Letter to ISE

The following is a letter that many of the faculty on the voyage signed.  I will offer my own reflections later.

Because there will be no time for a review of the Fall 2012 voyage before we disembark in Fort Lauderdale, the faculty has collected thoughts into one paper, intended to assist ISE in its planning for future voyages.  We are mindful of the many objectives that ISE must pursue and thus offer this assessment as a way to enhance and improve future voyages as meaningful educational experiences for our students.  We believe that such changes over time would bring many more serious students to Semester at Sea and would increase the organization's reputation among universities.

Itinerary:  More thought should be given to a travel itinerary that allows for sufficient continuity in the classroom.  We were fortunate in Fall 2012 to have the Atlantic crossing to get classes started.  However, the many ports in Europe with only a single class (or less) in between  meant that sometimes classes did not meet for 9 or 10 days, breaking any continuity; each time the class met, it was starting over for faculty and students who did not remember previous lectures and were unprepared for real engagement in the classroom.  This was difficult on students and faculty alike.  A preferable itinerary would ensure that there were at least 4 days between ports so that two full sets of A and B classes could occur. 

We realize that visiting interesting cities is a priority but perhaps there can be a blending of the academic goals with those of learning from great places. Certainly we need more specific introduction to each city.    

In addition, while more ports may seem to make the voyage more marketable, the SAS brand offers experience of the world's cultures and its diversity in an academic context. SAS wants students on board who are looking for a life-changing experience while continuing their learning. In the long run, these students may look to other opportunities if SAS diminishes the academic and cultural elements.

Internet Technology:  The IT system is totally inadequate for the shipboard community.  Faculty cannot connect for classes, students cannot do research.  Often people do not even receive email.  This system must be upgraded immediately as a number one priority.  In the digital age, a floating university must have an adequate IT system if it is to attract students and faculty of the highest caliber.  The current situation is unacceptable despite the best efforts of an excellent IT staff (ship crew as well as SAS staff).

University Connections:  SAS needs connections with the University community in every port where we disembark.  Built into the program should be receptions, student-to-student engagement through seminars and field trips involving our students with their international counterparts.  This is a role that ISE could play more easily than depending on the individual faculty or staff members.  If this part of the program received more emphasis, it is also possible that SAS would over time attract students from these international universities as well.

Building community:  "Global Studies" is the one class in which everyone participates.  Eliminating it without considering how the shipboard community may be engaged as a community seems ill-advised.  To make Global Studies more acceptable for academic credit, finding a convenient rubric, such as Comparative Politics, Sociology, or Anthropology, would house it under a department for students seeking a comparable course. 

An alternative system would be to split Global Studies into two courses, each open to student choice until filled to the capacity of the Union: 1) Politics, Sociology, Environment, Economics, Current Events option ("Social Sciences"); and 2) History, Religion, Culture, and Arts option ("Humanities"), with appropriate overlap, e.g. politics and religion as sources of conflicts in history and the present.  That would facilitate some sense of shared intellectual experience, solve the space problem and would give the students some option without the potential disorganization of "lenses," which are bigger classes that teach broadly, as all courses and the ship should strive to do.

Current Events:  Expert presentations on key issues facing port countries (like the impacts of global climate change, which especially affect port cities) and relevant topics from international relations, especially those pertaining to upcoming visits, need to be a regular feature of Global Studies or whatever replaces it.  Were someone with broad governmental and policy expertise and skills tasked with providing port-by-port briefings for the shipboard community, we'd be well on our way in this regard.  With improved IT on board, students would be expected daily to read selected news sources. Further, faculty should be encouraged to incorporate as many current activities from the countries on our itinerary into their curricula as possible. 

Pre-Voyage Preparation:  Consideration should be given to creating a reading assignment and essay prepared before the voyage, with the essay distributed to instructors so that persons needing remedial writing can be identified immediately.  (The lack of writing skills is pronounced, with many students using the most informal style – following speech rather than written patterns.)    With a pre-voyage reading and essay, students would have the opportunity to prepare thoughtfully for the voyage. 

