education that is not focused specifically on cultivating and assessing intercultural competence development76 but on widening the breadth of opportunities for students to reconceive their understandings of what it meant to be in various contexts within Spain and Italy and what that could mean about where they were from (hometown/home country/high school) and where they were headed (undergraduate education at MSU). The current study did not focus on quantifying students’ progress on one of the commonly- used scales of intercultural competence development, nor did it focus on drawing conclusions based on qualitative examinations of evidence of their intercultural learning. Instead, this dissertation examined how students responded to pedagogical practices oriented towards intercultural learning and examined art/i/facts they produced to fuel those reflections. Students generated these art/ifacts, grounded in and growing from their own learning experiences, which allowed them to dialogue with their own ideas about learning environments, while also learning dialogically through encounters with their peers, the people they encountered in-country, and the program directorship team. I present these art/i/facts to research audiences, along with descriptions of my interpretations of what they might imply about my pedagogical practice, though I do not claim certainty about their meaning. I will discuss this further in the Methodological Contributions section at the end of this chapter. 76 n.b. The students are assessed prior to departure and after their return to campus by the Office of the Associate Provost of Undergraduate Education for this purpose, among others. FSA faculty program directors have very little involvement with this assessment process. 175 Finally, this dissertation offers a new approach to education abroad pedagogy to the research literature: arts-oriented pedagogies. I incorporated an arts-oriented pedagogical approach to these education abroad programs, because this approach aligns with my training and academic identity as an artist. Eisner’s assertion, when discussing his concept of somatic learning experiences within the context of arts education, aligns with my priorities as a faculty program director: Art provides the conditions for awakening to the world around us…[and] permission to engage the imagination as a means for exploring new possibilities. The arts liberate us from the literal; they enable us to step in the shoes of others and to experience vicariously what we have not experienced directly (Eisner, 2002, p. 10). An arts-oriented approach to experiential intercultural education abroad offers countless opportunities for students to interact with learning environments by aiming to incorporate what may be noticed through any of their senses. It can welcome their sensorial responses to these environments, within and beyond the strictly academic, into how they make sense (or don’t) of what they’ve experienced, what they have learned from it, and how it could impact future learning. Eisner defines artistic connoisseurship as “recognizing and appreciating the qualities of a particular, but it does not require either a public judgment or a public description of those qualities. The perception and appreciation of a particular requires a sensory memory” (1994, p. 215). Arts-oriented pedagogies can be inclusive of all of these components of a learning experience, provide pathways for students to grapple with these experiences, and build towards more inclusive and complex engagement with their education abroad experience as a whole. 176 Learnings While I have learned there is a considerable lack of research about the complex roles, responsibilities, praxis, and practices of faculty program directors on programs abroad, the literature from which I have drawn in this dissertation has been helpful for contextualizing my own experiences creating and enacting program pedagogies. Steglitz, Roy, and Akulli’s description of the work of faculty program directors involving the “head, heart, and hands” (2017, p. 273) was consistent with my experiences as a faculty program director and is an epistemological throughline of this dissertation. This framing of the work of faculty program directors has helped me to more fully understand a term I encountered while reviewing the research literature for this dissertation: cultural mentoring (Laliberté & Waddel, 2017; Niehaus, Reading, Nelson, Wegener, & Arthur, 2018). Cultural mentoring occurs whenever students are in the presence of their faculty program director. It consists of both the explicit curriculum of what a faculty program director consciously and explicitly teaches students about interacting with people and places in-country, as well as the implicit curriculum of the behavior the faculty program director exhibits in front of the students. In this dissertation, I have described how students rushed through the exhibits they were required to see so they could leave the British Museum and have a drink at a “really great pub,” nearby. When I think through this incident through the lens of cultural mentoring, my focus shifts from astonishment at the students’ disinterest in the site visit to the faculty program director. I now remember that he came into the museum with the group, directed the students to explore the artifacts on display, said he’d been to the museum multiple times already, and left. There was, in fact, cultural mentoring involved with this site visit, after all. The explicit curriculum of “explore the museum and make sure you do your homework” was contradicted by the implicit curriculum that grabbing a drink at the pub was more important than exploring the museum and its contents. The 177 notion of cultural mentoring is expanding my conception of faculty program directorship in constructive ways with a new lens through which I can examine this complex pedagogical work. When I conceive of faculty program directorship through the lens of cultural mentorship, I am better able to recognize how my own curiosity about learning environments created situations in which I was inadvertently modeling intercultural learning. Generally, I am intrigued and delighted by intercultural learning opportunities, particularly when they are experiential. I grounded the programs under study in a plethora of experiential learning opportunities that filled me with happy anticipation and piqued my own curiosity as an artist, academic, educator, and learner. Throughout the program, I participated in guided tours and other activities alongside my students, and found myself co- learning with them. In one instance, after giving us about 10 minutes to gaze at Michaelangelo’s magnificent David, our museum guide led us into Gipsoteca Bartolini, a room to David’s right, filled with a massive collection of 19th century plaster casts of statues. The casts have supported the education of students at the Accademia and as references and guides when the marble statues after which they are modeled need repair. As we entered the gallery, I was astonished by how lifeless and artificial the plaster casts looked in comparison to the David, the epitome of pietra viva (living stone). I turned to Arthur Mitchell, who was walking beside me, and whispered, “It’s like we’ve entered the land of the dead!” He looked around the gallery and then turned back to me and said, “Oh my god - - you’re so right!” He and I delighted in pointing out further evidence of this curious discovery through gesture and facial expressions for the next several minutes, while the guide taught us about the history of the casts and the statues after which they were modeled. I shared my revelation with Arthur the moment after it occurred to me, initiating a chain reaction of observations that nourished our unfolding understandings of this idea. While I do recognize that, as Arthur’s faculty program director, my role on the program may have influenced his response to my comment, the joy I felt during this interaction seemed shared and genuine. When leading both programs under study, I 178 openly admitted that my primary area of expertise was related to teaching and learning abroad, not on the content of site visits or other learning experiences. The students generally appeared to respond positively to this admission, and it was freeing to give myself permission to delight in new learnings alongside my students. There were several instances of co-learning on both programs. Within the broader context of education research literature, Elliot Eisner’s writings in support of arts education and in support of arts-based research have proven invaluable to translate my artistic epistemologies as an educator and a researcher into this dissertation. Eisner’s work, in combination with John Dewey’s writings, including Art as Experience and Experience and Education, have been foundational to this dissertation. Together, their writing has allowed me to reconceive my understanding of program pedagogy. As Eisner writes, Experience is central to growth because experience is the medium of education. Education, in turn, is the process of learning to create ourselves, and it is what the arts, both as a process and as the fruits of that process, promote. Work in the arts… is a way of creating our lives (2002, p. 3). I now conceive of experiences as texts within a curriculum within which students can interpret and process questions and form new understandings (and, usually, new questions) through arts-oriented ways of knowing, which can encourage students to engage in divergent thinking through creative practices. These practices can produce artistic work, which can communicate ideas to others. During the programs under study, I encourage them to think that Because objects of art are expressive, they are a language. Rather they are many languages. For each art has its own medium and that medium is especially fitted for one kind of communication. Each medium says something that cannot be uttered as well or as completely in any other tongue... In fact, each art speaks an idiom that 179 conveys what cannot be said in another language and yet remains the same (Dewey, 2005, p. 106, emphasis added). Students on the programs under study had opportunities to explore various art forms through course assignments, including composing their mini-documentary projects during the fall semester following their time abroad. These assignments were intended to give students an artistic shape to fill with expressive content. “The word shape speaks to the form of our work but also to how the form shapes the content” (Leavy, 2015, p. 2, emphasis in the original). Within the parameters of whatever shape the assignments asked students to create, there was a great deal of creative freedom. My own artistic project, in the shape of this dissertation, has taught me that I have the freedom to combine my artistic and academic identities to create ABEAR research with the desire to continue dialogue with others about the complex, fascinating, and deeply fulfilling work of faculty program directorship. Through this work, I aim to co-create new ideas with readers/audiences to ...imagine possibilities we have not encountered, and we can try to create, in the public sphere, the new possibilities we have imagined in the private precincts of our consciousness. We can make the private public by sharing it with others (Eisner, 2002, p. 3). This dissertation has been created to make internal musings, struggles, and curiosities public, so as to continue conversations that expand what is conceived of as possible in program pedagogy on short- term, faculty-led, postsecondary education abroad. Research Trajectory During the summer of 2021, I will be a faculty program director on a First-Year Seminar Abroad in Costa Rica through Michigan State University. I have been in conversation with the MSU faculty member, Vincent Delgado, who splits his time between living in Michigan and in Costa Rica, where 180 he has been working over the past several years to establish long-term relationships between MSU and indigenous communities within Costa Rican borders. He is working to establish reciprocal relationships between MSU’s education abroad programs and these communities at the intersection of local communities’ interests and MSU education abroad programming in respectful and productive ways. I have been hesitant about leading a program in Latin America because of the complexities of leading a program in a region I have never before visited nor studied, entering contexts where Spanish is the second language for locals whose first language is Bribri, and faculty- directing a program in a geographic location where white people are not, for lack of a better term, indigenous. I speak neither language. Were it not for the considerable efforts of Delgado (not to mention his ability to speak languages relevant to the cultural context) over the last several years to respectfully engage with various local communities towards the goal of supporting high-quality education abroad program experiences for all stakeholders, I would not have agreed to develop and lead this program. Delgado and I have already begun meeting to develop the program together, guided by my pedagogical intentions and interest in multimodal arts education practices and by his familiarity with local communities. This program is my next ABEAR research project and will be informed by critical intercultural education scholarship related, specifically, to the Latin American, and, if such a body of literature exists, the indigenous context of the Bribri people in Costa Rica, along with my own research of the local cultural context. Because I have had the opportunity to work with so many rising freshmen in this study, and because I will be working with another group of rising freshmen in 2021, I am interested in looking at the intersections that currently exist in the education abroad literature with education research literature on the high-school-to-college transition. I have many more art/i/facts than I can examine in a single dissertation, and it would be fascinating to think about them through the lens of the high- school-to-college transition research literature. More broadly, I intend to continue exploring the 181 pedagogical possibilities of education abroad by faculty-directing undergraduate programs that last longer than two weeks, creating programs designed for students majoring in arts and humanities disciplines, and faculty-directing programs in francophone countries. I am particularly interested in taking students to France, because I lived there for two years after college, am fluent in French, and have been a student or program leader on three different non-credit-bearing high school education abroad programs there. Additionally, I am quite interested in conducting ABEAR on programs that begin at the end of a semester-long course or end at the start of a semester. This would allow me to investigate the ways in which student learning can be broadened and deepened through coursework over a longer period of time, all dedicated to learning about where they will be studying or to processing their experiences abroad in a semester-long course that could extend their formal learning beyond the short-term program, itself. During the