Faculty Resources

Applying to Offer a Travel-Learning Course

Information for the 22/23 Academic Year

**Faculty should consult sections "B" and "F" of the OWU Connection Information and Resources for the 22/23 Academic Year web page for current information and updates about the TLC Program .

**Faculty who have had TLC's approved for 2020 and 2021 travel, should contact Darrell if they have questions regarding course scheduling, converting an international TLC to a domestic TLC, or other.

**An update regarding the CAP TLC proposal process for the 23/24 academic year is pending. CAP did not put out a call for TLC's for the 22/23 academic year because of the number of approved TLC's that have not traveled.

Process Overview

Travel-Learning Courses consist of a 1 or 1.25 credit Parent Course normally combined with a .25 credit Travel Component. Travel-Learning Courses are applied for on an annual basis, for the following academic year. The Committee on Academic Programs reviews the applications and submits its recommendations to the Administration, which selects the courses to be offered.  

If the Parent Course is not already in the catalog, the instructor, with approval from the academic department/program, will need to submit a proposal to the Committee on Academic Programs to add the course as a temporary addition to the catalog.

An update regarding the CAP 23/24 proposal process for the 2022/2023 academic year is pending.  

A complete proposal consists of 3 parts:  (1) a Travel-Learning Course Proposal Form including an uploaded Course Narrative file, (2) an uploaded Budget Worksheet, and (3) information from the faculty member's department chair.  Proposal instructions are found on the CAP website.

Course Narrative Instructions can be found attached here (PDF).

Information from the faculty member's department chair is to be completed and submitted separately using the on-line Travel-Learning Proposal -- Information from Department Chair Form.

For general resources on developing and implementing a short-term study abroad experience, please see below.

Budgeting Guidance

  • The OWU Connection / IOCP Office can assist you with the development of your budget.  The budget for the course is the responsibility of the faculty instructor.
  • The course budget submitted with the Travel-Learning Course Proposal Form is an initial estimate, which the faculty member should update over the summer.  In some cases, after final costs and enrolment have been established, the estimated cost may be lowered and final student charge established.  (See timeline below for more information.)
  • The Travel Budget Note Sheets (Word) may be helpful in planning your day-to-day traveler costs. They were designed to be printed and used in the initial stages of planning/budgeting.
  • For estimates of cost for travel (including air, land and accommodation), please contact a Christopherson Business Travel (CBT) University Team Advisor at: 800-285-3603   Email: university.travel@cbtravel.com To get a quote or price estimate, please contact them directly. For general information see: OWU Travel / OWU Group Travel.  CBT has group booking specialists within their University Team for domestic and international travel.
  • The file TLC Budget Worksheet (Excel).  The first is for figuring the per-traveler cost and the second for figuring the over-all course travel costs. The total per-traveler cost is carried over to the total course budget sheet. These may be adapted to individual needs. You need a budget with estimated per person costs as part of your proposal. Then, when classes are accepted and once final numbers of students are known, you will need to submit a revised budget.
  • The cost of travel for the lead faculty is covered by the institution.  The cost of the second faculty/staff traveler is shared by the student travellers.  Initial budgets should include the cost of the second in the student estimated cost.
  • Those participating in the travel portion of a TLC, who are neither students nor faculty leads, will be charged the full cost of their participation, normally twice the student charge.  
  • For converting foreign currency into US dollars, you use an on-line currency converter such as www.oanda.com/currency/converter/ . When converting to US Dollars make sure you use the interbank rate +2 % or 3%—this can be done by using the drop-down menu immediately under "the currency I want" box.
  • Information about students staying in OWU residence halls prior to and after a TLC:  Students will not be charged for staying in their rooms before or after a TLC during the Fall, Thanksgiving and Spring Breaks. Students may be charged for staying in their rooms during the Winter Break, depending on the dates of stay, and may be assigned to a room that is not their own.  (Contact the OWU Connection Office / IOCP if students in your course will need to stay in the residence halls during the Winter Break.)   Students will not be charged for stays of a reasonable length in the residence halls after graduation in May, but they may be required to relocate to another room and will have to make arrangements for their property to be moved out or stored prior to departure.  Students must follow the instructions Residential Life gives them about break registration. It is best to have May travel commence within a few days after graduation.  Contact the OWU Connection Office / IOCP, if students in your course will need to stay in the residence halls after graduation.  
  • Some students may want to request a deviation to their flight routing (returning from a TLC to their hometown, not Columbus, for example).  This might be possible in some cases.  Contact CBT for more information.  Columbus, CMH, is the airport from which all deviations are defined.
  • Faculty leads who are approved to offer a TLC will receive a $2,500 course development budget that will become available in July.  This budget, if not used to fund the development of the field experience for the course, may be used to off-set costs associated with the course itself.
  • Student billing, financial aid and refund information can be found here.
  • The OWU Academic Calendar with dates for breaks can be found here.

