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Internationalizing Graduate Education Through Education Abroad: The Pedagogy of Short-Term, Faculty-Led, Education Abroad Experiences

Posted on:2018-04-28Degree:Ph.DType:Dissertation
University:Michigan State UniversityCandidate:Loebick, KarlaFull Text:PDF
GTID:1447390002484278Subject:Higher education administration
Abstract/Summary:
Internationalization efforts within higher education have been increasingly prioritized over the past few decades as a response to the growing demands of the changing globalized world. Short-term education abroad has emerged as a common strategy that institutions implement to help internationalize their campuses, students, and faculty. Faculty are central to curricular decisions for their institutions and this responsibility permeates their roles as faculty leaders of short-term, faculty-led education abroad. While considerable research exists on undergraduate experiences, few studies have focused on graduate education programs that are faculty led.;The purpose of this study was to develop understanding of the perspectives of faculty members as leaders of short-term, faculty-led, education abroad at the graduate level (henceforth graduate education abroad). Within this study, short-term is used to denote programs of one to five weeks in duration. Framed by Clark and Peterson's (1986) Teacher Thought Process Model and Pratt's (1992) General Model of Teaching, I studied how faculty members perceive, understand, make sense of, and enact their role as leaders of graduate education abroad including: Three major research questions guided this research: (1) What do faculty leaders want to accomplish when leading graduate education abroad?; (2) What beliefs, assumptions, and values guide the work of faculty members in their role as a faculty leader of graduate education abroad?; and (3) What do faculty leaders do in their role as a faculty leader of graduate education abroad? These questions were investigated using qualitative research methods with 21 faculty leaders representing early, mid, and late career positions from five disciplinary areas at two doctorate granting universities. Each faculty leader had led between two and nine short term, graduate level education abroad experiences. The analysis of this study led to the creation of a model of the Pedagogy of Graduate Education Abroad which illustrates the process that 21 faculty leaders in this study experienced in their participation as faculty leaders of graduate education abroad.;This study illuminated findings that provided insight into how faculty leaders pedagogically approach graduate education abroad including their motivations for involvement, defined purposes for short-term programming at the graduate level, responsibilities and liabilities of faculty leaders, qualities of graduate education abroad, highlights and challenges of being a faculty leader, types of graduate education abroad, pedagogical components of short-term programs, outcomes (for faculty, students, and institutions), and the role of graduate education abroad in the internationalization of graduate education.
Keywords/Search Tags:Education, Faculty, Short-term, Role
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