program in Costa Rica, I am quite eager to experiment with Tracy Rundstrom Williams’ PRISM to craft substantive experiential intercultural learning environments abroad. Williams relies on Kolb’s experiential learning cycle as a jumping-off point to extend experiential learning beyond a reliance on reflection, alone. This framing of program pedagogy has the potential to create a more organized structure for arts-oriented intercultural education on future programs. In her PRISM, she scaffolds learning experiences within a structure of Preparation to inform students of the Relevance of learning environments, so that they might feel better prepared to get Involved with experiential learning opportunities, make Sense of them, and then come to a point of understanding how what they’ve learned Matters (2017). Ideally, students could cycle through Williams’ PRISM for place-based intercultural learning multiple times throughout their time abroad, as well as during class meetings on a U.S. home campus. While I do enact elements of this PRISM on the programs I faculty-direct,, I hadn’t thought through it in such a structured way. Incorporating this pedagogical framework into program design could provide constraints to help focus my pedagogical creativity in 182 specific ways to potentially enrich the educative learning experiences of the programs I create and lead. Methodological Contributions Education abroad practices and praxis are difficult to research, as mentioned in the Contributions to the Literature on Program Pedagogies section, above. Unlike other forms of education research, a researcher cannot simply sit in the back of a classroom to take notes or examine pre and post assessments to research the details of program pedagogy in this complex, unpredictable, and costly endeavor. A researcher would have to tag along with students and the program directorship team to each site visit, welcome dinner, guest lecture, class meeting, orientation, and unpacking session. These events occur in a wide variety of locations, take a great deal of time, and often come with their own fees, on top of the travel costs to go to various program destinations in the first place. However, this autoethnographic examination of faculty program directorship on the programs under study creates a window into this complex endeavor with art/i/facts that are best contextualized by the person who is (typically) the most involved with the construction and faculty-direction of an education abroad program: the faculty program director. This autoethnographic dissertation research can be used to facilitate conversations about pedagogical practice among current and future faculty program directors, while offering the education abroad research community a textured and complex tapestry of two instances of faculty program directorship to inspire future research on the nuances and complex challenges of faculty roles and responsibilities abroad. This dissertation offers the education abroad research community a substantive and compelling methodological approach to research, new to the field: Arts-Based Education Abroad Research (ABEAR). ABEAR makes room for the unique combination of roles and responsibilities faculty program directors have while abroad with students, not to mention the ways 183 in which students respond to learning environments throughout a program. ABEAR is well-suited to provide information related to the nuances of faculty program directorship in informative ways, making room for the academic, professional, administrative, intercultural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal experiences of faculty program directors in the midst of experiential, intercultural, and place-based learning environments and accompanied by few, if any, professional colleagues to discuss, problem-solve, and reflect on experiences in-country. ABEAR provides program faculty the opportunity to collect art/i/facts, the evidence that can be collected during a program that resonates in some way with faculty identities as artists, researchers, and/or teachers. Art/i/facts can be examined aesthetically (art); subjectively, through the eyes of an artist, researcher, and/or teacher in the dual role of research participant/researcher (i); and as a source of information, which may or may not represent social scientific data collection (facts). The name, art/i/facts, hearkens to the lexicon of museums, which use the term artifact as inclusive of every item they contain. I define art/i/facts broadly, because they can be revelatory about engagements of the heads, hands, and heart of any education abroad stakeholder and may include physical objects, stories, feelings, sensibilities, even works of art. As Peterson remarks, These are difficult programs to describe quickly. It takes few words to convey the basic nature of an integrated study program; one just needs to say that it’s sort of like being a foreign student in the United States except that a student is going to apply the credits to his or her degree program back home. It is easy to get across the essence of an intensive language program or a classroom-based area studies program, but students and even faculty on home campuses often find it harder to relate experiential programs to educational models they have previously known, or to grasp fully the civic mission of these particular experiential programs. Establishing credibility requires thorough documentation and thorough evaluation. This is, of 184 course, important for study abroad programs of any nature; in view of the lingering suspicions in some circles about academic rigor in experiential education, it is doubly important for this type of program (2002, p. 189 - 190) ABEAR is an approach to research that can honor the complexity of education abroad with the flexibility to be inclusive of the multilayered simultaneity of learning experiences, be they academic, professional, administrative, intercultural, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and/or something else altogether. Within this ABEAR project, I introduce performative autoethnographic research to the field. In performative autoethnography, a researcher can put their “performative-I on stage” (Denzin, 2014, p. 11) to reveal and take ownership of my own complex network of subjectivities within a project and share their reflections on the research, informed by these admissions. I performed the performance text of this dissertation at my dissertation de/perform/ance – a dissertation defense that was a performance of what social science researchers might refer to as my findings chapter. This is a dissertation defense format that opens up performative possibilities within doctoral training that can honor the enormity of a dissertation research project and the ideas it addresses. Inspired by a performance of Every Brilliant Thing (Macmillan and Donahoe, 2017), along with performing in or attending performances of documentary theatre productions, like The Laramie Project (Kaufman & Tectonic Theater Project, 2000), The Vagina Monologues (Ensler, 1998), and A Disappearing Number (McBurney & Théâtre de Complicité, 2007), I have created a work of performative autoethnography that is a “merger of critical pedagogy, performance ethnography, and cultural politics; the creation of texts that move from epiphanies to the sting of memory, the personal to the political, the autobiographical to the cultural, the local to the historical” (Denzin, 2014, p. 25). This work honors the complexity of education abroad research on the ground with its own artistic, affective, and academic complexity. Bringing a research audience into the affective and 185 aesthetic realms of a handful of interpretations of my own teaching and learning abroad allowed me to share more of my understandings of my approach to program pedagogy through the performance of behaviors I observed or reflections I had during each program. This performative methodology allowed me to hear the cacophony of students’ impressions across the audience’s recitation of students’ haiku and tankas. These poems revealed aspects of the students’ collective experience on Rome’s Spanish Steps that no one in the de/perform/ance space would have otherwise encountered, including the researcher. This moment of performance filled the room with living voices shared among audience members and highlighted the reality that I, as the researcher, was also part of the audience. It felt like yet another co-learning experience and continues to shape my understandings of that assignment and of my experiences with this research project, as a whole. This approach to research, for me, does not begin and end with a blinking cursor on a screen. Consistent with the inclusive nature of the new term, art/i/fact, I introduce a performative autoethnographic methodological framework that holistically incorporates the triple identities of artist, researcher, and teacher through a/r/tography (Irwin & Springgay, 2008; Leavy, 2015). It is “practice-based research situated in the in-between, where theory-as-practice-as-process-as- complication unintentionally unsettles perception and knowing through inquiry” (Irwin & Springgay, 2008, p. 107). In other words, a/r/tography involves three forms of thought: “knowing (theoria), doing (praxis), and making (poesis)” (p. 110). In my role as faculty program director, I knew the intentions behind my assembly of learning environments (theoria), what happened “on the ground” in those learning environments (praxis), and created the performative autoethnographic texts (both dramatic and performance texts) to share artistic reflections inspired by the research project as a whole (poesis). I was intimately involved with the pedagogical and curricular workings of the programs under study, and, inspired by these experiences, I created a work of art, the performative autoethnographic texts of this dissertation. As Irwin and Springgay describe it, “To live the life of an 186 a/r/tographer is to live a contiguous life sensitive to each of these relationships and particularly the spaces in-between. Being attentive to the in-between spaces opens opportunities for dynamic living inquiry” (2008, p. 116). I can think of no better way to describe ABEAR research than dynamic living inquiry. After all, “perception is selective and… the motives for selection are influenced by the tools one has or knows how to use: We tend to seek what we know how to find” (Eisner, 1997, p. 7). ABEAR researchers can embrace the productive ambiguity of this approach to education abroad research, because it also allows them to be co-learners with research audiences, whether they read the text or attend a performance. For, when the unknown is perpetually welcomed into a research project, it “helps us to be more completely open to the forces that are alive and moving through present experiences unseen, perhaps innately searching for new ways of being organized and presented in awareness” (McNiff, 2018, p. 30). Learning, within ABEAR, is an iterative process, and it does not end when writing goes to print. ABEAR research expands opportunities for educative divergent thinking to research audiences who encounter the work. This approach to education abroad research welcomes an audience into a different kind of examination of the workings of education abroad and welcomes a diversity of interpretations of a/r/tifacts and research findings. This approach to education abroad research embraces what Eisner refers to as “productive ambiguity,” rather than best practice, “the material is more evocative than denotative, and in its evocation, it generates insight and invites attention to complexity” (1997, p. 8). Creating and enacting experiential intercultural education abroad pedagogies is an infinitely complex endeavor. The variables of this endeavor include, but are not limited to: 1. Each individual involved with the endeavor, be they students, guest lecturers, Third-Party Provider staff, tour guides, parents, faculty program directors, education abroad support staff at home institutions, even university presidents, among others 187 2. Immediate health needs of students, program support staff, faculty program directors, among others 3. The time during which the program is run in terms of weather and time of the calendar year/academic year; the age and personal life situations of students and other stakeholder 4. The age, personal, and professional situatedness (including in terms of the tenure system) of the faculty program director 5. Pressures and foci of pop culture in the local, home, and global contexts 6. Sociopolitical context of the host nation or nations at the time of the program 7. Geopolitical contexts, like natural disasters, terrorism, relationships among nations 8. The impact of climate change on weather and landscapes in a particular year, among countless other factors. ABEAR can be sensitive to these and countless other factors, because this approach to research “often complicates our lives” (Eisner, 1997, p. 8) by problematizing assumptions and complicating what might sometimes be interpreted as rhetorical shortcuts to support “a firm foundation, a secure place on which to stand” (Eisner, 1997, p. 7) in service of the quest for universally-applicable best practices for faculty-directing these pedagogically complex programs. 188 APPENDICES 189 APPENDIX A Spain Program Syllabus (Including Book Assignments and Itinerary) 190 Who do they think you are? Exploring global citizenship through culture and the arts in Barcelona and Bilbao, Spain Summer 2017 Instructor: Karenanna Creps Email: kcreps@msu.edu Course/Track Description: This track will focus on the ways in which the food, art, architecture, music, dance, and other Spanish cultural traditions teach us about Spain and, in turn, about our own cultural contexts. Our group will explore what it means to be global citizens in the vibrant cultural contexts of Barcelona, the capital city of Catalonia, and Bilbao, the largest city of the Spanish Basque population. Catalan and Basque cultures have their own unique histories, traditions, and languages, developed well before the birth of modern Spain, and their existence within the same nation can challenge U.S.