Study abroad is a high-impact practice that improves learning, retention, and success (Kuh, 2008). While a few community colleges in North Carolina have implemented study abroad programs, the impetus to globalize courses and provide students with international experiences is still growing. At Wake Technical Community College (Wake Tech), the leadership supports global education via a formal agreement with UNC World View to offer global components in course curriculum, provide study abroad, and offer scholars of distinction honors to students who complete 15 credit hours of approved global courses and experiences. UNC World View, located on the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill campus, provides several grants a year to community college faculty who want to work with UNC professors and librarians to develop a global component for a course. This public service program also houses a repository of finished work by community college faculty that any instructor can reference and modify for their own classes.

This article reviews a Wake Tech faculty member’s process for developing a blended study abroad introduction to business course tied to Japan and the lessons learned from that process. In this course, students complete 50 percent of their coursework online and the other 50 percent in Japan.  

The Challenge

The initial challenge faced by the college was how to provide a structure as well as incentives so that faculty would want to globalize their courses. Implementing global education into a larger community college like Wake Tech took research, teamwork, leadership, creativity, and support from the administration. A cross-divisional global education team led by Dr. Rebecca Berry, former Department Head for Humanities, set out to create the mechanisms and framework needed to implement global education. The team’s task was to research the efforts at other community colleges and universities to learn how they structured and implemented their global education initiatives, and use what they learned to build one at Wake Tech. The college hired a part-time Director of Global Education, engaged Scholars of Global Distinction who receive stipends, recruited a volunteer team of faculty and staff to oversee proposals submitted by faculty for approval, and chose a vendor to handle study abroad arrangements. Once the structure was in place, faculty could submit a proposal to globalize a course and, if approved, create the curriculum around the country in which the study abroad would take place.

Engaging Faculty. Incentives for faculty to globalize courses include support provided through the Global Education program, where professional development and the opportunity to attend the UNC World View Community College Summit each fall, with supervisor approval and department funds, are offered. Faculty who wish to create a study abroad component get the chance to travel to the country of their choice with students and teach subject-level materials in that country. Being able to provide a study abroad and teach in a foreign country allows faculty to contribute to global learning and help prepare students to become part of the global workforce. Faculty who are awarded a UNC World View grant receive additional supports for globalizing their courses.

Creating a Process. The team created policies, procedures, applications, and a rubric for faculty to complete to compete for approval of their study abroad course offering. The application includes:

• course title
• student learning outcomes
• country under study
• estimated cost
• number of students
• faculty qualifications to create and facilitate a study abroad course

Since global education does not necessarily require students to visit another region or country, faculty can choose to create a course module about the area that does not involve travel. In this scenario, students can experience a culture locally by attending events geared toward that country or region’s traditions, customs, food, art, etc. Faculty can also apply for a UNC World View grant to develop the course curriculum once their proposal for the development of a study abroad class has been approved by Wake Tech.

To implement global education in a course, faculty members must learn more about the culture of the country or region. For faculty originally from that country or region, less research may be required; however, it is essential to ensure that up-to-date information is taught in every globalized course. A second consideration is how the culture affects the subject matter. For example, when teaching a global education-based introduction to business class, the focus must be on how business is conducted in that country or region.

Globalizing a Course: Historical and Cultural Context for Business in Japan

The faculty member at Wake Tech chose to develop an introduction to business course with a study abroad component and assignments geared toward learning how Japan’s history and cultural background affect the country’s business culture. This process included:

• developing, submitting, and obtaining approval for the proposed course;
• developing the global components for the course;
• recruiting students;
• working with the travel vendor; and
• preparing students for the course and the study abroad component.

Planning and Preparation. The faculty member took the following steps to incorporate global education into the introduction to business course.

Curriculum Development

• Researched chapters in the textbook and outlined subjects to cover.
• Researched Japan’s top cultural sites to identify those most relevant to course learning outcomes.
• Utilized knowledge of Japan’s business practices to develop appropriate activities.
• Researched businesses tied to subjects in the textbook that are in or near chosen cities to visit (i.e., Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka).
• Reviewed business websites and noted the ties to subjects in the textbook.
• Aligned course curriculum with the new textbook.
• Obtained a platform (i.e., a Blackboard Ultra shell) to house the study abroad content, including homework assignments and quizzes to cover the subject matter.
• Decided on cultural sites to visit that are significant to Japanese culture and business practices.
• Tied assignments to cultural and business visits by applying learnings from the textbook that aligned with Japanese business culture.
• Created individual, pair, and group assignments that require writing, pictures, videos, and a Gantt chart and tied them to student learning outcomes.
• Created rubrics for all course assignments.
• Uploaded YouTube videos and websites, a document translating English to Japanese for key terms used in business, and an introductory conversation between an English speaker and a Japanese speaker to the class platform.
• Created and uploaded lectures on the role of history, society, culture, and core values; information about economic, global, legal, human resources, financial, marketing, and retailing practices; and a lecture on Nissan’s financial status based on their 2024 financial statements to the class platform. These include 4- to 30-minute online lectures and 3- to 15-minute lectures for the travel abroad experience in Japan, and related handouts.

