CIEE Conference 2013: Align. Innovate. Educate…

Credit Wars: Curricular Integration and Dis-Integration in Study Abroad Programming

Chair: Thomas Bogenschild, Vanderbilt UniversityPresenters: Kathleen Opel, University of Notre Dame

Kristi Hubbard, Emory University

Vanderbilt Study Abroad Overview (credit-bearing)

745 outbound in 201246.4% of all graduates28% on short-term programs (4 weeks/less)120+ options approved by 4 undergraduate

colleges◦ Third party provider◦ Proprietary fixed site◦ Faculty-led short term◦ Leaves of Absence ◦ Hybrid◦ Direct enroll◦ Exchange◦ Proprietary extended curriculum (VISAGE)

Geographic and Gender Distribution, 2010-11

Program Approval ProcessFour undergraduate schools/colleges

• Blair School of Music• School of Engineering• Peabody College of Education• College of Arts & Science

Each college has its own approval process ranging from informal to a 2 year multi-committee process

Most SA Programs managed by Global Education Office – reporting to Provost but not directly involved in approvals process

GEO assesses college approvals and makes recommendation to Provost, for final approval

LOAs and Faculty-Led Short Term programs managed by Associate Deans in 4 colleges

The “One University” Principle: Programs approved by one college open to students from all colleges

Approved status determines eligibility for Financial Aid, Direct Enrollment (all study abroad courses and grades appear on Vanderbilt transcript)

Program approvals @ collegiate level do not imply approval or credit determinations for any specific course or curriculum abroad

SA courses may not be cross-listed across more than one department

Every course taken abroad is directly evaluated by faculty members in corresponding departments* (generally the Directors of Undergraduate Study (DUS); the process is coordinated by GEO

Access to existing course approvals

Approvals and Credits: Process

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Harmonies of interest?

Student Interests Institutional Interests

Value added◦ Experiences unattainable on

campus

◦ Exposure to different pedagogies and perspectives

Academic integrity of SA experience

SA Credits fulfill institutional requirements◦ Core requirements

◦ Disciplinary requirements (requires confidence in

Program Approvals process)

Academic integrity◦ Faculty program approvals

◦ Direct transcripting

◦ No P/F option as on campus

◦ Faculty review of all coursework

Conformity to established degree pathways◦ Institutional Branding

◦ Departmental Branding

The Theory of Course Assessments

On-site evidence (syllabus, transcript,

recommended chart of

equvalencies

Objective Analysis of academic evidence by

faculty

Final Course Assessment: Disciplinary

determination, credit assignment, and grade transfer

to transcript

The Occasional Reality: Credit Wars

Presumptive challenges: the credit as weapon

Course evaluations may be influenced by:• Ongoing dynamics between departmental faculty

members (over methods, perspectives, ideologies, manners, etc.)

• Clashes of pedagogical or theoretical orientations between colleges and divisions

• Unfamiliarity with foreign pedagogical systems• Pressures to make SA experience conform to

established academic pathways on the home campus

• Economic pressures to maintain on-campus enrollments or to ‘encourage’ students to attend proprietary programs over other forms of SA

• Institutional heliocentrism (why would anyone take courses outside of this, the best institution in the entire world/universe?)

Examples and challenges1) ‘Not this department’

1) We don’t ‘do’ this sort of psychology2) European Banking is not a Financial

Management course, but an Economics course3) This geography course is Earth Sciences4) This geography course is Anthropology

2) ‘No major or minor credit’ – general credit only 1) We teach the same course in our proprietary program and need to protect our enrollments 2) This course falls outside of the established curriculum pathway in our department (our courses) as clearly outlined in the Student Handbook (or not) 3) ‘We encourage international engagement in core courses, but only 1 of 3 general ed requirements can be earned abroad’ 1) The breadth and depth of our foreign language and international study course offerings is more than adequate for any student 2) My on-campus course is better than your experiential learning course

Vanderbilt Creative Solutions

Streamline and try to control evaluation processes at the program and curricular level

Make students aware of the process and dangers inherent in the system

Educate, educate, educate!◦E.g. faculty workshops for DUS faculty◦Push for faculty engagement in 3PP

programs/programming

Notre Dame Study Abroad Overview Sponsors 40 academic year programs, 8 Summer

Programs◦ direct enrollment ◦ program providers◦ 2 proprietary programs ◦ 3 hybrid --direct enroll and classes taught by our onsite faculty

1266 undergrads outbound in 2012-13◦ 717 students on OIS semester or yearlong programs◦ 189 on OIS 6-8 week summer programs◦ ~50 yearlong undergrads in Architecture ◦ ~75 undergrads on 2 Engineering summer programs◦ Small number of undergrad faculty-led programs◦ Limited number of Leaves of Absence

Home school tuition direct ND credit and abroad grades into ND GPA

Notre Dame Course Approval Process

NDI approves new programs with guidelines from Provost’s Office

Every course taken abroad must be approved by a home department and given a unique Notre Dame course number, e.g., HIST 34821

Students supply advisors with a course approval form in advance of study and all approval forms go to OIS

Courses need not be an equivalent; new courses vetted to see how they will count

Notre Dame Registration / Transcript

REGISTRATION REPORT

ONLINE TRANSCRIPT

Notre Dame ChallengesFew options for students who are not

accepted into ND-sponsored programCreating new numbers for every new

course taken by a student abroadCourse approvals when there is no

departmental “home”◦ Languages not taught at ND ◦ Courses outside our disciplines, e.g.,

geography, veterinary science, food science, etc.

Dealing with perceptions that courses taken abroad are not as good as home campus

Where to situate survey classes that don’t have enough history to be a history class; not enough sociology to be a soc class, etc.

Why We Need Unique Course Numbers…. Graduation Progress System

Notre Dame Creative Solutions

Get an A&L generic # for a general elective course

Request that Department assign a special topics number

Add attributes to courses to make them readable to the GPS

Add a Development staff member to build donations around international efforts

Searchable International Course Database

Course Details from Database

Emory Study Abroad Overview

Approved semester program list – approx. 100 programs, including direct enrollment options, program providers, and 3 of our own programs

Approximately 300 students abroad during Fall & Spring semesters each year (400 on faculty-led summer programs) = 40% of Emory College of Liberal Arts & Sciences students

Home school tuition direct Emory credit and abroad grades into Emory GPA

Emory Course Approval ProcessEducation Abroad Committee (part of faculty

governance) approves programs and Departmental Faculty Study Abroad Reps approve individual courses from abroad

Students have to obtain an Emory equivalent for each abroad course (no equivalent = no credit F grade)◦ Blanket approved courses (only certain

departments)◦ Pre-approvals◦ On-site approvals via email during add/drop

periodStudents go directly to the designated person in

the department; the SAO only gets involved if problems

Academic Course Plan

Blanket Approved Course Database

Emory Registration / Transcript

Registration Screen Shot Transcript Processed Screen Shot

Emory Challenges & Creative SolutionsCredit and grade translation

memosLanguage approvals:

1. For languages not taught at Emory2. Worthy of credit, but not part of

Emory language sequence“Special Topics Abroad” courses