Web Abroad:
Sharing the Learning, Staying in Touch

Using web pages as a method of
presentation for study abroad to reinforce and enrich learning,
informing family, friends, and others about experiences, and
providing a reference for future trips.

Marty DeWindt, Director of Academic Technology
Computing and Information Services
(618)374-5132
marty@prin.edu

Karen Dearborn, Director of Abroad Programs,
Office of Special Programs (OSP)
(618)374-5215
kbd@prin.edu

Jonathan Hosmer, Webmaster for Academic Services
Computing and Information Services
(618)374-5130
jph@prin.edu
Principia College
1 Maybeck Place
Elsah, Illinois 62028
(618) 374-2131

ABSTRACT

This presentation will lead you through incorporating a website into a student abroad program
to enhance the learning of the students on the program,
to share this learning with friends and future programs, and
to communicate with family and friends.

Sites include weekly updates with annotated photos of locations and events, student-journal vignettes, and other materials and web links related to the program.

We will share the rationale and benefits as well as recommended steps to make this program a success. And NO, those on the field program do not need to know any web tools! Training is minimal. While "staying in touch" was an instigating motive for the sites, a larger benefit is for the students to share their experiences in "real time." This not only helps others experience the adventure, but also enriches the abroad students' learning. Nothing helps you learn like teaching someone else.

INTRODUCTION

Today many of us are searching for meaningful ways to take advantage of technology to make both teaching and learning relevant and engaging. A side benefit of this effort is that both the student and faculty learn new approaches and skills. We have seen all of these results with the Abroad web pages at Principia College.

As with many of the technology efforts today, a student led the way in our webcasting. In 1998 a senior with a special major in graphics and web design was accepted for Principia's biology Study Abroad program to Nepal. His capstone project was to put on the web a National Geographic type report of this trip. The following spring, I was accepted on the China Abroad program as the assistant. Where Cam Martindell launched us into this venture, I worked with out web team to set up a system that could be sustained and supported over time. The system adjusts to each program and has generally proven successful in meeting our goals.

After a brief overview, we will describe how to accomplish each phase of the project. We will share why we do this and how we make it a success, including the steps needed in working with those on the study abroad and the resources needed "at home" to support that activity. Here are the basic steps:
I) Pre-trip Planning - this takes the most time and effort on everyone's part
A) Determine with the faculty member that the group wants a website as part of their program; outline faculty and student commitment, the site focus, and site components.
B) Design the website, collect student bios/photos, itinerary, links, and other content materials.
C) Train an abroad person on the camera, file management, and sending process.
II) Trip Updates - each student about 3 hours one time during the program
A) Locate transmission points.
B) Select photos and creating captions.
C) Select and edit journals.
III) Post-trip Wrap-up - minimal time and effort
A) Clean up site; add final papers, program evaluations, & PowerPoint post-program show.
B) Press CDs for participants.

Why: Rationale and Benefits - Academic and Otherwise

It is important to be clear with all three constituencies - those going on the trip, the office that manages that activity, and the web support group - that this effort should have an academic purpose and focus. There is a strong tendency for the social aspect to take over (head shots of their friends) and that approach has neither the value to the program or student, nor the justification for the effort. It becomes the latest toy in the technology tool bag and with no real pedagogical purpose: it will (and should!) wither.

Webcasts hook the students and give them a context or medium in which they can share what they are learning with a wide audience; they give students a format in which to overlay their classroom learning with their on-location experiences and observations. Academic webcasting fosters communication, team building and problem solving skills. Students can share who they are, where they come from, and their purpose on this abroad with the people they will be meeting. Even the process of sending photos, captions and journal entries back to Principia for posting on the web can be used to support the academics. For example, vocabulary development and conversation is enhanced as students navigate their way to Internet cafes and learn computer lingo in their host countries language.

