1. Assessing the worth of blogging as a tool in education abroad: An examination of
blogging to ease cross-cultural transition issues such as culture and re-entry shock.
Lindsay Allen, Jana Johanssen, Justin Kader,Emily Kirsch, Debie Waggoner
SIT Graduate Institute
Abstract
The purpose of the study is to evaluate whether or not blogging is a useful tool in
reducing the amount of negative emotions one may experience when traveling, focusing
on culture and re-entry shock. We studied a variety of participants, ranging from high
school through graduate school, who traveled from and to a different array of countries.
The participants we surveyed have already returned from their programs. Based on an
online survey, we collected quantitative data such as age range, amount of time abroad,
gender, ethnicity, level of study, home and host countries, number and types of languages
spoken, and whether blogging was required or not. Qualitative data included how
participant felt blogging influenced their experience, how they felt about their home and
host country before departure and upon returning, and if blogging had an effect on culture
shock and re-entry shock they may have undergone. The researchers found that blogging
helped with culture shock to some degree, but seemed to vary greatly from one individual
to the next.