IE Events and News
Open Advising Hours
Tuesdays - 2:00-4:00 pm
Thursdays - 10:00-12:00 pm
no appt necessary
International Education
Glendening Hall, Suite 230
240 895-4202
ie@smcm.edu
Semester in
SAN PEDRO
Semesters at the Institute for Central American Development Studies focus on economic development, education, environmental studies, human rights, public health, wildlife conservation, and women's issues through two tracks: internships or resource management/sustainable development group study.
More programs..
Preparing for Life Abroad
St. Mary's has designed a credit-bearing pre-departure through reintegration course continnum and a set of Blackboard courses for St. Mary's students -- Bb pre-departure course and Bb program-specific courses -- to support you in preparing for and participating in an international semester or study tour experience.
These courses aim to increase your knowledge about how to access information and utilize resources while building an ethos of personal responsibility and emergency preparedness in that will empower you to make beneficial personal decisions that will impact your quality of life abroad.
Blackboard Courses
SMCM students self-enroll in these Blackboard Courses by logging into Blackboard and entering a key word (i.e., destination country or name of university) in the course search field. Once found, click on the "Enroll" button and follow the prompts to submit. The course will then appear in Your Courses.
In the Payap University Blackboard Course, you will learn about:
- St. Mary's Signature Semester at Payap University
- Applying to St. Mary's Signature Semester at Payap University
- Academics at Payap
- Financing Study at Payap
- Health in Thailand
- Safety in Thailand
- Pre-departure Planning, Checklist and Logistics
- Living at Payap
- Travel Resources in Thailand
- Returning Home from Thailand
- Study-Abroad Resources
In the Pre-departure Blackboard Course, you will learn about:
- Pre-departure Planning at SMCM
- Health Resources and Considerations
- Safety Resources and Considerations
- Pre-departure Planning, Checklists and Logistics
- Living Abroad
- Travel Resources
- Returning Home
- Study-Abroad Resources
Global Scholar
GlobalScholar is an online course set to facilitate learning about study abroad. Organized in three phases, these resources are designed to support student learning as you prepare for departure, study abroad, and continue your international learning once home.
Culture Learning
Learning about the culture in which you'll be immersed in is an exciting and at times difficult endeavor. Resources available to guide students through this learning are:
- What's Up with Culture? (online tool)
- Maximizing Study Abroad: A Student's Guide to Strategies for Language and Culture Learning and Use (paperback book)
Foundations for Global Learning
Please note this course is currently in the pilot phase and is not offered every term.
Course Goal:
The primary goal of this course is to enable students to better prepare themselves for the academic, cultural, personal and social challenges and opportunities they will face while studying abroad during a fall or spring semester.
Course Description:
This course supports the College's strategic objective to promote global engagement, social responsibility, and diversity in all forms. Students will explore topics through reading, in-class discussions, lecture, role-playing, and research that will provide them with the conceptual tools to develop strategies for successfully adapting to and engaging with a new cultural environment that should help optimize the transformative potential of their future study abroad experience. We seek to form a learning community for study abroad that provides students with the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the culture in the country where they will live and study next semester. We also seek to improve our understanding of the relationships among the countries and cultures that form the global community; and our own place as individuals within an increasingly interdependent world.
