The Development of a Global Perspective During Participation in Semester at Sea: a comparative global education program

This article reports on the results of a study seeking to answer: (1) How do students studying abroad change views with respect to different dimensions of a global perspective? (2) How do various elements of the comparative global education program, Semester at Sea, impact the development of a global perspective? Data were collected using limited participation observation (23 participants), interviews and student journals at the beginning and end of a Semester at Sea voyage. Domain, taxonomic and theme analysis were used to identify patterns of change in five dimensions of students’ global perspectives. The findings of this study offer some possible conceptual refinements concerning dimensions of a global perspective, and generally reinforce the conclusions of prior research on how tourist and study abroad programs contribute to or detract from the development of a global perspective.