Emerging Youth Leaders: A Redesign Of A Two-Way Youth Exchange Between The US And Senegal

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is increasingly focused on youth exchange programs to build bridges of understanding between peoples and address ongoing social, environmental, and political challenges in an increasingly globalized world. The Emerging Youth Leaders program is a unique Department of State exchange program that brought a group of thirty Senegalese and American students together for 6 weeks in Dakar and the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer of 2010 around the themes of democracy and governance in civil society. Over the course of the U.S. based portion of the program I observed a need for the program to be restructured and strengthened, by starting pre-departure work earlier, conducting appropriate orientations and re-entry components, and infusing the curriculum with additional experiential design elements. This capstone paper is a detailed outline of the restructured program, emphasizing experiential education theory and best practices in the field. By redesigning the program, the thematic scope is enriched and broadened. Experiential education philosophy and theory are incorporated during all of the program activities. Participants learn from each other about real life issues faced by many communities, and are challenged to develop and implement a community project that addresses an issue of their choice. The enhanced program is a fresh and necessary addition to AYUSA’s current portfolio of youth exchanges, focusing on a diverse demographic. The redesigned Emerging Youth Leaders program is a strong model for AYUSA as the organization continues to increase its focus on providing opportunities for youth to develop leadership skills and engage with real world challenges

Classroom Intercultural Competence in Teacher Education Students, Interns, and Alumni

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the impact of a student teaching internship upon the classroom intercultural competence (CIC) of teacher education students and alumni. Phase I employed quantitative methodology to compare the intercultural competence as measured by Ross, Thornson, McDonald, and Arrastia’s (2009) Cross Cultural Competence Inventory (3CI) for three groups. The 3CI is a 63-item survey that uses corresponding questions to assess intercultural competence. Survey items are scored with a 6-point, strongly agree-to-strongly disagree Likert scale (Thornson, 2010). The three groups included teacher education students enrolled in a field observation course, students enrolled in their student teaching internship, and teacher education alumni currently teaching in the Jacksonville metropolitan area. Participants’ 3CI scores were used as a diagnostic tool to facilitate the recognition of factors relative to their overall intercultural competence. Three quantitative research questions were tested: Is there a statistically significant difference between matched pairs of intern’s CIC as measured by the scales and subscales of the 3CI (Ross et al., 2009) after students complete their field observation experience as compared to their pre-field observation scores? This question was not supported (t(116) = 1.07; p \u3e .05). Do matched pairs of interns who experienced an IST enhanced internship (Ross et al., 2009) as compared to matched pairs of interns whose student teaching experience was exclusively in a domestic classroom? This question was supported (t(38) = 1.68; p \u3c .001; d = .252). Do in-service teachers who experienced an IST enhanced internship demonstrate increased CIC as measured by the scales and subscales of the 3CI (Ross et al., 2009) as compared to in-service teachers whose student teaching experience was exclusively in a domestic classroom? This question was not supported (t(25) = .93; p \u3e .05). Each of the 6 subfactors was charted to portray a graphic illustration of the areas of strengths and weakness concerning classroom intercultural competence. In the qualitative component of the present study, interview methodology facilitated gathering qualitative data from intern and in-service teachers. This provided a context for enhancing the quantitative data and for addressing the unique nature of how different individuals learn to adapt to diverse students in the classroom. One qualitative research question was tested: To what extent do qualitative data collected from interviews reflect similar areas of growth as indicated by the scales and subscales of the 3CI (Ross et al., 2009) quantitative measurement? Interviews with these teachers led to the identification of significant factors related to intercultural communicative success in the multicultural classroom. Hence, research question 4 was supported

Integrating Intercultural Communication Competence into Entrepreneurially-Minded Online Discussions

Abstract: The continued rise of the global economy, especially during COVID-19, has required stakeholders, including higher education, to think more strategically about preparing future university graduates with intercultural skill development. This study contributes to the literature by showing one approach whereby faculty can integrate intercultural communication competence into the STEM classroom via entrepreneurially-minded online discussions (a form of information literacy). This semester-long study applied a mixed methods approach. First, students participated in five online discussions, which were analyzed qualitatively to identify themes and patterns. Second, at the end of the semester, after completing the online discussions, students responded to a survey assessing their perceptions related to student learning and student satisfaction. The findings show that student perceptions of information literacy were high. Moreover, themes identified within the online discussions align well with the traditional communication process. Integrating intercultural competence into entrepreneurially-minded online discussions within the STEM classroom can be seen as “low hanging fruit” in that the return on investment for faculty is very high (i.e., requires minimal lecture time and promotes optimal connections to the real world)

