{"id":4515,"date":"2016-05-17T17:58:40","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T17:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2016\/06\/23\/may-x-students-explore-the-world-on-the-fast-track\/"},"modified":"2024-07-23T15:42:02","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T19:42:02","slug":"may-x-students-explore-the-world-on-the-fast-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/may-x-students-explore-the-world-on-the-fast-track\/","title":{"rendered":"May X students explore the world on the fast-track"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kristy Maher gets her students out of the classroom every chance she gets. Sometimes, that means a simple trip across town. But for May X, it means a trip to Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t think you can really teach without being in the real world,\u201d said Maher, a professor of sociology at Furman University.<\/p>\n

The May Experience\u2014May X\u2014began in 2009 as part of a major overhaul of the University\u2019s academic calendar and curriculum. Courses run for about three weeks and offer students real-life learning experiences, many of which involve travel abroad.<\/p>\n

The experiment \u201chas been an overwhelming success in a way that we didn\u2019t expect,\u201d said Brad Barron, the University\u2019s registrar. He considers the participation rate \u2014roughly 30 percent of the study body\u2014a ringing endorsement for the optional classes.<\/p>\n

Maher is leading her third group on a trip she calls Botswana Paradox. The country has one of the highest rates of HIV\/AIDS in the world. But its government generally follows what the global health community has determined are best practices in treating and preventing infection.<\/p>\n

She asks her students to consider why those practices aren\u2019t working as they visit numerous governmental and aid agencies in the city as well as villages and remote clinics. Maher said it\u2019s one thing to sit in a classroom and explain the difficulties of rural healthcare, but it’s another to see it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re driving for eight hours from point A to point B and there\u2019s really nothing\u00a0. . .\u00a0it becomes much more of a reality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The May X courses are developed on campus and approved by a committee. Barron said faculty are generally enthusiastic about coming up with new ideas for the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s being able to teach your passion in a way that the students are really going to engage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This year will be Suresh Muthukrishnan’s\u00a0third time accompanying\u00a0students to Iceland. He developed the course in 2010 as a way to bring science to life. An island with both active volcanoes and enormous glaciers offered the perfect living classroom.<\/p>\n

\"May

May X students in Iceland<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIceland is like a paradise,\u201d said Muthukrishnan, an associate professor in earth and environmental sciences. \u201cIt\u2019s geologically a very important place and is also significant from a sustainability science perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell Freyermuth \u201918 said the course is the perfect fit for him as an earth and environmental sciences major.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a place where a lot of the stuff I\u2019ve been studying is actually happening,\u201d Freyermuth said.<\/p>\n

This won\u2019t be his first May X, although it will be his first abroad. Last year Freyermuth explored geology and astronomy in the southwestern United States. That course gave him a plan heading into this year\u2019s trip: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to try to experience everything you can while getting a good grade,\u201d he said. \u201cThey really do teach you a lot in such a short amount of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some students\u2014Freyermuth is one of them\u2014class schedules just don\u2019t allow for a full semester abroad, and May X fills that gap in their experiences. Others are wondering if they\u2019re actually up for a full semester in another country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gives a quick taste of what the longer travel study experience can do,\u201d Barron said.<\/p>\n

Travel brings with it the usual uncontrolled variables\u2014everything from food and transportation to electricity and WiFi.<\/p>\n

English professor Nick Radel worked with colleagues to develop a travel writing course that studied in Italy last May. This year, the course will be held in Cuba. In Italy, students were required to electronically submit their work to each other for feedback. That may or may not be possible this time around.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may be doing something very old-fashioned,\u201d Radel said. \u201cWriting in notebooks and reading to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the May X locales often are spots that draw tourists, these trips are not primarily about sightseeing. But the academic component may not look like what students are used to during the regular semester.<\/p>\n

Muthukrishnan requires daily readings and conducts what he calls \u201cconversational lectures\u201d as they go.<\/p>\n

The Botswana trip starts with a few days on campus, laying the foundation for what students are about to experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important to get them intellectually prepared for where we\u2019re going,\u201d Maher said.<\/p>\n

Her students also are paired to research the various organizations the group will visit in Africa. While in Botswana, the pairs will present what they\u2019ve learned about each group\u2019s work. There\u2019s no digital media to assist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re literally around the fire with head lamps on for these presentations,\u201d Maher said.<\/p>\n

The group to Cuba went a step further. Students were required to take a full-semester course this spring, as a prerequisite to the May X course. Radel said the team leaders wanted to allow time to read and evaluate travel writing as well as develop a better understanding of Cuban history and culture, especially in terms of its relationship with the United States.<\/p>\n

Travel writing will function as the tool to help the students learn much more than how to write. Radel hopes they\u2019ll learn to be cultural analysts, not just literary analysts, and \u201clet that other culture enable them to understand themselves better.\u201d<\/p>\n

No traditional classroom can quite match up in that respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter how many videos and pictures we show to explain things, there\u2019s nothing like being there,\u201d Muthukrishnan said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Learn more about Furman’s May Experience<\/a> and Study Away<\/a> programs, view Kristina Benson’s \u201917\u00a0video<\/a> from Iceland, or\u00a0check out Grace Ellen Hanna’s \u201919\u00a0blog<\/a> from Botswana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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