IHEC Blog Interview with Christi Hunter from Global Leadership Excellence, LLC

Today on IHEC Blog I’m pleased to be posting my first interview! I’ve been planning on conducting and posting interviews for several months now (and I still need to get back in touch with a few colleagues about interview requests I made through LinkedIn) and I am very happy to be posting this interview with Christi Hunter! Christi is the Director of Global Leadership Excellence, LLC and you can learn more about their work here.

1. What is global competence?

Global Competence is "having an open mind while actively seeking to understand cultural norms and expectations of others, and leveraging this gained knowledge to interact, communicate and work effectively outside one's environment" (Hunter, 2004). The Internal Readiness components are attitudinal in nature; they are: Self-Aware, Open-Minded, Willing to Take Risks, and Perceptive and Respectful of Diversity. External Readiness components are based on one’s knowledge gained from education or life experience; they include: Knowledgeable about World History, Globally Aware, Interculturally Competent, and Effective across Cultures

When the research on Global Competence began in 1999, there were 12 published definitions of the term and they varied widely. With that in mind, a primary goal of the research became to derive a consensus definition of the term. With the help of a number of international educators, Human Resources managers with Fortune 500 corporations, UN representatives, and others with extensive international experience, a Delphi Technique was employed. Following several rounds, first beginning with all published definitions of the term, a consensus definition for global competence was reached.

2. What’s the difference between global competence and intercultural competence? Are they the same thing?

No, global competence and intercultural competence are not synonymous terms; however, intercultural competence is one of the eight components of global competence. Our friend and colleague Darla Deardorff defined intercultural competence as “the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes.” However, the Global Competence Model™ expands to include a willingness to take personal risks outside one’s comfort zone, global awareness (including cross-border interactions, trade, geography, etc.), knowledge of world history, and being effective across cultures, so as to collaborate and work effectively within and across perceived or actual cultural barriers.

3. There are a lot of assessments available. What makes the Global Competence Aptitude Assessment® (GCAA®) different from the others?

There are several key distinctions between the GCAA® and its competitors. First of all, the Global Competence Aptitude Assessment® is one of the most widely piloted assessments in the world; it has been researched in more than 40 countries. The GCAA® is currently being used by students and educators around the world. As the global competence research population and the GCAA® deployment pilot group included Human Resources managers in transnational corporations, the instrument measures the skills that employers around the world seek in the workforce. Therefore, employers are actively seeking means of implementing the GCAA®, too.

While other assessments claim to measure global competence, they are not capturing all the components identified in the research and presented in the Global Competence Model™:
http://www.globalcompetence.org/model/

The GCAA® is far more insightful and revealing than many assessments that use question repetition or mere self appraisal. The Assessment challenges participants with a wide range of question styles, and most importantly, requires thinking on one’s feet, not just static responses.

Scoring is immediate, and provides an extensive report spanning both the Internal and External Readiness categories for global competence. The report also includes definitions of each component, and a series of recommendations, training and published resources to guide one’s growth and maturation. Since the participant receives the report directly, there is no costly overhead associated with training assessment administrators to deliver feedback. The report clearly delineates an individual’s strengths and growth opportunities across each of the eight components of global competence in understandable terms for personal improvement.

4. How does global competence impact education and employment marketability?

The American Council on Education has noted “the United States has a dangerous shortfall of individuals with global competence,” and went as far as to say that “America’s future depends upon our ability to develop a citizen base that is globally competent.” (1998)

Global competence isn’t just for those studying abroad, majoring in international relations or hoping to work for a transnational company. There are very few sustainable jobs in the global marketplace that don’t require effective communication and cooperation with international partners, counterparts, suppliers, or customers.

According to US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, “We're competing … around the globe for jobs of the future” (2009). The research on global competence identified the necessary skills for the global workforce, so being globally competent dramatically increases one’s ability to compete in the global talent pool.

5. Can’t one just study about the destination country before departure and expect to be successful?

While there are many traveler’s guides and How To books and websites, they rarely prepare people for any experience deeper than language tidbits, common customs, tipping suggestions and food expectations. It would be naïve to assume that everyone one encounters in another country is a native or shares the majority culture identified in reference materials. As the world becomes more intermixed, so do the cultural norms and expectations.

In addition, no matter where one lives, one cannot always anticipate when one will encounter a person with a different cultural background -- leaving no opportunity to study in advance. A globally competent person can parachute to anywhere in the world, prepared with the foundational skills for effective interchanges with people from any cultural background. Basic skills for success begin with a mindset where one is willing to step outside one’s comfort zone, and has the ability to accept and embrace differences in a non-judgmental manner when in a new environment.

