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Hawai‘i Pacific University • Teaching and Learning Center • http://tlc.hpu.edu

Vietnam Study Abroad Experienceby Melissa Matsubara

“The Vietnam Study Abroad Program exceeded all my expectations: it was an academic broadening experience listening to lectures by Vietnamese professors, reinforced by discussion and museum visits. It increased my social awareness, provided a venue to appreciate and respect fellow students and faculty, and was a thought-provoking and unforgettable experience.”

~ Edward Zelczak, MADMS graduate student and former Vietnam War veteran

1 Vietnam Study Abroad Experience–Melissa Matsubara

4 Remedial Civility Training– Thomas H. Benton

5 Going Beyond Office Hours to Improve Student Learning–

Elizabeth Delaney

6 When Educators Speak…

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The Po‘okela newsletter is a bimonthly publication featur-ing articles of interest to faculty regarding pedagogy, scholarship, and service at Hawai‘i Pacific University.

Opinions in this newsletter are those of the authors. Articles are chosen for their power to encour-age reflection and discussion and do not reflect endorsement by the Teaching and Learning Center or Hawai‘i Pacific University.

From June 4 to June 21, 20 HPU students, fac-ulty and staff ventured to Vietnam as part of a seven-week graduate seminar within the Diplomacy and Military Studies Program (DMS). The course examined the evolution and ramification of the Vietnamese Communist Revolution (1930-present). It consisted of the following:

• Three weeks of seminar discussion, language lessons and orientation at HPU.

• Two weeks of seminars at Vietnam National University (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City cam-

puses) and field trips in Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Cu Chi and Ho Chi Minh.

• One week of presentation preparation and re-entry debrief.

• One week of student presentations at HPU.

In addition, fundraising opportunities were made available to ensure this program would be acces-sible to all. One participant was able to fundraise her entire $2,100 program fee, plus an additional $1,000, which she used towards tuition, books and spending money.

“Po‘okela serves HPU faculty and an outside mailing list of readers interested in our work, with the intention to prompt community building and reflection on professional practice, and to encourage innovation in teaching.”

The Vietnam Study Abroad Program was organized by associ-ate professor of history, Pierre Asselin, Diplomacy and Military Studies (DMS) program chair, Russell Hart, and DMS academic advisor, Melissa Matsubara. In understanding the invaluable dimensions a study abroad experience can add to any learning endeavor, the organizers sought to provide students with an opportunity to understand Vietnam’s struggle for independence from a Vietnamese perspective and personally witness how the Vietnamese people live the legacies of that struggle.

I must admit that I was initially skeptical that an 18-day trip to Vietnam would provide sufficient time for cultural immersion and self-reflection, cornerstones of successful study abroad experi-ences. However, in all the years I’ve taken students overseas and lived abroad myself, never have I experienced as comprehensive a level of immersion focused on a particular period and topic in history. None of us would dare say we are now cultural or his-torical experts. We’ve barely scratched the surface concerning the complex and dynamic dichotomies that comprise Vietnam today. Nonetheless, I can say that we were comprehensively immersed in learning about Vietnam’s struggle for independence from 1930-1975, as we embraced every facet of knowledge and perspective available to us.

Only days after three weeks of intensive reading and writing synthesis papers were we afforded the opportunity to see, hear, touch, smell, taste and learn from the history of a country we had just soaked ourselves in. We heard both from Vietnam National University professors who quoted from the texts books we were using in class and from another scholar who worked alongside Ho Chi Minh himself. In one class we listened to a discussion about the “triumphant success” of the 1968 Tet Offensive for the

Vietnamese, but in another when no VNU faculty were present, a young student volunteered the thought that the Tet Offensive caused too many casualties to be considered a real victory for Vietnam.

We read about the 100 plus kilometers of underground tunnels in Cu Chi built by the Viet Cong as the base for many of their insurgent operations against the “puppet” regime in Saigon, and actually crawled through the tight tunnels themselves, marveling at the intricacies and complexities of the underground city, and at the incredible fortitude and resilience of those who endured daily hardships trying to survive in those tunnels.

