General Directions:
The Portfolio is intended to encourage your reflection on course topics in personally meaningful ways. Your responses should be within the page length guidelines provided for each assignment and no longer than that. I encourage you to compose outlines and rough drafts prior to writing up the final entries to gauge the length of your project.
Your responses should be written in Word files, which are compatible with the Blackboard system. Be sure to save electronic files on your computer and a flash drive so as not to lose your work. Responses should be double-spaced using 12-point font and 1 inch margins. For full credit you must follow the directions in terms of format, length and content. You are encouraged to include photographs or other creative elements.
The title page should include your name and title of the course. Beyond that, the design of the cover page (graphics or photos) is up to you. If you do include graphics within the project those materials will not count as space toward your writing page limits. The overall design of your Portfolio should be attractive and professional looking.
Include a table of contents and remember to number the pages. A sample table of contents is provided at the end of this document.
Submit your Portfolios online by the deadlines using the directions provided on Blackboard for the Turnitin system. Note that this is a plagiarism detection system. Do not directly copy the work from your sources or copy the work of a previous student.
Projects must be received (you will receive a time stamp from the Blackboard system) by the deadline. Late assignments will lose 20% of total points and will be accepted only up to two days (48 hours) late. Plan ahead and submit your materials on time.
If you have trouble submitting your work, you must immediately contact me (before the deadline); otherwise your project is considered late. If you follow directions there will be no problem with your submission of the project. Thousands of my students have done it.
For each section of the Portfolio, copy the headings followed by your responses for a well-organized project. For example, for Section #1 the main heading is Personal Meanings of Travel and the sub-headings are: Favorite Travel Experiences, Qualities That Made These Your Favorite, and Themes Determining the Importance of Travel. (These are the same as the headings you will find in the sample Table of Contents.)
#5: Codes of Cultural Behavior (Do’s and Don’ts)
Choice of Country
1. Choose a destination (one country) anywhere in the world. To begin this section, explain why you chose this particular country. Again, why did you choose the country you chose? (Some students have left this out in the past.)
Brief Cultural Overview
2. Provide a brief cultural overview of the country to include historical background, language, religious beliefs, and other information you believe is pertinent. Provide references cited in parentheses by title only, immediately after the information presented. For example: (CountryWatch)
Codes of Cultural Behavior
3. Conduct additional research on the codes of cultural behavior in the country. Provide information on cultural “Do’s” and “Don’ts” for tourists. Analyze at least five “Do’s” and at least five “Don’ts” which document the codes of cultural behavior in the country that will assist tourists in avoiding conflict with the cultural values of the hosts. Again, discuss (not just list) the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” as a major component of this assignment. After each of the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” make certain that you provide the reference cited. The references may appear by title only, in parentheses, after each listing. For example: (CountryWatch)
Unusual Aspects of Culture
4. Explain which of the “Do’s” and which of the “Don’ts” seem most unusual to you and might contribute to your unease in the country you chose.
You must have a minimum of two online resources and two library reference works for a minimum total of four resources. Do not cut and paste material from the online resources. You must report the information in your own words. The Turnitin system detects direct plagiarism. Again, a total of at least four sources must be used. List these under the heading “References” at the end of this section as well as in the narrative of your answers as indicated above. It is not necessary, in this class, to provide the full citation (since it will be easier for you this way and I’m already familiar with the reference works). So, again, simply list your references by title of the work or http link. It is not necessary to use APA or MLA or other methods of attribution. Just the title of the work will suffice for the purposes of this class. Note: Use only credible online sources. Do not use Wikipedia. The more reference material you refer to, the higher quality your response will be, and will result in higher points.
I encourage you to go to the University library to complete this assignment where you will find all of the traditional reference works. The librarians are happy to assist you with this. Also, if you have any trouble with the online resources the librarians can provide help with that too.
Additional information on this project may be found in the Week this Section is assigned.
Length: Five to seven pages
Recommended Date of Completion: The week it is assigned
Points: 20
Section #6: VolunTourism
Go to voluntourism.org
Review the home page to understand the resources available on this web site and to get a feeling for what VolunTourism is. On the menu (left screen) under “Who Are You?” click on “Traveler.” Read this page on VolunTourism for Travelers.
