Cultural Introduction to Italy

One week of on-site field learning in different locations before session start: Rome, Tuscan coast, Cinque Terre (Fall-Summer); Rome, Orvieto, Perugia (Spring). The study of Italian culture helps the student to acquire a deep awareness of both cultural unity and regional diversity. This one-week intensive course is intended to provide students with an in-depth introduction to Italian culture and to broaden one’s awareness and understanding of the role of cultural heritage in customs and lifestyles. Lectures will provide students with an organized, focused, and academic understanding of Italian history, art, architecture, food, religion, and culture. The course provides additional enrichment through basic notions of Italian language and terminology along with assigned readings and a final paper. On-site teaching is a significant part of this course and aims to provide the student with an incomparable experience of studying important sites of artistic, architectural, and social relevance in present-day Italy. Students are encouraged to observe the sites through active participation and to discuss their observations using specific and analytic social assessment skills. This class includes field learning hours. Field learning is a method of educating through first-hand experience. Skills, knowledge, and experience are acquired outside of the traditional academic classroom setting and may include field activities, field research, and service learning projects. The field learning experience is cultural because it is intended to be wide-reaching, field-related content is not limited to the course subject but seeks to supplement and enrich academic topics. Students will have the opportunity to integrate theory and practice while experiencing Italian culture, art, and community within the Italian territory. Faculty will lead students in experiencing Italian culture through guided projects and field experiences as planned for the course. Field learning will be developed through classroom preparation, follow up projects, and guided learning outcomes. Field learning will provide students with the opportunity to develop skills and appreciate the multifold components of Italian Culture through direct experience. Field education will advance student learning as a relationship-centered process.