Assessment Toolbox for International Educators presentation at NAFSA May 28th

Are you interested in or in need of assessing international programs on your campus or through your organization? If so, you may be interested in attending a session where I’m presenting as part of a panel at the upcoming NAFSA conference in Los Angeles on May 28th. My part of the presentation will focus on the Global Perspectives Inventory (GPI) by Braskamp, Braskamp & Carter Merrill. Here are the session details:

Session title: Assessment Toolbox for International Educators
Where and when: Los Angeles, California on May 28, 2009
Conference: NAFSA: Association of International Educators Annual Conference
Presenters:

David Comp
The University of Chicago - dcomp@uchicago.edu

Dr. Darla K. Deardorff
Duke University- d.deardorff@duke.edu

Dr. Elaine Meyer-Lee
Saint Mary’s College - meyerlee@saintmarys.edu

Dr. Victor Savicki
Western Oregon University- savickv@wou.edu

Dr. Lee Sternberger
James Madison University - sternblg@jmu.edu

Session handouts and presentation copies are available here.

Call for Proposals - NC State Undergraduate Assessment Symposium

Call for Proposals - NC State Undergraduate Assessment Symposium
Aligning Pedagogy, Curriculum & Assessment
Embassy Suites, Cary, NC April 24-26, 2009
Proposals are due by 5:00pm on October 31, 2008

The NC State University Office of Assessment will begin accepting proposals on September 1, 2008, for presentations at the 2009 Undergraduate Assessment Symposium. Our theme this year is Aligning Pedagogy, Curriculum & Assessment. Consistent with this theme, we are especially interested in proposals that highlight assessment efforts that seek to enhance undergraduate student success by illuminating the interactions between pedagogy, curriculum, assessment and learning. The Symposium, now in its seventh year, brings together faculty members and administrators from around the country to share ideas and learn from each other about the assessment of the total undergraduate student experience. We are pleased to have Dr. Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and co-author of When Hope and Fear Collide: A Portrait of Today's College Student, as our keynote speaker.

GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSAL proposals should present assessment efforts that are in a mature stage of development, rather than in a planning or pilot stage. Special consideration will be given to proposals that address how assessment results were used for planning and improvement. Sessions should engage participants and should focus on how participants can implement the methods and strategies presented in a more general sense in addition to focusing on how the presenters made them work on their campuses. Participants should leave each session with something that can help them to improve assessment on their campus. Sessions should be interactive, engaging and provide opportunities for audience participation. Please note that strong preference will be given to proposals describing assessment practices, activities, and/or methods that have been implemented for at least one cycle. The sessions will be 60 minutes in length; laptops and LCD projectors will be provided in each room. See instructions below for submitting your proposal.

TRACKS
I. Academic Disciplines: This track is for proposals addressing unique challenges faced by the various disciplines in carrying out assessment including how to more effectively assess academic disciplines, how faculty and administratorscan work together to develop effective assessment strategies and how disciplinary accrediting bodies impact assessment activities.

II. Academic Support Services: This track is for proposals that address effective ways of dealing with the special challenges presented when assessing academic supportservices, including tutorial services, advising services, library services, honors programs, orientation programs and living-learning communities.

III. Assessment Tools: This track is for proposals submitted by sponsors at the Silver level or above addressing sponsor solutions to campus assessment issues. Proposals should give background on the issues faced at the institution that led to the use of the product and how the use of the product impacted assessment, planning and improvement at their institution. Proposals must have wide appeal and cannot be simply a product demonstration.

IV. Community Colleges: This track is for proposals that address proven approaches for meeting the unique assessment challenges faced by community colleges. Topics may be from any of the other tracks with particular relevance given to their application at community colleges.

V. Experiential & International Education: This track is for proposals that address how to assess the impact of international education and experiential education (including service-learning, undergraduate research, cooperative education and internships). Topics include how to more effectively assess international and experiential education programs that are tied to the academic curriculum, assessment aspects that are unique to international and experiential education, and best practices regarding assessment in these areas, including specific tools and methods.

VI. General Education: This track is for proposals that address innovative approaches to assessing general education and how assessment of general education has been connected to planning and improvement. Other topics that may be included in this track are how commercially available tests are being utilized to assess general education and how portfolios can be integrated into general education assessment.

VII. Institutional Effectiveness: This track is for proposals that address assessment of institutional effectiveness. Topics include how assessment results can be more effectively linked to strategic planning and budgeting, effective institution-wide systems for assessment, organizational levelassessment, and institutional accreditation.

VIII. Student Development: This track is for proposals that address how to assess the impact of S tudent Development programs and services on student learning and development. Proposals should address how the unique relationship these units have with students provides special assessment opportunities and challenges.

IX. Symposium Theme ~ Aligning Pedagogy, Curriculum & Assessment: This track is for proposals addressing the interactions between pedagogy, curriculum and student learning, and assessment practices that lead to enhancements in all three areas.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROPOSALS All proposals must be submitted electronically. Faxed or mailed proposals will not be considered. If you cannot submit your proposal via the online form, please fill out the proposal form completely and emai lit to virginia_mccollum@ncsu.edu.