Developing the Travel Experience for your Course

  • The OWU Connection / IOCP Office provides services and resources to help, for these, please see: Menu of Services (PDF)
  • The Forum on Education Abroad has published standards for short-term programs: ForumEA -- Standards for Short-Term Programs . The Forum also offers resources for those developing courses: ForumEA -- Resources . (A log-in and password are needed for some parts of these sites. Call ext 3072 or email Darrell to get access.) Copies of The Guide to Successful Short-Term Programs Abroad by Spencer and Tuma are available in the OWU Connection / IOCP Office.   Additionally, the 2012 OWU Travel-Learning Resource Guide is available here: OWU TLC Guide (PDF).
  • All travel arrangements must be made through:  Christopherson Business Travel (CBT) University Team Advisor Group: 800-285-3603   Email: university.travel@cbtravel.com To get a quote or price estimate, please contact them directly. For general information see: OWU Travel / OWU Group Travel. CBT has group booking specialists for domestic and international travel.  Every detail does not have to be fixed before requesting a initial quote. Faculty must then work closely with CBT to develop itinerary and complete budget.
  • Examples of syllabi and/or itineraries from previous OWU Travel-Learning Courses and faculty-led international and domestic travel courses at other institutions may be available. Contact the OWU Connection Office with your request.
  • In depth country safety, health and security reports are available upon request. Updated ones will be provided prior to departure.
  • Students travelling internationally are required to complete two on-line training modules -- Pre-Departure Essentials and Cultural Essentials.  Other pre-departure support for students is also available, including peer advising for first-time travellers, travel medicine consultations, passport and visa support and a pre-departure safety and risk management presentation. Contact the OWU Connection / IOCP Office for more information.
  • Faculty are strongly encouraged to create pre-departure travel information sessions and/or resources that are tailored to their own courses.  (Packing guidance and packing lists are greatly appreciated by students, for example.)
  • Support while travelling is provided by the OWU Connection / IOCP Office. All people travelling on OWU-sponsored programs are covered by accident, sickness, and evacuation insurance and have access to emergency support world-wide. There is a crisis plan and desk-top scenario exercises for faculty and staff leads.
  • TLC Rubrics have been developed by faculty. Please see:
  • Certain activities are prohibited by our institutional insurance policy. These include: skydiving, parachuting, hang gliding, bungee jumping, mountain climbing, pot-holing, zip-lining, motorcycle riding, scuba diving (unless scuba diving is an assigned part of the curriculum of study for course credit) and certain athletic activities (contact Darrell for details).
  • Faculty can choose one member of the faculty/staff to support their TLC.  
    • Please note that part-time faculty may need the permission of the Provost in order to participate in the TLC Program.  Please contact the IOCP Office first at ext 3075 to learn about restrictions.
    •  Please also note that individuals classified as non-exempt must be paid for all hours of activity related to the course and are eligible for and must be paid over-time.  Permission of the supervisor and the Provost are needed for members of the staff to participate.  Please see the Staff Handbook for more information. 
  • Those participating in the travel portion of a TLC, who are neither students nor faculty leads, will be charged the full cost of their participation, normally twice the student charge.  Prior approval is needed for non-students & non-faculty to participate in any aspect of a TLC.  
  • Travel to countries/regions with a U.S. Dept. of State Level 4 Travel Advisory is prohibited.  Travel to countries with a U.S. Dept. of State Level 3 Travel Advisory will be reviewed by the University administration.  
  • See below for more resources.

Once Your Course Is Selected

If the class you are proposing is not currently in the catalog, at that point you will also need to fill out the Temporary Course Proposal (Word) form.

