Travel-Study as Learning in Sociology

This article will provide information on the objectives, characteristics, and outcomes associated with a joint sociology-urban studies, travel-study, minicourse program. The authors have collaborated over the past seven years, offering one four-day two-credit hour minicourse each semester to our undergraduate day and evening students. Each course includes a four-day (Wednesday night through Sunday evening) structured trip for 35 to 45 students, plus 35 hours of additional research and writing by the students when they return. We have scheduled trips to Toronto, Montreal, Washington, DC, and New Orleans, and plan to add trips to Dallas, Epcot Center, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix-Tucson, and San Francisco-Los Angeles. In addition, Andrew Prinz offers longer trips (2-3 weeks) for smaller groups of students (8-15) at least once a year. He has taken groups to cities in Scandinavia, Spain, other parts of Europe, Russia, China, Mexico, and Australia.