Stephanie Doctrow | Dec. 27, 2011
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| Photo by Michael Evans |
| Casey Kuhn tries out the headphones as she prepares to learn about videography during a visit to an Aboriginal media organization last spring. The course is one of several that takes students abroad as part of the classwork. |
“The world of media has evolved so much that knowledge about international media and foreign relations is really important for a young journalist,” Peterkin said. “These trips have given me a different view of what journalism can be, a view that you can’t get in a classroom.”
Peterkin joins more than half her journalism classmates in having some kind of study abroad experience during their four years as undergraduates. According to a recent study from the IU Office of Overseas Study, 57 percent of journalism students travel abroad, a higher percentage than any other IU unit.
This number is up 5 percent from the previous year. Overall, IU-B figures are up 11 percent, and IU ranks eighth in the nation for universities sending students abroad.
As spring semester gets under way, the next wave of traveling journalism students begins classes that will take them abroad. Established as part of the school’s Journalism Experiences program, courses that include a travel component began about five years ago. Before, individual professors had included travel as part of class projects and individual students had arranged study abroad through Overseas Study.
“We wanted to create a unique model for our students to consider international study and travel, and we hoped it would inspire them to learn more about global media and other cultures,” said journalism dean Brad Hamm. “The response has been amazing.”
Since the formal course program, about 500 journalism students, faculty and support staff have traveled to Asia, Europe, Australia, South America and all over North America for study, often during spring break but also in summer.
Gaining global perspective
The destinations shift as opportunities arise, and the courses take advantage of professors’ expertise and professional backgrounds. Students have visited Japan to study public relations; France and England to retrace World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle’s coverage from the frontlines; South Korea to look at technology; Chile and Australia to study particular aspects of media; Kenya to report on the HIV/AIDS epidemic; and Italy to study tourism communications. This year, students will travel to China to better understand media in that culture.
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| Photo by Jonathan Streetman |
| The American Cemetery at Normandy, shrouded in fog on this day last spring, is a stop on the trip for the students studying Ernie Pyle's WWII experience. |
The School of Journalism subsidizes some of the costs and the Office of Overseas Study offers support as well to make these short-term travel opportunities affordable for many students. And they are part of the coursework, integrated with classroom learning, and students report to the school website during their travel, offering their first-hand experiences, photos and videos.
Capitalizing on professors' expertise
Professor Joe Coleman teaches J460 International Reporting, the course that will travel to Japan at spring break. The class focuses on Hiroshima, and the legacy of the atomic bomb and World War II. Coleman said before the trip, students study Japanese history and look at media coverage from American and Japanese perspectives. In Japan, they will meet with foreign correspondents, talk to survivors of the bombing and visit the memorial.
Coleman, who was with Associated Press 18 years, including a stint as bureau chief in Tokyo, said students will be required to find and report their own stories, working with translators just as a foreign correspondent would in an unfamiliar country.
Some of the travel classes are on their way to becoming a School of Journalism tradition. This year, associate professor Owen Johnson will lead J460 From London to Normandy: In the Footsteps of Ernie Pyle, for the fifth year.
“This class has the capability of lasting a long time because it’s historical in nature,” Johnson says. “It doesn’t need to respond to new media.”
Before the travel, students in the course study Ernie Pyle’s life, career and columns. The trip is meant to give students a sense of what Europe was like during World War II and to bring Pyle’s famous wartime columns to life, Johnson said. Students visit the Imperial War Museum and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, visit Omaha Beach in Normandy, and take a walking tour of World War II Paris.
Senior Jonathan Streetman took the course last year because he was interested in history and wanted to visit Europe. He recalled climbing the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and looking at the city below him, and imagining the scene as bombs fell from the sky as written in one of Pyle’s most famous columns.
His favorite part of the trip was visiting Omaha Beach, the site of D-Day. “When I walked on the beach, I was breathless for a few steps,” he said.
New courses offer new destinations
The School of Journalism’s newest travel course, J460 Democracy and Media in China, will visit Beijing in March. Professor Lars Willnat proposed the course based on his own research on the political and economic climate in China.
“I’m amazed when I go back how it’s different every time,” Willnat said. “Many students have misconceptions about it being rural and impoverished, but they have very high levels of technology already.”
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| Courtesy photo |
| Students who traveled to Italy to learn about tourism communications last spring took time to visit famed Trevi Fountain in Rome. |
Many students, such as sophomore Melinda Elston, travel abroad for the first time through this program. Elston said Willnat’s speech at the information session piqued her interest in China and she was excited to discover how affordable the trip would be with help from the School of Journalism.
She also said she’s nervous about not knowing any Chinese. But fears like these are normal, say trip leaders.
“I remember my first trip to Asia. Everything is so different,” Coleman says. “The students who have never been abroad, particularly, will have an experience they won’t forget.”
Willnat agrees that the travel courses add another dimension to what students learn in the classroom. He plans to show videos and play Chinese music in his class before the trip, but he knows nothing can compare to interacting with citizens.
“It’s hard to get the feeling when you talk about it,” Willnat says. “You really have to see it.”