ACADEMIC BENEFITS - Pre-trip activities to augment the academic program

o Links to resources, including maps and topics - political, economic, etc. - that are the focus of the trip are important. Cultural and historical sites are often useful for general student background as well as for their projects. Both the content and the process of evaluating web resources are valuable for the student. These links add a richness to the site that make it a valuable resource for the future as well. Frequently, the Library has a staff member or resources for assisting with locating and evaluating web sources.

o Including student biographies and/or resumes is an activity that pushes the student to self-awareness, professional development, and helps them put this experience in a broader context. Frequently, these include student goals for the study abroad and are helpful in evaluating the experience later. These personal biographies also can be used as a point of communication between our group members and their host families and institutions. When using formal e-resumes, we use our Career Center to assist with this aspect.

o Student projects - research papers, artwork, poetry - add depth to the site. Using the website for posting of abstracts for the study abroad projects helps the student to focus their efforts. Webcasting an academic program encourages students to do their best work. Students really have to KNOW their subject in order to reason through the best way to articulate and share on the web what they are learning.

o Including on the site photos of locations and housing where the students will be visiting, interning, or studying helps familiarize them with the new culture and environment. They function more smoothly and some of the uncertainty of the mechanics of the experience is alleviated. Some of our professors include photos or video taken on their planning trip so that the students can recognize their hotel or dorm, train stations, local restaurants, and even what to expect on a typical menu.

ACADEMIC BENEFITS - During the trip: journals and photos with captions

o It is important to emphasize that though we encourage inclusion of photos of members of our group, it is best to include some historical, cultural, or other component in the photo that adds to the academic content of the site. Captions can aid in that focus and reinforce learning as students check details on sites or events in the photos.

o Student journals add a wonderful richness to their experience. Sharing these more subjective, personal perspectives helps them discover meaning or themes in they are experiences. They have the opportunity to gain insight and go beyond just recording. Often it is the time to clarify questions if no sense or meaning seems clear. Rather that just evaluate their experience at the end of the abroad, their journaling, when reviewed later, is a record of growth. Sometimes it is a source for nuggets for later writing. These journals also add to the vividness of the site for others on the Abroad and for those viewing it from home or later. These have been some of the best pieces of our websites, but the faculty member needs to be committed to this activity. They may need to make it a requirement and the editing for the website is important.

ACADEMIC BENEFITS - After the trip: completed papers, student evaluations

o Posting final research papers can be an impetus to quality work. The student can reference this in a resume. As resumes more frequently are electronic, linking to this can be a simple, effective way to highlight an experience.

o Evaluating whether they realized their goals set forth before they left or what they gained or learned from this experience is a reflective activity that may help crystallize ideas or personal or interpersonal growth.

OTHER BENEFITS

o The students that work on the website gain valuable technology experience in web development. This includes the minimal impact on those on the Abroad and the more extensive experience of the student web developers on campus.

o Staying in touch is a vital part of this website. Parents and friends are reassured and supportive when they can "see" their student on a regular basis. Even today with better communication because phones and email are so easy to access (even in Mongolia the cyber café was easily accessible), the website made those "back home" feel more in touch with the travelers' experiences. It often provided "talking points" for family. We do hear from parents regularly about how much each of the sites means to them - emergency or not!

While our group was in Beijing, the US military bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. Our parents were extremely concerned about our safety. News reports showed rioting at the US Embassy in Beijing. Quickly, we were able to get on our website a flashing message that we were safe and on the train to Mongolia. We could also provide a link to more in-depth comments from the program director describing the real conditions in Beijing. We had a similar situation with a group that was in Kyoto, Japan during one of their earthquakes.

o The CDs that the students take with them are a permanent record of their experience. Often we include all the photos taken and not just the ones on the website. If they do a PowerPoint presentation for sharing with the community after their return, we put that on the CD as well.

How: Working with Faculty and Students

PRE-TRIP ACTIVITIES - Faculty Planning Session

The first meeting should be with the faculty member. Most faculty are willing participants in webcasting once they understand they will not need to be involved in the actual coding of the pages and the see the academic opportunities this activity affords. At this initial session, we share past experiences from our perspective and generally outline the benefits cited earlier. We evoke from the professor ways that she would like to utilize this resource and stress the academic direction we hope this takes. Often this first meeting plants a seed that can be developed later in the site design meeting.

We also outline what the expected commitment might be:
o Collaboration on site design, as well as any content collection, must be done before the group leaves. Usually a small group of students or a single student rep takes this on.
o Student and faculty bios are homework assignments and can vary with the professionalism and length desired. These must be done before the trip.
o Photos, captions, and journals must be selected, organized, edited, and sent weekly during the trip. Each team of students takes photos and does captions for only one week on the Abroad. Other than taking photos, the time commitment is about 2-3 hours a week for the team. Count on an hour for sending that week's photos as email attachments.

