University Offer New “Study Abroad” Course in Spring Semester

A new course, Study, Travel or Work across Cultures and Borders, will be offered this spring at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology. If you are considering international travel or just want to be better prepared to communicate with a neighbor from another culture, then this course is for you. Okmulgee area residents are invited to enroll in this course on a credit or noncredit basis. Meetings will be on Tuesday evenings 5:30-8:30 p.m. in the Reynolds Technology Center beginning on January 11 and continuing through April. On a non-credit basis, the course cost will be $165, not including the textbook purchase.

The course instructor will be Dr. Randall Beckloff, a Coordinator in OSUIT’s International Affairs office. He has lived and worked in three different African countries and has traveled extensively on the continent of Africa. He is fluent in the Swahili language and has taught Swahili at the university level.The class will build on Dr. Beckloff’s international experiences, the international experiences of others in the class and will utilize the textbook, Communication between Cultures by Samovar, Porter and McDaniel. The class will emphasize practical applications of cross-cultural communication theory and will also deal with the practical challenges of preparing for international travel, such as passports and visas, health issues and purchasing airline tickets.

The world truly is getting smaller. Gone are the days when it was unusual to meet someone whose mother tongue was not English. In the age of the global economy and the worldwide Web, anyone with a computer and internet access can be an international traveler. At the click of a mouse, you can purchase airline tickets to Thailand or be communicating with Kamau in Kenya. Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Engineering,Computer Science and Business.This course will give you the tools to more effectively participate in the interconnected world in which we live.