Experiential learning and education abroad: Examining the experiences of students in the semester abroad and intercultural leadership program

Abstract

In the Fall of 2016, the University of Dayton launched the Semester Abroad and Intercultural Leadership (SAIL) program in order to address a number of strategic objectives. The SAIL program is a year-long program that entails a fall semester abroad at a designated exchange partner in Ireland, Spain, or at the University of Dayton China Institute, and a one-credit re-entry course the subsequent spring semester with the option for students to live in special, cohort-style housing with each other. The re-entry course curriculum was primarily influenced by Intercultural Theory and Constructivism to help students unpack and frame their semester abroad as well as their return to the USA. After analyzing quantitative information derived from pre- and post-scores on the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES) by SAIL students-and corresponding control groups that participated on different semester programs abroad with no re-entry course-before and after the program and qualitative information derived from student assignments and experiences in the re-entry class, SAIL students increased their intercultural competency overall, also in comparison with their control groups, though there were indicators that SAIL students struggled the most with Hardiness competency level during and after their semester abroad while their largest competency level increase was in Interpersonal Engagement.