As several recent articles in PS have noted, study
abroad remains one of the most important and vital ways to make the
international relations and comparative politics classroom more
active, participatory, and experiential (Thies 2005; Bowman and
Jennings 2005). Along with various pedagogical techniques (such as
simulations, film, and Internet and web-based technologies)
increasingly used by political science instructors to enhance the
learning environment, the study abroad experience helps bring the
world into the classroom because it can connect directly and
experientially with students. Studies have shown that studying
abroad increases students' cross-cultural abilities and global
understanding, skills particularly relevant to comparative politics
and international relations courses (Kitsantas 2004; Hopkins 1999).
Indeed, because of study abroad's value as one component in active,
student-centered learning, as early as 1991 the APSA Task Force on
Political Science, in the so-called Wahlke Report, made the
recommendation that political science departments should strive to
increase the number of their students who participate in study
abroad programs of some kind, a recommendation echoed again recently
by several higher education panels (Wahlke 1991; Bollag 2003).