Culture Trek
From AFSWiki
What is Culture Trek?
Culture Trek is an web-based tool, accessible to outbound participants covering pre-departure, in-country, and post-return phases of orientation. The website address is: [Culture Trek]
What is the purpose of Culture Trek?
Culture Trek is designed to facilitate cultural adaptation and learning about the home and host culture through educational activities and exercises as well as interaction among prospective AFS Participants and among Returnees. Culture Trek also provides participants and returnees with opportunities for guided self-reflection which research conducted by AFS and others in the field of intercultural education has shown is a key factor in ones' ability to develop greater intercultural competence.
How and when will participants gain access to Culture Trek?
AFS Participants - The launch of Culture Trek coincides with the launch of the AFS Account currently scheduled for March 2009. Once accepted on the program (country review status) AFS Participants will be given access to Culture Trek via the AFS Account.
- The AFS Account is an on-line site where participants can access and submit their full program application, receive information from AFS-USA, and keep track of any additional tasks through a To Do List function. Through the AFS Account, participants may also view information pertaining to their placement status, payment, orientations, destination country, and the visa process as it becomes available.
AFS Participants accepted on the program prior to the launch of the AFS Account will also be given access to Culture Trek March via one of the methods described above.
NSLI-Y Participants - AFS-USA is providing Culture Trek as pre-departure Orientation for all participants on the NSLI-Y program, however, some of these participants will actually be going abroad with other organizations who are a member of the NSLI-Y consortium. As such upon acceptance on their respective programs, all NSLI-Y participants will be given login information for and access to Culture Trek through a direct link to the program.
How is Culture Trek structured?
Culture Trek is organized in a specific chronological order that reflects the needs and abilities of the students at each phase of the experience. It is comprised of three main sections: Getting Ready, While You’re Abroad and Coming Home. Each section contains the following five elements:
- Passport - This is the main guide throughout Culture Trek. It is comprised of text, video, links, interactive polls, etc. which are designed to help participants achieve the educational goals of the AFS Program.
- Profile – Here participants may post their own photo and share information about themselves with other exchange students working with Culture Trek. Through the profile participants may also access several forums (see below) designed to help them connect with and learn from other AFS Participants and Returnees.
- Portfolio – The portfolio is similar to a scrapbook in that it is a place for participants to collect information, images and ideas related to the concepts covered in Culture Trek.
- Blog – Participants may create their own blog to share their thoughts, experiences and questions with other AFS Participants and Returnees.
- Forums – For each participant, there are three forums within Culture Trek:
- The Culture Trek Forum allows participants to share their reactions to questions posed in the Passport with other exchange students.
- The Host Country Forum allows participants to communicate with exchange students and returnees in their host country.
- The Home Country Forum allows participants to connect with fellow outbound students and returnees from their home country, and to answer questions of students who are coming to that country.
- Currently three AFS Partners are participating in the pilot phase of Culture Trek (USA, Malaysia and Costa Rica) and as more partners join the program, the Forum will provide access to participants and returnees from an increasing number of countries.
Will completion of Culture Trek fulfill the CSIET requirement for Pre-Departure Orientation?
No, all participants are still required to attend a local PDO regardless of whether they complete Culture Trek.
Are participants required to complete any portion of Culture Trek in order to get on a plane?
No, however we strongly encourage participants to complete the section entitled Getting Ready as soon as they receive access to Culture Trek. The readings, activities, and links within Culture Trek provide a wealth of opportunities for participants to gain valuable information about culture-learning and cultural adaptation. Equally important are the blogs and forums that will allow participants to connect with and learn from their peers in the US and around the world. In addition, participants will need to complete the Getting Ready section of Culture Trek prior to departure, as the second section, While You’re Abroad, builds on concepts presented in and content generated by participants in the Getting Ready section. The third section, Coming Home, builds on the previous two sections in a similar manner.
How will volunteers and staff have access to Culture Trek?
For now AFS-USA volunteers and staff will all use one user name and password (volunteer/volunteer). Eventually all AFS-USA Volunteers and Staff will be able to access Culture Trek through their Global Link account. For the time being volunteers and staff will not have access to the Forums or the blogs. Culture Trek Link
How will we evaluate and measure the impact of Culture Trek?
In the USA, we will compare current and previous cycle ratings related to Culture Trek and participant orientation using:
- The Returnee Customer Service Evaluation
- The Sending and Admissions Gateway Orientation Evaluation
- An Admin blog invites feedback from users on content and technical issues
- An e-mail based evaluation throughout and after the program cycle
- Detailed interviews and learning assessments with Malaysian students who are also participating (by Jason Lee, AFS Malaysia)
Additional plans are to be determined based on funding availability