-based ideas of national identity and cultural diversity. This FSA will encourage students to reflect on their learning abroad experiences in writing and through various art forms, culminating in a multimedia theatrical performance that capitalizes on student experiences throughout the program. Course Goals: Freshman Seminar Abroad Goals: The goal of this program is to expose students to the community of Michigan State University through interacting with new friends, staff, and faculty in an environment different from home. They will encounter people with different backgrounds whose perspectives will both challenge and widen their existing frame of reference. Ultimately, these experiences will nurture them to become not just good college students but also responsible global citizens. The program objectives are aligned with the University’s IAH and ISS requirements. Therefore, students may be able to use their FSA coursework to partially fulfill their integrative studies requirement. IAH and ISS set their goals as following: Integrated Arts and Humanities (IAH) Goals • Become more familiar with ways of knowing in the arts and humanities and to be more knowledgeable and capable in a range of intellectual and expressive abilities • To engage critically with their own society, history, and culture(s); • To learn more about the history and culture of other societies. Integrated Social Sciences (ISS) Goals • Assist students in distinguishing their personal assumptions and beliefs from conclusions based upon critical thought and the analytical exploration of human behavioral patterns and trends. • Expand students' awareness of the ways that enduring and universal social issues and resolutions can be distinguished from those that are the consequence of specific or transient contemporary conditions. • Provide multicultural, international and national perspectives on human behavior that address the particular challenges and opportunities for a multi-racial and multi-ethnic American society. Coursework: Pre-Orientation FSA Modules (25pts): Students are asked to complete these modules before arriving on campus for orientation. Students completing the pre-program modules during orientation will receive half-credit for their work. Students completing the modules in Spain will be required to complete the modules and will receive a zero on this assignment. Students will receive half- credit for all assignments until the modules are complete, if they work on them in Spain. Introductions Activity (10pts): Students are asked to respond to a list of posted questions on D2L by Friday, July 14 at 7:00pm. 191 MSU Scavenger Hunt and Spain Scavenger Hunt (10pts+10pts) In the scavenger hunt assignments, you will be in teams with students in the other FSA Spain track. You will be asked to find and take pictures of various phenomena and cultural items. Upload your images to one group member’s D2L drop box (in either tracke) by the deadline for each scavenger hunt. A few guidelines: • Upload your Spain Scavenger Hunt photos to one of your scavenger hunt group member’s course D2L Spain Scavenger Hunt Dropbox (either track’s drop box) works for this assignment) before 9:00am on Monday, July 31st. • Upload your MSU Scavenger Hunt photos to one scavenger hunt group member’s course D2L dropbox for the MSU Scavenger Hunt (either track’s dropbox works for this assignment) before 11:59pm on Wednesday, July 19th. • There must be at least one group member in each photo, and all group members must appear in at least three photos. • Make sure to include your team name and team members’ names at the top of your D2L post and caption photos with the first names of FSA Spain people that appear in them (every photo should have at least one FSA Spain student in it). Please keep photos PG, respect public and private property, respect local etiquette and behavior norms, do not disturb the peace, and only include people who are intentionally posing for your photo in the images. Your team will receive a zero on this assignment if you do not respect these parameters. Site Visits (integrated into grades students earn in related assignments): Students are expected to be timely whenever the group has a planned activity or site visit. Students are also expected to fully engage in all site visits in both Bilbao and Barcelona. Site visits will likely include Bilbao locations like the Oma Painted Forest (for an artistic exploration of natural settings), the nearby Paleolithic caves of Santimamine, the Atlantic coast, and the Gugenheim museum. In Barcelona, students will likely visit Parc Guell and/or other examples of Antoni Gaudi’s exquisite and imaginative architecture, participate in a Catalan cooking class, dance in flamenco and Castellers classes, and capitalize on various opportunities to visit other sites to appreciate other dances of Barcelona, like La Sardana and a rhumba concert at the Grec Theatre Festival. Of course, our itinerary is perpetually subject to change. Travel is an exercise in being flexible with the unexpected! Airport Activity (10pts): This activity will introduce students to collecting data based on a research question, coding the data, and then presenting research findings to the group at lunch on July 21 in Barcelona. Book Club (35pts): By the start of orientation at 2:00pm on Tuesday, July 18, you will have read over half of your assigned book. By 9:00am on Saturday, July 22, you will have finished reading the book and are ready to share what you’ve learned from it with your classmates. You don’t need to prepare a full presentation – I recommend bringing your book and some notes about it (you could write these in your journal) to class that morning. Book assignments (assigned to students at random)77: • Emilie G. and Nilas M.: Tremlett, G. (2006). Ghosts of Spain: Travels through Spain and its silent past. New York: Walker and Company. • Kevin S. and Katie B.: Rhodes, R. (2015). Hell and good company: The Spanish civil war and the world it made. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks. • Miriam M. and Maria T.: Zafón, C. R. (2004). The shadow of the wind. New York: The Penguin Press. 77 Student names are pseudonyms. 192 • Rachel H. and Hermione M.: Evans, P. (2003). It's not about the tapas: A Spanish adventure on two wheels. New York: Bantam Dell. • Neima Z. and Heidi G.: Stewart, C. (1999). Driving over lemons: An optimist in Spain. New York: Vintage Books. • Andrew R. and Sabrina P.: Kurlansky, M. (2001). The Basque history of the world. New York: Penguin Books. • Kathryn M.: Hughes, R. (2004). Barcelona: The great enchantress. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic. Group Experts (20/35 book club points): Based on the content of the various book club books students have read for this course, students will be assigned a site visit for which they will be our Group Expert. Group Experts will be expected to present for 5 minutes and answer group questions for a subsequent 5 minutes about the group’s upcoming site visit during the last class meeting prior to that site visit. Presenting students are not required to record field notes for the days on which they are the group experts. Group experts will be available to answer questions that arise before/during/after the site visits for which they are responsible. Site visit experts will be determined during our first class meeting at MSU on July 19 at 1:30pm. Field Notes in Travel Journal (40pts total): Students will be generating field notes throughout the program in order to learn about a diversity of approaches to academic research. Field notes will be assessed, in part, in terms of meeting the requirements of the specific assignment, meeting specific assignment deadlines, and in terms of critically expanding reflections into new ideas not previously discussed in coursework. These assignments will be discussed, in detail, as they are assigned. There are two field note assignments for most days. Group Bon Dia (Emilie G., Nilas M., Rachel H., Neima Z., Maria T., and Hermione M.) will be assigned one field note activity for the day and Group Egun On (Miriam M., Katie B., Kathryn M., Andrew R., Sabrina P., Kevin S., and Heidi G.) will be assigned the other. See below for details. Re-Entry FSA Assignments (25pts): Students are required to attend a re-entry session on campus that is run by the Office of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education (APUE). APUE will report students attendance to the course instructor for assignment points. Culminating Multimedia Performance (50pts): In early October, students will participate in a multimedia performance about their Freshman Seminar Abroad experience, based on the arts- and humanities-oriented reflection work they have generated, individually and as a group, throughout the course. This performance and a subsequent reflection assignment will be discussed, in detail, during the program. Final Grade Reflections Paper (30pts): By 11:59pm on Monday, October 9, students will submit 2-4 page paper that details the grade they feel they’ve earned in this course, supported by detailing how well they feel they completed all coursework, discussing major learning they’ve experienced in this course, and at least 200 words summarizing their feelings about their experience with this course as a whole. PLEASE NOTE: Your assessment of your own work in this course and the grade you feel you’ve earned will be taken into consideration when your final grades are submitted to MSU, but there is no guarantee that the grade you feel you’ve earned will be the grade you receive in this course. Evaluation and Grading: Assignment Breakdown: Pre-Orientation Modules (25pts) Introductions Activity (10pts) Airport Activity (10pts) Book Club (40pts) Field Notes (40pts) 193 MSU Scavenger Hunt (10pts) Spain Scavenger Hunt (10pts) Re-Entry FSA Assignments (25pts) Culminating Multimedia Performance (50pts) Final Grade Reflections Paper (30pts) Total Possible Points: 250 Overall course grades will be based on the following 4.0 scale: 4.0: Superior work that substantially exceeds expectations. 3.0: Work above average. 2.5: Average work expected from a freshman student. 2.0 Work below average. 1.0 Work meets minimum requirement but needs improvement 0.0: Work does not meet one or more of the minimum requirements. Final course grades will be rounded to the nearest half grade, except that at least a 1.0 must be earned to receive a 1.0 final course grade. So, for example, a 2.74 will round to a 2.5 course grade; a 2.75 will round to a 3.0 course grade, and so on. Policies and Procedures: Attendance: Timely attendance at all class sessions and meetings is expected. Arriving late or leaving early is considered absent and can impact your grade in the course. Late Assignments: Each course assignment has a specific due date/time, listed on this syllabus. Due dates and times will also be listed on D2L. Late assignments must be discussed with the instructor in advance of that assignment’s deadline. All other late assignments will be accepted on a case-by-case basis for half credit, only. Academic Honesty: Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. This policy is applicable to all academic activities in this class, including weekly assignments. In accordance with MSU’s policies on “Protection of Scholarship and Grades” and “Integrity of Scholarship and Grades,” students are expected to honor principles of truth and honesty in their academic work. Academic honesty entails, among other things, that students will not plagiarize. Academic honesty also means students will not knowingly permit another student to copy and submit their work as that student’s own, and will not use unacknowledged quotations or paraphrases as part of their work. As provided by university policy, such academic dishonesty or plagiarism may be penalized by a failing grade on the assignment or for the course. Failure in a course as a result of academic dishonesty will also result in written notification to the student’s academic dean of the circumstances. Additional discussion of cheating or academic dishonesty is available on the Ombudsman’s webpage at - https://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/honestylinks.html Michigan State University has adopted the following statement about academic policy: GENERAL STUDENT REGULATIONS • • • • • • • 1.00 PROTECTION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND GRADES The principles of truth and honesty are fundamental to the educational process and the academic integrity of the University; therefore, no student shall: 1.01 claim or submit the academic work of another as one’s own. 1.02 procure, provide, accept or use any materials containing questions or answers to any examination or assignment without proper authorization. 1.03 complete or attempt to complete any assignment or examination for another individual without proper authorization. 1.04 allow any examination or assignment to be completed for oneself, in part or in total, by another without proper authorization. 1.05 alter, tamper with, appropriate, destroy or otherwise interfere with the research, resources, or other academic work of another person. 194 • 1.06 fabricate or falsify data or results. Statement of Recognition of Student Identity This course affirms people of all gender expressions and gender identities. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name and/or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this request at any time during the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records, as class rosters are provided with each student’s legal name unless it has been changed through the Registrar’s Office. If you would like additional assistance regarding communication about your name and pronouns, please contact the LBGT Resource Center at lbgtrc@msu.edu The Spartan Code of Honor Academic Pledge “As a Spartan, I will strive to uphold values of the highest ethical standard. I will practice honesty in my work, foster honesty in my peers, and take pride in knowing that honor in ownership is worth more than grades. I will carry these values beyond my time as a student at Michigan State University, continuing the endeavor to build personal integrity in all that I do.” Academic Schedule Please be aware that this is a tentative calendar. Changes will likely to happen due to weather, travelling, and other external factors. Schedule changes will be announced in class. Students are required and expected to stay up to date with the latest schedule. See other materials and handouts for the overall program events. Friday, July 14 • Off-Campus Assignments Today • By 7:00pm, post your personal introduction to the class on D2L. • Acquire and start reading your assigned Book Club book by today. See assignment list for more details on this assignment, including which students are assigned which books. Tuesday, July 18 Assignments Today • Orientation begins at MSU! Wednesday, July 19 – Activities/Classes • Orientation continues at MSU! • By the start of orientation (2:00pm), you are expected to have read over half of your assigned Book Club book. Assignments Today • MSU Scavenger Hunt is due to be posted on D2L by 11:59pm tonight. Thursday, July 20 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • 7:45am: Be at airport bus. • 1:47pm Flight departs DTW Airport (boarding happens much earlier): Delta flight 1372 to Atlanta • 5:45pm Flight departs ATL for BCN, Delta flight 114. • DTW Airport Data Collection, Coding, and Reporting activity. Complete data collection in DTW, code on the flight to ATL, prepare your data report to be shared at lunch in Barcelona tomorrow! • Karenanna will hand out envelopes for your Letter to October 2017 Self today. Put your name on them, put your completed Letter to October 2017 Self in it, seal it, and give it back to Karenanna by the time we’re waiting for luggage in BCN (or sooner). Figure 52: Spain Program Itinerary 195 Friday, July 21 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • Arrive in Barcelona(!) airport BCN at 8:40am • Hand Karenanna your Letter to October 2017 Self Figure 52: (cont’d) • • on July 21 on flight Delta 114. ISA (International Studies Abroad, our third- party provider in Spain) Airport Pick-Up ISA Orientation ISA Office Address: c/ Trafalgar 6, 2 Piso, Puerta 21 08010 Barcelona, Spain • Welcome lunch: Typical Menu del Dia • Activity TBD • Stay in Barcelona Residencia: Melon District Marina: Carrer de Sancho de Ávila, 22 08018 Barcelona, Spain Ph: +34 932 17 88 12 before your luggage is on the baggage carousel in BCN (or sooner). • Report on your DTW Airport Data Collection project at lunch today! • Field Notes #1 in Travel Journal (both groups): -After you complete your assigned Book Club book, freewrite for 5-10min about anything that comes to mind related to your assigned book. Fill a couple of pages in your journal with this freewrite. Keep the subsequent 2-4 pages in your journal blank for note-taking during our first class meeting tomorrow. Bring your Book Club book and your journal (with completed Field Notes #1 Assignment) to class tomorrow. Saturday, July 22 – Activities/Classes • Breakfast at Residencia • 9:00am Class in dance studio • 10:20am meet in front of the main door of the ISA Office for 10:30am Gothic Quarter tour. • Lunch at La Boqueria immediately after tour of Gothic Quarter (ISA director gives options, students have lunch on their own). • Time TBD: Las Arenas shopping mall activity • • Dinner on your own Stay in Barcelona Residencia: Melon District Marina: Carrer de Sancho de Ávila, 22 08018 Barcelona, Spain Ph: +34 932 17 88 12 Assignments Today • Bring your Book Club book and your journal (with completed Field Notes #1 Assignment) to class today. • Field Notes #2, Las Arenas Shopping Mall (Bon Dia): Find a work of genius today. Write or draw an explanation of what it is and why it is a work of genius. Do you see anyone else acting like it’s a work of genius (or not)? How do you know? • Field Notes #3, Las Arenas Shopping Mall (Egun On): Did you notice anyone in the mall (including members of our group) noticing you? Was it because of something specific? Write in detail about 1 or 2 of these encounters. 