COMPACT SCHOLARS Faculty-Led Program in Greece Amanda Fuller, M.F.A. Chris Kjonaas, M.A. Leiana Lepule Katie Mercer Carlett Serratos
환영 सॎवागत हे Welcome მისასალმებელი ยินดีตอนรับ Welkom 欢 迎 ﺎﺒﺣﺮﻣ ようこそ AGENDA 1. Welcome/Introductions 2. Barriers to Study Abroad 3. Faculty-led Program in Greece 4. Student Feedback/Impact 5. Activity 6. Findings/Future 7. Questions
Opening Activity What interested you about our topic? What do you hope to learn? Compact Scholars helping to repair a stairwell at The Imagine Project.
SDSU’s Compact Scholars Program 1. “Compact for Success” postsecondary component 2. Scholars: majority first-generation, over 90% students of color, majority pell grant eligible, 100% local area, 100% college-ready, over 85% commuters 3. Focus on student success with an emphasis on high impact educational practices, or HIPs (Kuh, 2008): ▪ First-year Experiences ▪ Study Abroad ▪ Service Learning ▪ Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities ▪ Internships & Employment
Study Abroad and Compact Scholars 1. Why study abroad? 2. Barriers to study abroad for Compact Scholars a. Finances b. Time available 3. Challenges a. Affordability b. Sustainability c. Pitfalls of voluntourism with our time constraint 4. Context a. US/Mexico Borderlands b. Greece
Compact in Greece: Learning Objectives 1. Learn and apply theories in intercultural competence for global engagement. 2. Develop a broad understanding of a social issue in its local, national and global contexts, and the practices employed to address the issue. 3. Cultivate a realistic sense of their personal role in addressing issues in their own communities and abroad. 4. Define the genre of travel writing and demonstrate its use to process, complicate and understand complex social issues.
General Studies 200: Embedded Course 1. Credit/No Credit format for 2 units 2. Pre-Departure (5 meetings @ 2 hr) : a. Cultural Theory b. Introduction to Travel Writing c. What is a Refugee? d. Migration in San Diego/U.S. e. Greece Migration Crisis f. Working with Vulnerable Populations 3. Logistics 4. In-Country (6 meetings @ 1 hour) : Compact Scholars attending class in a. Techniques of Travel Writing Greece. b. Identity & Culture c. Group Action Plan: Where Now? 5. Assignments
ITINERARY: An Exercise in Flexibility 1. PROPOSED a. Athens (4): cultural activities b. Chios Town (10): service project of at least one week with Imagine Project + at least one cultural activity 2. AGREED a. Athens (9): cultural activities and 4-5 days service project with The Home Project b. Chios Town (5): cultural excursion + 2 lectures/talks by professor and/or local NGOs 3. ACTUAL a. Athens (9): cultural activities + 2 days each at The Home Project and Caritas Neos Kosmos b. Chios Town (5): 2 days at Imagine Project + cultural excursion
Methodology: Student & NGO Feedback SURVEYS & ARTIFACTS PLANNING & ANALYSIS NGO Partners (Katie) ● Research team meetings ● 8 open-ended responses ● Qualitative coding with ● 2 out of 3 responses NVivo Supplemented by artifacts Students (Leiana & Carlett) Compact ● Likert Scale and Scholars exploring open-ended responses → the 100% response rate! medieval city of ● Media: Photos, Video Vessa, Greece on Interviews, Blogs the Island of Chios.
NGO Partners: Surveys Athens ● “Big groups of volunteers Unaccompanied give us the opportunity to ● plan big scale activities e.g. minors, typically soccer games, etc…” ages 6 to 18 “...days filled with joy and excitement...the message that Athens (Neos Kosmos) ● through beautiful actions and Families w/ children ● communication, people ten years & younger regardless of their origin, age and color come closer!” “...we have not worked with Chios Town ● students before, our general Adults ages 18-75 ● policy requires screening (average age: 27-37) and a minimum of one month of working with us”
Student Assessment: Impact of Service IMPACT ON STUDENTS IMPACT ON NGO Majority: ‘High Impact:’ Majority: ‘No / Low Impact:’ Home Project - 10 Home Project - 15 Caritas - 14 Caritas - 14 Imagine Project - 14 *Imagine Project - 8 “[Working with] all of these organizations emphasized the commonalities that all human beings share, regardless of what language we speak, what religion we practice, the color of our skin, or where we are from.”
Student Assessment: Impact on Future Plans IMPACT ON MAJOR, MINOR & CAREER PATH → Change Major: 3 → Change Minor: 7 → Change Career Plans: 10 → Confirm Current Path: 10 → Majority: increase in wanting to be of service to others “I’d like to become a speech pathologist to help children with “Working with Caritas has confirmed that I disabilities. This is one of the want to work with children in my future many reasons why refugees seek career, however I may want to focus on asylum, to look for treatment.” children in crisis situations…”
Student Assessment: Self-Perception & Assumptions “Yes it has made me be more aware of Self-Perception my actions and [to] be grateful for → Gratitude every opportunity I’ve been given” → “Better person” → Social action → Awareness of privilege “I need to stop being so selfish with my → Self-confidence things and help the problems that I can. I realized that I am also stronger mentally Assumptions and emotionally from being away from my → Communication family.” → Pace of life → Transportation “I thought the language barrier → Similar to US & Mexico would be a bigger issue.”
Media Project: Greece 2019 Journaling >> public ● student blog posts Group photo and video ● sharing on WhatsApp Video Interviews ● Compact in Greece ● Video Production Effects of media usage ● on overall experience The Compact Scholars Abroad Blog. → Increased Relationship Building → Connection to Home / Shared Experience
Closing Activity: Pair & Share 1. What barriers or challenges have you experienced when incorporating service or complex social issues into your work (with students or…)? 2. What ideas can you generate to address some of the barriers and challenges you have Athena / Owl Sculpture, Acropolis identified? Museum.
Takeaways / Conclusions / Future ● What parts of the program/course worked and/or should be kept? ● How can this program/course be improved in the future? ● 2019 Greece Video Clip
T E F H C A H N Amanda Fuller, M.F.A. A afuller@sdsu.edu K R I Y S Student Researchers O (from L to R: Leiana Lepule, T Katie Mercer and Carlett U Serratos) O Chris Kjonaas, M.A. ckjonaas@sdsu.edu QUESTIONS?
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