世界重新开放

流行病后，CCEs回归，开拓者踏上了道路

When Mathena Higgins entered 博天堂官方入口登陆登录 as a freshman in the fall of 2019, she gave little thought to the university’s travel requirement that all students must fulfill to graduate. 直到COVID-19大流行, which saw virtual instruction replace the in-person adventures that the 跨文化经验 (CCE) program originally offered, 危及她可能的旅行.

Fortunately, the waning pandemic has lifted most travel restrictions just in time for Higgins’s senior year. CCE于2022年夏天重新上线, 与国际, domestic and study-abroad offerings launching post-pandemic journeys. January of 2023 marked Carroll’s first significant round of student travel, including trips for Higgins and others who made their way to Greece with Carroll professors Scott Hendrix and Patricia Rodda.

“这是我第一次. Oh, my God, 我太兴奋了,希金斯说。, 她主修生物化学，在奥什科什长大, 而且从未出过国. “CCE背后的想法真的很酷. Getting your students experience in a different culture is something that’s so valuable and it resonated with me.”

After researching the issue in 2011, Carroll committed itself to the idea of off-campus travel study. “Employers are looking for people who have some background in working with diverse and intercultural contexts, 但在最近的大学毕业生中却看不到这种情况,乔西·德·哈托格说, associate dean for the 文理学院 - General Education.

The pandemic, however, forced many students and instructors to manage the CCE program virtually through much of 2020, 2021年和2022年.

“I’m so happy for our students that they get to go again,” de Hartog said. “I know as we’ve had to keep it on pause and find other ways to fulfill the courses, 每个学期都有学生说, “可是我们为什么还不能去呢??’我会为他们感到难过. 在此之前，我们不觉得我们有能力这么做.”

Carroll offers more than 40 faculty-led trips internationally and within the United States and study abroad opportunities with more than 20 organizations and partner universities. Professors prepare students in advance of their travel through studies in cross-cultural classes.

斯科特·亨德里克斯博士.D., a professor of history who has led multiple CCE trips to Ireland and, 今年首次前往希腊, said the first post-pandemic trip – while fulfilling – added a layer of concern when students became ill while abroad. 教授们对他们的CCEs进行了新冠病毒检测, and students had to be vaccinated before traveling (that requirement has been lifted for future travels unless required by a specific culture or community the students will be visiting).

“Any time a student would get the sniffles, the first thing I would do is get a COVID test. Fortunately, it wasn’t (COVID), but there is a little bit of extra stress,” Hendrix said.

虽然CCE旅行的重新推出引发了人们的兴奋, it will likely take some time for significant numbers of students to opt for international travel versus enrolling in the local experiences available, Hendrix said. He noted that COVID created a cultural shift that saw more students preferring to study closer to home.

Some students have always opted to fulfill their CCE close to home due to financial, family, 工作或健康问题. 管理人员说，COVID扩大了这些数字.

Hendrix said, however, that as more students take trips and return with stories and adventures, others will likely appreciate more of what CCE has to offer.

That is already happening for Carroll students like Mady Sloan, 体育治疗前运动科学专业大三学生, 谁今年去希腊旅游了. 她说她和朋友们分享了她的经历, and one fellow student considering a local CCE is instead looking at Greece.

“那里的建筑是惊人的，”斯隆说. “我的好朋友，她想去希腊旅游. 我给她看了我的照片. 她说，‘太酷了. 我要这么做.’”

Mark Blegen, 卡罗尔教务长兼学术事务副主席, 卡罗尔正在重建CCE项目的实力, 我们认识到大流行造成的损失, 不仅对学生，也对教员. 承担CCEs额外工作的教员越来越少, and Carroll continues outreach to boost the CCE faculty ranks, Blegen said.

“It can be stressful, so we’ve got some work to do to say, ‘Hey, faculty. 我们支持你. 我们听到了，’”布莱根说. “It goes back to we think this is core to our educational mission. 我们能做些什么来保持它向前发展呢?”

The pandemic meant professors had to design virtual experiences to help students learn about other cultures without being there. 这种情况至少在一个CCE项目中继续存在. Dan Becker, 图形传播学副教授, 自2013年以来，她曾六次与学生一起前往日本, 不幸的是贝克尔和他的学生, 前往日本的行程仍被搁置. It is the only CCE destination that is still virtual - for now - due to increased COVID cases there, Becker said.

在多年的虚拟教学中, Becker has used platforms such as Amazon  Explore to take students via livestream on a rickshaw ride through Asakusa, one of Tokyo’s districts and connected students with the owner of a sake bar during a live video visit in Shinjuku. They also communicated with elementary school students in Japan via their teacher, 玛丽莎·加勒托，17岁, 贝克尔在博天堂官方入口登陆登录的学生.

“I tried to get them as close as we could get there,” he said. Garretto, who studied graphic communication and photography had traveled with Becker to Japan in 2016. The experience sparked her desire to return to the country as a teacher with the competitive JET Program USA for three years. 她于2022年7月返回美国. Becker’s deep knowledge of the country and experiences provided to students also impacted former student Tyler Pelon ’16. He said the in-person CCE travel to Japan “kick-started my path to learning the language.” He has since returned three times to the country for more experiences there.

克里斯弗朗哥, a real estate agent and business administration major striving for a degree to set an example for his two daughters, 贝克尔的虚拟期权对他很有效. 

As well as Becker and other professors strove to provide the CCE experience in its virtual format, 他们强调，没有什么比身临其境更好的了. Becker, too, looks forward to traveling again with his students.

“It’s definitely my goal to bring a group next year, absolutely,” Becker said. “当他们回来分享他们在那里的经历时, the events, 的活动, 学习机会, the personal connections that they made with people out there, 它们共享这些元素. 这就是它的意义所在.”