How Social Media Can Enhance Study Abroad

The following is a guest post from Mandy Reinig, director of international education at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. A debate was started recently about whether social media has hurt study abroad, in part prompted by a commentary in The Chronicle. While I agree that technology has changed the way we look at study abroad and the way students interact while overseas, I don’t agree that it will lead to fewer cultural or transformative experiences for students while abroad. Social media has changed the way students interact and the way we, as international-education professionals, interact with students before, during, and after their time abroad. What I don’t think social media has done or will do is prevent those students who want a cultural experience from achieving it.  As was mentioned in some of the comments following the commentary, there have been and always will be students who treat study abroad as more of a vacation and go abroad simply to travel rather than for the academic or cultural experiences. Read more...