Beyond the classroom: How travel courses shape students' global perspectives

Photo Courtesy of Ingrid Lee

Ranked No. 4 in the nation by The Hollywood Reporter, it’s no surprise that the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts provides hands-on experience to its students. From the film equipment rentals to the small class sizes, Dodge College majors will get their fair share of experience just through required courses.

Traditional film school classroom education is designed to give students the foundational knowledge they need to be successful in the film industry, but work in the classroom can only go so far. Kaylee Smith, a senior broadcast journalism and documentary major, just returned from a unique and immersive learning experience offered through Dodge College: a travel course. 

“I really like to travel and I wanted to go international at some point,” Smith said. “I really liked this (travel course) because it was documentary specific, because there's a lot of film travel and study abroad things, but I feel like for documentary, there's not too many that are offered.”

Smith went on the Global Documentary and Communication course in the summer of 2024. In the course, students from many different majors worked together to create short documentary films in Japan.

“I do think that most (travel courses) are geared towards just film students, and they don't give so much of a variety,” Smith said. “But, there were so many people from different majors.” 

The balance between producing the documentary film and adventuring through Japan was something Smith enjoyed. She said her favorite memory was the final hike she went on during her trip.

Sally Rubin, Associate Professor and program coordinator for the broadcast journalism and documentary film program, co-taught the Global Documentary and Communications course. She has taught over a dozen travel courses in 15 years at Chapman, and it’s one of her favorite aspects of her job.

“I love the travel courses. They're definitely one of my absolute favorite experiences here at Chapman,” Rubin said. “It's such a rewarding experience to work with students, to introduce them to another culture and to train them in exploring another culture through the documentary lens.”

The courses provide an opportunity for students to travel as filmmakers rather than tourists, which Rubin believes makes the experience much more immersive.

Rubin told The Panther that the structure of the course she teaches is a blend of new cultural experiences and film production, ensuring that the students have enough time to truly grasp the country they are traveling to. The documentary films are meant to be short and simple to not overcomplicate the process of producing a film in a different environment.

“Documentaries take weeks, months or even years to produce, and we're trying to do (one) in a handful of days,” Rubin said. “So I like to think of these (as) micro docs. These aren't 20 minute pieces. These are maybe five to seven minute films that we can create fairly efficiently.”

Being in a completely new country is naturally shocking, especially for students who have spent a lot of time in familiar surroundings. Rubin said that this is exactly what she hopes students gain from the travel course experience. 

“The number one (takeaway) is that students are out of their comfort zones. A lot of our students are from Orange County,” said Rubin. “So when our students venture out of their comfort zones, they're engaging their environment in a different way. And for our students to be moved a bit at their foundation helps them to look at other cultures in a different way.”

Taking an immersive travel course doesn’t always mean you have to make a film, and junior broadcast journalism and documentary major Ingrid Lee has the experience to prove it. During the interterm of 2024, Lee took Exploring Korean Film Industry and Culture, a two-week intensive travel course to South Korea.

“I've always been interested in Korean culture and Korean films, and I watch a lot of K-dramas personally,” Lee told The Panther. “So for me, it was more of I really wanted to kind of get to immerse myself in that industry and doing it through the travel course I thought was a great way to do it” 

Through this course, Lee and her classmates had the opportunity to see what the Korean film industry was like from the lens of a student in the country. With this flexibility, they were able to experience more than what could be taught in a classroom at Chapman.

“It was heavily advertised through this travel course that we would be able to meet with industry professionals, getting to see what was industry standard,” Lee said.

The class met with the visual effects team that worked on “Train to Busan,” watched a K-pop broadcast and even met stunt actors. Lee said her favorite memory from the trip was getting to try a stunt at the Seoul Action School.

“Because we got to see all these demos and examples, we actually got to do some of the stunts ourselves,” Lee said. “My absolute favorite memory from this was (that) they let us free fall off a third like story.”

The travel course system gives students the opportunity to create memories and learn about film and production abroad, but with international travel comes a great cost.

“It was difficult. I definitely had to branch out and find scholarships” said Smith. “Without the scholarship, I wouldn't have been able to go because I needed that financial help.”

Travel courses can cost thousands of dollars, not including a plane ticket, and this can be a hindering factor for prospective students. Rubin, however, assured that in her programs she tries to do her best to keep costs low and provide scholarship opportunities.

“We do have various scholarship opportunities,” Rubin said. “I know Dodge College also has some scholarships available for students who want to do travel courses who don't necessarily have financial means. We also, I would say, from the programmatic end, work really hard to keep costs down, to make the trips be as efficient and cost-effective as possible.”

Travel courses provide students with invaluable experiences that go beyond what can be taught in the classroom. Despite their financial constraints, these immersive courses provide students with unique hands-on education that students like Lee and Smith cherish.

“I absolutely loved it, and I love applying what we learn here at Dodge and carrying that overseas to execute what we've been kind of trying to do this entire time in college,” Smith said.