Teaching Cultural Competence

Project Type

Faculty Scholarship

Scholarship Domain(s)

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Presentation Type

Presentation

Abstract

How students relate to people who are different than themselves is a key to success in any future career. Research indicates that not only will students be more likely to be successful in their future careers, but they may earn higher wages and have more opportunities if they are culturally intelligence. Cultural intelligence/competence, or the ability to work effectively in diverse settings, is necessary for young people entering the workforce in the diverse world in which we live.

Human Diversity, a required Social Work course and International Culture general education course was designed to assist students in becoming more culturally intelligent. Through activities, discussion, out of class experiences and personal reflections, students are encouraged to better understand who they are, what they have been taught and experienced about diversity as well as what areas they could benefit from challenging their own thinking and beliefs.

Last semester, students were given a Cultural Intelligence assessment in the beginning of the semester so they could better understand their current capability of working and relating in diverse settings. At the end of the semester, I gave them the option to retake the quiz and voluntarily share these with the instructor to compare any differences. The last class session was used to discuss the way forward in their cultural intelligence. Many students shared the impact the discussions, activities and readings had on their commitment to continue to work on their cultural intelligence.

An IRB proposal has been submitted to collect and document data regarding the effectiveness of one general education class on students' understanding and ability to work effectively in diverse settings.

Permission Type

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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Apr 9th, 4:20 PM Apr 9th, 4:40 PM

Teaching Cultural Competence

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How students relate to people who are different than themselves is a key to success in any future career. Research indicates that not only will students be more likely to be successful in their future careers, but they may earn higher wages and have more opportunities if they are culturally intelligence. Cultural intelligence/competence, or the ability to work effectively in diverse settings, is necessary for young people entering the workforce in the diverse world in which we live.

Human Diversity, a required Social Work course and International Culture general education course was designed to assist students in becoming more culturally intelligent. Through activities, discussion, out of class experiences and personal reflections, students are encouraged to better understand who they are, what they have been taught and experienced about diversity as well as what areas they could benefit from challenging their own thinking and beliefs.

Last semester, students were given a Cultural Intelligence assessment in the beginning of the semester so they could better understand their current capability of working and relating in diverse settings. At the end of the semester, I gave them the option to retake the quiz and voluntarily share these with the instructor to compare any differences. The last class session was used to discuss the way forward in their cultural intelligence. Many students shared the impact the discussions, activities and readings had on their commitment to continue to work on their cultural intelligence.

An IRB proposal has been submitted to collect and document data regarding the effectiveness of one general education class on students' understanding and ability to work effectively in diverse settings.