Day 14: Tuesday, May 20. Today was the first day I had a morning class. The other group that's here from the University of Oregon for 10 weeks has students taking a full load of classes, so the classroom already has a number of sessions booked. We work around their existing schedule. Many of the students prefer to sleep late but don't mind 10 a.m. They even say it motivates them to accomplish things during the day (like work on their projects). Officially day 14 means we're 40 percent of the way through the class, but we're certainly not 40 percent of the way through the work. When you consider that our arrival in Macerata was Day 5, and the first day of class was Day 7, it's easy to see why we're not 40 percent finished yet.

Study abroad programs have come under increased scrutiny in recent years, and Ball State is no exception. Because some programs have had very low academic requirements there has been an increased monitoring of contact minutes, learning outcomes, etc. Before getting approval I had to submit my planned class meetings: not exact times of classes, but exact length, so the university could make sure I was expecting enough. Well, these students have gotten more than the minutes listed. Yesterday Filiberto provided his second 75-minute session on churches, showing slides (yes, slides - not PowerPoint or anything like that) and explaining the architectural elements of churches, from Roman through Romanesque through Gothic through Renaissance. These sessions were not considered a part of their contact minutes. Those who are not quite as motivated might see it as an extra burden, but I see it as a "bonus" for them that they haven't had to pay for.

Regardless of how you look at it, this is just one of many examples of how the schedule originally designed when we were back in the U.S. only vaguely resembles our actual schedule. The students have been offered "survival" Italian lessons, just giving them basics. All the students attended the first hour, only about 2/3 came to the second lesson and only about 1/3 made it to the third hour. These are free lessons. They don't fit anywhere into their class schedule. I was asked by one of the students whether they were required to attend. I told him that I wouldn't take that into consideration when grading them. I'm sure that contributed to the declining enrollment. I think this meme currently circulating on Facebook is appropriate.

Our situation isn't about cheating, but the same applies - emphasis on grades rather than learning. 

In any event, administrators will never understand all the learning that occurs in all kinds of settings. If the only things students learn in Italy are the same things they would learn in a Muncie classroom, then what's the point? I know that they are learning so much more, but people several pay levels above me who make administrative decisions will probably never get it. Every administrator ought to do this once so they can see the value for themselves.