Digital Identities and Study Abroad: Teaching Intercultural Competence through Social Media Literacy
Year: 2019

Social media platforms are contemporary spaces where selves are revealed and exposed in reciprocity. By imagining digital communication, technology use, and online representation in the same vein as we discuss the experiences of the physical self, the ability to adapt across cultures becomes a skill to hone online as well as in person. As such, digital media is a prime learning tool that practitioners in the field can utilize to reach their target student population no matter their physical location and during each phase of the study abroad process. In this way, study abroad offices can fulfill a mission that goes beyond the logistics of travel in order to concentrate attention on the development of student intercultural competencies. Online spaces are the new frontier where study abroad educators can guide intercultural learning content for students engaging in study abroad. This paper will explore the importance of social media and digital spaces for identity and intercultural competency development among this generation of digitally engaged university students. While digital technologies have tended to be seen as an add on responsibility for study abroad offices, these platforms can be reconceptualized as important tools for communicating learning content to reach students no matter where they are in space and time, whether they are studying abroad or on the domestic campus or whether they are engaged in the pre during, or post study abroad phase. A learning centered framework within the administration of study 13 Journal of Global Initiatives abroad offices provides potential to incorporate intercultural learning objectives into the day to day office practices that compliment and extend the work of faculty committed to enhancing intercultural competence and responsible global citizenship. Digital media provides a platform for study abroad advising staff and student leaders to intellectually engage with students at all stages of study abroad through online platforms without dramatically increasing the office workload. Addressing technology use in students' international experiences validates the importance of online identities in the narration of self, encourages students to draw connections between online identities and academic curriculum, and educates students on narrating identities in interculturally competent ways. Leveraging Social Media to Integrate Intercultural Competency Development into Study Abroad Learning Agendas The study abroad office is often the initial interface for students that are planning to undertake a term studying, living, and learning in a foreign location. Historically, the majority of interactions that students have with the study abroad office, be they in person or through email, happen during the pre departure phase of study abroad. As application deadlines near, droves of high need study abroad students frantically search for an advising appointment for assistance related to the logistics of researching programs, filling out applications, and applying for visas. This leads staff to often feel like travel agents or logistics technicians rather than educators or mentors. Study abroad advising does not have to be restricted to the prescriptive activities of helping students complete applications and book airline tickets. Marc 14 Annie McNeill Gibson and Emily Capdeville Lowenstein explains that academic advising can be similar to teaching. By his analysis of a learning centered approach to advising, the excellent advisor plays a role with respect to a student's entire curriculum that is analogous to the role that an excellent teacher plays with respect to the content of a single course (Lowenstein, 2005) In the case of study abroad, as staff are required to encounter study abroad students before, during, and after their international experiences, these offices are uniquely positioned to also guide students in developing their intercultural competency skills in order to help them draw connections to the components of their academic curriculums that are enriched by navigating different cultural perspectives around academics and selfhood. According to Hammer (2012) "building intercultural competence involves increasing cultural self awareness; deepening understanding of the experiences, values, perceptions, and behaviors of people from diverse cultural communities; and expanding the capability to shift cultural perspective and adapt behavior to bridge across cultural differences" (p. 116) Ting Toomey and Chung (2012) extends this understanding to its application during the communication process, "the symbolic exchange whereby individuals from two (or more) different cultural communities attempt to negotiate shared meanings in an interactive situation within an embedded societal system" (p. 24) According to learning models of intercultural communication, the ability to create shared meanings competently is dependent on both parties developing "a keen sense of adaptability and imagination when connecting across cultures" ( 15 Journal of Global Initiatives The Georgetown Consortium Study (2009) laid out that the highest impact practice to increase students' intercultural competency is cultural mentoring. Anderson, Lorenz, and White's 2012 2014 study of 27 instructor led short term study abroad programs then expanded on this to reveal that "frequent and spontaneous facilitation is the most important variable to guide students intercultural learning. In their study, the three groups with the most pre to postIntercultural Development Inventory gains all incorporated this process holistically into their study abroad programs" (Anderson, Lorenz, White, 2016, p. 12) Combining the conceptualization of advisors as teachers with the current research in study abroad indicating the important role of mentorship in the intercultural development of study abroad students, the Tulane University's Office of Study Abroad, guided by a Director of Study Abroad with a faculty appointment and teaching and research responsibilities, underwent a culture shift in its mission from a logistical one to an educational one, training staff and student workers to think of their roles as that of educator first and logistician second. Tulane's Office of Study Abroad approached the learning period from pre during, and post study abroad, similarly to a faculty member approaching the development of a course. Together, the office developed overarching learning goals to put into practice the research that indicated that self analysis and mindfulness are key in the development of individual's intercultural learning ( 2012) and that this knowledge is most successfully developed through mentorship with frequent and ongoing reflection (Anderson, Lorenz, White, 2016) Tulane's education abroad learning goals direct staff and peer advisor interactions with 16 Annie McNeill Gibson and Emily Capdeville students to help configure a teaching strategy to support student development in place based awareness, self awareness and critical reflection, flexibility, and adaptability. Tulane's model of semester and year long study abroad is based on a wide array of programs through direct enrollment as well as through third party providers, all with varying degrees and often unknown amounts of cultural mentorship on site. Because Tulane's office has minimal influence on course content during the study abroad semester, applying the frameworks of intercultural competency in the digital realm via the website, social media, and the application process are paramount to effective and appropriate mentoring of students to develop connections between lived experiences, coursework taken abroad, and their own intercultural development in a co curricular pre during, and post process. Learning goals implemented through creating positive intercultural mentorship in the digital arena are a way to assume a role in student intercultural development regardless of program model or course. Tulane University's learning goals that govern the work of the Office of Study Abroad are as follows: Students studying abroad must demonstrate the ability to: Articulate personal and academic goals for study abroad, investigate all available program possibilities in relation to those goals, and understand how country and program specific resources and limitations might impact the study abroad experience. Pursue these personal and academic goals in the face of uncertainty by assessing local resources and making adaptive solutions to practical challenges that arise before and while living and studying abroad. 17 Journal of Global Initiatives Acquire, synthesize, and apply knowledge that is region and countryspecific, and that facilitates engagement with academic, civic, and professional cultures distinct from the United States. Empathize with and understand differing ways of living, communicating, identifying, interpreting, and belonging in the world. Apply these skills gained through study abroad to future intellectual, civic, professional, and personal endeavors. Setting learning goals such as the above for the study abroad experience allows a faculty led, administrative office to approach in person advising, informational sessions, pre departure orientations, and re entry events in a learning centered manner rather than simply as Q&A logistics sessions. The work conducted in the office is guided by the objective of increasing the intercultural competence of the students it serves. Crucially, it also provides the foundation for the development of a digital media strategy that expands the reach of the office's learning goals, allowing intervention in student learning despite their participation in dozens of different programs all over the world. The potential of increasing intercultural competency at the university at large has a ripple effect with the potential to spread beyond the reach of the small ph