Field Labs:  These need to be better considered.  To be experiential means that they may not always directly relate to the class at hand, so this should be explained in advance to faculty.  A library of past labs and contact names should be maintained for the future so that a person visiting, say Rio de Janeiro, has a contact even if the person is not in his/her field.  The settings for the labs should also be noted.  In addition, more flexibility in including adult passengers who are serious auditors should be encouraged, without additional costs beyond the real costs of the trip itself.  Faculty should be free to decide on who might join their own field trips, including other faculty, spouses or partners who may well facilitate the trip's effectiveness.

Field Trips:  While out of our immediate purview, field trips should be better considered.  Many of us had unfortunate experiences where field guides were not prepared, vehicles broke down, and long trips on the road left little time for exploration at a given site.  Many faculty and students began to devise their own field trips rather than take advantage of the SAS ones because of the expense and the lack of good programs.  We have met many local guides and companies that we could recommend to ISE.  Field trips often attempt to do too many things, failing to show any one aspect of life very well.  In addition, in some of the venues where students were supposed to be doing service, the agencies were not prepared for the visits so that our presence was a distraction, not a service to the agency or school.

Administrative:  Our field office was terrific and we believe it should be empowered – in conjunction with the deans -- to make decisions for field labs and trips rather than go through the ISE office, which frankly was often bureaucratic and unresponsive to questions and decisions.  Our deans, LaVahn Hoh and John Tymitz also were very helpful in breaking the logjam and sometimes making executive decisions.  Many more tried-and-true formulas should be considered for inclusion, often at little cost, such as port home stays (especially if coordinated with local Rotary Clubs) or university receptions, where students could meet their peers in comfortable settings that might lead to further contacts, even during the same port stay.

Blending of Student and Academic Affairs:  Every effort should be made to ensure that student affairs and student programming encourages and supports the academic goals of the program.  In many of our home institutions as well as sometimes on board, academic and student life are treated as separate silos.  We want to encourage greater planning and coordination to make the two blend as they should, especially on the ship when the academic area along with the private lives of staff, students and faculty are so blended in the community setting.

We have prepared this letter to summarize our concerns, and we would be happy to meet with you or any other ISE staff in person or by telephone to explore any of these issues further.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Bangs, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English and Communication (retired)

U.S. Air Force Academy

Warren Boeschenstein, Merrill D. Peterson Emeritus Professor of Architecture, University of Virginia

Darlene Campbell, Laguna College of Art and Design - Studio Arts

Sergio Carvalho, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Manitoba

Leo Chavez, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine

James Danziger, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Irvine 

Harry Freeman, Professor, Human Development and Educational Psychology, University of South Dakota

Michael G. Kaloyanides, Professor, Ethnomusicology, University of New Haven

Rodney Huey, Lynchburg College, Media Studies

Linda J. Kobert, Writer, Editor and Writing Coach

Paul Liebhardt, Brooks Institute

Patricia O'Neill, Professor of History, Central Oregon Community College, Adjunct Professor of History, University of Oregon

Erika Paterson, English Department, University of British Columbia

Barry Penn Hollar, Professor of Religion, Shenandoah University

Jane Edmister Penner, Director, Content Management Services, University of Virginia Library

Mark Peters, Adjunct Faculty, School of Leadership and Education Sciences,

University of San Diego

Allan A. Schoenherr, Professor of Ecology Emeritus, Fullerton College

Faye A. Serio, Retired Senior Lecturer, St. Lawrence University

John Serio, Professor Emeritus, Clarkson University

Larry Silver, Farquhar Professor of Art History, University of Pennsylvania

Katherine Slaughter, Adjunct Professor, Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, School of Architecture, University of Virginia

Andrea Meador Smith, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Shenandoah University

Robert Smith, Geographic Consultant

Gordon Stewart, Professor and Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia

John Tymitz, CEO Emeritus, Institute for Shipboard Education

Gail Weigl, Adjunct Professor, Art History, Georgetown University

Robert Weigl, Director, Franklin Psychotherapy Center, Alexandria, Va., Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University.

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Barry Penn Hollar
Professor of Religion
Semester at Sea, Fall 2012

 Semester at Sea blog:  http://bjsas.blogspot.com/