The webcasting process runs more smoothly with faculty support, even if the professor is not directly involved. Reasons cited by the few faculty not wishing a webcast are the distraction from abroad activities and continued connection to "home." In our case, it is important not to coerce the professor into participation. It is helpful for all to understand the role of the assistant.

PRE-TRIP ACTIVITIES - Student Planning Session

Once a professor decides to support this activity, we then present the idea to the students. At one of their early group meetings the quarter before they leave, we share much of the same material that we shared with the faculty and add any ideas the professor has incorporated. After setting some guidelines on what we can and can't do, we elicit from the students what they would like to include. This generates interest and commitment to the project. Most of them are familiar with past Abroad websites and are eager to be part of the webcasting. The tendency is usually to include too much rather than lack of interest. It is important to help them be realistic in what they can accomplish. The web designer should be at this meeting. In our case, he frequently runs this part of the session. Have a chalkboard, whiteboard, or large easel pad for planning purposes. It's helpful to have a computer and projector to go through some of the past sites.

At this point, to simplify communication, we ask for volunteers to be responsible for the web part of their Abroad. This small group of 1-3 students becomes the point of contact for the web designer. They work with the web designer on the site design and content. They take bio photos, gather site graphics, and collect the links, bios, and research abstracts from the group. They are also responsible for learning and training on the digital camera as well as the file management of the photos and captions. They are usually the ones that send the weekly email.

This session is the easy part. The follow-through is a bit more challenging: no surprise there! Setting firm deadlines helps. Tying it to the academics (and thereby grades) also helps.

TRIP ACTIVITIES

During the Abroad, the primary activity is managing the incoming photos, captions, and journals and getting them on the site. Here are some of the challenges:
o Poorly labeled photos and captions so you can't match them up.
o Inadequately proofed captions and journals with misspellings and poor grammar.
o Unrealistic expectations for initial photo setup. It takes about eight hours of student worker time to get the photos on the website the first time. There are simple ways to set up photos that would take about 2 hours, but for easy navigation and a professional look, we spend more time at the beginning to set up these pages.
o Unrealistic expectations on turn-around time. The photos come in at the end of a week, and then it may be late the following week before they are up.
o Too many photos or other changes to the original plan. We try to "just say no" to these but in reality we almost always do some site adjustment once the group is in the field.

On occasion, it may be helpful to arrange a conference call with the web designer, the professor and the Abroad web team, and the program manager to iron out details. One 10-minute session can eliminate a barrage of email and confusion, while eliminating or cutting down the time delay for changes.

POST-TRIP ACTIVITIES

Getting the last set of photos on the site as well as final papers and evaluations take real dedication from the faculty and students. Once the trip is over, it is hard to continue with developing the site. Some leverage can be gained by requiring that all material be turned in before they can have the CD with the site and the extra photos.

We purchase our CDs through the purchasing department and the OSP student worker creates the CDs. Since these are small groups (less than 25), we do copy the CDs one at a time in the CD-Writer built in to the computer. We use Adaptec's Easy CD Creator software. The process takes about 4 hours.

How: The Web Team - Training and Managing

Because of the vast differences and the number of permutations in technology support and web support for academic programs, the best approach here is to share with you what we are doing at Principia and how it works. You can then adapt this to your institution.

We have two web teams at Principia.
o The Publications Department manages a set of pages that meet their criteria for focus (alumni, prospective students, development, etc.) and functionality. There are no students in that group. Their entry point is www.prin.edu.

o We also have a web team in Computing and Information Systems (our IT department) that manages and develops content relating to current students, parents, faculty, and staff. A large component of what they do is support for academics. However, they also provide non-academic web content for their constituencies as well. On campus, the entry point is PrinWeb. This group is the one that manages the Abroad content. The address off campus is www.prin.edu/abroads.

STUDENT WORKERS

Students are our most valuable resource - and we theirs! We provide on-the-job training and experience and they provide cheap labor. We have about three students each hour doing various web projects for us. Our annual budget is about $20,000 for student wages. We incur about another $5,000 in expenses in wages that other departments pay for, but we manage the student. The student web workers make about $6.00/hour. In most cases, the work experience and reference for future employment far outweigh the low student wages.

All of our student workers know HTML and have experience when they come to us - some more than others! Both our Computer Science and Studio Art/Graphics Design departments incorporate some web design in at least one of their courses. Most of our students have come from one of these programs, though some are self-taught. We encourage students that are serious about this line of work to take courses in both departments. It is important for us to have students strong in database and programming skills as well as those grounded in graphics design and, ideally, each student should have both. It is also important to hire freshmen through seniors working for us - to be developing their talents for the future.

