Study Abroad as a Mul/faceted Approach to Suppor/ng College Sophomores: Crea/ng Op/mal Environments to Promote Holis/c Student Development & Global Learning Kira Espiritu, Ph.D. Director Interna,onal Studies Abroad University of San Diego 2 Presenta,on Overview ›  Background & Purpose of Study
›  Research ques,ons
›  Methodology
›  Findings
›  Discussion ›  Implica,ons for Prac,ce & Future Research ›  Significance of the study ›  Limita,ons
›  Ques,ons 3 Program/Research Site Second Year Experience Abroad (SYEA) Program University of San Diego ›  Ins,tu,onal response to support sophomores
›  Three-­‐week study abroad program for students during intersession (January) of second year ›  Loca,ons: Florence, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Seville ›  Years: 2011-­‐2013 ›  Program Components: Academic-­‐ Course taught by USD faculty ›  Intercultural learning-­‐ Led by USD student affairs staff; Cultural analysis with guided explora,on and structured reflec,on
› 
4 Background: Intercultural Maturity & the Second Year Cogni/ve Ini,al Intrapersonal Intermediate Interpersonal Mature Transi'ons during Second Year (King & Baxter Magolda, 2005) 5 Background: Study Abroad & the Second Year ›  Op,mal environment for explora,on & reflec,on ›  Cogni,ve-­‐ Challenges to knowledge claims ›  Intrapersonal-­‐ Fosters self-­‐explora,on ›  Interpersonal-­‐ Provides interac,on with diverse others ›  Fosters intercultural maturity 6 Research Ques,ons ›  What impact, if any, did this program have on par,cipants’ cogni,ve, intrapersonal, and interpersonal domains of development as measured by a pre-­‐ and post-­‐experience survey? How does this vary/differ across program year and loca,on? ›  To what extent were the changes in these three constructs abributable to: › 
› 
Par,cipants’ demographics such as gender, major, ethnicity, grade point average, level of parent educa,on, and previous study abroad experience Program characteris,cs such as loca,on and year ›  What impact, if any, and in what ways, did this program have on the development of par,cipants’ intercultural maturity? 7 Study Design Explanatory Sequen7al Case Study PHASE I-­‐ Quan/ta/ve PHASE II-­‐ Qualita/ve ›  Analysis of pre-­‐ and post-­‐
›  Maximum varia,on experience surveys Global Perspec,ves Inventory sampling (2013) Semi-­‐structured interviews ›  Document analysis › 
Descrip,ve sta,s,cs ›  Inferen,al sta,s,cs › 
SYEA Programs 2011-­‐2013 (7) 2011 2012 2013 Florence Florence Florence Barcelona Barcelona Hong Kong Seville Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011 8 Overview of Sample-­‐ 369 Par,cipants Demographic SYEA Na/onwidea White 71.5% 76.4% Hispanic/La,no 8.9% 7.6% Asian/Pacific Islander 7.6% 7.7% Mul,ple Ethnici,es 7.3% 2.5% Na,ve American .8% .5% African American .3% 2.5% Female 71% 64.8% Male 29% 35.2% Ethnicity Gender Note. aNa,onwide data retrieved from Ins,tute for Interna,onal Educa,on, 2013. 9 Findings Research Ques/on #1 What impact, if any, did this program have on par,cipants’ cogni,ve, intrapersonal, and interpersonal domains of student development as measured by a pre-­‐ and post-­‐experience survey? How does this vary/differ across program year and loca,on?
10 Findings Related to RQ#1 Overview of Significance Change across Scales Cogni/ve Intrapersonal Interpersonal Δ Social Δ Social Δ Knowing Δ Knowledge Δ Iden/ty Δ Affect Responsibility Interac/on 2011 2012 FLO -­‐.03 3.56*** 2.49* 1.57 3.40*** 1.41 BAR -­‐1.50 3.75*** 1.66 -­‐1.28 .36 -­‐.41 FLO -­‐1.20 3.15** 1.83 .40 -­‐.22 .93 BAR -­‐.56 5.01*** 3.88*** .27 2.85** 2.31* FLO 1.59 4.88*** 3.88*** 2.26* .19 4.08*** 2.41* 2.79** 1.41 1.11 .46 4.60*** 2.14* 2.54* 1.02 1.57 2013 HON .13 SEV 1.41 Note. FLO = Florence, BAR = Barcelona, HON = Hong Kong, SEV = Seville; t-­‐sta,s,cs shown in table *p ≤ .05; **p ≤ .01; ***p ≤ .001 11 Findings Research Ques/on #2
To what extent were the changes in these three constructs abributable to: ›  Par,cipants’ demographics such as gender, major, ethnicity, grade point average, level of parent educa,on, and previous study abroad experience ›  Program characteris,cs such as loca,on and year 12 Significance of Gender by Scale Δ Scale Cogni,ve-­‐ Knowing Cogni,ve-­‐ Knowledge Intrapersonal-­‐ Iden,ty Loca/on R2 Communica,ons -­‐.62 -­‐2.55*** Female .42 2.02** .25 Hong Kong .16 Female .45 2.16* Seville .14 Female .47 2.44** N/S N/S N/S N/S N/S Communica,ons -­‐.60 -­‐3/29*** Female .39 2.60** N/S N/S N/S Female .45 3.61** Asian .60 2.33* Barcelona .23 Interpersonal-­‐ Social Responsibility N/S N/S Seville *p ≤ .05; **p ≤ .01; ***p ≤ .001 Coefficient t-­‐sta/s/c Barcelona Intrapersonal-­‐ Affect Interpersonal-­‐ Social Interac,on Variable .29 13 Other Independent Variables Significant, No Pa\erns ›  Ethnicity ›  Major ›  Level of parent educa,on ›  Previous study abroad experience ›  Grade point average Non-­‐Significant ›  Program loca,on ›  Program year 14 Findings Research Ques/on #3