The Difficult Questions
1. Click on “Getting Started” and read. Complete the following exercise in this section: “The Difficult Questions.” Start by answering “Where do I want to go?” Then complete Questions #1-10. Add to your Portfolio.
Insights about Trip Preparation
2. Under “Quick Links” click on “Trip Preparation” and read. (Note that we skipped the section on “Trip Selection.”) After carefully reading the material, discuss three important insights you gained about trip preparation. Add to your Portfolio.
Processing Experiences
3. Under “Quick Links” click on “Processing Experiences” and read. What is your response to this section? In other words, what do you think of the advice given about Processing Experiences? Analyze at least three insights you gained. Add to your Portfolio.
Post-Trip
4. Under “Quick Links” click on Post-Trip and read. What is your response to this section? In other words, what do you think of the advice given about Post-Trip? Present at least three insights you gained. Add to your Portfolio.
Summary of Articles
5. Read the five articles that are posted for this assignment and summarize each of the articles (two to three paragraphs for each). Add to your portfolio.
here are the links: http://www.voluntourism.org/news-soyouknow54.htm
http://www.voluntourism.org/news-soyouknow64.htm
http://www.voluntourism.org/news-wisdom64.htm
http://www.voluntourism.org/news-studyandresearch54.htm
http://www.voluntourism.org/news-feature143.htm
VolunTourism for You?
6. Finally, is VolunTourism something you would consider in future travel plans? Discuss why or why not. Add to your Portfolio.
Length: Five to seven pages
Recommended Date of Completion: The week it is assigned
Points: 20
Additional information on this project may be found in the Week this Section is assigned.
Section #7: Project Implicit
Go to implicit.harvard.edu/implicit
This online project is associated with fascinating research about attitudes toward various aspects of nondominant cultures. It is well known that people don’t always “speak their minds” and it is suspected that people don’t always “know their minds.” Understanding such divergences is important to scientific psychology and for our purposes concerning cross-cultural perspectives. The Project Implicit web site presents a method that demonstrates the conscious-unconscious divergences much more convincingly than has been possible with previous methods. Research using this new method has been conducted at the University of Washington, University of Virginia, Harvard, and Yale.
On the Project Implicit web site you will find a Demonstration Site and a Research Site. Choose the Demonstration Site. There you will find preliminary information and an “important disclaimer.” Read over this material carefully before you proceed, knowing there is a possibility of encountering interpretations of your test performances with which you may not agree. If you opt not to proceed please talk with me about an alternative assignment during my office hours. (Over the past seven years, not a single student has opted out!)
As you continue you can choose from about 15 possible tests that interpret your responses to various aspects of nondominant perspectives, cultures, views and traditions (such as Asian-European American, African-European American, Arab Muslim-Other People, and Native-White American). Choose any five of the tests (of the 15 or so, the categories vary over time) and complete them. In other words, you can choose the tests according to your personal reasons.
Copy the results of your tests to be included in the Portfolio at the end of this section. With reference to the results from the tests, analyze your findings. Again, you must provide a copy (screen shots) of your results. The copies of test results should follow your discussion of these questions:
Interpretation of Results
1. Explain to what extent you agree or disagree with the interpretations provided.
Relevance to Cultural Diversity
2. What does this entire assignment have to do with a general education course with the “cultural diversity” distinction?
Relevance to Cross-Cultural Perspectives of Tourism
3. What does this assignment have to do with cross-cultural perspectives of tourism?
Length: Two to three pages (copies of results don’t count toward page limit)
Recommended Date of Completion: The week it is assigned
Points: 10
Example of table of contents:
Section 5: Codes of Cultural Behavior
Choice of Country
Brief Cultural Overview
Codes of Cultural Behavior (Do’s and Don’ts)
Unusual Aspects of Culture
References
Section 6: VolunTourism
The Difficult Questions
Insights About Trip Preparation
Processing Experiences
Post-Trip
Summary of Articles
VolunTourism for You?
Section 7: Project Implicit
Interpretation of Results
Relevance to Cultural Diversity
Relevance to Cross Cultural Perspectives of Tourism
Results for 5 Tests
