Pilot Test of a Quality Rating and Improvement System in Early Education Programs in Magadan oblast, RF, and in Minnesota, USA

Quality in early childhood education matters. Scholarly research has demonstrated the critical importance of the first three years of a child’s life. The experiences and interactions children have in these early years significantly affects brain development and helps to establish the foundation for future learning. The topic of this study was to pilot test a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) in early education programs in Magadan, Russian Federation (RU) and in Mankato, Minnesota, United States of America (USA). The purpose of this study was to understand the use of a specific instrument to provide direction for the improvement of the quality of the learning environments in early childhood classrooms in two countries. Investigators hypothesized that the selected QRIS will be reliable for reviewers of programs in the two countries. This project examined two questions: 1. Is the Global Guidelines Assessment (GGA) useful to compare early childhood education in Magadan, RU and early childhood education programs in Mankato, Minnesota, USA? 2. What is the level of agreement among reviewers in the US and in Russia, using scores on the GGA for one early childhood education program in Magadan, RU and for one early child-hood education program in Mankato, Minnesota, USA? The study included translation of the Global Guidelines Assessment (GGA) into Russian. One quality review (with multiple reviewers) was completed for one early education program in each country. Completed reviews by eleven reviewers were delivered to Minnesota State University,Mankato for data entry and analysis. The report includes: (1) descriptive data for reviewers and for early education programs and (2) inter-rater agreement (consistency among assessors). This study concluded that there was excellent interrater agreement among reviewers in Russia and in the US. As a result of this investigation, this study concluded that the Global Guidelines Assessment will be useful for comparing early childhood education programs in Magadan, Russian Federation and in Minnesota, USA because the GGA is easy, affordable, and reliable to use for quality improvement of early education throughout the world. Now the GGA may be used in Russia as well

Research-Based Course Re-Design for Human Relations in a Multicultural Society, Academic Years 2010-2012

Intercultural competence is one way to describe how individuals and groups understand and adapt their behavior to cultural differences. University students can increase their intercultural competence by understanding behaviors and by experiencing cultural differences. One way to do this is by participating in a course, such as Human Relations in a Multicultural Society. The course\u27s objective was to help students in understanding their own cultural roots, as well as those of other culture groups. This study responded to questions about the impact of multicultural education on intercultural competence among undergraduates. The data set included more than 130 students who took this general education course during the academic years 2010-11 and 2011-12. For purposes of instructional design and assessment, students completed the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI; Hammer et al., 2003) at the beginning and at the conclusion of each semester. During the first academic year, the researcher implemented the campus-based course according to the syllabus on file with the academic department. For the second academic year, the researcher re-designed the course to emphasize student experience with cultural differences rather than emphasizing student knowledge about cultural differences. Data analysis showed that the re-designed course made a statistically significant difference in student cross-cultural competence. Curriculum planners and instructors may find this information useful in considering the effectiveness of cultural diversity goals: experience diversity with supervised reflection and recognize and respond to conditions of marginalized populations

Intercultural Partnerships that Foster Cultural Competence among Undergraduate Students

Welcome to my poster presentation: Intercultural Partnerships that foster cultural competence among undergraduate students. Higher education institutions are increasingly committed to fostering equitable access; incorporating global perspectives into teaching, learning, and research; building international and intercultural competence among students, faculty, and staff; and establishing relationships and collaborations with people and institutions throughout the world. Since 2010, I have collected data with the Intercultural Development Inventory (Hammer, 2003; 2011) to assess the course’s impact on students’ developmental orientation to cultural differences

Undergraduate Research Project: Step-by-Step

This book is in a workbook format, intended to complement any individual or group of undergraduate researchers in their social science investigations. The step-by-step approach provides understanding and experience with scholarly inquiry. Students discover content and practice skills related to scholarly inquiry and their academic subjects.https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/books-sandell-undergraduate-research/1000/thumbnail.jp