For an Abroad website, it takes 10 hours per week for the 10-week quarter before the trip to design and build the site. For us, that is one student working a 2-hour shift each day for 10 weeks. Sometimes, the next quarter (during the first weeks of the Abroad), the student worker that designed the site will need to make adjustments and minor design changes and assist with the initial loading of content.

Once the Abroad is under way and the photos and other content are coming in, the Office of Special Programs (OSP) that manages our Abroads has one student worker for each program that add the content to the site(s). They work in the OSP office and have the needed equipment there (see below). The Webmaster for academic services recommends, trains, and supports them though they are managed by the Director of Abroad Programs.

DESIGN

We have come up with a design that allows for flexibility and yet provides a structure so that we are not completely starting over for each trip. The general layout, navigation, and the database for the photos are reused and modified for each program. We have standard content for each trip.
o Program Description: this comes from OSP and is always already created as part of the planning for the Abroad.
o Itinerary: this also comes from OSP and is completed prior to the website going live.

o Bios: these need to be completed by the faculty and students. The San Francisco Field Program uses professional resumes. Others have used free-form descriptions. Some have been yearbook-type lists that give facts about the person.

o Updates: these are the weekly photos and journals sent back from the field.
o Other material: optional - links, maps, abstracts, etc. determined by each group.

We work with the Abroad web team for the look and feel of what they want. This is a valuable experience for the student building the abroad site. Analysis, listening, and implementation of client visions are part of what they are learning - not just the fun tools. There are several cycles of develop, present, and modify that occur between the Abroad group and the web design team.

We frequently work toward a theme that runs throughout the site - Japanese characters, the rearview mirror of a bus. It is essential to have solid graphics design talent or training when working on the original design. Depending on the abroad, we add links between bios, journals, papers, internships, etc. Again, some redesign frequently occurs once the group is actually using the site.

Equipment

ON THE ABROAD
o Camera: The digital camera is the only required piece of equipment. It should have with it two spare sets of rechargeable batteries, a separate battery charger with power adapter for your location, and two spare storage media. It is nice to have a spare battery charger. We had one blow out with the power fluctuations in Mongolia.

If you do not take a laptop, the Sony Mavica series cameras record on to floppy disks or CDs. These can then be put into most computers to send the photos. We use the Olympus D450Zoom with 16M SmartMedia cards and Olympus batteries and charger. This camera is smaller and easier to use, but it almost requires a laptop for uploading/sending the photos.

o Laptops: We use laptops on our Abroads; typically, each trip takes two laptops; some also take a printer. Often several students have their own laptop as well. The communication card should have a combo card that has both a modem and Ethernet connection.

o Internet Connections: You need to find locations overseas from which to send the photos and other materials home. Your hosting organization can usually assist with this. It is helpful to locate Internet cafes in scheduled locations. Some of them will not let you put a disk into their computers because of virus issues. Some will let you directly connect your computer to their network. Check on costs. It usually takes about 20 minutes on-line to send 12-20 photos. It is helpful to have both a Yahoo and Hotmail account: if one system is down or very slow, you can use the other one. At last check, Hotmail let you have an unlimited number of attachments on a given email with a 2M-size limit, which is helpful when sending 12-20 photos.

WEB DEVELOPERS ON CAMPUS

Hardware: Mac G3; 128 RAM; 19"monitor, drawing tablet, scanner
Windows 2000 PC, 256 RAM, 19" monitor, drawing tablet, scanner

Software : Photoshop, Bbedit, Dreamweaver, Flash, Homesite

Conclusions

This project has value on several levels.
1. Faculty add to their store of technology incorporated in their coursework, enhancing the learning and teaching experience.
2. Faculty use these sites as good resources for future trips.
3. Abroad students make effective use of technology in communicating and reporting. It is a medium they relate to and that engages their interest.
4. Student workers use this as a real-world opportunity to utilize and develop skills and talents.
5. Students (Abroaders and workers) have this site as a resource or reference for internships or employment.
6. Parents and friends use this to stay in touch and vicariously participate in the Abroad.
7. Administrators and trustees find this is a great way to inform the public and prospective students about Principia College.

We continue to try to increase the academic nature and content of webcasting. Faculty and students are our greatest resource in this area.