Northwest Vista College faculty in Geography and Environmental Sustainability have been busy sharing their knowledge with the broader research and higher education communities, and they are bringing it back around to students.
The Institutional Determinants of Internationalization: The Cases of Study Abroad Participation and International Student Enrollment
Dr. Chuck Yeager co-authored a paper regarding an investigation of factors leading to study abroad participation and the enrollment of international students based on data from 1,034 higher education institutions across the US. “The findings as they relate to gender, race, and class relative to study abroad are compelling, and these factors should inform the development of new lower cost faculty-led options…” (p. 1609). The models the authors developed demonstrate how student and institutional variables can be used to predict student participation in study abroad programs. The full paper is available online here: https://zenodo.org/record/1467813#.XXohqChKhPY
Marks, J., Yeager, C., Gatrell, J., & Bennett, J. (2018). The institutional determinants of internationalization: The cases of study abroad participation and international student enrollment. Journal of International Students, 8(4), 1591-1612. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1467813
Transformative learning in community college human geography: a mixed methods study
Dr. Scott Walker co-authored a paper based on mixed-methods action research exploring the extent to which transformative learning occurs in online human geography courses at NVC. The study explores student satisfaction in relation to their learning environment and transformative learning methods. He used the Transformative Learning Environments Survey (TLES) for the quantitative analysis and an aligned analysis of student reflective work to capture the “voice” of the student as a qualitative approach to provide a rounded perspective of transformative learning. The qualitative aspect to the study offers a deeper look–beyond statistical outcomes–using students’ own words to explain their perspectives related to transformative learning in human geography.The full paper is available online here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03098265.2019.1660865?needAccess=true
Jones, J., & Walker, S. L. (2019). Transformative learning in community college human geography: A mixed-methods study. Journal of Geography in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2019.1660865
Transforming tourism in the High Atlas Mountains: A case study of tourist production and consumption in Zawiya Ahansal, Morocco
Additionally, Scott’s 2018 Morocco Field Study Abroad Program yielded a poster presentation at the 2019 International Mountain Conference (IMC) in Innsbruck, Austria. The poster highlights the partnership with the Atlas Cultural Foundation (Morocco), NVC’s Geography and Environmental Sustainability discipline, and NVC’s Anthropology discipline in terms of students as consumers and producers of cultural heritage knowledge, scientific knowledge, and education of local Moroccan students. The abstract is available online at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x8LZDmBC8SRBNmDODzKCznnIjGPm3dSokxxsVJMGVs/edit?usp=sharing
Walker, S. L. (2019).Transforming tourism in the High Atlas Mountains: A case study of tourist production and consumption in Zawiya Ahansal, Morocco. International Mountain Conference, Innsbruck, Austria, September 8-12.
Scott’s participation in the 2019 IMC made its way back to students enrolled this fall’s ENVR 1301 – Environmental Science class and future classes. The week after the conference ENVR 1301 students were working on a class project using repeat photography from online sources and geospatial satellite imagery to study climate change and resulting glacial retreat. As it happened, the developer of the 21-year old Canadian Mountain Legacy Project, housed at the University of Victoria, presented at the conference. Dr. Mary Sanseverino did a short video presentation directly addressing NVC’s students about the value in doing repeat photography. Dr. Sanseverino is a retired computer science professor applying her skills to environmental science—demonstrating the interdisciplinary nature of environmental science and geography. The video for ENVR 1301 students is online at: Mary Sanseverino of the Mountain Legacy Project– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lvYtx_OSdQ&feature=youtu.be
