Making Education Abroad Work for Online Students

For many students—and for many reasons—studying abroad for a whole entire semester is not an option. They may be working full time, raising families, serving in the military, or completing their degrees entirely online. But education abroad professionals say those realities shouldn’t prevent students from having meaningful international experiences.

To help more students have such opportunities, colleges and universities are rethinking what education abroad can look like. By combining online coursework with shorter in-country programs, institutions are expanding access while maintaining the academic rigor and cultural immersion that define global learning.

“The barriers to education abroad for online learners are often logistical rather than motivational,” says Aaron Clevenger, assistant provost for international education at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “Our online students may need a different model, but they still seek the same opportunity to learn through international engagement.”

Challenging Assumptions

Arizona State University (ASU) began by asking a simple question: If more than half of its students learn online, why should education abroad be primarily designed to serve students on campus? 

“Our online student enrollment is over 100,000 students,” says Jennifer Malerich, assistant vice provost for academic and global engagement at ASU. “In assessing how the Global Education Office serves all ASU students, we couldn’t ignore such a significant portion of our student population.”

“The barriers to education abroad for online learners are often logistical rather than motivational.” —Aaron Clevenger

Rather than creating separate education abroad opportunities for online learners, ASU developed flexible program models so students studying online and on campus could participate and benefit. “We didn’t set out to create separate education abroad experiences specifically for online learners,” Malerich explains. “Instead, we reimagined our programs so they would be accessible and meaningful for all ASU students.”

ASU’s approach challenges another common assumption: Online students want something fundamentally different from on-campus students. “Ultimately, we found that online students are looking for the same thing every student wants: a transformative global experience,” she says. “The difference is that we need to design those experiences with the realities of their lives in mind.”

“Online students are looking for the same thing every student wants: a transformative global experience. The difference is that we need to design those experiences with the realities of their lives in mind.” —Jennifer Malerich

Clevenger has seen the same thing at Embry-Riddle. “There can be an assumption that online students are less interested in international experiences or that their work and family responsibilities make participation unrealistic,” he says. “That has not always been our experience.”

Clevenger affirms that institutions should instead focus on removing barriers rather than lowering expectations. “Sometimes it is simply a matter of designing programs that make participation possible.”

Listen, Learn, and Adjust

Creating successful programs starts with understanding who online learners are, and how their lives differ from those of traditional residential students.

James White, assistant director of student experience at Embry-Riddle’s Worldwide Campus, says the university’s online students often balance competing priorities. 

“Online students are working professionals, active-duty, and veterans, looking to transition or advance in their careers,” he explains. “They are mothers and fathers who wish to provide stability and security for their families, and they are doing all of this while still pursuing their education.”

Those responsibilities shouldn’t be viewed as a hindrance; they can be an asset to global learning. “Our online learners bring a tremendous depth of professional and life experience to the classroom,” Clevenger says. “Those responsibilities can make a traditional semester abroad difficult, but they do not diminish students’ interest in international experiences.”

“Understanding your student demographic is the first step. You won’t know how to design your program in support of your students if you don’t understand who your students are.” —James White

Given these students’ logistical realities, planning ahead makes a significant difference. “Providing schedules, travel dates, and expectations well in advance allows students to coordinate time away from work, arrange family responsibilities, and make participation realistic,” he says.

White agrees that listening to students has been one of the biggest lessons his team has learned. After launching one of Embry-Riddle’s first programs, a two-week course, military-affiliated students explained that the program’s duration affected their military housing allowance. In response, the university redesigned the academic pacing so the course spans the institution’s full nine-week term, while keeping the international travel portion short. Students complete online assignments before departure, such as reviewing the syllabus and program guidebook, allowing military participants to maintain their military benefits without changing the travel experience.

“Understanding your student demographic is the first step,” White says. “You won’t know how to design your program in support of your students if you don’t understand who your students are.”

Keep Learning at the Core

Once institutions understand their students, Clevenger advises resisting another common mistake: planning the trip before designing the educational experience. “One of the biggest mistakes is designing the travel experience first and then trying to build a course around it,” he says. “The educational experience should always drive the travel, not the other way around.”

At Embry-Riddle, Clevenger’s team works to ensure that students do not experience the online course and the international travel as two separate activities. “Students should never feel like they completed an online course and then took a trip,” Clevenger says. “The travel experience needs to be woven into the course itself so that each part builds on the other.”

“We think of the online and in-country components as one integrated learning experience rather than two separate parts.” —Jennifer Malerich

Before departure, Embry-Riddle students build historical, cultural, and disciplinary knowledge through online coursework. While abroad, faculty help students connect those ideas to what they are seeing and experiencing. Reflection activities before, during, and after the overseas experience encourage students to think critically about what they’re learning and how their perspectives change. “When those pieces come together,” Clevenger says, “even a short in-country experience can be a transformative learning opportunity.”

ASU follows a similar philosophy. “We think of the online and in-country components as one integrated learning experience rather than two separate parts,” Malerich says. “Each stage—preparation, immersion and reflection—serves a purpose in helping students meet the learning outcomes.” 

A Different Path to Success

Overall, experts agree that online learners don’t need a different definition of global learning; they need a different path to it. When program designs account for the realities of students’ lives—rather than assuming all students fit traditional models—meaningful education abroad becomes possible for a much broader population. 

As Clevenger puts it, “The future of education abroad should not be defined solely by how long students travel, but also by how thoughtfully we design opportunities for them to engage with another culture, how deeply they reflect on those experiences, and how the program curriculum connects them to meaningful academic learning.”  •