We tried to imagine how it was possible for the Vietnamese to carry artillery pieces and ammunition on their bicycles and backs through the mountainous terrain, to the remote valley of Dien Bien Phu, where the French colonial army suffered a momentous defeat that ended a century of colonial rule. Enlightenment came to us upon seeing the leaning towers of food, family members and commodities that people regularly pack on their bicycles and motorbikes even today.

We walked through museums with vintage pictures depicting “American advisors training puppet troops in South Vietnam” from the “War of Imperial Aggression” -what we commonly refer to as the Vietnam War. Yet, alongside the exhibit conveying the suffering endured by the Vietnamese as result of the wars against France and the United States, was an exhibit that shared a differ-ent story. The space was filled with pre- and post war photographs of Ho Chi Minh City – which is now a bustling metropolis – and clearly demonstrated the strength, pride, determination and will of the Vietnamese people who defended themselves against two colonial powers and then rebuilt their country stone by stone.

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Vietnam Study Abroad Experience continued

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Dr. Pierre Asselin (left) at Vietnam National University.

Hawai‘i Pacific University • Po‘okela 3

That same day we left the humid museum in darkness due to rolling blackouts caused by inadequate electricity generation – a problem that continues to plague Vietnam today. We walked passed squatting vendors in conical hats selling their wares in front of five star hotels and continued our day reaping the ben-efits and comforts that Vietnam’s post 1986 “socialist-oriented market economy” has cultivated. Thus the subtle traces of a ‘war torn country’ are only visible to eyes trained to know exactly what they are looking for. But what exactly did the students gain from participating in this program? In their own words:

“The HPU Vietnam study abroad trip was a spectacular oppor-tunity for us, graduate students, to experience Vietnam’s unbearable summer heat, learn the Vietnamese perspec-tive on the causes and effects of the Vietnam War, and to make last-ing memories with our fellow HPU MADMS students. Our study days were filled with intense history and cul-ture classes, where we were able to interact with Vietnamese grad-uate students, ex-pats, and senior Vietnamese professors. And the other days were filled with riding on mopeds to purchase silks and lacquer trinkets from the Old Quarter, being humbled by the atrocities commit-ted during the Vietnam War on display at the War Remnants Museum, and enjoying each others’ company over a Bababa (333, Vietnamese beer) or a bowl of traditional pho bo (meat noodle soup). My fondest memory was on the way to visit the Cu Chi tun-nels when we sat for a traditional Vietnamese lunch at a small non-air conditioned restaurant owned by a female Viet cong guerilla. In the presence of our tour guide, Luc, who fought for the South Vietnamese government and Ed, an MADMS graduate student who is a Vietnam Vet, she regaled us with stories of the war and suddenly began an impromptu karaoke event with Dr. Hart (the head of the MADMS program), Dr. Asselin (lead HPU professor on the tour), and Ed. On this quiet afternoon, just outside of Ho Chi Minh, we experienced worlds colliding and uniting over karaoke.” ~ Tracee Tsui

“The DMS Vietnam Program was an incredible opportunity to experience a dynamic country with so much history. A perfect balance of classroom seminars enabled the students to have a robust interpretation of a country so ravaged by war and then explore a nation which grew out of the rubble. Through visits to historical sites and museums and lectures by professors of the leading Vietnam universities, the DMS Vietnam Program set the standard for all study abroad programs to strive for. The educa-tional and social experiences by the HPU students will be carried with them forever.” ~ Robert Heatherly

“Vietnam study abroad program expanded my knowledge about this diverse South East Asian country, which embraces the communism in the government and in laws, and capitalism in the streets, shops, in the every-day lives of Vietnamese people. A country of con-trasts and a country of high self-esteem made me question about myself and about Lithuania: learn-ing about others made us learn about ourselves.

I gained a critical and wide understanding about the Vietnam War, and about the price of cer-tain political decisions.

Moreover, I grew as a young professional by listening to the pro-fessors of Vietnam National University, both in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, who presented the Vietnamese perspective on heteroge-neous aspects of two Indochinese Wars, “two” Vietnams, ongoing revolution and the culture of the Vietnamese people. I improved as a student of Diplomacy and Military Studies, because I got a tremendous chance to be in the cradle of history, which I had read only in books. I understand better the substance of peace, because I learned so much about the havoc of war. That is the goal of the DMS program – combining diplomacy and military to gain critical knowledge of the world we live in and our global political, social, economic interdependence on one another.