196 Sunday, July 23 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today Figure 52: (cont’d) • Breakfast at Residencia • 9:00am Class in dance studio • 12:00pm Sardana performance in front of cathedral (free and open to the public) • 2:30pm Meet in front of the main door of the ISA office for guided visit to Camp Nou stadium • Dinner on your own • Stay in Barcelona Residencia: Melon District Marina: Carrer de Sancho de Ávila, 22 08018 Barcelona, Spain Ph: +34 932 17 88 12 • Come to class with your journal, ready to share yesterday’s field notes. • Field Notes #4 (Bon Dia): Fill at least 2 pages with your observations about the Sardana performance. You may write in any format (poem, narrative, essay, etc.), draw, sketch, make a collage, create an origami sculpture, or engage in any other form of note-taking that fits on two or more pages of your journal. • Field Notes #5 (Egun On): Pay attention to how different spaces at Camp Nou make you feel. Think of a metaphor or simile to describe the way you respond to each space and write down at least one metaphor for each of at least three spaces at Camp Nou. Monday, July 24 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • Breakfast at residencia • 8:15am Meet in front of the main door of the ISA office for Guest Lecture: The Architecture of Gaudí • Lunch on your own • 1:30pm Meet in front of the main door of the ISA office for Modernism Tour • 5:45pm Group will walk from Sagrada Familia to Castellers de Barcelona workshop at this address: Carrer Alsina 7 • Dinner on your own • Stay in Barcelona Residencia: Melon District Marina: Carrer de Sancho de Ávila, 22 08018 Barcelona, Spain Ph: +34 932 17 88 12 • N.B. START PACKING YOUR BAGS TONIGHT, BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT HAVE MUCH TIME TO DO IT TOMORROW AND YOU’LL NEED TO BRING YOUR PACKED LUGGAGE TO YOUR 9:00AM CLASS ON WEDNESDAY. Leave enough out to get through to Wednesday and pack everything else. • Show Karenanna yesterday’s field notes before going to lunch. • Field Notes #6 (Bon Dia) (You will probably need to take a photo, or have a friend take a photo, for this one): Fill at least one page of your journal with a drawing of a shape you’ve never before seen from the Gaudí and Modernism tour. Get creative! You can zoom in, zoom out, change the color of the shape… Whatever feels right, as long as the page is entirely covered in colored pencil colors. • Field Notes #7 (Egun On): Write a haiku about the Castellers workshop. (Haiku = 3 line poem, where line 1 has 5 syllables, line 2 has 7 syllables, and line 3 has 5 syllables) 197 Tuesday, July 25 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today Figure 52: (cont’d) • Breakfast at Residencia • • • 8:15am Meet in front of the main door of the ISA office for Guest Lecture: Culture of Cataluña 11:00am: Group will go together to cooking class of Traditional Catalonian Cuisine. 5:00pm: Group will go together to Flamenco Dance Class (Group will go together after cooking class; address: Centre Civic Barceloneta, Carrer Conreria 1-9 • Dinner on your own • • 9:00pm: Meet in front of the main door of the ISA office for Rumberos, Pugin a l’Escenari! Performance at Grec Festival Stay in Barcelona Residencia: Melon District Marina: Carrer de Sancho de Ávila, 22 08018 Barcelona, Spain Ph: +34 932 17 88 12 Wednesday, July 26 – Activities/Classes • Breakfast at Barcelona Residencia • 9:00am Class in dance studio • 11:30am Depart for Bilbao • Lunch en route (on bus) • Arrive in Bilbao • Brief ISA Orientation • 8:00pm: Meet in front of Colegio Mayor Deusto’s main door. • 8:30pm: Tapas Tour (dinner) in Casco Viejo • with guide to talk about Basque Identity. Stay in Bilbao Residencia: Colegio Mayor Deusto Ugasko Bidea, 7 48014 Bilbao, Spain Ph. 34 944 76 51 22 • Field Notes #8 (Bon Dia): Be a food critic! Write an over-dramatic review of the food you prepared, connecting your review to what you learned about the culture of Cataluñia in the morning. • Leap and the net will appear! Commit yourself completely to learning Flamenco for the hour or so of the class. Pick someone from the other group to chat about the class with. Field Notes #9 (Egun On): Write your flamenco conversation companion’s name in your journal. • Come to class tomorrow ready to discuss and compare the flamenco class we take together with the Rhumberos concert we see tonight. Assignments Today • N.B. LEAVE RESIDENCIA WITH ENOUGH TIME TO BRING YOUR PACKED LUGGAGE TO CLASS IN THE MORNING • Come to class ready to discuss and compare the flamenco class we take together with the Rhumberos concert we see tonight. • Field notes #10 (Bon Dia): Describe, in detail, one interaction you had with a Spanish/Catalan person in the last five days. Who do they think you are? What makes you think that? Think about the ways in which Spaniards/Catalans responded to Anthony Bourdain and Philip Rosenthal in each of their shows to expand your perspective. • Field Notes #11 (Egun On): Write the names of each tapa (really, pintxo) you try on the tour and write a few words to remember what it was. 198 Thursday, July 27 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today Figure 52: (cont’d) • Breakfast at Residencia • 9:00am: Class in Colegio Mayor dance studio • 11:00am: Meet in front of Colegio Mayor Deusto’s main door • Historical tour of city until 1:30pm • Lunch on your own • 4:30pm Meet in front of Colegio Mayor Deusto’s main door for guided tour of Guggenheim • Dinner on your own • Stay in Bilbao Residencia: Colegio Mayor Deusto Ugasko Bidea, 7 48014 Bilbao, Spain Ph. 34 944 76 51 22 • Come to class ready to discuss and compare Field Notes #10 and #11 with your classmates. • Field Notes #12 (Bon Dia): Write one Tanka (Japanese 5 Line Poem: line 1=5 syllables, line 2=7 syllables, line 3=5 syllables, line 4=7 syllables, line 5=7 syllables) about how Bilbaínos might have responded to your presence in the city many years ago, based on what you learned during the historical tour. • Field Notes #13 (Egun On): Write a letter to a friend that describes the whole museum as a work of art. How does it interact with the art works it contains? How does the building treat you as a participant in its artistic structure? What else do you notice? Friday, July 28 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • Come to class ready to discuss and compare Field Notes #12 and #13 with your classmates. • Field Notes #14 (Bon Dia): Write a 20 word fairy tale about the Oma Painted Forest. • Field Notes #15 (Egun On): Write at least one page about what you think was going on in the mind of one of the Paleolithic painters that worked on the cave you saw today. • Breakfast at Residencia • 9:00am Class in Colegio Mayor dance studio • 11:00am Meet in front of Colegio Mayor Deusto’s main door for visit to Oma Painted Forest and Paleolithic Caves of Santimamime • Before excursion: lunch at restaurant (bring €6 – 18 for lunch, depending on if you want a sandwich or the full Menu del Dia) • After Lunch: Visit to Oma Painted Forest and Paleolithic Caves of Santimamine • Dinner on your own • Stay in Bilbao Residencia: Colegio Mayor Deusto Ugasko Bidea, 7 48014 Bilbao, Spain Ph. 34 944 76 51 22 Saturday, July 29 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • Come to class ready to discuss and compare Field Notes #14 and #15 with your classmates. • Filed Notes #16 (both groups): How are you feeling about this program right now? You may write in any format (poem, narrative, essay, etc.), draw, sketch, make a collage, create an origami sculpture, or engage in any other form of note-taking that fits on two or more pages of your journal. • Breakfast at Residencia • 9:00am: Class in Colegio Mayor dance studio • Lunch on your own • TBD • Dinner on your own • Stay in Bilbao Residencia: Colegio Mayor Deusto Ugasko Bidea, 7 48014 Bilbao, Spain Ph. 34 944 76 51 22 199 Sunday, July 30 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today Figure 52: (cont’d) • Come to class ready to discuss and compare Field Notes #16 with your classmates. • Field Notes #17 (both groups): Create your own assignment! Do creative work with your journal that fills at least 2 pages. Have fun! • Breakfast at Residencia • 9:00am: Meet in front of Colegio Mayor Deusto’s main door with luggage • 9:45am: Gather at NH Hotel’s front door • Boat trip to sea! • Lunch on your own • Recommended activities: kayaking or paddle-surfing class (not included in program fees) • 8:00pm: Meet in front of Colegio Mayor’s • Group Farewell Dinner Stay in hotel: NH Deusto Calle Francisco Macía 9 48014 Bilbao, Spain Ph. +34 944 76 00 06 Email: nhdeusto@nh-hotels.com Monday, July 31 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • Breakfast at Hotel • 9:00am: Class in dance Studio • Time TBD: Depart for Barcelona • Lunch en route • Dinner TBD • Stay in NH Sant Boi Carretera de la Santa Creu de Calafell 101 08830 Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona Ph: +34 93 6358185 Email: nhsantboi@nh-hotels.com • Upload your scavenger hunt photos to D2L by 9:00am today. • Field Notes #18 (both groups): Describe, in detail, one interaction you had with a Spaniard/Basque/ Bilbaíno over the last five days. Fill at least 2 pages of your journal with your reflections about who you feel they thought you were and how they demonstrated that to you. Use our discussion about the ways in which Spaniards/Catalans responded to Anthony Bourdain and Philip Rosenthal during each of their shows for ideas. • Give Karenanna your journal by dinner tonight. Tuesday, August 1 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • 6:20am flight departs for Amsterdam (AMS) • Field Notes #19 (both groups): Write a letter on KLM Royal Dutch Flight 1662. • 10:35am flight departs AMS for DTW to your future self during the summer of 2020 on paper that you’ve acquired during the program (back of an ad, on a fast food bag, whatever is around). Put the completed letter in the envelope Karenanna gave you, seal it, put your name on it, and bring it to our class picnic on Sunday, September 3. Karenanna will mail it to you during the summer of 2020 (as long as she can get your address from you!). TIME PASSES AND YOU PACK UP AND MOVE TO EAST LANSING! ***Sunday, September 10 – Activities/Classes*** Assignments Today • 6:00pm, WDTTYA Track Picnic, location TBD • Discussion • Read-through of group-generated script draft, assembled by instructor • Discussion of rehearsal process and performance in October • Hand in your letter to yourself in the summer of 2020 in a sealed envelope to Karenanna. • After eating, freewrite (not in journal). • Read-through of script draft. 200 Sunday, September 17 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today Figure 52: (cont’d) • Rehearsal of Script 4:00 – 6:00pm Location TBD (in International Center) • Come prepared to rehearse predesignated portion of script. Sunday, September 24 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • Rehearsal of Final Version of Multimedia • Come prepared to rehearse predesignated Performance 4:00 – 6:00pm Location TBD (in International Center) portion of script. Sunday, October 1 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • Rehearsal of Final Version of Multimedia Performance 4:00 – 6:00pm Location TBD (in International Center) Thursday, October 5 – Activities/Classes • Rehearsal with some props/costumes • All lines memorized by today. • Come prepared to rehearse predesignated portion of script. Assignments Today • Come prepared to run memorized show. 7:00 – 9:00pm Location TBD Friday, October 6 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • Final Dress Rehearsal with props/costumes • Come prepared to run memorized show. 7:00 – 9:00pm Location TBD Saturday, October 7 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • Multimedia Performance with all props/costumes/set pieces 6:30 – 10:00pm (curtain at 8:00pm) • Come prepared to perform show! • Call is at 6:30pm • Curtain is at 8:00pm • Stay to help with clean-up after performance and connecting with audience. Monday, October 9 – Activities/Classes Assignments Today • No Activity Scheduled • FINAL PAPER DUE at 11:59pm Submit 2-4 page paper that details the grade you feel you’ve earned in this course, supported by detailing how well you feel you completed all coursework, discussing major learning you’ve experienced in this course, and at least 200 words summarizing your feelings about your experience with this course as a whole. PLEASE NOTE: Your assessment of your own work in this course and the grade you feel you’ve earned will be taken into consideration when your final grades are submitted to MSU, but there is no guarantee that the grade you feel you’ve earned will be the grade you receive in this course. 