Learning by Osmosis or Intervention? Preparing Faculty to Lead Short-Term Programs Abroad

This Course Linked Capstone (CLC) paper focuses on the rationale for and design of a publically accessible handbook for faculty teaching, or interested in teaching, undergraduate courses overseas through Babson’s Electives Abroad (BEA) program. BEAs, run out of the Glavin Office of Multicultural & International Education, are four-credit Advanced Liberal Arts and Advanced Elective Courses taught by Babson faculty that involve a one to three-week international travel component. The goal of the handbook is three-fold: to enhance internal materials and codify unwritten policies and procedures; to address key gaps in the current development, management, and assessment of BEAs; and to make the process for proposing, developing, managing, and assessing BEAs available to the larger Babson community. The proposed handbook would invite faculty to design and evaluate their courses in light of the following learning theories: Experiential Learning Theory, the Learning Zone Model, Baxter Magolda’s Learning Partnerships Model, Backward Design, and Emerging Adulthood. In its finished form, the handbook will provide prospective and current faculty with the tools and resources necessary to partner with the Glavin Office to write a course proposal, develop and manage their course, appropriately handle student issues and crises abroad, and evaluate their program upon return. While this CLC paper focuses on the rationale for and design of the BEA Faculty Handbook, the hope is that this capstone will ultimately result in the creation of a handbook that would be publically available in the fall of 2016 prior to the start of the 2017-2018 course proposal process