CEPA Foundation Webinar #3 on Curriculum Integration: Evaluation

1. CEPA Foundation Webinar #3on Curriculum Integration: Evaluation Integrating Education Abroad into the Curriculum Lynn C. Anderson May 12, 2014 at 12pm EST and 9am PST

2. Today’s webinar will cover: • Are faculty and advisors getting the message out? • Do more students declare majors in your departments? • Are more of your students participating in education abroad? • Are retention rates and time to graduation impacted? • What do your students say about their experiences abroad? • Do returnees engage more in departmental or campus activities? • What do your alumni say about the experience and the impact it had on their lives and careers? • Are you raising more money for scholarships? • What do employers/grad schools/professional schools say about your graduates? 2

3. Are faculty and advisors getting the word out on ed abroad? • Offer workshops for faculty and advisors on education abroad opportunities, academic fit, cost, locations, etc. • Major Advising Page (MAP), 4-year plan, info on education abroad on department website • MAP displayed prominently in department, faculty, and advisor offices • Encouragement to study abroad on syllabi, mentioned in classes and office hours • Newly declared majors get info on education abroad • Publications contain returnees’ stories 3

4. Are more students declaring majors in your department? • Track the number of students in each major on an annual basis and see if it goes up (or down) after CI work is done • Include education abroad in publications, website, and information meetings for prospective students • To what extent do students mention education abroad as a reason to declare your major? 4

5. Are more of your students participating in education abroad? • Track the number of students in your department participating in education abroad and what kinds of experiences (research, courses, internships, service learning, work, etc.) they have • How many students are enrolling in short-term, semester, and year-long programs? • How well do the demographics of students participating in study abroad parallel the demographics of your department (or campus) as a whole? Socio-economic, 1st gen, ethnicity, gender, incoming SAT/ACT scores, grades? 5

6. Are retention rates and time to graduation impacted? • Work with your campus (or college or department) data person to determine the retention and time to graduation rates of your majors who study abroad and those who do not. • Gather info from incoming freshmen classes from 6, 7, and 8 years ago. Is there a statistically significant difference? • Brag shamelessly about how this data compares to data from other departments, to the campus-wide data, and to data from peer institutions. 6

7. What do students say about their education abroad experience? • Survey students and offer focus groups to gather information about ways to improve programs, advising, credit transfer, how courses count for the major (minor, gen eds, language) requirements. • Share great quotes from students in websites, publications, info sessions. 7

8. Do returnees engage more in departmental or campus activities? • How are students who have participated in education abroad encouraged to engage on your campus and in your department? • Do returnees help with “internationalization at home” through participation in classes, student organizations, residence hall activities, International Education Week, special events (concerts, lectures, performances)? 8

9. What do your alumni say about the experience and the impact it had on their lives and careers? • Survey alumni (1 year out, 5 years out, all) and gather data on satisfaction with undergrad degree and study abroad, impact on career search and trajectory, impact on getting into grad and professional schools, changes in voting habits, how frequently they track international news, are they volunteering with recent immigrant/international communities, have they gone abroad again (work, education, volunteering, travel)? • Share the data and quotes with prospective students, declared majors, and whomever hires your graduates. 9

10. Are you raising more money for scholarships? • Who hires your graduates? Ask them if they value the international knowledge, skills, and sensitivities (or whatever the transferable skills are) that students who have participated in education abroad bring. If so, ask them to provide scholarship funding for students. • Ask alumni of education abroad to give back—they could be mentors for students going abroad; talk at career, grad, and professional school events; and provide even a modest annual donation to scholarship funds ($15 in 2015, etc.). • If retention and time to graduation data is good and more students are selecting your campus because of education abroad, then request funds from admissions, upper-level administrators, alumni office, budget office, etc. 10

11. What do employers, grad schools, professional schools say about your graduates? • Work with your alumni and career offices to gather data about alumni of study abroad and alumni in general to see if there is a difference in acceptance into grad/professional schools and in job placement. • What do the employers/grad/professional schools say?Help educate them about they skills your graduates have acquired from participating in education abroad. • Recent data from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities shows that UMTC students who applied to medical school & had studied abroad were admitted at a rate of 60+%. UMTC students who applied to med school & did not study abroad were admitted at a 20% lower rate. 11

12. Other Evaluation Ideas from Webinar Participants? 12

13. Thank you to the CEPA Foundation for providing this free series of webinars and to all of the participants! • Questions, Answers, Discussion Lynn C. Anderson ander043@ucsd.edu 13