INTU 3000 Course Series: Get the Most Out of Study Abroad
This first course in a series of three 1-credit online courses is a pre-departure seminar designed to give students the skill set to capitalize from the outset on the experiences, network connections, and academic environment that their particular exchange experience will offer. Prior to departure for study abroad, students have the option to develop a Service-Learning or Internship project to be conducted while abroad that will function as a point of class discussion for the following course taken while abroad. Students are encouraged to complete all 3-credits, as this course will build upon previous semesters.
Email osa@tulane.edu with questions and to register for the course.
Please include the following in your email to register for the Global Cultural Awareness Course INTU 3010. INTU 3010, the first of the three courses, is taken the semester before you go abroad, unless you make alternative arrangements with OSA:
- What semester you are studying abroad (fall/spring AND year)
- First and Last Name
- Splash ID
- Non-TU email
- If you plan to take the 3-course series for service learning credit (Yes or No)
- Service learning credit is granted upon completion of an approved service project abroad AND completion of all three courses (INTU 3010, 3020, and 3030/3890 Service Course)
- If you would like to take the course for letter grade or S/U
Course Series Timeline
This 3-credit series is broken up over the course of 3 semesters:
- 1 credit prior to study abroad
- 1 credit during study abroad
- 1 credit following study abroad
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand the meaning of culture as it relates to identity and behavior
- Build cross-cultural awareness, appreciation and respect
- Gain a broader understanding of cultural and social issues in different regions of the world and explore ways that researchers study these issues.
These courses are both theoretical and practical, designed for students to explore how identities mediate communication across cultures in historical and daily interactions and how one might translate those intercultural communication skills into an internationally-focused undergraduate career upon return to campus. Students will combine classroom learning with hands-on application of the material through assignments designed to explore intercultural communication in academic, personal, and professional encounters during the study abroad experience.
View All Course Offerings and Syllabi:
INTU 3010: Global Cultural Awareness
This course can be taken prior to studying abroad.
- Instructor: Gibson, Anne M.
- Campus: Distance Learning (Asynchronous)
- Credits: 1
Description: In our ever more globalized world, study abroad is becoming an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum. Living and taking courses in a foreign country can push students to leave their comfort zones, hone their language capabilities, and increase their cross-cultural communication skills, better equipping them to become future leaders. To truly reap the benefits that the study abroad experience offers, however, students must work at making thoughtful connections between the experiences abroad and their overall college curriculum and career goals. Being able to work through issues of intercultural communication prepares students to better address whatever subjects that they are passionate about--from curing diseases to finding energy solutions to fighting inequality on a global scale. In this pre-departure course, students will explore various topics in intercultural communication in the context of the study abroad experience and will practice intercultural learning processes when working across difference in a wide variety of contexts through virtual and in-person engagement assignments. Students will also explore potential service-learning,internship, or “wild card” experiences that could be conducted while abroad.
This course is online/asynchronous. This means that you will have independent work assignments and that you will be expected to engage with your fellow students in the class via the discussion board.
INTU 3020: Cross Cultural Engagement
This course is to be taken during the semester abroad.
- Instructor: Gibson, Anne M.
- Campus: Distance Learning (Asynchronous)
- Credits: 1
Description: Gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and nationality all influence the ways that we communicate. This course is designed to help students engage with their host country while abroad and, in doing so, learn to articulate their own identity within a global context. Students will explore how identities mediate communication both within and among cultures. Students will engage with their local communities abroad and then exchange and reflect with fellow Tulane classmates in other parts of the world on social power dynamics that influence intercultural communication. Students will combine classroom learning with hands-on application of the intercultural communication theories and strategies through assignments designed to explore their overseas experiences. Pre-requisite: INTU 3010: Pre-Departure Course, or with the permission of instructor.
INTU 3030: Post Study Abroad Re-Entry
This course is to be taken after returning from abroad. Optional 20 hour service learning INTU 3890-01.
- Instructor: Gibson, Anne M.
- Campus: Distance Learning (Asynchronous)
- Credits: 1
Description: This course is designed to help students articulate their intercultural learning experiences into an internationally-focused undergraduate career upon return to campus. Students will reflect on preconceptions and their articulations within the new experiences afforded during study abroad. Students will become more sensitive to the fact that we all encounter varying degrees of unease or even resistance when engaged in these encounters as part of the learning process. Students will ponder the following questions: Are there alternative paradigms for thinking and acting within the world that I may have not considered before? How can we use intercultural communication to shape our future personal and professional lives? As a final project, students will produce a digital story, which uses innovative and participatory media methods to tell a personal narrative rooted in their own life experiences while abroad and founded in a critical analysis of intercultural communication.
INTU 3090: Optional Service Learning
Optional 20-hour service learning component for INTU 3030-01. For more information on the service-learning project for this class, visit https://cps.tulane.edu/academics/service-learning-course
Service Learning: If you are interested in taking this course in order to do a service learning project while abroad, you must:
- Complete all three courses in this series: INTU 3010 (predeparture), INTU 3020 (while abroad), and INTU 3030 (upon return to campus). You will be awarded Service Learning credit when you enroll in INTU 3890 (Service Learning) in conjunction with your INTU 3030 course after you return from study abroad.
- Complete the Service Learning Optional Readings and Discussion Assignments in INTU 3010 (predeparture), INTU 3020 (while abroad), and INTU 3030 (upon return). You will work with professor Gibson to finalize your service experience while you are abroad.
You may not be able to completely confirm your service project until you meet with organizations in your host country once you arrive. That is normal. In this INTU 3010 predepature course we will research potential service projects and also discuss the characteristics that differentiate service and service learning so that you are guaranteed to received the needed credit upon return to campus.
