Students’ perceptions of the impacts of short-term international courses
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine what impacts university students perceived from their short-term intensive international courses as part of undergraduate multidisciplinary education. Design/methodology/approach – The study design was informed by interpretative phenomenological anal...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Emerald Publishing
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning |
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| Online Access: | https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JRIT-10-2017-0026/full/pdf?title=students-perceptions-of-the-impacts-of-short-term-international-courses |
| _version_ | 1828103768958304256 |
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| author | Yusuke Sakurai |
| author_facet | Yusuke Sakurai |
| author_sort | Yusuke Sakurai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine what impacts university students perceived from their short-term intensive international courses as part of undergraduate multidisciplinary education. Design/methodology/approach – The study design was informed by interpretative phenomenological analysis. Semi-structured interviews explored informants’ views of their experience to elicit key themes of their experience. Findings – The analysis resulted in four major themes: personal development, generic skills, global perspectives and subject-specific matter. Some text segments were coded with multiple themes, which suggests that the impacts of short-term international courses are multifaceted. Research limitations/implications – Academic topics of the courses substantially centred around humanities and social sciences at a particular university. This paper furthermore primarily depended on students’ self-reported answers, and it is possible that the participants who chose to enrol in the elective international courses may be principally willing to acquire global competence. Therefore, this study did not set out to present the generalised impacts of any short-term international courses. Practical implications – The findings could be used as a conceptual tool for the design and evaluation of new and existing courses. In addition, the four major themes that this study elicited are useful as a cue for students’ self-reflection about their own learning experiences. Originality/value – There have been significant efforts devoted to increasing the quantity of short-term international programs, but there has been less focus on the quality of these programs. This study supports the findings of existing literature but also identified one of the potential unfavourable impacts that short-term international courses may have on students’ development. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T09:30:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f9e60349869c46a4802e045b6922dd91 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2397-7604 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T09:30:44Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Emerald Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning |
| spelling | doaj.art-f9e60349869c46a4802e045b6922dd912022-12-22T04:31:53ZengEmerald PublishingJournal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning2397-76042019-12-0112325026710.1108/JRIT-10-2017-0026620413Students’ perceptions of the impacts of short-term international coursesYusuke Sakurai0Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, JapanPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine what impacts university students perceived from their short-term intensive international courses as part of undergraduate multidisciplinary education. Design/methodology/approach – The study design was informed by interpretative phenomenological analysis. Semi-structured interviews explored informants’ views of their experience to elicit key themes of their experience. Findings – The analysis resulted in four major themes: personal development, generic skills, global perspectives and subject-specific matter. Some text segments were coded with multiple themes, which suggests that the impacts of short-term international courses are multifaceted. Research limitations/implications – Academic topics of the courses substantially centred around humanities and social sciences at a particular university. This paper furthermore primarily depended on students’ self-reported answers, and it is possible that the participants who chose to enrol in the elective international courses may be principally willing to acquire global competence. Therefore, this study did not set out to present the generalised impacts of any short-term international courses. Practical implications – The findings could be used as a conceptual tool for the design and evaluation of new and existing courses. In addition, the four major themes that this study elicited are useful as a cue for students’ self-reflection about their own learning experiences. Originality/value – There have been significant efforts devoted to increasing the quantity of short-term international programs, but there has been less focus on the quality of these programs. This study supports the findings of existing literature but also identified one of the potential unfavourable impacts that short-term international courses may have on students’ development.https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JRIT-10-2017-0026/full/pdf?title=students-perceptions-of-the-impacts-of-short-term-international-coursesstudy abroadinterpretative phenomenological analysisinternational educationeducational impactshort-term international course |
| spellingShingle | Yusuke Sakurai Students’ perceptions of the impacts of short-term international courses Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning study abroad interpretative phenomenological analysis international education educational impact short-term international course |
| title | Students’ perceptions of the impacts of short-term international courses |
| title_full | Students’ perceptions of the impacts of short-term international courses |
| title_fullStr | Students’ perceptions of the impacts of short-term international courses |
| title_full_unstemmed | Students’ perceptions of the impacts of short-term international courses |
| title_short | Students’ perceptions of the impacts of short-term international courses |
| title_sort | students perceptions of the impacts of short term international courses |
| topic | study abroad interpretative phenomenological analysis international education educational impact short-term international course |
| url | https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JRIT-10-2017-0026/full/pdf?title=students-perceptions-of-the-impacts-of-short-term-international-courses |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yusukesakurai studentsperceptionsoftheimpactsofshortterminternationalcourses |