I would like to thank my Vietnam study abroad team for impec-cable experience and, also, for HPU, which gave us such a chance! I am very happy and grateful.” ~ Gintare Janulaityte

Melissa Matsubara works as an academic advisor at Hawaii Pacific University. She may be reached at mmatsubara@hpu.edu.

Vietnam Study Abroad Experience continued

“Value yourself. The only people who appreciate a doormat are those with dirty shoes.”

~ Leo Buscaglia, author and motivational speaker (1924-1998)

ThisVietnamese woman is dressed in traditional attire.

continued on page 54 Hawai‘i Pacific University • Po‘okela

I am an English professor, but I teach a lot of general education courses, including a large, required survey of Western civilization.

Every morning, after setting up all the multimedia components I’m going to need, I stand at the door of my 8:30 a.m. classroom in my jacket and tie and say, “Good morning” to each entering student.

Only a few will say “hi” or “good morning” in return. About half will give me a somewhat confused nod, not quite making eye contact. The rest will not even look at me; they look at their shoes and keep walking, exuding a vaguely suspicious and hostile air.

I don’t believe that I catch most of those students off-guard, or that they are simply too groggy to respond appropriately. I suspect they are afraid to be polite because it will signify some kind of solidarity with authority that will harm their standing in the eyes of their peers. My theory seems to be confirmed by the affability of those same students when I greet them one-on-one in a hallway or on one of the paths between buildings. They may not be effusive in those exchanges, but they are at least civil.

Whatever the explanation, I sometimes feel stung by students’ rudeness. I try to make my classes interesting and relevant, and I care about their learning. I try to conduct myself in a kindly but professional manner. But, more and more, I think the student culture of incivility is a larger impediment to their success than anything they might fail to learn about Western civilization or whatever it is I am teaching.

I often hear a lot of talk about the academic weaknesses of new freshmen. Even at a relatively elite college, it’s not uncommon to find 18-year-olds who have problems with reading – so much so that almost no incentive can persuade some students to spend an hour with Shakespeare, Kant, or Gibbon.

Writing is an even bigger problem for many students. Most have never produced anything longer than a few pages. A seri-ous research paper – involving sources, citation, and maybe eight pages of thoughtful analysis – has become almost entirely unknown before college. The fundamental skills that used to qualify students for admission have been eroded to the point that nothing can be assumed anymore.

But those deficiencies don’t bother me all that much. I am here to help them become better readers and writers, as well as to learn the particular content of my courses. Even more than that, I want to cultivate in them a sense of pleasure in learning that will enrich their lives.

Of course, I think it is a serious problem that many public schools – and private ones – have just about given up teaching many of the academic skills that were once considered basic for every high-school graduate, not just the ones going to college. But what really troubles me is that schools – no doubt, mirroring the broader culture – have given up cultivating the ordinary courtesies that enable people to get along without friction and violence.

Instead, I see among my students a dispiriting amount of cyni-cism about teachers and contempt for learning except as a hurdle

over which one must jump on the road to some lucrative career. Some students imagine they will advance on the basis of having a degree, even if their words and manners indicate that they are unsuitable for any kind of job that involves dealing with people. They seem completely unaware that knowing how to behave will have a serious impact on their future prospects.

This is not about the simple rules governing which fork one should use but about norms of behavior about which nearly every-one used to agree and which seem to have vanished from student culture.

There are the students who refuse to address us appropriately, who make border-line insulting remarks in class when called upon (enough to irritate but not enough to require immediate action), who arrive late and slam the door behind them, who yawn continually and never cover their mouths, who neglect to bring books, paper, or even something with which to write; who send demanding e-mail messages without a respectful salutation, who make appointments and never show up (after you just drove 20 miles and put your kids in daycare to make the meeting).

I don’t understand students who are so self-absorbed that they don’t think their professors’ opinion of them (and, hence, their grades) will be affected by those kinds of behaviors, or by remarks like, “I’m only taking this class because I am required to.” One would think that the dimmest of them would at least be bright enough to pretend to be a good student.

