The Off-Campus Student Advisory Board, a committee designed to improve study abroad programs, plans to improve student knowledge about off-campus programs by launching a website next week detailing academic, cultural and internship opportunities, as well as basic safety and accommodation information for each off-campus program. The committee will also host a photo contest in which students can share images from their experiences abroad.
The group, formed in fall 2010, aims to better prepare students for their programs prior to departure, according to Andrew Clay '12, a member of the advisory board.
"The biggest thing for me was that there wasn't a body of information where students could find activities to do outside of classes, whether that was playing sports, places to hang out and just general information like what happens when you lose your passport," Clay said. "It would have been much more interesting and advantageous if you could have it beforehand."
The new page, which will be designated as a wiki, will create a sense of institutional memory for the College's study abroad programs, according to advisory board member Chase Renick '13. Renick founded the advisory board after he noted flaws in the Foreign Study Program to Morocco.
The site will incorporate information from Dartmouth-sponsored programs as well as information about transfer terms and opportunities offered by the Dickey Center for International Understanding, he said.
"We're gathering experiences and internship data from previous students and compiling it into a usable online resource," Renick said. "Students can look at which taxi or train station they should take, what [non-governmental organization] internships are in that area."
Motivating students to contribute information has posed the largest challenge to developing the website, which has taken eight months to create, according to Renick. While many students want to use the resource, few want to make the effort to provide information.
On the completed site, each sub-page will be program-specific to assist students in a better way than what a Google search can offer, according to Renick.
"The data is way beyond what you receive during general orientation," Renick said.
On Monday, the group will host its first annual photo contest in Collis Common Ground, placing images from students' experiences abroad on display.
"We felt that students don't have a way to share their off-campus experiences when they get back," committee member Blakeley Brown '12 said. "The competition will have visual images that all of campus could see, so students can be reminded of their memories and share them with the community."
In addition, the board has been working with the Committee on Off-Campus Activities a board consisting of faculty members that also includes two student representatives to improve orientation meetings and the student evaluation process.
"Many students have had time and distance to reflect on their experiences, and they've been very receptive to what concerns faculty and the Off-Campus Programs Office," Executive Director of Off-Campus Programs John Tansey said. "It's a nice two-way flow of information and feedback."
Recent changes have included updates to the health and safety meetings, which are mandatory for students scheduled to participate in an off-campus program. In the fall, the advisory group implemented a student panel to replace an uninteresting and outdated U.S. State Department video, according to Brown.
Lynn Higgins, associate dean for interdisciplinary and international studies, will meet with the group as an advisor. She said that improving information about the nuances of various programs is crucial to students.
"Students participate in exchange programs and in transfer terms, and I don't think people understand the distinctions there," Higgins said. "I'm interested in learning what experiences students hope to have so we can develop programs to respond to their needs and interests."
COCA is also working with Global Dartmouth, an organization under the umbrella of Provost Carol Folt's Strategic Planning Initiative, to develop the College's priorities for study abroad experiences in the upcoming decades, according to COCA chair and biology professor David Peart. The working group aims to go beyond classroom experiences in order to establish Dartmouth's presence in the world.
"Global Dartmouth is thinking about what skills we want students to develop internationally, like opportunities to move freely in the global world and be successful in business diplomacy," Peart said.
This cross-cultural experience may include enhancing programs to engage students in real problem-solving work. Using the examples of Dickey Center programs and the reconstruction and health efforts in Haiti undertaken by staff at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and the Geisel School of Medicine, Global Dartmouth hopes to tie together both undergraduate and graduate disciplines, according to Peart.
"We are looking for ways to combine professional schools more synergistically with arts and sciences so students in history or linguistics can piggyback on some of the work that professional schools have been doing," Peart said.
COCA reviews programs yearly or every five years, depending how established the program is, and it provides suggestions or mandates for improvement, according to Peart. COCA has the authority to suspend or cancel programs if enrollment is low or if student reviews are negative.
Numerous proposals for new programs have emerged but have been undercut by budget limitations and understaffing of the Off-Campus Programs Office, Peart said.
"They can't support any more programs while still managing safety and financial arrangements," Peart said. "We have new demands for programs, but we can't bring them on without reducing current programs."
Clay said that COCA and faculty have been very receptive to student input.
The absence of online evaluations which are standard for on-campus courses is one factor that limits effective feedback, Peart said. The workshops with faculty and students are aimed at redesigning programs and assessments.
Working through bureaucratic hurdles has been "frustrating," Renick said. Faculty were initially hesitant about the wiki page, fearing that less-than-favorable reviews would deter future students from applying to programs, he said.
Other long-term goals include improving the "language pledge" in which students pledge to speak only the language of their host country and better orienting first-year students with off-campus programs. The student group is also looking to draft a mission statement with COCA to outline student goals and objectives, according to Clay.
Of the recent initiatives, Clay said he is most excited for Monday's photo contest.
"We've been getting really great photos," Clay said. "I think it's going to be pretty cool."
Clay is a former member of The Dartmouth Staff.
