Jan GothardMurdoch University

Bringing the learning home

Capitalising on study abroad and exchange

•more than simply ‘being there’

•an opportunity to develop cultural competence

•an opportunity for personal and institutional growth

NEED FOR AUSTRALIAN APPROACH

I decided in light of how I’m feeling at the moment I’ll sum up the things I liked best about the UK using pictures; like seeing real snow for the first time and understanding the meaning of ‘proper cold.’

First of all the name of the cafe is Bau Haus and it’s in Hongdae, just a station away from Sinchon, so it’s awesome. Basically you can feel like owning a dog, without the fuss of feeding and cleaning up after them.

This might not look like your typical medical centre or hospital, but if you need a prescription for marijuana, you’d be most successful in getting one on the streets of Venice Beach LA

Life saving in Okinawa: it’s not exactly Bondi Rescue!

Life saving in Okinawa: it’s not exactly Bondi Rescue!

•… marine staff and lifeguards are not required to hold any formal qualifications; they do not even need to know how to swim! Being a qualified pool lifeguard, holding numerous mandatory first aid certificates myself this shocked me, particularly to think what would happen if there was an emergency. Frequently the marine staff would be asleep at their post despite being the only lifeguard on duty and people being in the water.

RANTS

I think I’m starting to feel a bit of the culture shock.

I’m starting to find Anglophone Canadians slightly passive aggressive which is slightly off putting. I’ve made a lot of friends but I do not feel completely at home with any of them…

Even the politeness here is bugging me. I want to fucking swear and be loud and my self, and it just does not seem appropriate. In front of Quebecois it’s ‘so anglo’ i.e. so trashy, loud and obnoxious, and in front of anglo Canadian’s it’s just rude, offensive or bizarre.

RANTS

I’ve found there’s a bit of an assumption about exchange students; that they’re rich, trashy, only here to have sex, get drunk and that they don’t take their studies seriously. I am not rich! I worked 40 hours a week, took out a loan and got a scholarship to get here. I’m not a ‘stereotypically privileged student.’ I’m just lucky and hard working.

And you’re right, no body really wants to listen. I feel like my Nan for example is in complete denial of any troubles I might be having, she keeps changing the subject or even responding to my complaints with, “Sounds like you’re having a really great time.” The conversation seems so detached and bizarre.

Re-entry

Transcends simply the moment of return

Involves an experience of reverse culture shock

Well-recognised phenomenon

Culture shock & reverse culture shockM

ood

Study abroad process

‘Honeymoon’ stage

Culture shock stage

Increasing skill

Greatest mastery

Reverse culture shock stage

Return euphoria

Re-adaptation

Readjustment

Reality check

Disorientation Often unexpecte

d

Need for Australian data

But international research suggests

• Re-entry shock a significant issue for most students

• In Australian context, re-entry not generally anticipated by students as problematic because Australians generally go on exchange to relatively similar cultures

• Yet shock of re-entry may in fact be heightened because of lack of anticipation of any problem

Possible issues on return

Things at home have changed

Returning sojourners see things differently on return – no longer so culturally ‘short-sighted’

Returnees themselves have changed

Returnees may experience difficulties expressing their feelings about their sojourn (especially negative experiences) or asking for support

Returnee blog entry

A lot of my friends went on international exchange at the same time as me and it’s been good to be able to chat to them about coming home. This blog definitely does help because I know everyone on here is an exchange student!

RE-ENTRY as

a moment for constructive intervention

a moment of disruption

unsettling

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH

Re-entry opportunities

Personal growth/cultural competence

Employment sphere

Academic /institutional environment

Re-entry opportunities

Personal growth/cultural competence

Re-entry opportunities

Personal growth/cultural competence

Employment sphere

Academic /institutional environment

Employment: unpacking the experience

1. Many seemingly self-evident outcomes of international experience

2. Employers acknowledge theoretical value of international experience

BUT

Students may be unable or ill-prepared to articulate the skills they have acquired

•May be unaware of the value of, or do not appreciate the nature of, exchange

•A semester studying abroad can be presented as merely ‘academic tourism’

•Students often fail to communicate the value of their experience

Employment attributesInteracting with people who hold different perspectives or with different values

Understanding cultural difference in the workplace

Flexibility and capacity to adapt

Capacity to gain new knowledge from experience

Ability to work independently

Experience in undertaking unfamiliar tasks

Applying information in new or challenging contexts

Identifying different solutions to problems

Bringing the learning home

Campus internationalisation

• finding common ground with international students

• unpacking the academic shoe box

Campus internationalisation (1): finding common ground

‘Finding Common Ground’ ALTC project

•Identified lack of common ground between local and international students

•But exchange returnees represent that common ground because of shared experience of cultural dislocation

•Re-entry phase as opportunity to create empathy and to enhance internationalisation of campus culture?

•Students as stake holders in this process

Campus internationalisation (2): out of the shoe box

•Returnee frustration at lack of interest in their cultural and academic experience

•Learning experiences and academic knowledge ‘shoeboxed’

•Opportunities in home classrooms to capitalise on that knowledge, for the benefit of an internationalised campus culture

Bringing the Learning Home

Paramount need to embed international learning and experience

•through guided critical reflection on the part of the student

•at an institutional level

Process often assumed but needs to be facilitated

Experience is not what happens to [one]; it is what [one] does with what happens … Aldous Huxley (1932)

References

• Unpacking your study abroad experience; critical reflection for workplace competencies. CERI. Research Brief. Michigan State University. Vol 1 Issue 1 March 2008

• Kevin F Gaw, Reverse culture shock in students returning from overseas, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 24 (2000) 83-104

• Caroline C Niesen, Navigating re-entry shock: the use of communication as a facilitative tool, MA (Comms), University of New Mexico, July 2010

• Betina Szkudlarek, Re-entry – A review of the literature, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 34 (2010) 1-21