Thirteen middle and high school teachers from Texas participated in a 31-day cultural immersion program in China. The goals were to enhance the teachers' intercultural competence and develop social studies curriculum on China. Activities included touring sites, observing classrooms, attending lectures, and cultural performances. The teachers kept individual journals and later created digital stories reflecting on meaningful experiences. Researchers analyzed the journals, reflection statements, and digital stories to evaluate the impact on intercultural development. The analysis found that while journals mostly recorded daily events, the digital stories provided insight into how the experience influenced the teachers' perspectives.

1. Fulbright–Hays Group Projects Abroad 2010 China: The Place and the People

3. To develop educators’ intercultural competence and enhance social studies curriculum and instruction on China in middle and high school classrooms in the Texas. Overarching goal of the project

7. What We Did Visited schools (all #1) and observed classrooms

8. Met with teachers and administrators and shared lessons about content, pedagogy, assessments, classroom management, assignments used in U.S. & Chinese social studies middle & high school courses

9. Attended lectures given by experts in some aspect of Chinese life --- focus on the role of minority cultures

10. Attended cultural performances

11. Gathered artifacts, visuals, stories for our classrooms

12. Became a tourist attraction in China

13. Enjoyed local culture

14. Went shopping, took lots of photos

15. Individual reflective journals

16. Experience, reflection, learning

17. Group discussion sessions Questions, conflicts, impressions

18. Experience, reflection, learning What is the impact of an international immersion experience? Seeing Culture With New Eyes The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust A Remembrance of Things Past, 1913-1927

20. Participants in the study Philosophers Garden at the National Academy for Education and Administration, Beijing China Participants included thirteen middle school and high school social studies and Mandarin language teachers who voluntarily applied and were accepted into a Fulbright-Hays Group Study Abroad seminar in China in summer 2010. All participants were Caucasian (male=4, female = 9) with an age range between 28 and 68.

21. During the thirty-one day tour of China, participants recorded daily events in individual journals. Upon return, researchers scanned the journals and returned the journals to participants. Teachers were asked to constructed individual digital stories based on a meaningful personal experience over the next four months. Teachers did not receive any training on digital story design beyond a one page instruction sheet. At a post trip conference teachers shared their digital stories and responded to reflection questions related to change in perception of self as a cultural being and what it meant to tell a digital story. Procedures, Data Sources, Analysis Methods Researchers used emergent coding and the causal comparative method to analyze the journal entries, the reflection responses, and the digital stories to look for patterns and evolving theme that related to an increased level of intercultural competence. To triangulate data, the digital stories are also being assessed using Bradley's criteria for assessing levels of reflection (Bradley, 1995). The researchers wanted to evaluate the impact of cultural immersion through analysis of journals and compare them to themes in the reflection responses and the digital stories to assess the impact of reflection on experience and determine if the digital stories actually became reflection artifacts that provided a window into the level of individual change.

23. Analysis of the Reflection Statements Ten out of thirteen teachers who responded to the survey felt that the China experience changed their view of self as a cultural being. The China experience greatly broadened my mind and allowed me to realize that I thought about everything from a purely Western perspective. Taking my knowledge of China out of the realm of facts and figures and making contact with Chinese people reminded me of how very tiny I am in the grand scheme of things. I have found that perhaps I do have more of my own culture than perhaps I thought. I haven't had much experience with cultures other than my own, so being around a different culture for four weeks make me take a closer look at both what unites and divides us for "others." Three participants indicated that the China experience did not change their view of self as a cultural being. One said I know who I am. Another stated I can now describe the vast physical and cultural diversity better than I could before I want on the trip.

24. Responses to what it meant to tell a digital story indicated that eight out of twelve participants indicated that designing a digital story served as a medium for reflection on a meaningful experience My digital story has become a way to preserve and re-visit the strong sense of connection I felt as I met and observed people on our trip. It was an incredible way of putting so many of my thoughts and feelings on paper. I relive my experience every time I see it. The digital story allowed me to look back at my fear and see how it was overcome to make me a stronger person. Analysis of Reflection Statements

25. Analysis of the Digital Stories Bradley (1995) developed a three level framework for evaluating levels of reflection. The researchers modified this model to better reflect the evaluation of an intercultural learning experience and used the framework to rank the digital stories into three levels of reflection. Level 1: Descriptive, observations without insight Level 2: Interpretive and emotive, single perspective Level 3: Active approach, multiple perspectives, understands actions are dependent on context Three raters ranked the digital stories focusing particularly on the evidence of insights about China and Chinese culture, indications of multiple perspectives, and suggestions of new meaning derived from the reflective process. Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Another Path The Pecking Order To China with Love Rice Chopsticks and Brotherhood Lost in China My Unexpected China Paparazzi The Squatty Potty Story What China is Like Now China's Walls Friend or Foe Music of the People

27. Conclusion Journals provided an account of what happened. The digital stories at all levels of reflection were more indicative of the impact of an international immersion experience on teachers’ level of intercultural competence than the journals. While the journals recorded a catalogue of events, the digital stories told about participants interactions with Chinese people and Chinese culture. The digital stories provide a window into individual change and cultural experiences and visually illustrate border crossings. The digital stories stand as permanent artifacts available for further reflection and for sharing with an audience. Reflection on events leads to re-evaluation of experience; seeking relationships, finding patterns and meaning, relating new ideas to prior knowledge (Boud, 2001, p. 14).

28. I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world. ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

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