International fieldwork as skills development: an exploratory study

The current study examined the impacts of a Japanese university's international fieldwork programs on developing the higher-order thinking skills and attributes of the students who participated in the programs in the Philippines and India. Through students' self-evaluation questionnaires, the study compared the reported scores of these skills and attributes both before and after the fieldwork programs. The findings suggested that the fieldwork programs seem to have significantly contributed to improving critical thinking and problem-solving skills as well as adaptability. However, other skills and attributes did not improve significantly. The current study also explored the possible reasons for the positive, neutral, and negative impacts of the fieldwork programs through an analysis of the findings from a series of focus group interviews with the students. While the majority of the skills and attributes did not show significant improvement, the current research may have important implications. Indeed, students' responses from the focus group interviews suggest a more positive development of skills and attributes than was revealed by the self-evaluation questionnaires. The possible reasons for this discrepancy were also explored.