This past weekend I went to a study abroad conference at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. The topic of the conference was Enhancing Study Abroad: the Role of Technology- if that title isn’t self-explanatory enough, click on the link to learn more.
Essentially we spent the weekend talking about wikis, blogs, flickr and how much we love Google. A big chunk of our talking was about how technology was both helpful and harmful to a study abroad experience. Obviously it’s nice to be able to call home using a satellite phone or Skype if there’s a riot, bombing, etc. wherever you happen to be studying, but spending half your free time writing on your friends’ Facebook walls is counterproductive when you’re trying to immerse yourself in a new place. There’s flipsides to those arguments as well- what constitutes an emergency worth calling home about? What if all of the locals are on their own social networking sites constantly and such sites actually foster new friendships?
In the end, not surprisingly, it’s complicated. There are no ‘best practices’ for how to properly utilize technology for a variety of reasons- namely it’s a new development (relatively) and there’s no way to universalize it (connectivity in Paris is inevitably different from connectivity in Botswana).
As the youngest one at the conference (the keynote speaker studied abroad in the year Facebook’s creator was born), I had a unique perspective- I use Facebook, Picasa, and blogging on a nearly daily basis; whereas a lot of the older participants had no idea what a meme was, let alone how it could be used for good, not evil.
Anyway, I have plenty of thoughts about the conference, but overall it was a positive experience for me- I had a chance to network and get some inspiration for what I’m doing in my own office.
But none of that is why you’re here, probably. So, onward to the photos!
We had an hour and a half for lunch one day (really- who takes that long to eat a sandwich?) and I decided to take a self-led campus tour of Dickinson.
Their library, which is actually even larger than this photo would make it seem.
For those who went to Cornell, this dorm is part of what looks like the Tri-dorm area- except these dorms are all made of limestone and are hardcore handicap-accessible.
Dickinson alumni really like donating money to have a gate put up, so these are all over campus.
I sort of wish I had taken a photo of the side with Seoul. Anyway, in Dickinson’s union (the HUB), there are ads for bus trips to NYC, DC, etc. (all for reasonable prices). There’s also a *giant* building for Global Education which I was all shades of jealous over. Naturally, I was too bitter to get a photo.
It was in the 50s over the weekend and I cannot full express in words how glad I am to be done with winter now.
Besides gates, alumni also like to donate Adirondack chairs.
Last but not least, a photo of the statue of Dickinson’s founder. I bet you think his name is Dickinson. Ha! Actually, it was founded by Benjamin Rush, who apparently thought Rush College didn’t quite have the proper ring to it, and decided to name it after his Constitution-signing buddy, John Dickinson. /history lesson.
Anyway, that’s probably far too many pictures for a couple of days away, but I’ve been lazy on the blog lately. I also highly recommend Detroit’s airport (DTW) over Chicago’s (ORD), though the latter has a superior tunnel of lights (see links).