Resources from NAFSA conference sessions

During the NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference last week in D.C. I was a panelist at three separate sessions and chaired the special research seminar on global student mobility. The plan is for all of the power point slides and other handouts to be made avialable online. As the session materials or other information about the sessions become available I will post messages with information on where to access the documents. Following is what is currently available:

Assessment Toolbox for International Educators
Presenters: David Comp, University of Chicago
Darla Deardorff, Duke University
Elaine Meyer-Lee, Saint Mary's College
Lee Glover Sternberg, James Madison University
Victor Savicki, Western Oregon University
http://www.saintmarys.edu/~cwil/php/intercultural.learning/IILOutcomes.php

and

Data and Research on U.S. Multicultural Students in Study Abroad
Presenters: David Comp, University of Chicago
Gayle Woodruff, University of Minnesota
http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/05/29/nafsa

Assessment Toolbox for International Educators

At the NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference next week in Washington, D.C. I will be part of a panel discussion entitled Assessment Toolbox for International Educators with my colleagues Lee Sternberger from James Madison University, Elaine Meyer-Lee from Saint Mary’s College, Victor Saviki from Western Oregon University and Darla Deardorff from Duke University & AIEA. Here is the abstract of our session:

Student outcomes assessments are important in communicating the value of international education to key stakeholders. This interactive session will explore tools and methods for assessing student outcomes in international education and study abroad, and for communicating the findings.

I plan to discuss the Global Perspectives Inventory (GPI).

Bibliographies on Public Diplomacy and Assessing Intercultural Competence

During my recent research efforts I stumbled upon the following two bibliographies that are think are excellent. They are as follows:

Literature on Public Diplomacy by Ali Molenaar (2008)
http://www.clingenda...public-diplomacy.pdf

Assessment Tools of Intercultural Communicative Competence by Alvino E. Fantini (2006)
http://www.worldlearning.org/SITOccasionalPapers/feil_appendix_f.pdf

Global Perspectives Inventory (GPI)

Since May, 2007 I’ve become quite interested in a new assessment tool available to institutions in the United States to assess the global perspectives of their undergraduate student population. The Global Perspectives Inventory (GPI), developed by Larry Braskamp, David Braskamp, and Kelly Carter Merrill, is gaining in popularity and in use by institutions across the United States and, in particular, with professionals in the field of education abroad. I will discuss the GPI as part of my presentation at the upcoming Research in International Education workshop I’m chairing next week for International Educators of Illinois and as a panelist at the Assessment Toolbox for International Educators session at the upcoming NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference in Washington, D.C. I am copying and pasting text from one of the handouts I’ll be distributing during my presentations with permission of the authors:

Global Perspectives Inventory

The GPI is an instrument designed to measure students’ global perspectives, with an emphasis on the importance of cultural influences on their holistic development.

The GPI is a survey of 46 items plus a few biographical items. It has been specifically designed to provide self-reports of students’ perspectives in three domains of holistic student development--cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. The six scales are briefly described on the other side.

The GPI can provide evidence of students’ global perspectives:
· At entry, during and at graduation from college
· At entry and conclusion of an “education/study abroad” experience

You can learn more about the GPI by going to www.gpinv.org. Click on “Development” to read about the purpose and uses of GPI. If you want to see a sample institutional report, click on “Interpretative Guide and Institutional Report.”

You can take the GPI by going to www.gpinv.org/survey. When asked about your institutional affiliation, type in this code: 9950.

Institutions can participate at no cost until June 30, 2008. For the 2008-2009 academic year, an institution can have unlimited access to the GPI for a license fee of $100. The GPI can be put on a local server or printed for administration. You will be provided with scale scoring keys. Normative information will be provided in the GPI Manual. You can have access to our online survey for $500, and can administer the GPI up to two different times. We do the analyses and provide the reports.

If you have any questions or comments, please write Larry Braskamp at lbraska@luc.edu.

Theoretical Background of GPI

The construction of GPI is based on the developmental perspective that students are on a journey during college. In this journey, students are given opportunities to reflect on three “big questions”:

“How do I know?” reflects the Cognitive dimension. Cognitive development is centered on one’s knowledge and understanding of what is true and important to know. It includes viewing knowledge and knowing with greater complexity and no longer relying on external authorities to have absolute truth.

“Who am I?” reflects the Intrapersonal dimension. Intrapersonal development focuses on one becoming more aware of and integrating one’s personal values and self-identity into one’s personhood.

“How do I relate to others?” reflects the Interpersonal dimension. Interpersonal development is centered on one’s willingness to interact with persons with different social norms and cultural backgrounds, acceptance of others, and being comfortable when relating to others.

Description of the six GPI scales

The Cognitive domain consists of two scales: Knowing and Knowledge.

Knowing. Complexity of one’s view of the importance of cultural context in judging what is important to know and value.

Knowledge. Degree of understanding and awareness of various cultures and their impact on our global society; proficiency in languages.

The Intrapersonal domain consists of two scales: Identity and Affect.

Identity. Level of awareness of unique identity; degree of acceptance of one’s ethnic, racial, and gender dimensions of one’s identity.

Affect. Level of respect and acceptance of cultural perspectives different from one’s own; degree of emotional confidence when living in complex situations.

The Interpersonal domain consists of two scales: Social interactions and Social responsibility.

Social Interactions. Degree of engagement with others who are different from oneself; degree of cultural sensitivity in living in pluralistic setting.

Social responsibility. Level of commitment to interdependent living.