Global Competency
Global competency development
Programs abroad need to identify what knowledge, skills or attitudes will students acquire that they may not otherwise acquire without an abroad experience.
All travel programs (credit and non-credit) are expected to develop global competency in students and have sustained interaction with the host culture and people. Programs should identify clear student outcomes and strategies to help students think globally, communicate effectively, and contribute responsibly.
Maryville College is committed to “fostering global engagement and intercultural competencies among students, faculty, and staff and preparing our students for the economic and civic challenges of the world they will face after college.” All international travel experiences at Maryville College are expected to contribute to this goal of preparing students to be more globally competent. The expectation is that if you are taking students abroad, you will be intentional about building global competency in students. That can look different with different types of programs.
Global competence is the capacity to understand and appreciate local and global issues, diverse perspectives and world views and interact appropriately and effectively with people from different cultures and identities.
Global Competency-Related Student Learning Outcomes at Maryville College are:
Think globally: have an increased knowledge of their relationship to the world; think about issues from a global perspective; gain an appreciation for other world cultures, viewpoints, and perspectives.
Communicate effectively: improve their foreign language skills and their ability to communicate with people across cultural and language divides.
Contribute responsibly: use their global knowledge to interact and build relationships with people from other cultures; demonstrate respect, open-mindedness, understanding and flexibility in behavior and thinking; help others to embrace multiple perspectives.
How does your program help achieve these
student learning outcomes?
You may want to consider some of the below ideas.
Ability-learning (openness to new and different ideas, values and norms; cultural self-awareness, curiosity and discovery (tolerating ambiguity); emotional resilience in handling challenging intercultural situations, intercultural communication, interest in attaining fluency in another language).
Attitude/awareness-learning (awareness of international and global issues; interest in learning about different cultures and the people that make up those cultures; appreciation of other cultures; increased effort in maintaining relationships with people different from oneself; positive regard for other cultures, understanding the benefits/costs of globalization; increased interest in travel).
General awareness & functional knowledge of other cultures (knowledge of how to travel, knowledge of conversion rates, navigation skills, exploration of similarities and differences between countries).
The Center for Global Engagement can help identify student learning outcomes, strategies and assessment.
Culture/
Intercultural Domain
The IPC is authorized to approve travel programs for CD domain (credit-bearing only): If you wish to seek approval for the Cultural Dynamics (CD) domain designation for your course, you can do that on the Travel Study Proposal form. You will be asked to address how the program will address each of the specific domain goals below and the strategies/structured activities and assignments that you will use to achieve the goals.
1) Analyze the impact of globalization upon the culture as reflected in the intercultural dynamics with other contemporary societies
2) Demonstrate an understanding of various aspects of the selected cultural group, such as social and political institutions, arts, religion and beliefs, and social practices
3) Utilize multiple disciplinary perspectives that demonstrate understanding of the complexity of human experience
4) Effectively communicate cultural insights and information gained as a result of the course