For me, this begins before I have even selected which students are accepted to a study abroad program I am directing. I ask them to think about their long-term goals, educational and personal, and how they believe this study abroad experience will help them to achieve those goals. This conversation helps them to articulate what they really hope to achieve from the experience.

I have every applicant sign a contract... [that] points out that study abroad is an exceptional experience in their academic careers, one that is uniquely experiential and communal in nature. Students are asked to commit to being the best possible citizens in our study abroad community: friendly, compassionate, forgiving, charitable. They are also asked to commit to being the best possible students. This means they must participate in all course-related activities. All applicants sign this contract.

Throughout the study abroad experience, students are asked to reflect on their original goals for the program and how those goals are being achieved and/or how they may be changing as the program proceeds.

Students are consistently reminded of the need to be present and engaged. When we make visits to sites and museums or when we engage in discussions or presentations, they are required to be there and be involved. At minimum, this means attending every group activity, but it also includes student note-taking and occasional student site reports.

Students on my study abroad programs are always required to maintain a notebook. They submit this notebook early in the program for review and then at the end of the program. This includes all the lecture notes they should have taken during the term, but they are also invited to use it (to the extent that they wish to) their journal of the experience. In addition, students are required to write a number of “reflection essays.”

A good starting point is for faculty to be knowledgeable and passionate about the experience/topic/artifacts you will all be encountering together. When students feel safe, loved, and inspired, they flourish abroad. Students should, I believe, be given opportunities to ask questions, to discover, and to share what they have discovered, knowing that there are always new ways to approach topics and ideas. I invite them to read the world and to add their own story to the narrative... I remind them that they can listen to what people say and read what people have written about famous cultural artifacts, but once they have seen them and engaged with them for themselves, they will be changed forever.

Cecilia has taken students on a number of Study Abroad programs.