The Impact of Short-Term Study Abroad Programs
Mentor 1
Anne Dressel
Start Date
1-5-2020 12:00 AM
Description
In this qualitative study, we systematically analyze the impact of short-term global health study abroad programs on UWM students by utilizing Krathwohl’s Learning Taxonomy. Krathwohl’s Taxonomy has five specific levels of affective learning: (1) receiving, (2) responding, (3) valuing, (4) organizing, and (5) characterization by a value or value set. Our analysis includes 43 student reflection papers, which was a common assignment required of all students participating in the UWM College of Nursing’s study abroad programs to Ecuador (August 2017), Malawi (January 2018), and Thailand/Laos (January 2018). The students were expected to answer the following questions: a) Describe similarities and differences that you noticed between the US healthcare system and the host country; b) what was the most surprising component of the culture that you experienced and why? and c) what is one characteristic of the culture that you could integrate into your lives and why? This study seeks to address a gap in the literature regarding the impact of short-term study abroad programs on students, by applying Krathwohl’s Learning Taxonomy to our qualitative study. It also gives us a larger N for analysis, and allows us to assess potential differences in impact among various study abroad sites.
The Impact of Short-Term Study Abroad Programs
In this qualitative study, we systematically analyze the impact of short-term global health study abroad programs on UWM students by utilizing Krathwohl’s Learning Taxonomy. Krathwohl’s Taxonomy has five specific levels of affective learning: (1) receiving, (2) responding, (3) valuing, (4) organizing, and (5) characterization by a value or value set. Our analysis includes 43 student reflection papers, which was a common assignment required of all students participating in the UWM College of Nursing’s study abroad programs to Ecuador (August 2017), Malawi (January 2018), and Thailand/Laos (January 2018). The students were expected to answer the following questions: a) Describe similarities and differences that you noticed between the US healthcare system and the host country; b) what was the most surprising component of the culture that you experienced and why? and c) what is one characteristic of the culture that you could integrate into your lives and why? This study seeks to address a gap in the literature regarding the impact of short-term study abroad programs on students, by applying Krathwohl’s Learning Taxonomy to our qualitative study. It also gives us a larger N for analysis, and allows us to assess potential differences in impact among various study abroad sites.
