Moving through Autonomy toward Interdependence: A Framework for Examining Student Perceptions of Development in a Hybrid Model Study Abroad Program

Examining how students develop abroad within a given study abroad program model can provide insight into their experiences and how to best support them. This study explores the experiences of students who studied abroad through one of Midwest College’s five hybrid study abroad programs during the 2016-2017 academic year. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine students to determine the participants’ perceptions of their personal development, using Chickering and Reisser’s (1993) third vector of student development, moving through autonomy toward interdependence, as a theoretical framework. The findings revealed that participants perceived they had grown in all three areas of Chickering and Reisser’s third vector: instrumental independence, emotional independence and interdependence, providing new insight and perspective into the growing body of research regarding student development in study abroad program models.