Travel and Itinerary

• Reviewed and compared travel tour companies.
• Checked the hotels used by the tour companies and those familiar to the faculty member from previous trips to Japan. Hotel quality and location are important to support students’ comfort levels and their ability to explore cities visited.
• Reviewed business store hours and holiday schedules and matched them with open hours of cultural sites within proximity.
• Scheduled visits when the businesses and cultural sites were both open.
• Developed a day-by-day schedule to ensure that students visit at least one cultural site and one business site each day.
• Provided the chosen travel company with a detailed schedule of cities to visit, hotels being used, and cultural sites and businesses to visit; reviewed the company’s proposal and obtained approval from the college.
• Held a student orientation to convey all needed information, including such topics as the importance of and how to show respect for Japanese culture, laws, and citizens and expected behavior while traveling.
• Mentored students on how to get their passports through the postal service and register their travel with the state department.

Keeping Students Informed. Locating resources and designing assignments that help students focus on how Japan’s culture; legal, economic, and financial systems; and human resources, marketing, and retailing customs compare to the United States was essential. These resources supported a major course function: to highlight Japan’s historical and cultural impact on its business practices. Other actions to clarify student roles and responsibilities in the course began with the recruiting process and continued throughout the course by providing students with the following information:

• An outline of their future learning experiences and learning outcomes in the course;
• Details about the global education and study abroad process;
• Deadlines;  
• Expectations of travel;
• Expectations for attendance at home and abroad; and
• Assignment expectations.

Providing this information answered students’ questions while also helping allay fears and clarify misconceptions before students registered.

Holding Course Orientation. An in-person student orientation was held six weeks before the course started to ensure that all information about the travel portion of the study abroad experience was covered. This event also gave students time to get to know each other and share their excitement. Shortly after the course began, an MS Teams orientation was conducted for students to review the study abroad content and expectations and ask questions to clarify course and travel expectations. Course completion required that each student meet with the faculty member for individual mentoring sessions twice during the last two weeks of the course, after returning from Japan. This provided students with structure and support in completing the bulk of their assignments.

Lessons Learned

Timing and Communication. The process of developing a study abroad course took more time than anticipated and involved multiple moving parts. It was, essentially, a project-based curriculum redesign. Start early and communicate constantly to ensure that the students, study abroad partner, and college director or coordinator for global travel all stay informed. Starting early allowed time to adjust to such issues as changes to the textbook or publisher representative, and technology upgrades and changes. Adding at least three to four months to a planned project timeline can help compensate for setbacks and/or delays.

Format and Resources. Deciding whether to implement global education in one module with a few student learning outcomes or incorporate global education into the entire course by adding student learning outcomes to every course module was a key decision that affected the length of time it took to complete the curriculum redesign. Reviewing the results of what other faculty have created through resources such as UNC World View was helpful to fully understanding expectations and the scope of the effort needed.

Recruitment. Recruiting community college students for a study abroad course was challenging. Finding students who want to explore the cultural and business practices of Japan, are willing to travel long distances, and have the resources to cover expenses required time and effort. Starting at least two years in advance to recruit students by discussing course details and helping them understand the value of study abroad is highly recommended. Ensuring students of the process and safety nets in place, like health insurance, is also important for them to know. A key to recruiting was knowing and sharing as much information as possible about the trip, curriculum, and cost. The faculty member must also demonstrate competence, support, flexibility, and excitement about the country’s culture.

Recommendations

• Have a solid vision of what you want to accomplish.
• Make sure your college has policies, procedures, and other supports in place before starting your project.
• Identify the course in your curriculum with the largest enrollment and choose a country that enhances what you teach in that course.
• The main items you want to focus on are how the concepts in your course can be transformed into a global experience.
• If you have taken students abroad using tour companies in the past, check their itineraries to see cultural sites that might support your course.
• Utilize the resources at UNC World View and tailor your course to the country or region of your choice.
• Check with other community colleges to learn how they are implementing study abroad.
• Network, be present at college events, and create a site using a program like Microsoft Teams to manage students interested in studying abroad.
• Add a tagline under your email signature, such as “Ask me about Japan study abroad.”

A global education experience can be a rewarding reminder of how education—and faculty—help shape students’ futures. A study-abroad trip may be the most important experience in students’ academic journeys, and, possibly, in their lifetimes.

Click here to see the author’s blended study abroad course curriculum for the Introduction to Business Course - Japan at Wake Technical Community College.

Reference

Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Denise H. Barton, Ph.D., SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is Senior Professor, Business Administration, at Wake Technical Community College in Wake County, North Carolina.

Opinions expressed in Learning Abstracts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.