“The World is your Classroom.”—SAS Motto
So, what’s it like teaching on Semester at Sea (SAS)? I (Larry) have been working hard! Thankfully, the campus is gorgeous, colleagues are great, the curriculum is interesting, and students are fabulous. My teaching-learning philosophy states that “I agree with bell hooks’ assertion that effective teaching engages the ‘world as classroom’,” which mirrors SAS’s motto of “The world is your classroom.” Talk about a good fit!
Opportunities & Challenges
As mentioned previously, SAS is a college campus on a cruise ship. The effort that goes into creating a high-caliber living-learning environment like none other is incredible. The residential living and academic teams provide a wide range of services and opportunities, not unlike any land-based college campus. Yet, we are in a unique environment, which provides the opportunity (and challenge) to create a global learning environment. Faculty and staff (Staculty) bring a range of international experiences and eclectic backgrounds (More about Staculty and life-long learners in a later post.)
The students on the voyage are engaged, interesting, and amazing. They come from 219 universities worldwide and the average GPA is 3.42. (See photo below - S’19 Voyage: By the Numbers). For the most part, if I give them a discussion question, they take off with it. At the same time, I really have to bring my teaching game, because they are sharp learners.
Most of the students are traditionally-aged college students (18-22 years old). The students have a wide range of majors. I’m accustomed to teaching mostly social work majors. However, we’ve only met a couple of social work students on the voyage. So, it presents both a challenge and opportunity to talk about social work and share with them about the profession. In the past week, three students asked to meet for lunch or dinner to talk about either majoring in social work or later going to graduate school for an MSW. Growing the profession!
Students take four courses. Course offerings include classes on a range disciplines and topics including psychology, business, photography, culinary arts, and oceanography. Of the four courses, all students are required to take a Global Studies course; faculty and staff also attend this course. The course provides a common thread woven throughout the curriculum and Voyage experience. The course provides information on globalization and what it means to be a global citizen; history, background, and culture of the countries we’ll be visiting; and lectures from an oceanographer about the Ocean that is our home for over 50 days on the voyage. (See our post on Mother Ocean!)
I didn’t expect to have so many international (or non-USA) students in my classes. It is great! One of my courses has nine countries represented. We also have several international faculty (e.g. Canada, Germany, Brazil, etc.). As a result, it provides the opportunity and challenge for USA faculty to not be “USA-centric” and assume everyone is from the United States. We must be particularly attentive to not using “us” or “we” or “American” when referring to the United States. It’s a good reminder to be even more intentional in our language, even when not traveling.
Challenges & Opportunities
I’m teaching three courses—all new preps! One of the challenges of teaching on the ship is technology—or lack of it! The internet is almost non-existent. I’ve realized I’m more dependent on technology than I thought. The ship does have an intranet system that works fairly well. We use the learning management system Moodle. I’m having to adjust to not being able to (sometimes spontaneously) use media, such as YouTube videos in class. I miss my Google almost as much as I miss my Starbucks!
Classroom space is another challenge. We have to create classrooms using existing ship spaces. Thus, courses are taught in the restaurants, the theatre, and sections of the large meeting halls on the ship. Class time must compete with a noisy ice-maker, beckoning sunny decks, and rocking seasickness. We do have laptops and monitors to show PowerPoints and other media/documents we brought with us on the voyage. So, instructors must adapt! The “f” word is used quite a bit: Flexibility!
So, what’s it like teaching on Semester at Sea? It’s another “f” word: Fabulous! So far, it’s one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career. It’s requiring me to get outside my comfort zone. I tend to be fairly structured in courses back home. Like travel, I’m having to learn more about being flexible, adaptable, and dealing with the unknown or unexpected, which provides both challenges and opportunities. Undoubtedly, I will be a better teacher, global citizen, and human being when I return from this Voyage.
