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Whether you want to share your experience with your family and friends at home or remember exactly how you felt at a specific moment, there are several ways to document your time at Dartmouth.
Whether you want to share your experience with your family and friends at home or remember exactly how you felt at a specific moment, there are several ways to document your time at Dartmouth.
Self-Reflection & Critical Self-Reflection
Self-reflection (or reflective practice), simply put, is the “examination, contemplation, and analysis of one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions” (apa.org) in specific places, spaces, and contexts.
Requiring us to slow down, self-reflection is a discipline and a practice.
When we self-reflect, we make the time to look back, to look inward, and, often, to look forward. With critical self-reflection, we not only learn who we are and what makes us tick, but also the positions we occupy and why we might experience the world—and others—in the way that we do.
Reflective Practice
Reflective practice helps reveal our underlying assumptions, notice our blind spots, and learn how to modify our behaviors. It guides us to recognize hidden strengths as well as identify areas for growth.
Reflective practice fosters mindfulness, promotes greater self-awareness, and is associated with overall wellness. For study away, reflective practice is also the cornerstone of cultural adaptation, cultural humility, and intercultural competence development (ICD).
Reflection Media
Reflection Media
Self-Reflection Frameworks
Self-Reflection Frameworks
🧑💻 Blogging or Vlogging
🧑💻 Blogging or Vlogging
Blogs are an easy way to keep in contact with lots of people while still being able to focus on your experience at the moment. Link your blog to social media to distribute it widely.
Benefits of blogs and video blogs:
Communicate with several hundred people (or your closest friends and relatives) with minimal effort and time expenditure
Share your experiences from the program candidly (not just the Insta moments).
Let loved ones know that you are safe
Share photos and videos
Take your family and friends on your trip with you through thorough descriptions of sights, smells, food, and emotions
🤔 What? So What? Now What?
🤔 What? So What? Now What?
What?
Describe the experience or activity. Be detailed. State the obvious.
So What?
What is important or significant about this experience or activity? What are you learning (about self, other, space, place)?
Now What?
What are your takeaways? How might you apply what you are learning moving forward? How might you modify your actions or goals because of what you’ve learned?
📸 Photos
📸 Photos
I’m sure you don’t need us to tell you that photos help you communicate your experiences to friends and family, but they also provide you with memories for years to come.
Some tips to keep in mind:
People
Always ask permission to take photos of strangers and always ask before posting someone’s photo or video on the internet; it’s a common courtesy.
Candid photos capture what you were doing when you were on the program and what kind of mood you were in, which in turn will make your memories more vibrant.
Places
Always ask permission to take photos in sacred or religious sites. Also, many countries have laws against taking photos of government and other buildings. Be respectful of the culture and feelings of those around you. When in doubt – ask. Do remember to respect historical and cultural aspects as well as local laws.
Take photos that capture your learning.
Capture the moment and your emotional memories by taking a picture of how you see the world and how it makes you feel. Document what you experience internally.
Leave Room for the Undocumented
Consider NOT taking a photograph. Sometimes having your phone and camera so easily available can feel like a burden, making you anxious about whether you’ve captured the perfect memory, but ironically, making you miss the actual moment.
Take some time to explore without taking photos occasionally.
🧐 4 Questions
🧐 4 Questions
What did you notice?
Pay attention to detail.What did you feel?
Pay attention to sensations and emotions.What surprised you?
Pay attention to underlying assumptions.What did you learn?
What are your takeaways from this experience or activity?
📙 Journaling
📙 Journaling
We strongly suggest that you consider keeping a journal while you are away to document your experience. Even if you have never kept one before, you may find that while you are at Dartmouth you feel more inspired to write down how you are feeling and things you want to remember.
You may also find it relieves some of the stress and homesickness that often comes with being far away from home. If you think you may have trouble figuring out what to write in a journal, there are several books with prompts that you can bring along, search for online, or use the list below.
Be descriptive to create a sensory memory
Record first impressions and lingering images
Give narratives of what you did and said about yourself and others
Provide names of people you met or places you went with snippets of information
Have a solo adventure and write about it
Record your Reflections
What inspires you or surprised you?
What’s exciting or frustrating?
Different or similar?
How is this experience influencing your world perspective?
😌 The DIEP
😌 The DIEP
Describe
Describe the event or activity in detail. Use descriptive adjectives and pay special attention to emotions and sensations.
Interpret
Read through what you have written. Notice the words you’ve chosen to use. Pay attention to what aspects of the experience or activity you have highlighted. Then, generate a series of questions for yourself and try to answer them.
For example, “I say I felt uncomfortable in that space, why?” “I think my discomfort had to do with feeling particularly visible…”
Evaluate
After answering your questions, what insights do you now have about yourself, about others, about the place and the culture you are immersed in, etc.?
Plan
Knowing what you now know, how might you apply this learning moving forward? How might you modify your behavior? How might you do things differently (or not)?
Do you remember why you decided to study away?
Do you remember why you decided to study away?
The process to get to your off-campus destination can be long and winding. Throughout the journey sometimes students lose sight of why they chose to pursue the experience in the first place. It is important to reconnect with your goals for studying in another location for a term to ensure you maximize your experience and take full advantage of the location where you will be studying.
Did you hope to become proficient in a language, visit a significant cultural landmark, make connections with a local organization or business network?
Every term is an opportunity to build on your strengths, develop skills, narrow your academic focus, and carve out a path for your future; off-campus study is no exception, rather the alternative… a unique opportunity to distinguish yourself and help you reach your goals.
Regardless of your initial motivation, it is helpful to reevaluate what you hope the outcomes of your time at Dartmouth will be so that upon return home you feel that you accomplished what you set out to do.
Regardless of your initial motivation, it is helpful to reevaluate what you hope the outcomes of your time at Dartmouth will be so that upon return home you feel that you accomplished what you set out to do.
Consider reviewing your self-concordant goals using the Orientation Workbook to help you identify the aspects of study away you deem most important to you.
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