Roger Williams University Students Discover a Different Way of Learning While Studying Abroad in Australia

July 13, 2026By Mikayla Larguinha '26

Rather than giving every student the same assignment, the university's Nature and Culture of Australia study abroad program helps students design an independent project around topics that interest them. Image Credit: Sarah Godfrey

BRISTOL, R.I. -Before Roger Williams University students traveled to Australia for a study abroad experience, they were asked to think differently about learning.

Instead of giving every student the same assignment, Sarah Godfrey asks each student to explore a topic that interests them. She then helps them design an independent research or creative project around that idea. While every student travels the same route, each returns with a unique project and perspective.

For Godfrey, an adjunct faculty member in Roger Williams University's Cummings School of Architecture, that approach is the heart of the university's Nature and Culture of Australia study abroad program.

Inspired by her own experiences studying conservation biology, Godfrey created the interdisciplinary winter intersession course around the idea that students learn best when they experience places, cultures, and environments firsthand.

"People learn in a different way when you're immersed outside," Godfrey said. "I wanted to give students a very unique opportunity in every sense -to come up with their own research project from start to finish, engage with each other, engage with the environment and grow in ways that you don't necessarily anticipate."

During the study abroad program, students travel through Queensland and New South Wales with Bower Camp Co. They learn from Aboriginal guides, park staff, and local experts while exploring Australia's diverse landscapes and ecosystems.

As students travel from one national park to another, each place becomes more than a destination. Through observation, conversations, and firsthand experiences, the landscape becomes an active part of the learning process.

Although students share the same study abroad experience, each creates a project that reflects their own interests and academic goals.

Visual Arts major Grace Campos documented her study abroad experience through a acrylic painting inspired by Aboriginal art and culture.

Grace Campos, a Visual Arts major with a minor in Environmental Science from Rehoboth, Mass., transformed the experience into a 24-by-48-inch acrylic painting inspired by Aboriginal art and culture. Drawing from the three national parks the class visited, she combined traditional Aboriginal symbols with her own to represent the wildlife, campsites, and landscapes that shaped the trip.

"I took inspiration from Aboriginal symbols to create a painting that mapped our experience," Campos said.

Camden Poitras, a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics from Londonderry, N.H., focused on observing the environment in a different way. His project, Observing Beyond the Obvious, combined photographs with measurements of sound, wind, temperature, and light to capture details that a photo alone could not.

"I've always talked to people who come back from trips and they show me photos," Poitras said. "They're almost always incredible, but something is missing."

For Maria Mangiameli, an Electrical Engineering and Digital Systems Computer Science double major with a minor in Mathematics from North Andover, Mass., the experience became a documentary-style video titled Does Traveling Change a Person?

Using daily journal entries and footage from the trip, she explored whether travel has the power to change a person.

"This trip changed me in ways I never really expected," Mangiameli said. "Australia taught me to pause, be present and appreciate where I am and who I'm with."

Months later, while answering interview questions during a camping trip along Route 66 and through Utah, Mangiameli said the confidence she gained in Australia inspired her to continue seeking new adventures.

For Godfrey, the projects show that experiential learning doesn't end when students leave Australia. Instead, it continues through the questions they keep asking, the work they continue creating and the confidence they carry into whatever comes next.

"I feel like we all learn best when we're inspired and passionate about what we do," Godfrey said. "Being able to feed that enthusiasm and that passion in students is why I'm an educator."