All Travel-Learning Courses will include a .25 unit Travel Component section* (for example, the Travel Component section associated with ASTR 110 is ASTR 110 TL). Students will register for this additional course in addition to registering for the Parent Course. All accepted classes will need to fill out the Travel Component Proposal Form (Word).

Because of the extraordinary issues involved in traveling with students, there are many practical reasons for requiring the separation of the .25-unit Travel Component’s credits from the Parent Course’s. These include:

  • Seniors traveling in May cannot graduate if a full-unit Parent Course's grade is outstanding
  • Separating the Travel Component from the class allows a student who is unable to travel due to unforeseen circumstances (health, finances, etc.) to still receive fair credit for work completed during the semester—they can drop or withdraw from the .25
  • Separating the Travel Component allows faculty to fail students for the .25-unit course in case of misbehaviour, failure to participate while traveling, or other breaches of rules/conduct.  It also allows faculty to specify requirements for preparation for and participation in travel prior to the start of the trip.
  • Separating the .25-unit Travel Component allows faculty the opportunity to grade travel on an S/U basis, which can alleviate parts of student anxiety about situations where we are asking them to take larger academic or social risks.

If there is a compelling reason that your course should not include a separate .25-unit Travel Component, or why the grade for the full course should include the travel, you may make a case for that in your initial proposal.

All students travelling must be enrolled in the .25-unit Travel Component credit. If course is approved not to include the .25 Travel Component, students must be enrolled for the full unit of credit for the course. Travel-Learning Courses cannot be audited.

Anticipated Travel-Learning Course Timeline for Faculty

For 23/24 Academic Year Courses

22/FA

  • November -- CAP issues request for TLC proposals
  • CAP deadline for submitting proposals (usually in early January)

23/SP

  • January – CAP and Administration approval and selection of TLC's
  • February, March – Travel planning and general information meetings with OWU Connection staff as needed

23/SU

  • June – OWU Connection P-Cards and course development funds available for summer TLC research and development; submission of information for TLC Brochure
  • June, July – TLC research, development and planning

23/FA

  • September (SP/24 student recruitment):
    • Friday, noon, third or fourth week of September -- Travel Learning Course Fair / Spring Break Service Trip Fair-- Merrick Hall
    • Student recruitment
    • Mid September  --  TLC student application system opens
    • End of September  --  TLC student application deadline
    • Planning meetings as needed with OWU Connection staff continue
  • October:
    • 1 October -- Temporary Course Proposal and Travel Component Proposal Form (if applicable) submitted to IOCP / OWU Connection Office in Merrick Hall;
    • selection of TLC students for course by mid-October;
  • November:  
    • Student notification of accept/deny/wait-list status for TLC Courses;
    • student registration for Spring courses;
    • Travel-Learning Course travel forms sent to students;
    • budget updates to OWU Connection Office
  • December:
    • 1 December updated TLC budget to Darrell Albon.

24/SP

  • January, February or March:
    • Course charges finalized
    • Students billed for TLC enrolment
  • February:
    • OWU Connection student Pre-Departure Modules (safety, health, travel, cross-cultural skills) go live;
    • faculty one-one-one pre-departure meetings with OWU Connection staff.
  • March:
    • Spring Break TLC travel
  • April:
    • Faculty one-one-one pre-departure meetings with OWU Connection staff.
  • May:
    • Post-graduation TLC travel (travel must end within 21 weeks of start of the semester)
  • June/July:
    • Students sent TLC course evaluations

Some helpful international travel resources for faculty:

Education Abroad Faculty Toolkit - The University of Kentucky.

A general resource about international faculty led courses - FacultyLed.com 

Innovating Faculty-Led -- Podcasts that discuss innovative ways to develop and lead programs and "explore programs from the genesis of an idea through program development and implementation." 

Information about responsible, ethical and sustainable study abroad: Responsible Travel resources from Transitions Abroad, Sustainable Study Abroad from Middlebury College, Sustainable Travel Checklist from Sustainable Travel International, also the Ethical Traveler website.

Mobility International USA - an organization advocating for international exchange for people with disabilities.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection - information about re-entering the USA.

US Department of State - see links to International Travel and to information about specific countries information, also has a section for US students studying abroad.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - information about health issues and immunizations by country.

What's Up With Culture? - The University of the Pacific.

OWU Connection

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