UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Experiencing a foreign culture can be a valuable component of a well-rounded university education. Understanding how students in different countries learn and interact in a classroom environment, as well as experiencing the culture firsthand, can benefit professors and students that participate in study abroad programs. A faculty member and two students in Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) had an opportunity over the summer to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western learning styles.
“I would highly recommend Korea to anyone who is interested in studying abroad,” said Kieran Ohliger, a junior IST major who participated in International Summer Semester (ISS), a four-week study-abroad program at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) in Seoul, South Korea.
David Reitter, an assistant professor in the College of IST and co-director of the Applied Cognitive Science Lab, taught a three-week cognitive science class in July 2015 through a pilot project between SKKU and Penn State. The class, which was composed of about 40 students total and five to 10 non-Korean students, focused on cognitive biases, memory loss and judging risks.
“This program emphasizes the international profile of our college,” Reitter said. “Generally, my colleagues at international universities are inviting our students over to enrich their programs. We have more opportunities than we imagine to engage with the world.”
While teaching the class, Reitter said he encountered some notable differences between Korean and American students. The traditional Asian learning model is one of students carefully listening to the instructor before applying the new knowledge, while American students are much more vocal and proactive in the classroom. Both approaches benefit students, but, as Reitter says, the best results come from a mix of both attitudes. One of Reitter’s goals while teaching the class at SKKU, he said, was to bring students together to learn from each other’s unique cultural viewpoints.
IST students Ohliger and Nathan Vella — also a junior who is majoring in both IST and security and risk analysis (SRA) — can attest to those cultural differences. Ohliger took Reitter’s cognitive science class, while Vella enrolled in a Korean culture class at SKKU and was the only American among 30 to 40 students. Ohliger echoed Reitter’s statements that the biggest difference between American and Korean students was that “Korean students are much more reserved about asking questions.”
Ohliger and Vella both said they enjoyed their time in Seoul and were inspired by how Korean college students socialize. For example, Koreans are more likely to gather informally during the week at places such as restaurants and cafes, or just hanging out in groups.
Another reason that studying in Korea is a prime opportunity for IST students, Vella said, is the fact that many cars and cell phones are designed and manufactured by Korean mega-corporations.
“South Korea is the source of technical innovations that we see every day at home,” Vella said. “It was a privilege to be right where all of this is happening.”
According to Reitter, the courses offered by the ISS program dovetail with the human/computation/technology theme of the College of IST and help broaden intellectual horizons for students. There was a data science class relevant to IST in the 2015 ISS program, Reitter said, and “it is the plan that in 2016 there will be a whole stream of information science related classes.”
Reitter said he hopes that Penn State’s collaboration with SKKU will soon lead to partnerships with global corporations based in Asia, which could enable Penn State students to hold internships at those companies. He added that he encourages students enrolled in global summer programs to seek out opportunities to work in professors’ labs and get coursework from the programs accepted as part of the requirements for their majors.
“I think (the global programs) would open really wonderful opportunities for our students,” he said.
Ohliger and Vella said that their experiences in Seoul were hugely rewarding — both professionally and personally.
“It was honestly the best experience of my life,” said Vella, who is considering a consulting career and is interested in working in Korea. “I feel like being in Seoul was a stepping stone for me.”