But my larger concern here is not just that students behave dis-respectfully toward their professors, it is that they are increasingly disrespectful to one another, to the point that a serious student has more trouble coping with the behavior of his or her fellow students than learning the material.

In classrooms where the professor is not secure in his or her authority, all around the serious students are others treating the place like a cafeteria: eating and crinkling wrappers (and even belching audibly, convinced that is funny). Some students put their feet up on the chairs and desks, as if they were lounging in a dorm room, even as muddy slush dislodges from their boots. Others come to class dressed in a slovenly or indiscreet manner. They wear hats to conceal that they have not washed that day. In larger lectures, you might see students playing video games or checking e-mail on their laptop computers, or sending messages on cell phones.

Those behaviors are, of course, relatively minor offenses, but permissive environments have a way of leading to larger prob-lems. The situation reminds me of James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling’s famous essay “Broken Windows”: “if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the win-dows will soon be broken. This is as true in nice neighborhoods as in run-down ones . . . one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares.” Wilson and Kelling note, tellingly, that one of the major signs of a neighborhood in decline is when adults give up correcting the misbehavior of children.

For the most part, colleges are middle-class institutions. As

Remedial Civility Trainingby Thomas H. Benton

Hawai‘i Pacific University • Po‘okela 5

Two of the big buzzwords in higher education are “student engagement” and “teacher effectiveness.” One way to address these intertwined issues is to improve the quality of student-teacher interactions both inside and outside the classroom.

The research indicating interaction outside the classroom as key to promoting student academic success and personal growth is voluminous. I’d like to share with you how I’ve moved beyond office hours to create a more productive learning experience for my students.

Last year, I started meeting informally with small groups of students for one hour each week to review class content. In the beginning a handful of students showed up for this optional meet-ing, but by the end of the quarter, three quarters of the class met regularly each week outside of class.

I termed the time we met as “study hall.” I would ask the stu-dents to e-mail me sample topics for study hall they were having trouble grasping. During weeks when the e-mails waned, we would work on additional case studies, critical thinking activities or we would discuss broader topics, such as time management skills, test taking anxiety, etc.

Some of the “rules” for study hall include remembering that if study hall is truly optional, then delving into new course content is not fair to those who choose not to attend. Additionally, I avoid inadvertently divulging tips about the upcoming quiz or exam. I also refuse to talk about the non-participating students with their peers.

I strive to be approachable while maintaining the professional teacher/student relationship. I expected frustrated students who were performing poorly in the class to show up to study hall want-

Remedial Civility Training continued

Going Beyond Office Hours to Improve Student Learningby Elizabeth Delaney

such they are generally spared the more extreme manifestations of societal breakdown. Serious moral and criminal transgressions are rare – at least where I teach – and I sense that some of my stu-dents – the skeptical ones who shun eye contact – are not “beyond redemption.” Rather, they are veterans of schools where petty crime, harassment, and violence are common, and almost nothing is done to prevent those ills by adults who look the other way.

I am sometimes sent to observe new high-school teachers and am usually shocked by what I see. Those teachers – bright, idealis-tic, hopeful – are sometimes treated with such open rudeness that it seems as if they have become objects of ritual abuse – scapegoats for undisciplined adolescent rage. It doesn’t surprise me that attri-tion rates for teachers are so high. Teaching requires a kind of moral strength that few possess without many years of training.

For all my grumbling, I lead a charmed life compared to the average high school teacher. And I feel deeply sorry that some of our graduates are sent into what is little better than what I would expect to see in a prison: students who mumble lewd, racist, and homophobic remarks about the teacher and other students; who furtively destroy school property; and who engage in petty acts of violence and intimidation just outside of the teacher’s field of vision. Perhaps teachers pretend not to see most of what happens because they have come to believe there is nothing they can do about it, and students play at forcing their reactions, stepping repeatedly to the edge of open defiance.

What is it like for students to spend a dozen years in such places? What does it do to children’s sense of curiosity to learn that any expression of shared interest with a teacher will subject them to verbal and physical abuse?

