Student Autophotography of Perceived Leadership Competency Development during a Short-Term Domestic Study Tour

Abstract

Many higher educational institutions offer existing travel abroad study experiences. On the rise are short-term domestic travel experiences with the large cultural diversity present in the United States. As accessibility to study abroad programing is continuously faced with barriers such as cost, perceived safety, opportunity cost, and language, could domestic study programs offer equitable alternatives? With leadership experience being a necessary and sought after skill by students and employers, to what capacity does domestic travel provide participants leadership development? This autophotography study utilized photo-caption data to investigate the perceived leadership competencies developed by state FFA officers during a short-term domestic travel experience. Participant photo-caption responses communicated limited leadership competency development. Rather, participants conflated agricultural experiential exposure and gained social capital as perceived leadership competency development. Recommendations include developing leadership curriculum grounded in theory for both domestic and abroad travel experiences, front loading leadership competency development goals to participants, introducing post-trip interviews in future studies, and replicating the study within a global context in a travel experience abroad to understand perceptions beyond a domestic experience.