Listening: Projects for the Self and Social Action

Listening is becoming more of a rarity in this increasingly busy world, especially between those who see a particular issue differently. The question, “By conducting listening projects as trainers, what can we learn about ourselves and social action work?” is explored in this capstone paper to see how listening can benefit us both personally and professionally as trainers. Numerous articles, commentaries, and literature around listening, listening projects, and their meaning are examined in this paper. Five different types of listening projects are explored through listening sessions: Oral histories, Oral artistries, ‘Button-pushing’ challenges, Single-issue testimonies, and Life stories. With the exception of ‘button-pushing’ challenges, which comes from the Training for Social Action (TSA) class, the types of listening projects come from Hugo Slim’s Listening for Change and were all studied during the TSA class. Building upon and deepening learnings from best practices and studies in TSA; themes for the listening sessions were determined by the author’s own experiences which prompted this personal journey in listening to ten people, their lives, and their perspectives. For each type of project, two participants were selected. A total of ten participants were listened to: five who the inquirer previously knew and five who were strangers. Best practices are determined for listening projects as a whole; best practices for individual types of projects, similarities, and differences are also suggested. Key learnings are shared about the act of listening, listening projects, the self, and how all of these concepts can enhance training. Further connections are made in how listening lands within the realm of social action. Both training practitioners and their work can benefit from slowing down and listening. As is found by both the author and the literature: – “Listening is social action.

Student Reflections on Study Abroad: A Collective Case Study Exploring the Experiences of Pre-Service Teachers During an International Student Teaching Program

As classrooms in the United States grow more culturally and linguistically diverse, schools of education are challenged to prepare more culturally responsive, globally minded educators. International student teaching (IST) programs provide a unique opportunity for pre-service teachers to develop cultural competencies in a global context. However, in order for these programs to effectively meet ambitious global and intercultural learning objectives, multiple curricular and programmatic components must be considered, and on-going research exploring individual student experiences must be conducted. The present collective case study explored the experiences of five, pre-service teachers during a semester-long, IST program at Florida International University. A reentry interview took place after participants returned home from their IST placements in Ecuador. Participants were asked to describe their overall experience of the program, and share stories about their teaching experiences, living with host families and engaging with the host community. Reflective assignments completed throughout the semester were also collected and analyzed. These included visual stories, written and video reflections, pre-departure surveys and other cultural learning assignments. Data collected from both the reentry interviews and reflective assignments were explored on an individual case basis and then across cases to collectively analyze emergent themes. Findings revealed both the similarities of student experiences across cases, as well as the nuances that make an experience like international student teaching unique to each participant, particularly diverse students. This supports the experiential/constructivist paradigm which posits that an individual creates their world both individually and with others, and learning occurs through the individual’s transactions with a culture and with others. Further findings illustrated the connection between critical reflection and intercultural and global learning. It is intended that the findings of this study will serve as valuable insights for study abroad stakeholders to develop programming more intentionally, with critical reflection and cultural learning as a design framework. Additional program recommendations include providing ample preparation for both participants and faculty, a structure of support that facilitates intercultural and global learning throughout the study abroad cycle, and curriculum that elevates and leverages student voice

Building Intercultural Competency: Justifying and Designing a Refugee Educator Self‐Training Guide

This paper examines and distills the necessary competencies a host‐culture educator of refugee students should possess to fully address the needs of their nationally diverse classroom. Relying on a comprehensive examination of existing literature, the report frames the understandings, expertise, and strategies found helpful for responding to these particular educators’ training needs. The paper culminates in a reflective self‐training guide for educators to increase intercultural competency and more effectively teach students experiencing refugee status within the educator’s host culture

Acculturation Stress, Psychological and Sociocultural Adjustment, and Development of American Adolescents: A Qualitative Study of Newton High School Exchange Students in China

Theories from the extant acculturation literature functioned to categorize international students’ adaptation experiences and predict their acculturation outcomes. Also, relevant studies focused mainly on students at the tertiary level. For adolescent students seeking self-development toward independence and autonomy, how they negotiated their identity challenges and tensions in a cross-cultural context, and how surrounding others in their socialization impacted on their psychosocial adjustment process and transformative experiences have not been actively explored. This qualitative study approached adolescent students’ acculturation as an integrated development and learning process to explore the effects of developmental and cultural factors on their cross-cultural adaptation, especially examined their homestay experiences and student-host family relationships. It revealed how the surrounding others, through social interactions, impacted students for possible behaviors changes. Particularly, through in-depth interviews, it provided an insider aspect of how daily interactions amplified students’ different expectation into confusion and misunderstanding, and how they negotiated and reconciled the confusion and misunderstanding to create meaningful everyday activities, and over time, their shifting behaviors ensued. It is hoped that by shedding some light on self-resilience of adolescent students, and revealing their acculturative stresses and help-seeking behaviors, their emotional and social needs in their adjustment process might be better served. Keywords Adolescent students, social interaction, psychosocial adjustmen

CoMIC : an exploration into computer-mediated intercultural communication

This thesis explores how cultural differences manifest themselves in computermediated intercultural communication (CoMIC). This study particularly looks at the role and use of digital nonverbals (DNVs) and their regulatory functions. The data analyzed is from a global virtual team working together for a period of three months. The grounded theory method has been employed to code the electronic transcript of the team\u27s communication. Furthermore, the participants were surveyed regarding their personal backgrounds, their work, and their perception of the communication processes that took place. The study shows that in an intercultural communication process DNVs are used to avoid intercultural misunderstandings and to underline the various communication styles. The different styles, hand in hand with the DNVs used, vary depending on the team\u27s overall situation. However, the absence of DNVs can be an indicator for a state of crisis