201 APPENDIX B Italy Program Syllabus (Including itinerary) 202 Which Italy? Exploring Italian Art and Culture from Ancient Rome to the Present Day in Florence, Orvieto, Ostia, Vatican City, and Rome Summer 2018/Fall Semester 2018 (FS18) Instructor: Karenanna Creps Email: kcreps@msu.edu Course/Track Description: This program will give students the opportunity to explore art and culture of the Italian peninsula, from Ancient Rome to the present day. Students will step into the shoes of Italians throughout history in various workshops, classes, and during site visits, which include: an Italian folk dance workshop, a Renaissance-era Commedia del’Arte acting class, a hands-on pizza-making class (you get to taste your coursework!), an opportunity to learn about the slow and organic foods moments at Rome’s Agricoltura Nuova, a chance to stand in the awesome presence of Michaelangelo’s David and other famous works of Italian art, a visit to the ancient port city of Ostia, and an exploration of the ancient, medieval, renaissance, and modern passages and pathways of Florence, Rome, Orvieto, and Vatican City. In small groups, students will work together to select and explore a thematic through line of Italian history and culture throughout the program, based on their interests, which may shift and change during the program. Themes will be grounded in the literature they read for this course. Groups of students will work together to construct documentaries that trace their chosen theme through the experiences they have on the program. Students will attend a public screening of their documentaries on campus during the fall semester. These documentaries will build both on course assignments and the students’ varied creative capacities in artistic realms, such as: Storytelling • Poetry • • Theatrical improvisation • Drawing • Dance • Music • Video • Photography • Comics • Culinary arts • …or any number of other artistic forms of expression. Some themes students could examine include: • A day in the life of Italians throughout history • Lives and lifestyles of Italian artists • Comparisons of Italian culinary cultures during various historical periods • Agriculture through the ages • • The impact of global tourism on Italian people and spaces • Conflict and politics on the peninsula across time • The influence of trade on the Italian peninsula • “If these walls could talk, what would they tell us?” Storytelling through architecture. Immigration and the Italian population across time Italian fine and performing arts of a particular period • • Trends in Italian popular culture and their origins • …or other topics of interest to student participants. 203 Course Goals: Freshman Seminar Abroad Goals: The goal of this program is to expose students to the community of Michigan State University through interacting with new friends, staff, and faculty in an environment different from home. They will encounter people with different backgrounds whose perspectives will both challenge and widen their existing frame of reference. Ultimately, these experiences will nurture them to become not just good college students but also responsible global citizens. The program objectives are aligned with the University’s IAH and ISS requirements. Therefore, students may be able to use their FSA coursework to partially fulfill their integrative studies requirements. IAH and ISS set their goals as following: Integrated Arts and Humanities (IAH) Goals • Become more familiar with ways of knowing in the arts and humanities and to be more knowledgeable and capable in a range of intellectual and expressive abilities • To engage critically with their own society, history, and culture(s); • To learn more about the history and culture of other societies. Integrated Social Sciences (ISS) Goals • Assist students in distinguishing their personal assumptions and beliefs from conclusions based upon critical thought and the analytical exploration of human behavioral patterns and trends. • Expand students' awareness of the ways that enduring and universal social issues and resolutions can be distinguished from those that are the consequence of specific or transient contemporary conditions. • Provide multicultural, international and national perspectives on human behavior that address the particular challenges and opportunities for a multi-racial and multi-ethnic American society. Coursework: PLEASE NOTE: • Leaving your comfort zone to learn new things means experiencing a degree of discomfort, which is not dangerous, but different and new. • During all course activities, you do have the right of abstention, if you feel in danger or an intolerable amount of discomfort. You are welcome to speak with me privately about your concerns during the time between course activities, should you feel compelled to do so. Otherwise, you are welcome to simply indicate that you need time and space to sit and observe instead of participate in a particular activity. • Of course, if you are concerned about danger or a threat of any kind at any point in the program, please speak with me or with another member of the program leadership team78 (László Seregi, Marie Taglioni, and our partners at Accent in Italy), as soon as possible. Introductions Activity (10 points): Students are asked to respond to a list of posted questions on D2L by Friday, July 13 at 7:00pm. Pre-Orientation FSA Modules (20 points): Students are asked to complete these modules before arriving on campus for orientation. Students completing the pre-program modules in Cultural Understanding (CU) and Analytical Thinking (AT) during orientation will receive half- credit for their work. Students completing the modules in Italy will be required to complete the modules and will receive no more than half-credit on this assignment. Book Assignment (points for this are integrated into grades students earn in related assignments): • By the start of orientation at 3:00pm on Sunday, July 15, you will have read and made notes in your chosen Book Assignment book. 78 Program leadership team names are pseudonyms. 204 • Your book will support your work in your data collection during the program, field notes journal assignments, and in the Scavenger Hunt, Group Documentary and Individual Documentary project assignments that you’ll complete in September. (see below). Credit will be given for clear references to your book that are incorporated into these assignments. Site Visits and Guest Lectures (points for these are integrated into grades students earn in related assignments): • Please note: all site visits, guest lectures, and workshops are PART OF YOUR COURSEWORK, and • they are not merely fun things to do while we’re in Italy. I do hope that your learning experience on this program gives you the opportunity to experience new ways of thinking and learning. Students are expected to be timely whenever the group has a planned activity or site visit. Students are expected to fully engage in all site visits throughout the program. • • Of course, our itinerary is perpetually subject to change. Travel is an exercise in adaptation! Airport Research Activity (10 points): This activity will introduce you to collecting data in the field, driven by a research question. You will collect and code data, and then present research findings to the whole group on our first day in Florence, Wednesday, July 18. You will receive more specific directions when we are all at the DTW gate for our flight from Detroit to Europe. MSU Scavenger Hunt (20 points) In the scavenger hunt assignments, you will work in teams of students from our class. This is an introduction to the book-related data collection you’ll be doing independently throughout our time together in Italy. Upload your images to a Google Doc that has your group members’ names as the title. Once you’ve completed the scavenger hunt and uploaded/captioned all of the photos onto a Google Doc, share the Google Doc with me. • For the MSU scavenger hunt, you need to find ten unique items/people/events related to one of your group members’ books. Each group member’s book must inspire at least two scavenger hunt photos. For instance, my book discussed Italian football and fashion, so my scavenger hunt photos could be of me cheering enthusiastically on what could be interpreted as a soccer field and an image of two of my groupmates pointing at a store window that features shoes by an Italian designer. I encourage you to seek out unique items that other groups miss and to get creative! • All photos need to be captioned with a description of the scene (the more humorous and creative, the better!) and the way it connects to an identified group member’s Book Assignment book. • Here are your assigned groups79: Ruthanna, Michael, and Joan Megan, Margaery, and Merrill Isadora, Sophie, and Liberty Karin, Kaye, and Jacques Suzanne, Arthur, and Gelsey Share your MSU Scavenger Hunt photos Google Doc with me before 10:00pm on Wednesday, July 18th (our first full day in Florence). • • There must be at least one group member in each photo, and each group member must appear in at least three photos. • Make sure to include your team name and team members’ names at the top of your Google Doc and caption photos with the first names of FSA Italy people that appear in them Please keep photos PG, respect public and private property, respect local etiquette and behavior norms, do not disturb the peace, and only include people who are intentionally posing for your photo in the images. Your team will receive a zero on this assignment if you do not respect these parameters. 79 Student names are pseudonyms. 205 Why Go There? (20): On Monday, July 16, you and a partner will get 2 hours of computer lab time to supplement the information you have in your book assignment books about a particular site or sites we’ll be visiting in Italy. During our last class period on campus, Tuesday, July 17, from 9:00 – 10:30am, pairs will have 7 minutes and single presenters will have 5 minutes to present a compelling argument for visiting the site(s) to your classmates, citing your books and any other references you use to support your presentation, after which you will conduct a brief class Q&A about the site. I recommend finding one or two pictures of each site to have on the screen while you present. You can email me the image(s) during your computer lab time, and I’ll put them on the screen for your presentation on Tuesday. Site Visits Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, Santa Croce, Vasari Corrido, San Marco (Pick at least two of these) Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze Uffizi Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps Vatican Museum, Sistene Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica Colosseum, Pantheon, and Roman Forum Agricoltura Nuova Ostia Antica Presentation Groups Kaye, Megan Sophie Suzanne Margaery Arthur, Ruthanna Michael, Gelsey Liberty, Jacques Isadora, Karin Joan, Merrill Figure 53: Why Go There? Presentation Groups Field Notes in Travel Journal (60 points): Students will be generating field notes throughout the program in order to learn about a diversity of approaches to academic research about their experiences in Italy. Field notes will be assessed, in part, in terms of meeting specific assignment requirements, meeting specific assignment deadlines, and in terms of critically expanding reflections into new ideas not previously discussed in coursework. These assignments will be discussed, as they are assigned. Some days require multiple entries, while some only require one. Journal entries will be discussed at the beginning of each class meeting in Italy. See calendar below for daily field notes assignment details. ALL FIELD NOTES JOURNAL ENTRIES MUST BE TITLED WITH THE ENTRY NAME AND DATE THE ASSIGNMENT WAS ASSIGNED. • This journal will also serve as your notebook to take notes about the courses, workshops, site visits, and other • experiences throughout the program. I recommend reserving writing time at some point each day with people in your track. It is so much easier to a writing schedule when there are other people holding you accountable! Re-Entry FSA Assignments (20 points): Students are required to attend a re-entry session on campus that is run by the Office of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education (APUE). APUE will report student attendance to the course instructor for assignment points. Documentary Projects: In early October, students will participate in a public screening of their documentary projects, based on the research and reflection work they have generated throughout the course. The Documentary Screening Evening will be open to the public, and students are encouraged to invite their friends and family to this event. Students are expected to arrive at 6:15pm on Friday, October 5 in room 133F, Erickson Hall. The event opens to the public at 7:00pm. Invite friends and family! Please keep video content PG, respect public and private property, respect local etiquette and behavior norms, do not disturb the peace, and only include people who are intentionally involved with your video in your projects. You will receive a zero on this assignment if you do not respect these parameters. After our time in Italy, I will provide links to online videos to help get your creative juices flowing, as well as a list of online storytelling media to help give you ideas about the multiple ways in which you may construct your video projects (including animation, iPhone-type videos, voice-over presentation, memes, and many more). These online tools should 206 all be free or have free versions that you can use for this project. I leave it to each of you to decide how to construct/format/edit your documentary projects. There is no “wrong way” to tell these stories, as long as you follow each video’s listed requirements. N.B. Each of these projects can be completed without having to be in the same physical location as any of your peers on this program. This is intentional. I understand that transitioning to college life is no small feat, and I do wish to respect that, while also honoring your commitment to, and MSU’s support of, this course. Group Documentary (40 points) Students will work with a partner or two partners to create a 5-minute, documentary video that connects text from the Book Assignment book you read to an experience (or experiences) you had in Italy. The requirements for this 5-minute video are: I strongly encourage you to begin working on these videos by September 15, so that you don’t end up with hours of work on the day of the deadline, on top of all of your other commitments. • • • • • • It reflects your group’s shared interest in a topic, related to the Book Assignment books you read for this course. It contains images and audio/video recordings you collected over the course of the program. It is 5 minutes – 5 minutes 10 seconds in duration. It must be clear to a viewer that all members of your group had a hand in creating the video. It connects the text of at least a sentence and no more than a paragraph from each of the books you and your groupmates read with a very specific experience or specific experiences you had in Italy. Students will self-select group members based on shared interests by 9:00am class on Monday, July 30, so that most of the program is complete prior to the selection of group members. • Each Documentary group will have either 2 or 3 group members. • At the end of the Group Documentary, show a list of all of the sources you’ve used for all media and text (including books, music, pamphlets, articles, classmates, lectures, workshops, and tour guides) featured in the Individual Documentary. • Group Documentary must be submitted online by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, September 30. You will get more information about electronically submitting your work early in the fall semester. • • Individual Documentary (30 points) Finally, each of you will create a 1 minute 30 second video about an experience you had during our time together this summer (in July at MSU, while in transit, or in Italy) that in any way impacted your understanding of yourself in the world and how this FSA program has impacted the first few weeks of your fall semester at MSU. The requirements for this 1 minute 30 second video are: It lasts for 1 minute and 30 seconds – no more, no less. It’s about a specific experience you had during our time together that in any way impacted your understanding of yourself in the world. It addresses the impact of your summer FSA experience on the beginning of your college career. • • The video must contain images/video footage/field notes/music to a theme that is informed by both of your books and taken from specific experiences you had in Italy. Avoid generalizations (e.g. “This trip made me a better person,” “College is easier because of this program,” “My life is forever changed,” etc.). Support your claims with visual/verbal evidence (e.g. “College is easier because of this program. For instance, I began fall semester with good friends from the program. Here’s an image of Maxwell and me at an MSU football game, Daisy and I made this video the weekend after we both got into the same sorority, and this is an excerpt of a group project Jobari and I worked on for an art history class, where our time together in Italy was really useful in helping us complete the group project on Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel,” etc.). • At the end of the Individual Documentary, show a list of all of the sources you’ve used for all media and • text (including books, music, pamphlets, articles, classmates, lectures, workshops, and tour guides) featured in the Individual Documentary. Individual Documentary must be submitted online by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, September 30. You will get more information about electronically submitting your work early in the fall semester. 