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1. General Program Description.
2.
Electronic Component--"Virtual Literary Trails Electronic Course Pack."
3. Benefits for Students.
1. The Program.
In accordance with Radford University’s
mandates for students’ learning goals and learning outcomes, this three-week "Maymester"
Program is designed to meet the educational goals of all RU students. The sites
and destinations selected for "European Literary Trails" offer a vast range of
educational “values” to be experienced first hand by the RU students: famous
literary places and long-recognized sites of great cultural and historical
significance. Students travel to Ireland
and
Italy. This website provides information about
"European Literary Trails;" more can be found on the
Curriculum & Cost page.
Experiences to be gained
through "European Literary Trails" Study Abroad Program cannot be attained in
any other way. Whereas traditionally students read texts and learn about
certain historical/literary places in the classroom, this program takes students
to those places and allows them to experience first hand both texts and contexts
in historical/cultural settings, thereby providing opportunities for intellectual reflection and
growth in a broader context.
2. Virtual Literary Trails: Electronic
Course Pack for Travel-Based Programs.
“European Literary
Trails” Study Abroad Program was launched in 2002 and it has been enhanced by Radford University’s “Support of Teaching and Curriculum Development: Innovative Teaching Grant.” Because
travel-based literature courses make it impractical to rely on textbooks and
because absence of classroom instruction precludes traditional lecturing and
content analysis, the grant funds allowed for the development of a portable, electronic course
pack, with materials accessible to students “on the road” and/or away from urban
areas.
As described under Curriculum, “European
Literary Trails” Program coursework includes technological requirement: students
submit their final projects as
"electronic scrap-books", i.e., web sites that anchor their personal and
cultural experiences abroad. The content of students' websites has to include
literary journals interwoven with personal reflection on reading/writing
assignments, photographs, and research material (with links to
literary/cultural sites named in their writings).
3. Benefits for Students
"European Literary Trails" Program
benefits students as it supports the missions of the University by:
- incorporating electronic
and technological infrastructure and integrating electronic multimedia
educational technology;
- developing curriculum that
stresses both active and experiential learning through travel-based
and content-oriented course work;
- internationalizing curriculum (and in his case, combining the
Program’s virtual—electronic—content with “hands-on” environment).
- developing critical curiosity, cultural diversity and communication
skills,
- fostering students’
international perspective, cultural and international awareness, and
- engaging them in truly
“world wide web” cross-cultural research.
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