A Semester at Sea takes Rider professor around the world

Engaged learning is the epitome of a Rider education. This spring, a Rider communication professor maximized his hands-on learning by literally circumnavigating the globe in the pursuit of new educational experiences. From January to April, Dr. Barry Janes embarked on a 106-day, 11-country journey during the Semester at Sea program.

The Semester at Sea program allows students, professors and college officials from all over the world to engage in a semester-long academic and cultural learning experience. Since 1963, more than 68,000 individuals from 1,700 institutions have participated in the program.

"You're essentially on a floating college campus," Janes says. "We watched a cruise ship transform into a full campus in about three days. Then, the students joined us on day four. It was amazing to watch a group of people who had never worked as a unit before come together to make this experience work."

The program offers classes from nearly all academic disciplines from liberal arts, sciences, business, education, music, theatre and more. Janes taught two mass media courses and a documentary film course. Every class is designed to have a field experience where students learn by engaging directly with another country's culture.

"Many of our experiences led to some really interesting discussions — things you wouldn't be talking about if you just stayed in a classroom. It was amazing to see the students delve into real in-depth thought when they were confronted with some of these world issues."

For one of his mass media classes, Janes and his students spent a day talking with Times of India staff members, journalists, activists and local writers about the #MeToo movement. Founded in 2006, the movement, which aims to support survivors and end sexual violence, gained momentum in 2017 after numerous accusations of sexual assault and harassment arose against high-profile American celebrities.

"In India, the students saw how differently the #MeToo movement was happening," Janes says. "They learned from certain presenters during the day how India is a patriarchal society where there is a lot of victim blaming. They heard how women are not permitted to dress certain ways by society. We discussed how journalists cover this topic in light of these cultural beliefs and how some journalists are even threatened by political leaders. The students realized the resistance the women's movement is facing worldwide."

Janes says the motto for the participants of the Semester at Sea program was "all in." So in every city they visited, they made sure to embrace the experiences fully, according to Janes.

When presented with local delicacies of crickets, worms, snakes, tarantulas and grasshoppers in Cambodia, he and his fellow travelers dined like locals. Janes and his students experienced the so-called great firewall in China, unable to access certain websites and social media platforms. They toured the Shanghai Film Museum and the backlot of a Chinese film studio to learn more about the industry. In South Africa, they met with the producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary Searching for Sugarman. They visited a school for Buddhist monks, learning about their devotion and practices. In Myanmar, a lecturer living through the country's genocide gave them insight into the country's struggles.

After a semester filled with once-in-a-lifetime experiences, Janes hopes to incorporate a more globalized focused within the courses he teaches at Rider.

"While I've taught mass media for many years, it becomes glaring how U.S. focused it is," he says. "There are sections about globalization, but 95 percent of it is focused on the U.S. I started to think about how we're teaching these classes and what students need to know to effectively work in this globalized world. This experience helped me look at these classes through a different, more worldwide lens."