International Group Field Period®

Keuka College | January 2024

Reading London Field Period information card from Keuka College's 2024 KCx presentation

In January of 2023, I set about creating an international Group Field Period® for Keuka College students. Field Period® is an experience that every Keuka College student completes annually. It lets students explore different majors and career options; it helps them understand what they want—and don’t want—to do; and it lets them explore different parts of the country or the world. Typically, students design their own Field Periods®; they work with their advisors to create unique learning experiences. Occasionally, Keuka College faculty create group experiences. A Group Field Period® affords students the opportunity to participate in excursions or projects guided by faculty members. Students have shared experiences directed by a faculty leader, but they retain ownership of the learning goals.

Reading London, as I envisioned it, would be an international, exploratory Group Field Period® focused on reading the life, history, and cultures of London, England.

Under my direction, students would engage with some fundamentals of cultural studies, and the trip to London would introduce how international experiences test self-knowledge and understanding of “self-in-foreign-place.” Students would consider cultural and rhetorical constructions of place, interpret and reflect upon human ecologies, document their experiences and learning through structured reflection, and chart their discoveries through self-determined projects connected to their majors and/or future career plans.

In February of 2023, with help and direction from Keuka College’s Dean of Experiential Learning, Ann Emo, and Director of Global Affairs, Jen Alessi, I began working with EF Tours to make the trip happen. In early January of 2024, Ann and I led 19 Keuka College students through a jam-packed week in London.

Click > FP 302 Reading London to view the course syllabus.
Visit the EF Tours site for > Reading London to see our trip itinerary!

Presentation @ ICC 2024

ICC 2024 Symposium: Places, Peace and Keuka College
Presentation title: Reading London: Intercultural Learning through Place
Abstract: “Reading London” is an international Field Period® designed to help Keuka College students consider the cultural and rhetorical construction of the place. Using “Reading London” as evidence, this paper reflects on the efficacy of international travel as a means of helping students understand and navigate cultural differences.

Presentation

Paper

Intercultural Learning through Place

Acknowledgements

This paper, presentation, and my Reading London Group Field Period would not exist if not for the dedication, support, and hard work of the Field Period office at Keuka College. Dean of Experiential Learning and organizer of the symposium, Dr. Ann Emo not only assisted with planning, but accompanied me on the trip to London and was invaluable to the success of Reading London. Jen Alessi, Director of Global Affairs, was also a major architect of the project (thanks for the ride home from the airport!). Finally, and most importantly, I want to acknowledge the students who accompanied me on this adventure.

References

See paper above. Additional references forthcoming.