Polo: A framework for short-term studies abroad to enhance critical thinking amongst management students

Abstract

This article presents the preliminary results of an ongoing study to reduce the cost of short-term studies abroad, which are aimed at increasing critical thinking of management students. We propose to combine the notions of apprenticeship, massive open online courses, pedagogy portal and paper template for reflective practice over the cultural adjustment abroad. The resulting framework allows performing four tasks described by the acronym POLO: Pre-departure sessions to prepare students, Observation activities during the trip to enhance their critical thinking, Learning activities done by virtual teams across two universities and Ontological changes to adapt to a new cultural environment. As an instantiation of our model, we briefly describe a course of digital marketing that has been implemented in the last three years, and we share some relevant insights which complement the existing body of knowledge.