International Learning Goals

The FIPSE-funded assessment project group developed this set of international learning goals to be assessed across all six institutions:

A globally competent student graduating from our institution…

Knowledge

• Understands his culture within a global and comparative context (that is, the student recognizes that his culture is one of many diverse cultures and that alternate perceptions and behaviors may be based in cultural differences).
• Demonstrates knowledge of global issues, processes, trends, and systems (that is, economic and political interdependency among nations, environmental-cultural interaction, global governance bodies, and nongovernmental organizations).
• Demonstrates knowledge of other cultures (including beliefs, values, perspectives, practices, and products).

Skills

• Uses knowledge, diverse cultural frames of reference, and alternate perspectives to think critically and solve problems.
• Communicates and connects with people in other language communities in a range of settings for a variety of purposes, developing skills in each of the four modalities: speaking (productive), listening (receptive), reading (receptive), and writing (productive).
• Uses foreign language skills and/or knowledge of other cultures to extend his access to information, experiences, and understanding.

Attitudes

• Appreciates the language, art, religion, philosophy, and material culture of different cultures.
• Accepts cultural differences and tolerates cultural ambiguity.
• Demonstrates an ongoing willingness to seek out international or intercultural opportunities.

Process for Selecting the Learning Goals

In preparation for their first project meeting, the working group institutions submitted a list of international learning goals (92KB; PDF) important for their students. Their suggestions came from their own experiences as well as from compilations of global competencies found in existing literature. ACE staff then developed a ranking document (40KB; PDF) to collect feedback on the most important outcomes.

Forty-one faculty and administrators from a wide range of internationally oriented disciplines and professional practice on the project campuses participated, and the data from their responses helped the working group reach consensus on the nine learning outcomes to be assessed in the project.

Please direct questions about this page to:
jill_wisniewski@ace.nche.edu | Staff Contacts 
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This page last updated on: 08/07/2007