207 Final Grade Reflections Paper (35 points): By 11:59pm on Friday, October 12, students will submit 750 - 1000 word paper (3 - 4 pages, double-spaced, 1 inch margins, and 12 point Times New Roman font) that details the grade you feel you’ve earned in this course, supported with details about how well you feel you completed all coursework, discussing major learning you’ve experienced in this course, and at least 200 words summarizing your feelings about this course as a whole and how it has impacted your life. N.B.: Your assessment of your own work in this course and the grade you feel you’ve earned will be taken into consideration when your final grades are submitted to MSU, but there is no guarantee that the grade you feel you’ve earned will be the grade you receive in this course. You will receive more detailed information about this assignment at the beginning of the fall semester. Evaluation and Grading: Assignment Breakdown: Introductions Activity (10 points) Pre-Orientation Modules (15 points) Airport Research Project (10 points) Scavenger Hunt (20 points) Why Go There? (20 points) Field Notes Journal (60 points) Re-Entry FSA Assignment (15 points) Group Documentary (35 points) Individual Documentary (30 points) Final Grade Reflections Paper (35 points) Total Possible Points: 250 Overall course grades will be based on the following 4.0 scale: 4.0: Superior work that substantially exceeds expectations. 3.0: Work above average. 2.5: Average work expected from a freshman student. 2.0 Work below average. 1.0 Work meets minimum requirement but needs improvement 0.0: Work does not meet one or more of the minimum requirements. Final course grades will be rounded to the nearest half grade, except that at least a 1.0 must be earned to receive a 1.0 final course grade. So, for example, a 2.74 will round to a 2.5 course grade; a 2.75 will round to a 3.0 course grade, and so on. Policies and Procedures: Attendance: Timely attendance at all class sessions, site visits, workshops, transportation departures, guest lectures, meetings, and other program-specific events is expected. Arriving late or leaving early is considered absent and can impact your grade in the course. I strongly encourage you to think of being early as on time, being on time as late, and being late as detrimental to your experience (and risking that you will be left behind on a group excursion). Late Assignments: Each course assignment has a specific due date/time, listed on this syllabus. Late assignments must be discussed with the instructor in advance of that assignment’s deadline. All other late assignments will be accepted on a case-by-case basis for half credit, only. Academic Honesty: Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. This policy is applicable to all academic activities in this class, including weekly assignments. In accordance with MSU’s policies on “Protection of Scholarship and Grades” and “Integrity of Scholarship and Grades,” students are expected to honor principles of truth and honesty in their academic work. Academic honesty entails, among other things, that students will not plagiarize. Academic honesty also means students will not knowingly permit another student to copy and submit their work as that student’s own and will not use unacknowledged quotations or paraphrases as part of their work. As provided by university policy, such academic 208 dishonesty or plagiarism may be penalized by a failing grade on the assignment or for the course. Failure in a course as a result of academic dishonesty will also result in written notification to the student’s academic dean of the circumstances. Additional discussion of cheating or academic dishonesty is available on the Ombudsman’s webpage at: https://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/honestylinks.html MSU’S GENERAL STUDENT REGULATIONS • • • • • • • • 1.00 PROTECTION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND GRADES The principles of truth and honesty are fundamental to the educational process and the academic integrity of the University; therefore, no student shall: 1.01 claim or submit the academic work of another as one’s own. 1.02 procure, provide, accept or use any materials containing questions or answers to any examination or assignment without proper authorization. 1.03 complete or attempt to complete any assignment or examination for another individual without proper authorization. 1.04 allow any examination or assignment to be completed for oneself, in part or in total, by another without proper authorization. 1.05 alter, tamper with, appropriate, destroy or otherwise interfere with the research, resources, or other academic work of another person. 1.06 fabricate or falsify data or results. Statement of Recognition of Student Identity This course affirms people of all gender expressions and gender identities. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name and/or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this request at any time during the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records, as class rosters are provided with each student’s legal name unless it has been changed through the Registrar’s Office. If you would like additional assistance regarding communication about your name and pronouns, please contact the LBGT Resource Center at lbgtrc@msu.edu The Spartan Code of Honor Academic Pledge “As a Spartan, I will strive to uphold values of the highest ethical standard. I will practice honesty in my work, foster honesty in my peers, and take pride in knowing that honor in ownership is worth more than grades. I will carry these values beyond my time as a student at Michigan State University, continuing the endeavor to build personal integrity in all that I do.” Education Abroad Statement of Responsibility 1. Student Conduct A. University Policies, EA Handbook, and Program-Specific Expectations. I am responsible for knowing and abiding by the rules, policies, regulations, and expectations outlined in this agreement and outlined below. I understand that as a participant in an Education Abroad program, I am considered a student and the Education Abroad and MSU policies outlined in this agreement and below are applicable. a. MSU General Student Regulations b. The Spartan Code of Honor Academic Pledge c. Education Abroad Student Handbook d. Residence Hall Regulations (if participating in First-Year Seminar Abroad Program) e. Acceptable Use Policy for MSU Information Technology Resources f. Any program-specific conduct and academic expectations outlined by my program director(s), host institution, and/or on-site provider. B. Local Laws and Customs. I will abide by the laws of my host country/countries. I will be sensitive to local cultures and customs. I will treat my hosts and local communities with respect and dignity. C. Alcohol and Drugs. I must abide by host country laws and local institutional regulations with respect to 209 alcohol and other drugs. Unless permitted by host country law and local institutional regulations, I will not possess, consume, furnish, or distribute any alcoholic beverages. Furthermore, I understand that Michigan State University has a zero-tolerance policy with respect to the possession, use, manufacture, production, sale, exchange, or distribution of illegal drugs. Whether a drug is illegal is governed by U.S. federal drug laws, the laws of the State of Michigan, and host country laws. I am responsible for knowing and obeying the laws of the host country, as well as all local institutional regulations, regarding alcohol and other drugs. I will adhere at all times to the Office for Education Abroad’s Alcohol Misuse and Drug Use policy. I understand that violations of law or policy may result in disciplinary action upon my return to campus and may result in (i) probationary requirements for the remainder of the program abroad; (ii) removal from the program (grade determination will be made by the Sponsoring College’s Associate/Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education in consultation with the instructor); and/or (iii) academic withdrawal from MSU for the semester in progress and/or suspension or expulsion from MSU. D. Disciplinary Action. I understand that violations of this Statement of Responsibility, MSU policies, or policies, regulations, and expectations outlined by my program director(s), host institution, and/or on-site provider(s) may result in disciplinary action on-site and/or upon return to campus, academic consequences, removal from the program, and/or suspension or expulsion from Michigan State University. A description of disciplinary procedures is available online on the Office of International Health and Safety’s Student Conduct While Abroad webpage. E. Program Removal. If it is determined that my continued presence is likely to impede the achievement of program objectives or to disrupt program activity, or that I pose a danger to the health or safety of myself or others, I may face summary removal from the program. A decision to remove me from an MSU-sponsored education abroad program is the responsibility of the Executive Director of the Office for Education Abroad. If my program includes an internship placement, takes place at a host institution, is offered by an EA program provider, and/or is a medical rotation/clerkship, and if I am removed from such a placement by decision of the institution/organization offering the experience, I may also face summary removal from the associated education abroad program. Any decision to remove me from a program would be final with no refund and take effect immediately. Housing and transportation back to the United States would be my responsibility and at my own expense. 2. Academic and Financial Responsibilities A. Deposits. Upon submitting my application, I will be responsible for the non-refundable application deposit. Upon confirming my acceptance into the program, I will be responsible for the non-refundable acceptance deposit. I understand that if I withdraw from my program after confirming my acceptance to the program, I may still be responsible for some or all of the costs associated with program participation according to the policy described below. B. Withdrawal. If I wish to withdraw from the program after confirming my participation, I understand that it is my responsibility to send a written notice of my intention to the Office for Education Abroad. I understand that notification to my program director and/or Office of Admissions is not sufficient. To be officially withdrawn, I understand I must send an email to abroad@msu.edu and include my full name, PID, and the name of the program that I wish to withdraw from. I understand that the consequences of my withdrawal will be based on the date and time my email is received by the Office for Education Abroad. If my withdrawal is submitted more than 8 weeks before the program’s first day, I understand I will be financially responsible for the $100 application deposit and the $200 acceptance deposit. If I submit my withdrawal less than 8 weeks before the program’s first day, I understand I will be financially responsible for the $100 application deposit and the $200 acceptance deposit or any nonrecoverable costs incurred and/or committed by MSU and its affiliates on my behalf at the time of my withdrawal (whichever is more). If I withdraw after the program’s first day, I understand I will be financially responsible for the entire program fee. If I should decide to withdraw and fail to submit my withdrawal in writing and/or fail to show up at the program , I understand I will be financially responsible for the entire program fee. If I withdraw from the program at any time, I understand I will be required to withdraw from my education abroad course(s) and will be held to MSU’s tuition refund policies. If I am put on academic and/or behavioral probation or recessed from Michigan State University after acceptance, I understand I am responsible for withdrawing from my education abroad program. 