Forced Pivots: Reimagining Travel Courses Due to Pandemic Disruptions

Scholars have long demonstrated the numerous benefits to students of participating in experiential learning courses. These factors help justify the substantial additional work that these courses take to organize and execute, on the part of both professors and administrators. When it comes to travel courses, particularly international travel courses, the advantages and costs are perhaps at their highest levels. Given the advanced planning and arrangements required for these courses to run successfully, these trips must justify their financial and time costs by providing unique experiences that are hard or impossible to replicate in a traditional classroom. So, what happens when a global pandemic, such as the Covid 19 outbreak, disrupts these carefully laid plans? Can any of the benefits of these courses be simulated effectively without bringing students to the field? If so, which elements can best be translated or mimicked, and how can this be done?