Online Instructor Stalks Elusive 'Student Engagement' in Africa

Instructor Rob Powell is up early working on content for students that he shares on multiple platforms.

Instructor Rob Powell records himself speaking in a tent during his previous trip to Mount Kilimanjaro.

Tents are lit in the evening as climbers prepare for the next day.

Elephants are a common sight on safari in Africa.

The peak of Mount Kilimanjaro is partially obscured by clouds.

Photo Submitted

Tents are lit up by lamps in the evening as climbers prepare for the next day during an expedition to Africa.

Actively engaging students is no easy task, but Robert Powell, who teaches online, has a plan. He will climb Mount Kilimanjaro next spring to energize the imaginations of online hospitality students and show them worldwide career opportunities in their field.

Powell will bring U of A online students along on his African journey virtually. Readers can come, too. The first in a series of articles is online now at The Online Learner. The series will follow Powell in the lead-up to his climb in February of Mount Kilimanjaro and then 19,000 feet up the peak. The blog, managed by the Global Campus, will document Powell's preparations for the experience he will share virtually with U of A students in his online hospitality classes in Spring 2023.

Powell teaches several online courses in the hospitality program in the School of Human Environmental Sciences in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. This will be his second trip up Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. Powell uses real-time travel adventures to expand students' perceptions of career options in hospitality management from a local to a global perspective.

The Global Campus supports the U of A academic colleges that offer more than 75 online degree, certificate, microcertificate and licensure programs. These programs are showcased on the U of A ONLINE website at online.uark.edu. More than 440 students graduated from online degree programs in May.