What impact, if any, and in what ways, did this program have on the development of par,cipants’ intercultural maturity? 15 Overview of Sample-­‐ Qualita,ve (2013) Loca/on Ethnicity Gender Course Taken Abroad Florence (5) European/ White-­‐ 5 African American-­‐ 1 All female Catholic Theology Chemistry Art History Seville (3) All European/ White Female-­‐ 2 Male-­‐ 1 Ethics Female-­‐ 2 Male-­‐ 1 Marke,ng World Religions European/White-­‐2 Hong Kong (3) Hispanic/La,no-­‐1 16 Influences on Interpersonal Maturity Domain Factors Cogni/ve •  Small group reflec,ons •  Cultural interac,ons •  Academic course Intrapersonal Interpersonal 17 Impacts on Cogni,ve Maturity A Reflec/on on the Impact of Academic Course [In class] I learned that [one] can make arguments behind why something is right and wrong, but that is all percep,on and lots of things influence that percep/on, so you have to take that into considera,on (personal communica,on, May 10, 2013) 18 Influences on Intercultural Maturity Domain Factors Cogni/ve •  Small group reflec,ons •  Cultural interac,ons •  Academic course Intrapersonal •  Opportuni,es for iden,ty explora,on •  Increased self-­‐confidence provoked by iden,ty explora,on •  Experiences of marginaliza,on leading to contempla,on of privilege Interpersonal 19 Influence on Intrapersonal Maturity A Reflec/on on Marginaliza/on It makes you feel bad…it doesn't’t make you feel good that other people feel prejudiced against. But having that sense of awareness is refreshing (personal communica,on, August 6, 2013). 20 Influences on Intercultural Maturity Domain Factors Cogni/ve •  Small group reflec,ons •  Cultural interac,ons •  Academic course Intrapersonal •  Opportuni,es for iden,ty explora,on •  Increased self-­‐confidence provoked by iden,ty explora,on •  Experiences of marginaliza,on leading to contempla,on of privilege Interpersonal •  Interac,ons mo,vated by cultural curiosity •  Interac,ons mo,vated by desire for mutual understanding 21 Influence on Interpersonal Maturity A Reflec/on on Desire for Mutual Understanding I was reluctant [to get involved with immigrants] in the past because I thought I would have li\le in common with people living in these communi,es…through my experiences abroad, I have learned that…there are… many shared experiences that can connect everyone to the rest of the world (personal communica,on, May 8, 2013). 22 Influences on Intercultural Maturity Domain Factors Cogni/ve •  Small group reflec,ons •  Cultural interac,ons •  Academic course Intrapersonal •  Opportuni,es for iden,ty explora,on •  Increased self-­‐confidence provoked by iden,ty explora,on •  Experiences of marginaliza,on leading to contempla,on of privilege Interpersonal •  Interac,ons mo,vated by cultural curiosity •  Interac,ons mo,vated by desire for mutual understanding 23 Other Salient Findings Intersec/on of Sophomore Development & Study Abroad ›  Iden,ty development ›  Redefining rela,onships ›  Developing a purpose in college ›  Emergence of an internal voice Essen/al Components of Sophomore Study Abroad ›  Guided explora,on & structured reflec,on (Intercultural Learning component) ›  Developmental appropriateness 24 Discussion & Implica,ons for Prac,ce ›  Dispropor,onate demographic representa,on ›  Prac,ce: Engaging diverse student groups ›  Divergence of quan,ta,ve and qualita,ve findings ›  Prac,ce: Consider ,ming of evalua,ng impacts ›  Importance of courses offered in study abroad programs ›  Prac,ce: Course/faculty selec,on ›  Iden,ty educa,on as part of study abroad ›  Prac,ce: Building awareness of privilege ›  Selec,ng developmentally appropriate programs ›  Prac,ce: Strategic advising 25 Limita,ons Generalizability ›  One university with unique characteris,cs (USD) ›  Demographic representa,on Reliability of Self-­‐Repor/ng ›  Quan,ta,ve & qualita,ve data Researcher Posi/onality & Subjec/vity ›  Monitored through researchers journal 26 Significance of the Study ›  Evalua,on of study abroad as an ins,tu,onal strategy to respond to the developmental challenges of the sophomore year ›  Crea,ve uses of study abroad programming ›  Contributes to knowledge related to: ›  Development of intercultural maturity in sophomores ›  Impact of study abroad on development of intercultural maturity Future Research ›  Con,nua,on of study at USD with modifica,ons ›  Extend study to other universi,es ›  Dispropor,onate representa,on in study abroad 27 Ques,ons