210 C. Credit. I will comply with the MSU Office for Education Abroad program course credit requirements and with MSU's academic policies and procedures. I will maintain enrollment for the duration of the program in the specified courses for at least 12 credits (MSU credits or equivalent MSU credits) for a semester program (unless the particular program requires more)or the minimum number of credits specified for my short-term program. If I enroll in more than the minimum number of MSU credits, I will be financially responsible for additional tuition charges. If I fail to enroll (or fail to remain enrolled) in the minimum number of credits, I may be removed from the program and/or I will be billed and responsible for paying an additional program fee equivalent to the tuition amount. Even if I pay this additional fee after completion of the program, I cannot be retroactively (re-)enrolled in my desired courses. If I miss a substantial portion of the program, for whatever reason, the number of credits awarded and any point or grade deductions will be determined at the program director’s discretion. If I withdraw, depart or am removed from a program before its formal completion, I may be ineligible for academic credit. Should I receive permission to return home early, I may be eligible to receive a grade of “W” on my academic transcript. Any refund of tuition and fees would be according to the policy stated on the MSU Office of the Registrar website. I understand that if I participate in an exchange program, I will be enrolled by the Office for Education Abroad in the minimum number of credits. I will be financially responsible for paying tuition for the minimum number of credits, and I will not receive a refund if I enroll in fewer credits. A. Travel Arrangements. MSU may make changes to the program itinerary, including cancellation, at any time upon EA’s determination that such is necessary. I will be responsible for any costs paid to outside agencies (such as airlines or travel agencies) due to such cancellation or change. MSU is not responsible for penalties assessed by air carriers or any other associated costs based on operational and/or itinerary changes. If I travel independently and arrive after the start of the program, I will notify my program director or the Office for Education Abroad personnel and am responsible for all academic consequences such as lost class time and missed assignments. I must confirm departure and arrival times and locations with my program director. My property is transported at my risk. MSU is not responsible for travel delays. I will notify my program director or on-site personnel of my itinerary whenever I leave the site for longer than one day. MSU is not responsible for any injury or loss I may suffer when I am traveling independently or am otherwise separated from any University-sponsored activities. If I become separated from the program group, for any reason, I will rejoin, at my own expense, the group at the first opportunity. MSU may substitute hotel accommodations or housing at any time. Specific room and housing assignments are within MSU’s sole discretion. B. Countries with High-Risk Designation. I understand that MSU has specific waiver requirements associated with student travel to countries that have been designated high-risk and that this may impact my program. Furthermore, I understand that I am not permitted to travel independently to a country that is designated high- risk unless participating in an education abroad program for which a waiver to the policy has been granted. 3. Program Logistics and On-Site Responsibilities C. Accompanying Family Members. MSU is not responsible for providing support for accompanying non- participants, e.g. spouses/partners, parents and children. I am advised to obtain international health insurance for any accompanying family members. Such persons cannot attend classes or other activities formally associated with the program. If such a person disrupts the program, it may be grounds for my removal from the program. D. Health. I will be responsible for my own health maintenance. In the event of illness, accident or emergency, I will inform an appropriate program official so that assistance may be secured and so that my designated emergency contact may be notified. If I am applying more than one year before the beginning program date, I agree to update my Student Health/Emergency Treatment Authorization within two months of my scheduled program departure. E. Housing Infractions. In the event of infractions of housing regulations and/or behavior that negatively impacts the housing situation, the Student Conduct while Abroad procedures will apply. If I am removed from housing, I may be removed from the Education Abroad program. If I am removed from housing but remain in the program, I will be responsible for locating and paying for alternative housing. No refund of the program 211 housing will be granted. If alternative housing cannot be found, I will be removed from the program and forfeit academic credit and any financial refund. If the Office for Education Abroad becomes aware of or is invoiced for damage to on-site housing, the responsible student(s) will be held financially accountable and the costs will be passed on to the student(s) as a charge to their MSU Student Account. F. Unauthorized Absences. Attendance and engagement are indispensable parts of the education abroad experience and academic consequences as outlined in the course syllabus will apply. Unauthorized absences may be considered an emergency situation and the emergency contacts listed on my application may be contacted. Failure to attend any required program activities (including field trips, classes, guest lectures, etc.), will not be considered an official withdrawal from the program and I will be held to the regular Education Abroad refund policies. 4. Acknowledgement of Risk and Release of Claims A. Acknowledgment of Risk. I understand that international travel has varying degrees of risk that are dependent on location and unpredictable events such as natural disasters as, well as my own conduct. I am aware that I may contact the Office of International Health and Safety for assistance with travel planning and emergency preparedness. Recognizing the risk of loss and serious injury that could occur, I affirm that the decision to travel internationally is my own choice. B. Release of Claims and Indemnity. For myself and all those who may claim through me, I release MSU (and its employees and representatives) from liability for all injuries, illnesses, and losses, including death, I may sustain to my person and/or property, which are in any way connected to my program participation, except as regards any claim of “gross negligence” that is actionable under Michigan’s Governmental Tort Liability Act. I further agree to defend and hold MSU harmless with respect to any loss, claim or expense it may sustain by reason of my behavior. C. Governing Law. Any dispute arising from this Statement will be determined according to Michigan law. In submitting my program application, I acknowledge that I have had an opportunity to ask any questions I have about this Statement of Responsibility, that I have read and understand it, that I accept its terms, and that I have signed it knowingly and voluntarily. Academic Schedule Please be aware that this is a tentative calendar. Changes will likely to happen due to weather, travelling conditions, and other external factors. Schedule changes will be announced in class. Students are required and expected to stay up to date with the latest schedule. See other materials and handouts for the overall program events. Travel is an exercise in adaptation! Date Friday, July 13 Time/Location/Activity 7:00 p.m. (Off-Campus) Pre-program assignments Assignments Today • By 7:00pm tonight, post your personal introduction to the class on D2L. • Prior to your arrival for on- campus FSA orientation, complete your Pre-Orientation FSA Modules. • Prior to the start of orientation, sign up for, read, and make notes in your Book Assignment book. Figure 54: Italy Program Itinerary 212 • By the start of orientation, you will have read and written notes in your Book Assignment book. • • Keep your Book Assignment book, stocked pencil case, and your Field Notes Journal with you for all classes, workshops, tours, guest lectures, and site visits unless instructed not to do so. Six-word autobiography about who you are as you transition to college (in-class activity) Scavenger Hunt should be completed and posted on a Google Doc shared with Karenanna no later than 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 18. • Sunday, July 15 Figure 54: (cont’d) 2:00 – 2:45 p.m. (Snyder Hall Lobby) Orientation arrival and check in 3:00 – 3:10 p.m. (Snyder C201) Group Welcome: Images of Italy Rose Tyler and Marie Taglioni80 3:10 – 3:25 p.m. (Snyder C202/204) Academic overview and itinerary meeting with parents and students. 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. (Snyder C204) Getting to Know Our Track 6-Word Autobiography 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. (Snyder C201) Parent Session (incl. safety) Aguado & Ellison 4:45 – 5:30 p.m. (Snyder C202/204) Student/parent joint session: Education Abroad overview, health and safety abroad, general behavior expectations. 5:45 – 6:45 p.m. (Shaw Dining Hall) Dinner (Parents may leave before/after dinner) 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. (Snyder C203) Community-Building with both tracks 8:00 – 8:30 p.m. (Snyder C203) Which Italy? Activity Introduction N.B. East Lansing has a curfew of 12:00 a.m. for minors. 80Names listed are pseudonyms. 213 Monday, July 16 Tuesday, July 17 Figure 54: (cont’d) 8:00 – 8:45 a.m. (Shaw Dining Hall) Breakfast 9:00 – 10:50 a.m. (Snyder C303) Syllabus Discussion Intro to Assignments 11:00 – 11:30 a.m. (Snyder C301) FSA Student Alumni Reflections: Brandon Parker and Jillian Mutchler 11:30 – 12:30 p.m. (Snyder C301) Community Standards Activity 12:45 – 1:30 p.m. (Shaw Dining Hall) Lunch and Free Time 1:45 – 3:15 p.m. (Snyder C301) Italian Language and Culture Guest Speaker: Giovanna Lammers Walk as a group to the computer center 3:30 – 5:20 p.m. (Computer Center room 210) Why go there? Activity: Research and Data Collection 5:30 – 6:45 p.m. (Shaw Dining Hall) Dinner and Free Time 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (Snyder C303) What kind of traveler do you want to be? 8:00 – 8:45 a.m. (Shaw Dining Hall) Breakfast 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. (Snyder C204) Why Go There? Presentations/Q&A Prep for International Travel and Intro to Airport Research Activity 10:45 – 11:25 a.m. (Snyder Hall/Bus) Check out of Snyder Hall Board Airport Bus (lunch provided on bus) 4:25 p.m. Departure from Detroit (DTW) Flight: Delta #132 (Creps track research activity at gate) 214 Assignments Today • Continue Scavenger Hunt • Continue Why Go There? assignment Assignments Today • Why Go There? Presentations today. • Airport Research Activity. Complete data collection in DTW, code on the flight to AMS, prepare your data report to be shared with both tracks in Florence, tomorrow! • Karenanna will hand out envelopes for your Letter to October 2018 Self today. Put your name on them, put your completed Letter to October 2018 Self in it, seal it, and give it back to Karenanna by the beginning of tomorrow’s Welcome Dinner in Florence, or sooner. Wednesday, July 18 Assignments Today • Be present for all group events • Get to bed on time to combat jet lag. The struggle is REAL! • Present your Airport Research Activity findings to both groups today. Scavenger hunt Google Docs shared with Karenanna by 10:00 p.m. today. • • Turn in sealed Letter to October 2018 Self with your name on the envelope to Karenanna by the beginning of our Welcome Dinner at 5:30pm. Figure 54: (cont’d) 5:55 a.m. Arrive Amsterdam (AMS) 8:45 a.m. Depart Amsterdam (AMS) Flight Flight: KLM #1639 10:45 a.m. Arrive Florence (FLR) Hurray!! 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Hotel Costantini Orientation Hotel Costantini Via Calzaiuoli 13, 50122 Florence, Italy Ph: +039 055 260 8660 Email: info@calzsiuoli.it 1:30 – 2:00p.m. Mercato Centrale Lunch 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Accent Florence Study Center Short, Practical Walking Tour with ACCENT staff Accent Florence Study Center Piazza Santo Spirito, 10 50125 Florence, Italy Ph: +39 055 26 70 501 Ph: +39 055 23 81 657 Fax: +39 055 271 77 49 Hours: M – F 8:30 – 5:00 p.m. 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. Hotel Constantini Check-in 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Rubaconte Restaurant Dinner 7:00 p.m. Evening with Marie 215 Thursday, July 19 Friday, July 20 Figure 54: (cont’d) 8:00 – 8:40 a.m. Hotel Costantini Breakfast 9:00 – 12:00 p.m. Guided Walking Tour of Florence (Exteriors of Duomo and Baptistery, ending at the Boboli Gardens, and Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens) 3:00-5:00 p.m. Class at Accent Student Center 5:15 – 6:15 p.m. OPTIONAL LECTURE Florence: New Athens, New Rome, New Jerusalem Prof. Stefano Casu in our classroom at the Accent Student Center Lecture Description: Florence: stronghold of liberty, able to defeat powerful tyrants and ready to defend the freedom of other cities. Florence: beacon of civilization, birthplace of great scholars, poets, artists. Florence: favorite of God, with a special destiny in the history of salvation. The lecture explores the origins of the myth of Florentine exceptionality, the role played in its development by men like Coluccio Salutati, Leonardo Bruni, Lorenzo de' Medici and Girolamo Savonarola, and its consequences on the works of great artists, including Donatello, Verrocchio, Ghirlandaio and Michelangelo. 8:00 – 8:40 a.m. Hotel Costantini Breakfast 9:00 a.m. thrlugh Lunchtime: Meet at David statue copy in Piazza della Signoria Guided Tour (Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, Santa Croce) 3:00-5:00 p.m. Class at Accent Student Center Assignments Today • Field Notes #1 (due at the start of next class meeting, Friday, July 20) Freewrite for at least one full page in your Field Notes Journal about anything that comes to mind related to your assigned book. Keep the subsequent 4 pages in your journal blank for note-taking related to your book. • Field Notes #2 (due at the start of next class meeting, Friday, July 20) On the page following your freewrite, draw one or more images to illustrate an idea or multiple idea(s) inspired by your Assigned Book. Fill the whole page with a detailed drawing in color or pencil. Assignments Today • Field Notes #3: Detail a unique work of genius that others might miss from your time in Florence so far. Write one full page (or more) about why you think it is a work of genius and draw a page-sized, detailed image of what it looks like. Do you see anyone else acting like it’s a work of genius (or not)? How do you know? 216 Assignments Today • Field Notes #4: Fill at least 2 pages with your observations about the David. You may write in any format (poem, narrative, essay, etc.), draw, sketch, make a collage, create an origami sculpture, or engage in any other form of note-taking that fills two or more pages of your journal. This can be a work of fiction (e.g. a conversation with Michelangelo while he was carving the sculpture, a conversation with the sculpture, itself, David’s interior monologue during the moment the sculpture captures, etc.). Assignments Today N.B. START PACKING YOUR BAGS TONIGHT, BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT HAVE MUCH TIME TO DO IT TOMORROW. Leave enough out to get through to Monday evening and pack everything else. • Field Notes #5 : Imagine that you are an inquisitive young child who has snuck into the Uffizi Gallery on a day it is closed. Find three different rooms that contain three distinct kinds of art (could be by artists with very different styles, could be the architecture of three very differently designed rooms, could be three different artistic media – sculpture, painting, drawing, for instance) and write the story of how you, as that child, would enjoy each of the three types of art, one page for each of the three experiences the curious child has. Saturday, July 21 Sunday, July 22 Figure 54: (cont’d) 8:00 - 8:40 a.m. Hotel Costantini Breakfast 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Class Outdoors – Meet in Hotel Lobby with your Field Notes Journals and pencil case of supplies. Do not wear athleisure wear for today’s class. 11:00 – 12:40 p.m. Lunch on your own 1:00 p.m. Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze Guided Tour 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Hotel Costantini Breakfast 9:00-Noon Wherever you want Read, Write Catch Up, Nap, Have Gelato 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. (you can stay until the Gallery closes, if you’d like) Uffizi Gallery 6:40 p.m. Accent Student Center Group walk to pizza-making class 7:00 p.m. Pizza-Making Class 217 Monday, July 23 Tuesday, July 24 Figure 54: (cont’d) 7:00 – 7:30a.m Hotel Costantini Breakfast 7:30 – 7:55am Bus Load luggage and Board 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Bus ride to Orvieto 11:00 – 1:00 p.m. Underground Oriveto Walking Tour 1:00 – 2:50 p.m. Orvieto Lunch and free time NEED TO CONFIRM TIMES p.m. Bus ride to Rome XX:XX HOTEL ARRIVAL Check into hotel Via Ippolito Nievo, 12 00153 Rome, Italy 8:00 p.m. Rolli 1 Welcome Dinner 9:30 p.m. Evening with Marie 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. RESIDENCE Breakfast 10:00 – 12:00 p.m. Guided tour (Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps) 12:00 – 3:40 p.m. Wherever Lunch on your own and free time 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. Apollo Classroom Class at Accent Rome Study Center Accent Rome Study Center Piazza dell’Orologio 7 00186 Rome, Italy Ph: +39 06 9799 8673 Fax: +39 06 9799 8682 Assignments Today • Hand your Field Notes Journals to Karenanna as you board the bus for Rome. She will grade them and return them upon our arrival at Orvieto. • Field Notes #6: Create a two-page advertisement to attract tourists to Orvieto. You can incorporate a catchy jingle, images (drawn or collage or another medium), poems, a script for commercials on the radio, or a text- heavy travel magazine piece. Make sure that you have at least 200 words of text on the advertisement. Assignments Today • Field Notes #7 Write a fairy tale about one of the famous sites you see today that is EXACTLY 20 WORDS LONG. • Field Notes #8 Observe 3 very different people on the Spanish Steps. Write a haiku of what each of them might be thinking. A haiku is a three-line Japanese poetic form with a specific syllabic structure of: Line one: 5 syllables Line two: 7 syllables Line three: 5 syllables • Field Notes #9 Turn two of your haiku into Tankas by adding two more lines: Line four: 7 syllables Line 5: 7 syllables 218 Wednesday, July 25 Thursday, July 26 Figure 54: (cont’d) 7:30 – 8:05 a.m. RESIDENCE Breakfast 8:10 a.m. RESIDENCE Lobby Meet to depart for Vatican 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Vatican Lecture: Vatican Communications Director: Sean Patrick Lovett 11:00 – 1:15 p.m. Vatican City Lunch on Your Own 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. Vatican & St. Peter’s Basilica Guided Tour with Marta Marsili 7:30 – 8:05 a.m. RESIDENCE Breakfast 8:10 a.m. RESIDENCE Lobby Meet to leave for tour together 9:00-12:30 p.m. Guided Tour (Colosseum and Roman Forum) Guide: Prof. Albert Prieto 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. Wherever Lunch and Free Time On Your Own 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. LOCATION Commedia Del’Arte Workshop Led by: Andrea Pangallo 5:00 p.m.- 6:45 p.m. Wherever Free Time 7:00 p.m. RESIDENCE Lobby Dinner on own & Fiesta de Noantri with Accent intern Assignments Today • Field Notes #10 Write two pages about the fact that many of the materials that make the Vatican so beautiful were taken from Ancient Roman sites. How do you feel about this? What was the historical cost of this age-old recycling method? What do you think might have happened to all of the art and decorative materials if they hadn’t been used to build the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica? Assignments Today • Field Notes #11 Option I: On 2 pages of your Field Notes Journal, make a detailed drawing of how you imagine a street in the Roman Forum might have looked at the height of the Roman Empire, based on evidence from what you learned on today’s tour of the Forum. • Option II: On 2 pages, write a detailed story about the experience of an Ancient Roman walking down one street in the Roman Forum at the height of the Roman Empire. Include intricate sensory details (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures or experiences of physical feelings of objects or sites) that help your reader feel like they are walking in the shoes of an Ancient Roman on an average day in the Forum. 219 Friday, July 27 Figure 54: (cont’d) 7:45 – 8:15 a.m. RESIDENCE Breakfast 8:25 a.m. RESIDENCE Lobby Meet to walk to Accent Student Center 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Apollo Classroom Class 12:00 – 8:00 p.m. Agricoltura Nuova Visit and Meal More details once we’re in Rome Assignments Today • Field Notes #12 What do you imagine an Agricoltura Nuova might look like in your hometown? Who would work there? How would that impact the economy of your hometown? How might it make locals feel about living there? Is there something like an Agricoltura Nuova near-ish to where you live? What is it like, how far away is it, and how is it different the one we visited today? If there isn’t one, would you want one in your hometown? Why or Why not? N.B. I will not grade this field notes entry tomorrow. 220 Saturday, July 28 Figure 54: (cont’d) DAY TRIP DAY! 7:45 – 8:15 a.m. RESIDENCE Breakfast 8:20 a.m. RESIDENCE Lobby Meet to Depart for Ostia 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Ostia Antica -- Archaelogical Site 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. Mamaflò Restaurant Group Lunch 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. Beach Club Free time on beach. Chairs and umbrellas are provided for all of us. 6:00 p.m. Rome Estimated return time Assignments Today • Give Karenanna your Field Notes Journal when you board the bus for Ostia. She will return it when we arrive in Ostia. • Field Notes #13 Create your own entry! Draw inspiration from your experiences in Ostia to fill two pages of your journal with whatever comes to mind. For example, a detailed, plate- by-plate review of the restaurant where we have lunch today; a detailed drawing of the Ostia beach scene before you; a commentary on how humans are impacting the natural environment on the beach; an entry that describes the many connections you have made between experiences you’ve had today and what you read in your Book Assignment book; a detailed description of what it would have been like to live through a specific historic event that happened in Ostia; a collage that encapsulates how your day in Ostia impacted you (sensory experiences, learning, enjoying, trying something new, etc.); a day-in-the-life autobiography of an ancient citizen of Ostia; a detailed list of the differences between Ostia’s beach and a beach you know very well; a page-long, humorous (and tasteful) commentary about Ostia made by an imaginary tourist who complains about everything, along with a page-long, humorous (and tasteful) commentary about Ostia made by an imaginary tourist who is completely in love with “Everything Ostia”; a two-page story about Ostia told almost exclusively with puns; or any other idea you might have! Dare yourself to create something in a way you might have never before tried! Enjoy! 221 Sunday, July 29 Figure 54: (cont’d) 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. RESIDENCE Breakfast FREE DAY! 7:00 p.m. Accent Student Center Ancient Roman Style Dinner! • Field Notes #14 Fill two pages of your Field Notes Journal with a description of one interaction you have had with an Italian or group of Italians during your time in Italy. Is there anything about the interaction that surprised you? Who did they seem to think you are? Who did you think they were? Did it seem like either/any of you/them contradicted each other’s expectations? How might this interaction change how you think about other people you might encounter in the future? 222 Monday, July 30 Figure 54: (cont’d) 8:00 - 8:45 a.m. RESIDENCE Breakfast 9:00 – 11:00 Apollo Room Guest lecture/workshop: traditional Italian Folk Dance *Get your Letter to 2021 Self envelope from Karenanna right after today’s Italian Folk Dance workshop 7:00 p.m. Meet in Residence Lobby Group Farewell Dinner at Osteria Maruzzella XX:XX Upon return to the RESIDENCE Farewell Activity Assignments Today • TURN IN YOUR FIELD NOTES JOURNAL TO KARENANNA AT THE START OF FAREWELL DINNER, ALONG WITH YOUR LETTER TO 2021 SELF • Report Group Documentary Groups and Topics (not Individual Documentary topic) in class today • Field Notes #19 (both groups): Based on what you learned in today’s workshop, write a poem that is at least 15 lines long about the relationships it seems traditional Italian folk dancers and groups of dancers have with each other OR write two pages about what you those relationships are like OR fill two pages with a drawing of the workshop and how you imagine Italian folk dancers looked in the middle ages. • Letter to 2021 Self: Write a letter to your future self during the summer of 2021 on paper that you’ve acquired during the program (back of an ad, on a fast food bag, whatever is around). Put the completed letter in the envelope Karenanna gave you, seal it, put your name on it, and give it to her at the beginning of our group farewell dinner tonight. Karenanna will mail it to you during the summer of 2021 (as long as she can get your address from you around then!). 223 Tuesday, July 31 TIME PASSES Multiple Dates and Times Figure 54: (cont’d) 6:50 -7:20 a.m. RESIDENCE Breakfast 7:20 – 7:40 a.m. RESIDENCE LOBBY Checkout and bus (45 min.) to airport (some have other flights and final destinations) 11:15 a.m. Depart Rome (FCO) Flight: Delta #237 3:40 p.m. Arrive Detroit (DTW) Go through customs, baggage claim, etc. Take bus back to MSU 7:30 p.m. Arrive MSU YOU PACK UP AND MOVE • Monday, September 24th: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. • Wednesday, September 26th: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. • Thursday, September 27th: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. (for Honors Option students) • Tuesday, October 1st: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. • Wednesday, October 2nd: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. (for Honors Option students) Assignments Today VIAGGI SICURI! CI VEDIAMO AL CAMPUS! WELCOME TO EAST LANSING! • MSU requires you to attend one of the listed “Unpacking Your Study Abroad” sessions listed here. Locations will be determined in early September. Sunday, September 30 No activity scheduled Electronically turn in both your Group Documentary and Individual Documentary by 11:59pm today. Assignments Today Friday, October 5 Friday, October 12 6:15 p.m. Room 133F, Erickson Hall Arrive for Documentary Screening Set-Up and Prep 7:00 Room 133F, Erickson Hall Documentary Screening Activities/Classes Arrive at 133F Erickson Hall at 6:15pm today Presentations begin at 7:00pm today Invite friends and family – this event is open to the public! Assignments Today Final Grade Reflections Paper due 11:59pm N.B. Your assessment of your own work in this course and the grade you feel you’ve earned will be taken into consideration when your final grades are submitted to MSU, but there is no guarantee that the grade you feel you’ve earned will be the grade you receive in this course. 224 APPENDIX C Italy Program Book List81 81 Book list is deidentified. The books students selected are highlighted in green. Books not highlighted were not chosen by students as coursework for the Italy program. 225 Instructions: Each student on this Freshman Seminar Abroad program will read a different book, selected by each of you from this list on a first-come, first-served basis. There are more books than students in this FSA program, so some books will not get selected. Select one of the following books to read prior to your arrival on campus for FSA Orientation on July 15. You may select any book that has not already been chosen by your classmates. Choose from the available books, based on your curiosity and interest, and put your name next to your selected book. The book you choose will be central to multiple assignments throughout this course (June - October). You will need to purchase this book, so that you can highlight, write notes in the margins, and flag different parts of the book while you read, for comprehension and quick reference. You need to know the book very well by the time you arrive for orientation. The notes you take in the book should be in the spirit of understanding the content of the book more clearly and thoroughly, in addition to noting any questions that arise from your reading. For instance, should you encounter new vocabulary, you should circle the new word in the text of the book and write the definition of that word in the margins of the book, itself. Please email Karenanna Creps (kcreps@msu.edu), your faculty leader for this FSA program, should you have any questions about this book list or assignments related to it. Books about 19th - 21st Century Italy Hales, D. (2010). La bella lingua: My love affair with Italian, the world's most enchanting language. New York: Broadway Books. Hibbert, C. (2008). Garibaldi: Hero of Italian unification. New York: St. Martin's Press. Kertzer, D. I. (2014). The Pope and Mussolini: The secret history of Pius XI and the rise of fascism in Europe. New York: Random House Trade Paperback. Nabhan, G. P. (1994). Songbirds, truffles, and wolves: An American naturalist in Italy. New York: Penguin Books. Petrini, C. (2004). Slow food: The case for taste. New York: Columbia University Press. Root, W. (1992). The food of Italy. New York: Vintage Books. Hooper, J. (2016). The Italians. New York: Penguin Books. Severgnini, B. (2007). La bella figura: A field guide to the Italian mind. New York: Broadway Books. Books about Renaissance - 18th Century Italy Blech, B. & Doliner, R. (2008). The Sistene secrets: Michaelangelo's forbidden messages in the heart of the Vatican. New York: HarperCollins. Dunant, S. (2004). The birth of Venus: A novel. New York: Random House, Inc. Hollingsworth, M. (2006). The cardinal's hat: Money, ambition, and everyday life in the court of a Borgia prince. New York: The Overlook Press. Jack, B. (2005). Beatrice's spell: The enduring legacy of Beatrice Cenci. New York: Other Press. Figure 55: Italy Program Book List 226 Figure 55: (cont’d) Lev, Elizabeth. (2011). The tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy's most courageous and notorious countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de' Midici. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Meyer, G. J. (2014). The Borgias: The hidden history. New York: Bantam Books Trade Paperback. Strathern, P. (2016). The Medici: Power, money, and ambition in the Italian Renaissance. New York: Pegasus Books Ltd. Books about Ancient Rome - Middle Ages Angela, A. (2013). The reach of Rome: A journey through the lands of the ancient empire, following a coin. New York: Rizzoli Ex Libris. Beard, M. (2016). SPQR: A history of ancient Rome. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation. Jones, P. (2016). Veni vidi vici: Everything you ever wanted to know about the Romans but were afraid to ask. London: Atlantic Books. Knapp, R. (2013). 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