Lessons from the Road: Travel, Lifewide Learning, and Higher Education

Abstract

Programs across the higher education landscape, including tourism education, are increasingly embracing experiential learning approaches, as provided through field schools, study abroad trips, and international internships. Most work on the value of such programs has tended to start in the most obvious place, by focusing on the programs themselves, the experiences students have with them, and the outcomes that ensue. Lurking beneath work on organized study trips, however, are deeper questions about the connections between learning and travel itself. What is it about travel that promotes learning? Are there certain conditions of travel that tend to be relevant for facilitating particular kinds of learning, and even for potentially transforming the way people see themselves and the world? This article briefly summarizes the outcomes of an empirical study on the relationship between travel and learning, for the purpose of offering discussion regarding how the insights derived from this work might be useful in the development and management of educational travel programs, in order to facilitate transformational learning and empowerment among students.

KEYWORDS:

• educational tourism
• lifewide learning
• learning theory
• comfort zone
• experiential education
• study abroad
• transformational learning
• reflection