Given that higher education institutions are increasingly utilizing short term study abroad courses as a means to develop students’ intercultural competency, it is important to determine if and how the instructors leading these programs are incorporating intercultural learning into their courses. By examining learning objectives embedded within syllabi from short term study abroad courses, the purpose of this study was to identify the relative extent to which instructors emphasize disciplinary and intercultural learning in teaching short term study abroad courses, and to examine the types of intercultural learning that instructors are explicitly including in their courses. Findings point to a wide diversity of emphasis on disciplinary cont ent and intercultural learning, with slightly more courses emphasizing disciplinary content than intercultural learning. Of those learning objectives that focus on intercultural learning, the vast majority focused on intercultural knowledge rather than skills or attitudes.

Virtual exchanges (VEs) are course-based experiences designed to promote global learning, often by integrating cross-cultural interactions and collaborations with people from other areas of the world into coursework in a virtual format. Due to the widespread disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, VEs have seen an increase in popularity. However, research findings on the effectiveness of VEs are mixed, and limited guidance is available to VE instructors on how to structure and facilitate these programs. The purpose of this paper is to highlight how theories and literature in two distinct areas of scholarship, Intergroup Contact theory and the Community of Inquiry model in online learning, could be applied to VEs to maximize student learning. We discuss each of these theories first and then highlight how they could be applied to VEs using illustrative examples from a pilot study of five VE courses offered at one institution during the summer of 2021.

The increased enrollment of students with mental health needs in U.S. higher education, paired with increasing emphasis on study abroad participation has led campus mental health professionals to consider how their services might extend to serve students with mental health needs who are studying abroad. When it comes to faculty led courses, instructors can play a key role in providing on-the-ground support for students experiencing mental health challenges. The findings from this study provide key insights that college mental health professionals can use to better understand and support these instructors as they serve on the front lines of addressing students' mental health needs while they are away from campus. In particular, our findings point to key ways that college mental health professionals can partner with education abroad offices to provide effective pre-departure training and in-country support for faculty instructors.

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Despite the prominence of emotion disturbance in bipolar disorder, few studies have assessed emotion differentiation. The present investigation used an experience-sampling approach to test the utility of emotion differentiation in predicting bipolar mood-related difficulties. Across two studies, emerging adults participated during a normative first year of college (Spring 2019; Study 1; n=136) or during their first year of college marked by a naturalistic global pandemic stressor (Spring 2020; Study 2; n=136). Study 1 results suggested that emotion differentiation was not associated with trait bipolar risk. Study 2 suggested that global emotion differentiation was associated with increased trait bipolar risk, but not current mood symptom severity. These results suggest that relationships between emotion differentiation and dimensions of bipolar risk may vary by context. Discussion focuses on the implications for translational interventions.