Context and Connections: Examining Changing Practices for Global

LearningPaul McVeigh

Indira NairFebruary 24, 2012

General Plan• Brief introductions – Indira and Paul• Participants’ Introductions• Brief Answers to Questions- Let’s try to

categorize• Break• Group discussions – Include:– What is the priority of global learning –in your

view, on your campus. How do we get global education to be an important component of gened? What are the challenges? Strategies?

• Be prepared to share: - 3 min per table• Wrap-up

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Expectations

•Chart out a general framing/ scaffolding for global general ed – make a start•Get new ideas to try back on campus•How to engage faculty•How to realize global in general education

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NOVANorthern Virginia Community College

• 6 campuses across region• 78,000 students (37,000 FTES)• Highly multicultural student population, 2000+ F1s, 13,000

non-US citizens…• Typical CC: 90% students PT, working, families, no residence

halls, therefore high mobility from and to classes, work, home, etc.

• ACE Internationalization Laboratory– Institutional Review– Implementation

• Gen. Ed.: AAC&U Roadmap Project

Trends influencing Higher Ed (1997)

• Poor economic conditions– Increasingly limited public funding support– Low growth/flat productivity– Increasing competitiveness

• Increased societal dependencies– Among nations/political units– Among business and economic units– Among educational sectors (e.g., HE, K12)

• Increasingly public agenda (as a result)– ‘new accountability’ for HE– Credentialing as an ‘entitlement’ for citizens

The Institution v. Environment

Institution• People• Finances• Programs• Facilities• Values• Image• Climate

Environment• Economic• Social• Demographic• Political• Technological• Legal • Competitive

External Factors (examples)

• Number & type of students expected to be served

• Anticipated economic conditions• Changes in the workforce that may effect

needs for education (and Con. Ed.)• New areas of knowledge that may effect

needs for revision of current programs

Strategic Themes (examples)

• Develop a stronger ‘student-centered’ approach• Assess the educational outcomes of each degree

program and gen. ed. core• Encourage a ‘community-focused’ environment

Karen’s Email

• Why do faculty & administration not see diversity and global learning (as described) as important to their work on student success?

• Why was no one involved with diversity and global learning attending this particular Institute?

Changing Contexts (examples)

• Technology– What is the impact of social networking on Study

Abroad?

• Demographics– How are classrooms adapting to increasing

numbers of multicultural students?

Competencies: International & Intercultural

Knowledge • Knowledge of world geography, conditions, issues, and events. • Awareness of the complexity and interdependency of world events and issues. • Understanding of historical forces that have shaped the current world system. • Knowledge of one’s own culture and history. • Knowledge of effective communication, including knowledge of a foreign

language, intercultural communication concepts, and international business etiquette.

• Understanding of the diversity found in the world in terms of values, beliefs, ideas,

and worldviews.

Competencies: International & Multicultural

Knowledge/Content Oriented • Understand the interconnectedness and interdependence of global systems.• Understand the historical, cultural, economic, and political forces that shape

society and explain their own situation in this context.• Develop a nuanced/complex understanding of culture as a concept and the

deep/complex/dynamic nature of culture.• Understand various/different cultures and how culture is created.• Understand the relationship of power and language, and how language interacts

with culture.• Understand the connections between power, knowledge, privilege, gender, and

class (locally and globally).• Understand conflict and power relationships.• Understand how language frames thinking and perspective (“the language you

speak creates the box in which you think”).• Recognize how stereotypes develop and where they come from.

Competencies: International & Intercultural

Skills • Technical skills to enhance the ability of students to learn about the

world (i.e., research skills). • Critical and comparative thinking skills, including the ability to think

creatively and integrate knowledge, rather than uncritical acceptance of knowledge.

• Communication skills, including the ability to use another language

effectively and interact with people from other cultures. • Coping and resiliency skills in unfamiliar and challenging situations.

Competencies: International & Multicultural

Skills • Think, work, and move across boundaries—in diverse environments with

a range of people.• Develop and use skills in conflict resolution.• Develop and use intercultural communications skills.• Demonstrate language proficiency.• Take informed responsibility for actions in a globally connected world.• Link theory and practice through their own experience both as citizens

and in professions.• Internalize and apply cultural understandings and knowledge.• Seek out multiple perspectives—inside perspectives as well as outside

ones.

Competencies: International & Intercultural

Attitudes • Openness to learning and a positive orientation to new opportunities,

ideas, and ways of thinking. • Tolerance for ambiguity and unfamiliarity. • Sensitivity and respect for personal and cultural differences. • Empathy or the ability to take multiple perspectives. • Self-awareness and self-esteem about one’s own identity and culture.

Competencies: International & Multicultural

Attitudinal/Mode of Being • Develop a sense of perspective and social responsibility.• Overcome provincial/parochial thinking.• Reduce their own prejudice.• Appreciate difference; value and acknowledge other cultures as

legitimate.• Improve cultural self-awareness and understanding of one’s self in

the global context (one’s own place and connections).• Demonstrate greater appreciation of or an interest in learning

about different cultures.• Develop empathy and perspective consciousness.• Demonstrate open-mindedness and an understanding of

complexity.

Opportunitiesfor linking assessment, planning, decision-making

• Harnessing accreditation self-study– Building an infrastructure– Keeping planning assets intact

• Tracking the plan– Indicators and updates– Forums and retreats

• ‘Results’ dimension of program review– Annual indicators– Multi-year cycles

• Assessment and budgeting– ‘real’ role for assessment committees– Fixing problems or rewarding performance

• ‘Packaging’ decisions around assessment results

Indira – My context and expectations

• CMU- global research university - Students from about 50 countries, almost 40% of non-US heritage

• General education-slight variation in colleges

• Global courses – expected ones + courses using data –often comparative- from other countries on assignments

• “educating for global awareness” project- objectives from 15 courses interviews of faculty – Outcomes in Liberal Education.

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Global “literacy”

• Global vs. international• Pedagogy in approaching literacy• Embedding for habits of thinking and

working, worldviews rather than disciplinary expertise only

• How do we formalize and articulate?– Some examples– E.g., Engineering

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UNESCO on literacy – a useful definition in this context

• “Complex notion”: “vital competencies” that an individual should possess in order to function in today’s world as a participant in decision making”

• “Plurality”: “Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, (using printed and written materials) associated with varying contexts…. (Involves) a continuum of learning …incorporate ..various circumstances in which individual learners live their lives..

• Situational, yet dynamic

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Some Principles

• Living knowledge: “Introduce models that compare favorably with the models students have already formed to explain events in their own lives (Strike and Posner 1992) : e.g., cases, scenarios, UN discussions, Round tables

• Strategy instruction + topic instruction• Involve full mind (James Zull)• Lifelong: Students should have a generative understanding and an inclination to progressively refine their ideas (Linn & Muilenburg 1996)

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Questions we Sent• Changing contexts at your institution that

affect general education and global learning; conversations that are taking place: – Identify some of the changing contexts you

have seen/felt affecting your institution; – What is their impact/influence on general

education? • Examples of pedagogy and practices for

global learning in general education • Roadblocks to incorporating global learning in

general education • Assessment issues, practices • Any other points that you may want to raise

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Expectations

•Chart out a general framing/ scaffolding for global general ed – make a start•Get new ideas to try back on campus•How to engage faculty•How to realize global in general education

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