Alternative Breaks as a Context for Informal Interactions with Diversity

One of the most frequently touted benefits of higher education is the opportunity to interact with people different from oneself, yet these interactions do not automatically lead to positive outcomes. The purpose of this study is to explore how one particular context for diversity interactions, service-based alternative break programs, may provide the necessary balance of challenge and support for students to learn from diversity

Alternative Break Programs and the Factors that Contribute to Changes in Students' Lives

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to and ways in which student participants in Alternative Break (AB) programs report that their AB experience influenced their intentions or plans to volunteer, engage in advocacy, or study or travel abroad, or their major or career plans. Additional analysis explored the specific program characteristics related to the influence of the AB experience on students' lives in these six ways, and differences between domestic and international AB programs. The theoretical basis of this study was provided by Mezirow's (1991, 1997, 2000) theory of Transformative Learning, Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of Reasoned Action, and Etzioni (1992) theory of Normative-Affective Decision Making. Building on these three theories, Astin's (1991) Inputs-Environments-Outcomes (IEO) model provided structure to the analysis and interpretation of the relationships between student, program, and institutional characteristics and the outcomes in question. The data from this study were collected as part of the National Survey of Alternative Breaks, a multi-institutional survey of students who participated in Alternative Spring Break programs in 2011. Overall 2187 students responded to the survey, representing 443 separate AB trips and 97 colleges and universities. Data from the survey were analyzed following the above conceptual framework (modified to account for the nesting of the data) using descriptive analysis and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). The results of this study show that students overwhelmingly do report that their AB experience influences these outcomes, and there are a number of program characteristics related to the influence of the AB programs. The extent to which students were emotionally challenged and able to connect their AB experience to larger social issues, the frequency with which students wrote in individual journals, the amount students learned from their interactions with community members and other students on their trip, and the comprehensiveness of the reorientation program after returning to campus were all significant, positive predictors of all or most of the outcomes explored. Finally, an international program location was significantly related to the influence of the AB experience on students' intentions or plans to study or travel abroad

Realizing the Potential of International Education in Leadership Learning

This chapter explores how study abroad and the presence of international students contributes to students’ leadership development, key challenges preventing that potential from being realized, and offers suggestions for improving access to and implementing leadership-focused study abroad and international student programs. International student mobility offers great potential to provide the cross-cultural engagement opportunities necessary to develop the skills and dispositions to effectively engage in international leadership. However, when it comes to student mobility in and out of the United States (i.e., study abroad and international students), this potential is often unrealized due to issues of access and implementation. This chapter explores how study abroad and the presence of international students contributes to students’ leadership development, key challenges preventing that potential from being realized, and offers suggestions for improving access to and implementing leadership-focused study abroad and international student programs. International student mobility is a broad term that encompasses the movement of students across national borders for academic study. Within the United States, the term international students typically refers to inbound student mobility, typically for an entire academic degree. The term study abroad, on the other hand, typically refers to outbound mobility, or students who are enrolled in degree programs within the United States, who take courses and earn credits associated with travel to a different country (see the Institute for International Education [IIE] 2016 Open Doors report for an example of this terminology)

Faculty Transformation in Curriculum Transformation: The Role of Faculty Development in Campus Internationalization

Curriculum transformation is often cited as one of the key strategies for internationalizing higher education in the United States, and faculty members play a central role in this process. The purpose of the study we report here was to explore the potential for professional development initiatives to foster the transformation in perspectives necessary for faculty members to engage in curriculum internationalization. Findings suggest key program components that help faculty members overcome barriers to international work and transform their perspectives about course content, pedagogy, and internationalization, as well as the limitations of professional development initiatives focused on teaching

Serving a Stranger or Serving Myself: Alternative Breaks and the Influence of Race and Ethnicity on Student Understanding of Themselves and Others

Given the ever increasing numbers of Students of Color engaging in higher education, the importance of cross-cultural interactions for all students, and the evidence that White students and Students of Color may have vastly different experiences in higher education, there is a need to further explore the types of cross-cultural experiences that different college students have and the ways that those experiences facilitate learning and development. Using data from the National Survey of Alternative Breaks, the purpose of this study was to explore how one particular type of cross-cultural experience, participating in a service-learning based alternative break (AB) program, contributes to the racial understanding of White students and Students of Color. Findings point to the importance of considering the different experiences that White students and Students of Color have in ABs and other service-learning experiences

Exploring the Role of Alternative Break Programs in Students’ Career Development

Higher education institutions play a key role in helping to shape students’ interests and career plans; as such, student affairs practitioners should understand how the co-curricular environments in their domain contribute to students’ career development. The purpose of this study is to explore how one specific co-curricular experience, participation in an Alternative Break (AB) program, may influence students’ career plans

Exploring the Role of Alternative Break Programs in Students’ Career Development

Higher education institutions play a key role in helping to shape students’ interests and career plans; as such, student affairs practitioners should understand how the co-curricular environments in their domain contribute to students’ career development. The purpose of this study is to explore how one specific co-curricular experience, participation in an Alternative Break (AB) program, may influence students’ career plans

Does Location Really Matter? Exploring the Role of Place in Domestic and International Service-Learning Experiences

Although increasingly popular, international/global service-learning programs are not without critique; in fact, the role of crossing national borders in service-learning is highly contested. The purpose of the study discussed in this article was to explore this role of crossing borders within the context of a particular experience: participation in an alternative break (AB) program. The authors sought to understand whether there is an aspect of learning in specific places, namely learning across national borders, that is separate (and separable) from what happens in those places. Participants reported a high level of influence of their AB experience on both their intentions to volunteer and to travel internationally, although there were a number of differences between students who participated in domestic and international ABs. Mediation analysis showed that the relationship between program location and the influence of the AB on students’ plans to volunteer was mediated completely by features of the AB program itself, while the relationship between program location and the influence of the AB on students’ plans to travel internationally was only partially mediated by program features

Enacting Efficacy In Early Career: Narratives Of Agency, Growth, And Identity

Aim/Purpose: To explore how early career faculty in the field of higher education administration develop and enact their personal and professional identities. Background: Participants sought to understand themselves, to understand their environments and the “rules” of the academic “game,” and to reconcile conflicts between their own values and identities and the expectations and culture of their environments. Methodology: In-depth case studies of seventeen early career scholars in the field. Contribution: The participants’ experiences underscore important implications for mentoring and socialization that takes into consideration the unique motivation and identity development of aspiring and new faculty members. Findings: Identifies the early career period as one where new faculty are working to develop a strong internal foundation upon which they can manage the many challenges of their personal and professional lives. Recommendations: The findings point to implications for practice, both in graduate education and in departments hiring new faculty members

GLOBAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLANS: Engaging Students as Agents in Their Own Development

Students need look no further than their immediate surroundings to see global connections to their daily lives. Their clothes are made across the world; their classmates, neighbors, and coworkers represent a wide range of nationalities; their friends are posted overseas in the Peace Corps, the military, and with humanitarian organizations; and issues of human rights at home and abroad are broadcast daily on their TVs and favorite blogs. From business and politics, to environmental activism and social change, issues are seldom contained within the borders of a nation state. They seep and soar across borders and across cultures to impact us in ways we may not even realize. It is within this global context that our students live, so it’s vital that our students have competencies to flourish as the global leaders of tomorrow (or, for that matter, the global leaders of today)