Intercultural Competence within Focused Diversity Courses: The Role of Cultural Identification and Experiential Learning Activities

Objectives Compare development of student subgroups after participation in a dedicated diversity course along with three different additional pedagogical activities: service-learning cultural partnership individualized coaching Explore potential differential impacts of various pedagogical enhancement activities between students identifying with dominant or non-dominant culture

Impact of a Multi-Layered Autobiography Project for Transforming Intercultural Competence Among Pre-Service Teachers

This study investigated how a Multi-Layered Autobiography Project impacts the intercultural competence for undergraduate students, many of whom were aspiring teacher candidates in the United States. For purposes of this project, the concept of “culture” was adapted from West and Turner’s (2018) definition: the norms, behaviors, standards, values, etc. shared by a group of people, and passed along to later generations. Investigators deemed that “culture” was composed of numerous microcultures among a smaller group of human beings (with their own language, communication strategies, behavior rules, and expectations), who are bonded together by similar experiences, values, characteristics, organization, membership, location, or histories. Based on prior research findings, the results were expected to support the position that cultural self-knowledge is a necessary step to increasing intercultural competence. The Multi-Layered Autobiography Project was implemented in an undergraduate general education course, Human Relations in a Multicultural Society, at a medium-sized public university in the Midwest region of the United States. The project fostered development of: (1) knowledge, (2) experience, (3) coaching or mentoring, and (4) self-reflection. The assignments in the Multi-Layered Autobiography Project included: an interview with a family elder, a personal diversity story, a cultural partnership interview, a service-learning experience at a culturally diverse organization, and an autobiography paper. Investigators used the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Version 3, as a tool for quantitative data analysis because of its reliability and validity. The analysis of pre- and post-instruction data gathered from undergraduate students enrolled in the semester-long course indicated a statistically significant improvement in participants’ intercultural competence, according to scores for their Developmental Orientation and Cultural Disengagement

Impact of Two Courses on Intercultural Competence of Undergraduate Students

Increasing migrations across the world mean leaders at all levels need to become more competent in working across cultures. During the past 30 years, program designers, researchers, and others have investigated intercultural competence (ICC), often described as the capability to accurately understand and adapt behavior to cultural differences and commonalities. Tertiary education programs (TEP) are accepting these challenges by offering experiences (such as coursework, study away, study abroad, cultural events, etc.) that are intended to produce culturally competent graduates. The teaching and learning experiences described in this study at a midwestern American university may inform others. This study examined archived data from two courses designed to enhance undergraduates’ ICC. Researchers expected that students who completed a course, called Critical Race Theory in Education (CRT), would show statistically larger gains during a second course, called Human Relations in a Multicultural Society (HRMS). At the beginning and conclusion of HRMS, students completed the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Researchers used the two-sample t-test to compare the pre-HRMS scores of students who had completed CRT and students who had not completed CRT. Analysis showed students who took CRT before HRMS had statistically significantly higher beginning scores than students who had not completed CRT before they enrolled in HRMS (p = .042). Although students who completed CRT started HRMS with the higher IDI mean score, those individuals did not make statistically significant gains in their ICC during the HRMS course (p = .130). However, the students who had not completed CRT before HRMS did make statistically significant gains in their ICC during the HRMS course (p \u3c .001). These results, with additional research, could be used to redesign the courses or to design other curricula approaches

Initial Teacher Licensure Programs at Minnesota State Univeristy, Mankato

Teacher preparation is a strong tradition of Minnesota State University, Mankato (MSU, Mankato), located approximately 85 miles southwest of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The institution of higher education has been preparing teachers since 1868. Currently, initial teacher licensure programs in Elementary and Early Childhood (EEC) prepare graduates to be licensed as early childhood teachers, as elementary school teachers, and/or as middle school teachers. This article describes MSU, Mankato\u27s programs in terms of its students, faculty members, academic programs, unique opportunities for students, and emphasis on preparing professionals to be leaders in education