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Policies for Faculty in Travel Courses

Handbook

Faculty looking to learn more about the policies, principles, and guidelines surrounding Intensive Learning Travel Courses should consult the Handbook for Leading Intensive Learning Travel Courses. (Log-in Required)

Basic Principles

Any May Term course that spends six or more nights off campus and/or involves flights will be considered a travel course.  Whether they travel domestically or internationally, all travel courses are subject to special rules and timelines.  All travel courses also receive special support from the Office of Global Engagement.

Topics and Destinations

Any discipline can work well as a travel course as long as the topic and mode of study actively engage with and benefit from the travel location. Faculty are urged to select destinations they already know to ensure suitability. Faculty who have not visited their destination before proposing a course may be asked to justify that choice and demonstrate suitability.  Faculty are encouraged to avoid the costliest locales and to make choices that keep costs manageable for students.

Academic Content

Courses must meet for at least 14 days or otherwise meet the minimum contact hours. This count includes travel days in both directions. While faculty may give students entire weekends off within the travel time, these days should not then be counted towards the course days or contact hours. In general, students should be engaging with course concepts for a significant portion of each course day. Instructors must balance course content, general engagement with the destination, and personal time.

Each course must hold mandatory predeparture meetings (two - four is typical) during spring semester. No graded work can be required during spring semester, but students can be asked to read, view films, or do modest amounts of research. Most faculty limit the amount of reading while traveling since carrying books and laptops will be cumbersome. For example, faculty could assess the preparedness of students on prior reading through a test or similar assessment during the outbound flight. Students may be required to complete oral and written reflections, video and photo projects, interviews, and oral presentations while traveling. Some courses include service requirements. Students can be asked to complete a paper after returning home, but faculty need to consider carefully the timelines to allow students to decompress and still meet the Registrar's final grade deadline.

Help Making Travel Plans

We encourage faculty to work with one of our contract study away providers or with a reputable travel provider to make some or all of their travel plans. The Office of Global Engagement is available to consult with faculty making international travel plans.  Courses are encouraged to depart from a major airport (Dulles in D.C., Hartfield-Jackson in Atlanta, etc.) rather than the Roanoke airport unless meeting on campus first; the course will be considered to "start" in the departure airport. Courses are discouraged from meeting on campus in the days prior to departure unless this is absolutely needed. Meeting on campus and flying out of Roanoke may increase course costs, as transportation must be provided from Roanoke College to/from the departure airport.

Application & Registration Procedures

Students wishing to apply for any travel course submit an application to the Dean's Office September through November. The Office of the Dean facilitates sending applications to faculty, providing checks of academic and conduct records, and notifying the students of their status.

Faculty must actively recruit and screen potential students.  Once a faculty member has notified the Office of the Dean that a particular student has been accepted to a course, the student will be notified and provided with enrollment materials.

All students must pay a non-refundable $300 initial deposit to the Business Office by a date late in the Fall semester; this date is advertised faculty leaders and to students during the application process. The Business Office will accept a student's deposit only with an enrollment form has been signed by the Office of the Dean.

Students are enrolled in the course by the Office of the Dean and turn in all required documents (scan of passports, etc.) to the Office of the Dean, which makes them available to the faculty leaders.

Selected Policies

In addition to the instructor, all international travel courses must take a second adult to serve as program assistant; more details on the selection of a program assistant are in the handbook. Expenses for both the instructor and the program assistant are covered by student fees. No family or dependents of the group leaders (faculty/program assistant) are allowed to accompany the travel course. At least one of the group leaders must travel with the students from the US to the destination and at least one must accompany students on the return flight or place them on a direct flight. Absolutely no persons uninvolved with the travel course (this does not refer to hired/contracted local experts, etc.) are allowed to accompany the group. Group leaders must attend several lunch meetings in the academic year prior to departure. Instructors are ultimately responsible to enforcing college policies while abroad.

No money from course budgets can be spent until February prior to departure. Reservations requiring non-refundable deposits may not be placed until then. A wide range of policies and guidelines will be discussed in the academic year prior to travel. Instructors considering a travel course are encouraged to consult the Office of Global Engagement.