ABSTRACT
Student learning is often assumed and claimed to occur as a result of study abroad, but the nature of that learning is often not well articulated. Since the 1970s, higher education in the United States and many other parts of the world has been sharpening and increasingly embracing the distinction between "surface" and "deep" learning. Deep learning involves faculty and students coconstructing knowledge, with teachers helping students become more self-aware and able to shift frames of reference. The University of Minnesota's Global Identity course is taught online by trained instructors located on the Twin Cities campus, in contrast to the AUCP and CIEE's Seminar on Living and Learning Abroad, both of which feature face-to-face cultural mentoring at program sites. The evidence asks faculty and staff not only to frame learning and teaching abroad very differently, but also to change long-established practices in designing and delivering programs.
