Experiential Cross-cultural Learning: Service Abroad

Catalog description

This international service-learning course engages students in community service in different countries. Language proficiency in the target language used in the country is not required. The course is designed for students who are interested in learning by doing in different cultural contexts. Class sessions take place first through seminars on campus during the semester and then on service sites in the country after finals week. The course offers experiential education, where academic instruction is combined with civic responsibility to community-identified needs, which may include volunteering work at an animal shelter, an ocean conservation society, a nursing home, a school, and an orphanage. Student engagement with the community and reflection on the service overseas are the two essential course components. Cultural immersion is also emphasized in this global experience to enhance students' cultural sensitivity and competence and help them further contextualize their community service experience and intention. Through community service, critical action, reflective thinking, and cultural immersion, students will learn to interact as engaged citizens with societal responsibilities outside the university and the United States and collectively achieve community objectives and gain deeper personal understanding and skills in cross-cultural interactions and collaborations. Moreover, students will distribute educational assets, foster social good, and translate our Case education into social impact beyond our campus. Counts as a Local & Global Engagement course. Counts as a Understanding Global Perspectives course.