Intercultural

“By agreeing to teach this designated Common Curriculum requirement, you will not only be expected to teach towards the specific goals for this designation but also submit student evidence (assignments, artifacts) for assessment.”

In order to omit errors, we strongly recommend you type your answers in MS Word
and then cut & paste them into this form to avoid typos.

If the designation is scheduled to take effect in Spring or Summer the deadline is September 1 of the year before (For Example: Spring 2018 revisions must be submitted by 9/1/2017)

If the designation is scheduled to take effect in Fall the deadline is December 1 of the year before revision is to take effect (For Example: Fall 2018 revisions must be submitted by 12/1/2017)

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The Curriculum Committee CANNOT guarantee timely review of proposals received after the deadlines.  Further, it is the policy of the Curriculum Committee to give priority to proposals that are the result of Program Review.    

Learning Goals:

1. Students will demonstrate a level of understanding of another culture, including the awareness that it is neither monolithic nor static.
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding that their perspective on the world is shaped in certain ways by their particular background.
3. Students will demonstrate an awareness that when we encounter another culture, we filter the new experience through established perspectives, which makes it more difficult to uncover our common humanity and the reasons for our differences.

Intercultural Learning Goals:

The central purpose of Intercultural courses is to encourage our students to develop greater understanding of diverse peoples, and in doing so, alter their presuppositions about others and challenge their understanding of themselves in ways that help carry out the institutional mission to improve the human condition.

For the purposes of Goal 1, "another culture" means a culture other than the dominant culture in the United States; it could be a racial/ethnic minority within the US, or people from another part of the world.  While the definition for Goal 1 focuses on nationality, ethnicity, and race, we want our students to understand that the specific way that people experince their cultural identity is much more complex than race or ethnicity. It is also shaped by gender, class, personal experience, and many other factors.

The first learning goal asks that students learn enough about another culture to recognize some of its complexity, and to explore the multiple (historical, political, economic, etc.) factors that have shaped it and continue to affect it.  This should include the recognition that cultures change as they interact with others, and that individuals who seem to fit within a culture may have diverse perspectives because they operate out of a complex mix of factors that extend beyond race/etnicity.

The second learning goal is for our students to become aware that their views are not universal or normative, but rather are the product of the broadly defined cultural forces in their lives.  These may start with race/ethnicity, but extend to class, gender, and other factors.  The goal here is simply to encourage reflection on the idea that their views are culturally determined; the goal does not require an in-depth examination or understanding of the sources of their perpective.

The third learning goals asks students to reflect on how their own cultural identities shape their response to new experiences, and how recognition of the power of cultural perspectives on all sides can open the door to greater understanding and more effective efforts to bridge the differences.

Questions regarding Intercultural learning goals

Each of the following questions is designed to help the Committee understand how the Intercultural learning goals will be met in your course.

Please be as specific as possible in your responses.  Examples are especially helpful.  If possible, submitting a syllabus, or even draft of a syllabus, can be extremely helpful to the committee.

for examples on how students will demonstrate achievement click here

for examples on how students will demonstrate understanding click here