Like prisoners, they learn that the safest thing to do is keep your head down and not attract attention. Currying favor with teachers

will only get you into trouble: the adults will not protect you, they will pretend not to see when someone hits you, they will pretend not to hear when someone calls you an obscene name. They will not be there after school when the other kids come after you. Better to cultivate the support of your peers by signifying your contempt for the institution in which you are all trapped.

Unfortunately, the problems of students in elementary and secondary schools – mirroring the problems of the larger culture – are beyond the immediate control of college faculty members. But, in the last few years, I have become convinced that profes-sors – particularly the ones with tenure – need to find ways to give remedial attention to student behavior, just as they have long done for students who cannot read or write well enough to succeed at college.

We must stop pretending that we are not seeing what is in front of us every day. We must stop shrugging our shoulders at minor discourtesies before they metastasize into a culture of vulgarity, violence, and general mayhem. In the process, maybe we can win back the trust of serious students and provide a safe learning environment where they can express their enthusiasm for learning without making themselves targets for abuse.

Thomas H. Benton is the pen name of William Pannapacker, Ph.D., an associate professor of English at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. This article originally appeared in a May 2007 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Reprinted with permission.

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It doesn’t take long to figure out that each person, faculty and student alike, is fighting her or his own particular battle, walking her or his own road, entering her or his own door, carrying her or his own baggage of different weights.

So, when it comes to people, “distinct” and “diverse” are really my backbeat words of every day. People are so complicated, there’s so much going on inside each of them, much of what we think we know about each of them we don’t. That’s where perception, presumption, and attribution, fail us. There is no one set path. Idiosyncratic is the best way to really describe people. Everyone is outside the box. Everyone is an exception to the rule. No one is “the average!”

It is ultimately the only true diversity. That makes each student, each class, each day, each term a one of kind - nothing routine about any of them. In the traditional classroom, where you see students sporadically throughout a week, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of blurring stereotyping, of building thick walls of assumption, presumption, and generalization between you and the real them. It takes battering rams of caring and sincere listening to break through those barriers. That’s why at the beginning of my Teacher’s Oath I say live your “I care” and know that a class is a gathering of noble, sacred “ones.”

Louis Schmier is a professor at the Department of History at Valdosta State University. You can following his musings at http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org or at http://www.therandomthoughts.com.

Going Beyond Office Hours to Improve Student Learning continued

ing to gripe and complain. After allowing a little venting I would redirect the learning and move on. After the first couple of weeks, the complaints died down. In a couple instances, I had to direct a student who was spoiling study hall to meet with me during office hours, but for the most part students arrive at study hall ready to learn.

I conduct a brief study hall survey at the end of each quarter and the feedback has been positive. Excerpts from some of the comments include:

• “Less stress in study hall.”

• “Helps to touch base and see what questions and concerns are out there.”

• “Allows more time for questions and answers.”

• “Seems like extra class time.”

• “Another opportunity to be exposed to the material.”

• “Like the class input and hearing how someone else remem-bers it.”

• “Reinforces and highlights topics.”

Offering study hall one hour a week has positively influenced how students participate during class, too. They are more relaxed and comfortable with interactive activities. They know we can elaborate on their individual concerns in study hall. I can report that on the University evaluations under the “effectiveness of instructor” category, the students have identified study hall as helpful and comment that it’s something they’d like me to con-tinue offering. I see study hall as a way to show our students we are on their side. Ultimately, study hall has resulted in an opportu-nity for reflection and development of interpersonal skills for the students and me.

Elizabeth Delaney, RN, MSN, FNP-BC, is an assistant professor of nursing at Ohio University Southern School of Nursing. This article appeared in the March 10 edition of the online newsletter, Faculty Focus, a free e-newsletter published by Magna Publications. View the article at http://www.facultyfocus.com?p=11424. Reprinted with permission.

” “Life flows when we put our attention on the larger patterns of which we are a part, just as the music soars when a performer distinguishes the notes whose impulse carries the music’s struc-ture from those that are purely decorative.

~ Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and motivational speaker (1939 - )

We would like to hear from you! If you have original quotes or anecdotes that you would like to share with other faculty about your teaching experiences here at HPU, please

send them to the Teaching and Learning Center along with your name, your title, and your permission to publish them in the Po‘okela.