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About the Project
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ABOUT THE PROJECT
In 2009, The SUNY Levin Institute, the College at Brockport and SUNY Cortland received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to internationalize the SUNY undergraduate general education curriculum and infuse global workforce skills and knowledge. Through the SUNY Global Workforce Project, nearly 50 course at Brockport and Cortland integrated global issues modules and activities to strengthen global workforce skills, including cross-cultural communications, holistic thinking and technology skills.
Original assessments were created to measure holistic thinking and knowledge of global issues. Faculty measured attainment of student learning outcomes through classroom assignments. To measure cross-cultural skills, an existing tool for the workplace was modified. Assessment of student learning demonstrated an increased knowledge of global issues and strengthened holistic thinking skills, but did not show evidence of changes in cross-cultural skills. In addition to these assessments measures, interviews were conducted with faculty and students. Both students and faculty discussed how they had gained/taught cross-cultural skills, but the existing assessments did not concur. So, the existing tools did not adequately measure the attainment of cross-cultural skills in the academic context.
To address this problem, in 2013, a group of cross-cultural experts from across the SUNY system applied for and received a SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grant (SUNY IITG) to develop a new assessment tool to measure the attainment of international cross-cultural skills from curriculum initiatives, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) courses, study abroad, and other efforts to internationalize the curriculum. The product of this grant can be found on this website.
Original assessments were created to measure holistic thinking and knowledge of global issues. Faculty measured attainment of student learning outcomes through classroom assignments. To measure cross-cultural skills, an existing tool for the workplace was modified. Assessment of student learning demonstrated an increased knowledge of global issues and strengthened holistic thinking skills, but did not show evidence of changes in cross-cultural skills. In addition to these assessments measures, interviews were conducted with faculty and students. Both students and faculty discussed how they had gained/taught cross-cultural skills, but the existing assessments did not concur. So, the existing tools did not adequately measure the attainment of cross-cultural skills in the academic context.
To address this problem, in 2013, a group of cross-cultural experts from across the SUNY system applied for and received a SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grant (SUNY IITG) to develop a new assessment tool to measure the attainment of international cross-cultural skills from curriculum initiatives, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) courses, study abroad, and other efforts to internationalize the curriculum. The product of this grant can be found on this website.