Not All Classrooms Have Four Walls

WHITEWATER, WI —

Some of the most important lessons we teach don’t happen in Heide Hall. They happen in airports, on city streets, in conversations with strangers, and in the quiet moment when a student realizes they’re seeing the world differently than they did a week ago.

Our travel study program in Communication has been doing that work for more than two decades. The first recorded trip dates back to 2003, and from the beginning, the idea was simple. If we teach students how to communicate, we should put them in places where communication actually matters.

2003 Communications travel study group in Ireland

Over time, the program has become more intentional. What used to be study abroad is now a fully integrated travel journalism experience, grounded in community-based learning and real-world storytelling.

Students don’t just travel. They report. They document. They interpret culture in real time.

That work shows up in modern forms. Live broadcasts. Blog writing. Cultural reporting. Field interviews. Students are producing content while they are still in the experience, not months later when everything feels polished and distant. It’s immediate, and because of that, it’s honest.

The structure matters. Students spend three weeks in-country, long enough to move past the surface. The first few days are observational. Then something shifts. They start asking better questions. They begin to understand how culture shapes communication instead of assuming their own perspective is the default.

Turning Experience Into Engagement: Gamification and CBL in Action

What makes this program work isn’t just the travel. It’s the structure behind it.

In recent years, we’ve pushed to make the experience more intentional. What emerged is a model that blends community-based learning with gamification, creating an environment where students aren’t just observing culture, they’re participating in it.

In Ireland, that model came to life through what we called The Great Dublin Dash. 

At first glance, it looks playful. Students work in teams. They carry a traveling gnome. There’s a leaderboard, challenges, and a steady stream of inside jokes that somehow make their way into serious work.

But underneath that is a deliberate learning system.

Each day, a lead team operates as a field newsroom, responsible for documenting the cultural story of a city in real time. They produce live broadcasts, video, and written content that moves beyond what they saw and into what it means. 

The rest of the students work from a structured field guide that pushes them to interpret, question, and create. Some prompts are observational. Others are reflective. Many ask students to connect what they’re experiencing to larger cultural or personal ideas.

In Derry, that might mean unpacking the meaning behind a mural.

Or sitting with a local to discuss memory, conflict, and how both shape popular culture.

At the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, the work turns inward. Students confront what fear or perspective they’re ready to leave behind.

This is where community-based learning does its best work.

Students are not simulating professional communication. They are doing it in real time, in real places, with real audiences. Every post, every video, every live broadcast carries weight. 

The gamification layer keeps the energy high without turning it into a gimmick.

City challenges act as missions. Teams earn recognition for strong storytelling, thoughtful reflection, and meaningful cultural engagement. The leaderboard tracks progress, but the emphasis stays on momentum, not pressure. 

Students begin to care about the quality of their work in a different way. They collaborate more. They take creative risks. They start asking better questions, not because they have to, but because they want their work to matter.

That’s the shift.

As Dr. Sue Wildermuth (Pictured here with ‘Germany Unscripted’ Co-Lead, Dr. Amal Ibrahim) has long emphasized, community-based learning isn’t about placing students in new environments. It’s about asking them to engage with those environments in ways that create meaning for both themselves and the communities they encounter.

As she puts it, “CBL works when students stop asking, ‘What am I supposed to do here?’ and start asking, ‘What does this place need me to understand?’”

What’s Next: Germany and Beyond

That philosophy is now shaping the next evolution of the program.

In Spring 2026, the Communication Department will take that same foundation to Germany through Germany Unscripted: Film and Digital Storytelling Abroad. 

Students will spend the semester developing documentary projects, then travel to Germany to produce them on location. They will collaborate with peers from the University of Rhine-Main, engage in intercultural dialogue, and build stories that explore identity, perception, and global connection. 

Ireland teaches students how to see. Germany asks them to shape what they see into something lasting.

And the work doesn’t stop there.

In Fall 2026, students will head to Costa Rica for an immersive experience focused on intercultural communication, media, and environmental storytelling. The course examines how a country tells its story through branding, ecology, and culture, while asking students to consider how those narratives shape both perception and reality. 

From the streets of Dublin to the Alps of Germany to the ecosystems of Costa Rica, the throughline remains the same. Students learn how to observe, how to listen, and how to translate experience into meaning.

Give to the Communication Department Travel Study Fund

For many students, studying abroad changes everything. It expands academic, personal, and professional horizons in ways a classroom alone can’t replicate.

Support makes that possible. $100 covers the cost of a passport, $500 covers the cost of a flight, so your contribution helps remove financial barriers so more students can take part. 

Scan to give to the Travel Study Fund

To pay with a check (no processing fees):
Make payable to UW-Whitewater Foundation, Inc.
Please include “Comm491 Travel Study” in the memo line

Mail to:
UW-Whitewater Foundation, Inc.
Alumni Center
800 W Main St
Whitewater, WI 53190

Because not all classrooms have four walls. And once you’ve learned that, it’s hard to go back.