Education Abroad Develops Faculty Toolkit

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 12, 2012) — Education Abroad in the University of Kentucky Office of International Affairs has developed a new online “toolkit” for faculty members who are interested in embedding international education experiences into their otherwise residential courses: www.uky.edu/toolkit.

The toolkit provides an array of pedagogically sound instructional activities that can be integrated into embedded, education abroad courses, or more specifically, those undergraduate courses that include a brief experience abroad as a minor component of the course. This generally includes short-term, faculty-led programs for which an international excursion is supplemental or embedded within an otherwise residential course.

Embedded education abroad programs are believed to be an effective way to further internationalize the curriculum and to provide students with academically engaging and culturally enriching, international experiences.

“The development of this tool shows that our Education Abroad office is doing much more than just connecting students with existing programs. Our team is actually partnering with faculty to advance the quality of academic programming abroad,” says Susan Carvalho, associate provost for international programs. “This toolkit fills a very important role and has the potential to become an important resource for Education Abroad offices and faculty nationwide.”

Designed to focus on two primary areas, global citizenship and academic development, the toolkit contains course objectives that have been designed for each focus area and are supported by an array of instructional tools that can be integrated into course syllabi or facilitated as one-time activities.

Each tool is explained in a one-page document that provides a brief description of its objectives, required materials and recommended method of evaluation. Faculty members are invited to adapt selected tools to align with their course objectives. While these tools have been prepared for embedded education abroad programming, they are easily adapted to suit the needs and goals of any education abroad program.

The toolkit will be updated and expanded through the on-going development and input of faculty. Please explore the toolkit and share any suggestions or insights with Anthony Ogden, director of education abroad: a.ogden@uky.edu.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Geegan, (859) 257-5365; sarah.geegan@uky.edu