Enhancing the Faculty-Led Study Abroad Proposal Process to Facilitate the Creation of Academically Enriched Programs

Faculty-led programs are distinctive in that they are created through collaborations between study abroad professionals and the faculty who lead them. Faculty leaders are experts in their discipline, while the study abroad administrators are knowledgeable about best practices and theories related to learning abroad. This paper set out to determine what proposal and academic preparation procedures could be developed that incorporate key stakeholders at North Dakota State University and that contribute to the creation of academically sound programs that include student development and experiential/constructivist learning theories. Data was collected through surveys submitted by study abroad administrators at the national and regional level, as well as by faculty leaders at North Dakota State University. A majority of faculty leaders welcomed standardized guidelines, learning objectives, and assessment, as long as it did not interfere with the discipline-specific content. At the same time, very few study abroad professionals reported that they were directly involved with course content, nor had they incorporated standardized learning objectives and assessment. It was determined that the inclusion of consistent guidelines and procedures into the proposal would lead to the academic enhancement of faculty-led programs. By recommending the use of standardized content early in the process while faculty are designing the courses, faculty could decide how to utilize the content and make use of additional resources related to student development and learning abroad. This method provides a partnership between study abroad professionals and faculty, where each one contributes their expertise towards educationally enriched faculty-led courses. Keywords: Study Abroad; Faculty-Led Programs; Student Development; Proposal; Academic Enhancement; Contact Hours; Experiential Learning