A world of hands-on learning

For participants in the study-abroad programs of the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy, the international experience is apt to be a bit out of the ordinary.

Of course, the students take classes and see the sights, but they also engage in such activities as cuddling orphaned babies in an AIDS clinic, discussing public-policy issues with urban planners from around the globe, teaching a math lesson to Scottish schoolchildren or assisting in the kitchen of a five-star European hotel.

"Students are not the same after they have studied abroad," says Fred DeMicco, Aramark Chair in CHEP's Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, "and that's the whole point, isn't it?"

Service learning and safaris

Students who hear that the South Africa program has a service-learning component, in which they volunteer at a school or clinic, sometimes think they'll change the lives of the children there, says Norma Gaines-Hanks, assistant professor of individual and family studies, who has spent three Winter Sessions leading the program.

"Instead, they find that the experience changes their own lives," she says. "The safari, where we photograph wildlife, is often what draws students to the trip, but the service learning is what many remember most."

In Pretoria students take classes in South African history or women's studies at the University of Pretoria.

"The campus looks like ours, and you could almost feel that you're in Newark," Gaines-Hanks says. "But, for the service-learning experiences, we go out into the black townships, many of which tend to be very poor. Seeing that disparity--that contrast--can be quite intense and emotional."

Students have a choice of sites at which to volunteer. Many work at a clinic for babies with HIV or AIDS, while others help out in elementary schools, shadowing teachers and occasionally teaching a lesson.

Throughout their time in South Africa, students keep a journal, and the group meets several times to discuss and process their experiences. The service-learning sites, like the academic courses, vary somewhat with each trip.

"We try to be flexible," says Eugene Matusov, assistant professor of education, who will make his second trip this Winter Session. "We adjust the schedule based on the strengths of the faculty, the interests of the students and the feedback they give us from previous trips."

For Jocelyn Martin, CHEP 2003, a high point was the time she spent in a second-grade classroom. "I had been considering changing my major from elementary education, but the experience in that school reminded me how much I love kids," she says.

"I know that this program changes the students' lives," Gaines-Hanks says. "They get very attached to the children they work with, and they see a nation that, in spite of its terrible history, is looking optimistically to the future. It gives them a different way of looking at their own lives and at America."

Forming school ties

The 24 elementary education majors who went to England and Scotland last Winter Session already had spent time observing and teaching in Delaware classrooms, but the schools they visited abroad were "definitely not typical American settings," says Deborah Knight, assistant professor of education.

Knight and William Moody, professor of education, led the program that visited elementary schools. The UD students saw schools with open classrooms, schools with sheep on the grounds and a school where the children built a replica of medieval London and, in one memorable lesson, raced through the scale-model streets pretending to be rats carrying the plague.

The program began in London, where the students took courses in methods of teaching math and reading and visited a school and various cultural sites.

The next stop was Reading, where students spent more time in a school and stayed in private homes with teachers or parents.

"We really got to interact with the children and the parents and find out what they liked and didn't like about the school," says Karen Brown, CHEP 2003.

The final part of the program was in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the students dispersed to various schools to observe and teach some lessons. They also attended lectures by University of Edinburgh faculty and wrote papers about the best-practice teaching methods they observed.

"Even in teaching a math lesson, our students tried to bring in something about American culture," Moody says. "They spent a week in the classroom there, and we tried to make it a multicultural experience for everyone." 

Global views of public policy

Ride a commuter train in America during rush hour, and it's likely you'll pay a higher fare than during an "off-peak" time. Everybody understands why. It's supply and demand.

Take a train in Bologna, Italy, and your rush-hour trip might be free. Everybody in Bologna understands why. Because the goal of public transportation there is to reduce traffic congestion and its associated problems, peak times are precisely when commuters are encouraged to leave their cars at home.

"For students to see this different approach was quite an eye-opener," says Arno Loessner, who teaches in CHEP's School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy (SUAPP). "We think it's beneficial for our students to see that there are places where residents and governments think differently than we do in America."

The commuter-train example is just one illustration of what SUAPP students might see firsthand when they study abroad, Loessner says. Since the mid-1970s, he and other faculty members in the School have taken students to various countries in Europe to gain international perspectives on public-policy issues.

In recent years, Loessner has been leading a two-week program to the Netherlands, where UD students take study-tours of neighborhoods and meet with public officials. They also take field trips and attend seminars with other graduate students, who are midcareer professionals from developing nations, at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague and the Institute for Housing and Urban Development in Rotterdam.

"Because they were graduate students, we were able to interact with our contemporaries," says Raina Harper, a SUAPP doctoral student who traveled with the program in 2001. "And, because they were from developing countries, their perspectives were very different from ours."

Although the travel itself is not for academic credit, Loessner says participants take a seminar for credit the previous semester and give a presentation when they return, and several have done comparative studies as their master's thesis. "Our study-travel program is very much integrated into our curriculum," he says.

Aboard ship for study abroad

Students in CHEP's Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management (HRIM) who spend time at the Swiss School of Hotel and Tourism Management gain an international perspective that goes well beyond learning the European hospitality system.

"The students at the Swiss school represent 52 different countries, so our students are living with an extremely international mix," says George Conrade, assistant professor of HRIM. "It's a multicultural experience that is very beneficial to our students."

HRIM's ongoing relationship with the Swiss school includes an exchange program in which University sophomores can spend the fall semester studying there, qualifying for a Swiss diploma that is conferred when they earn their UD bachelor's degree. Another option is an established five-week summer program abroad at the Swiss school, in which HRIM students take courses in basic German and international hotel management.

"The summer program is a great opportunity for our students to learn the European style of hotel and restaurant management, which is helpful in this global industry," Conrade says.

This summer, the program adds a new element. The UD students will spend three weeks at the Swiss school, taking similar academic courses but on a more intensive schedule. They then will spend two weeks aboard a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, getting a behind-the-scenes view of that aspect of the tourism industry and taking a course in international cruise management.

"Studying abroad opens your mind to so many new things and new ideas and helps you understand how other people view our lifestyle and culture," says Sarah Bechtel, CHEP 2003, who participated in the Swiss program in 2001. "Everyone should experience another culture, another language, another region of the world, because the world is not like America."

French dressing

Consumer studies students who travel to Paris this winter will have a chance to explore street style, trend forecasting and contemporary clothing design in one of the world's most vibrant fashion capitals, faculty co-directors Jo Kallal and Janet Hethorn say.

From the haute couture of Chanel and Christian Dior to Jean Paul Gaultier's ready-to-wear pieces, Paris is the home of innovation and diversity in fashion design and merchandising, Kallal says. That sensibility, Hethorn says, often is reflected in the everyday street wear of Parisians.

Students will take two courses, one in "Observing Street Style," which will focus on seeing and understanding street style--what people wear in public--and its impact on potential product development.

In their second course, "From Art and Culture to Trend," students will be exposed to a broad array of experiences and events that may influence trends in design and merchandising. They will interconnect a variety of museum exhibitions, trade and technology shows, concerts and street observations and assess their impact on fashion. The emphasis will be on developing skills in fashion-trend research, analysis and presentation, as well as considering the impact of trend analysis on design for targeted retailers and consumers.

--Ann Manser, AS '73, CHEP '73