Global Understanding Course

Today’s students live in a global society of diverse cultures and customs. Their understanding of these cultures is often limited to 30-second news clips they see on television. Though students realize the importance of understanding other cultures, few of them actually study abroad. In fact, only 4% of American students study abroad.

The Global Understanding Course provides a format for students to learn about other cultures without traveling. Currently there are 17 institutions participating in the Global Understanding Course. The partner institutions are diverse, worldwide and communicate through live video conferencing and Chat technology. Institutions are partnered in pairs so that only two cultures meet at any one time. Partners swap in a round robin fashion during a semester so each culture is partnered with three other cultures, one at a time for four weeks each.

Students discuss topics ranging from College Life, family structure, the meaning of life to Stereotypes & Prejudices. Each class session includes discussion in both small groups and one-to-one chat with reflective journaling afterwards. Local sessions are also held to integrate and synthesize information gained in the global sessions. This intimate, small group setting provides undergraduates with a graduate seminar type experience not often found in undergraduate classes.

In the Global Understanding Course students are partnered for the duration of the course providing for continuity and allowing an atmosphere of trust to develop. This comfortable atmosphere engages students to share information, opinions, values, attitudes and emotions. Partners email each other on a daily basis to openly discuss and evaluate their values and share their traditions. These one-to-one discussions lead to friendship. Partners read each other’s newspapers to learn what is current, timely, and to get real exposure to what is going on in their partner’s culture. Partners also write a joint paper. This joint project teaches them how to collaborate effectively. Through one-to-one partnering, students begin to see similarities among themselves, see positives in others, and to de-emphasize the negative differences. This realization is key to changing negative stereotypes and understanding other cultures. Through learning about other cultures, students begin to understand their own culture and gain a broader perspective on life.

As a result of cross-cultural communication students learn to express themselves effectively. Slang, clichés, or words without translations in other languages cannot be used to express a thought or feeling. This causes students to think carefully about not only what they say, but how they say it. On the other hand, students also learn how to listen so they understand the meanings of the words as well as the attitudes and emotions associated with them.

The Global Understanding Course is a 1000 level course aimed at freshmen, but it is suitable for upper classmen who wish to learn about other cultures. This course is recommended for any major where communicating with diverse populations is key to a successful career in that field.

Contacts

Dr. Rosina C. Chia

chiaro@ecu.edu

Dr. Elmer Poe

poee@ecu.edu