Coming full circle : is reentry support helping students move through the experiential learning cycle and/or why isn\u27t anyone coming to our pizza party?

This capstone explores whether or not reentry support helps returning study abroad students move through the generalization and application stages to complete the experiential learning cycle. Case study research was conducted among University of Colorado at Boulder students who studied abroad with SIT Study Abroad and the staff who supported them. A review of the literature, combined with a web-based survey and in-depth, structured interviews were used for data collection. Data analysis demonstrated that if students seek reentry support, it can help them process the learning by completing the final stages of the experiential learning cycle. However, this research indicates that very few students seek reentry support, and as of yet there have not been any formal conversations among study abroad providers about how to work collaboratively to encourage participation in reentry support. Suggestions for further research may include: consideration of whether or not a student’s reentry process is affected by such variables as gender, amount of time spent abroad, or by the location of the study abroad experience, conducting a similar case study comparing reentry support services at a small liberal arts school to those of a large state school, conducting an in-depth evaluation of what types of reentry services are most effective that a provider, like SIT Study Abroad, should offer before students leave the program site, and finally, test the effectiveness of a collaboratively designed and implemented reentry program. The conclusions of this research are particularly important as the field of international education becomes more serious about affecting and documenting learning outcomes, impact assessments and the integration of study abroad into curricula