Honors Internationalization at Washington State University: Perspectives and Assessment

Kim Andersen, Clinical Professor

David Shier, Associate Dean

HERU ConferenceMay 22, 2019, Salt Lake City, UT

Overview

• History

• Curriculum

• Assessment

• Challenges

• Sharing experiences

History of WSU Honors College

• Established as an honors program in 1960• “abide long after graduation (…) to prepare students to become active and thoughtful citizens

capable of assuming leadership roles in their professions and communities”

• Foreign language education was notably an option in the original curriculum

• ‘Honors Program Certificate of Completion with International Emphasis’

• University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, Copenhagen Business Academy, D.I.S., Denmark’s International Study program, Aberystwyth and Swansea Universities in Wales

• Became an Honors College in 1998

• New curriculum emphasizing global competencies in 2008

Components of global learning

• 300-level coursework

• Foreign language requirement

• Study abroad

• International partnerships

• Certificate of Global Competencies

300-level global seminars

• HONORS 370 – Case Study: Global Issues in Social SciencesE.G. Human health and healing across cultures; Model UN; Poverty at home and abroad; Human behavior and climate change.

• HONORS 380 – Case Study: Global Issues in Arts and HumanitiesE.G. South American film; Vikings in history and saga; Creative non-fiction writing; Russian culture; Food ethics.

• HONORS 390 – Case Study: Global Issues in the SciencesE.G. Practice and science of mindfulness; Global perspectives on drug abuse; Physiology and ethics of sports doping.

Language competency requirement

• 2 years college coursework, or

• Proficiency exam (STAMP, etc.), or

• Native speaker of language other than English

Foreign language majors and minors in WSU Honors College

NUMBER %OFHONORS NUMBER %OFHONORS NUMBER %OFHONORS

2018-19 36 3.7% 55 5.6% 91 9.2%

2017-18 32 3.5% 63 6.9% 95 10.3%

2016-17 24 2.8% 51 6.0% 75 8.9%

2015-16 29 4.0% 53 7.3% 82 11.2%

MAJORS+MINORSMAJORS MINORS

International partnerships

• Aberystwyth University (Wales)

• Mukogawa Women’s University (Japan)

• Southeast University (China)

• Swansea University (Wales)

• University of Liverpool (England)

Recent faculty-led trips (300-level credit)

• Nanjing: Ancient capital, modern city

• Scandinavia: The Vikings and beyond

• Ireland: Exploring history, culture and environment

• Berlin: Discover Germany

• England: Modern and Roman

(42% of WSU Honors College students study abroad)

*Slide in cooperation with Dr. Christine Oakley, Director of Global Learning, WSU

(52%) (47%) (1%)

(WSU Honors Study Abroad Students 2017/18)

*Slide in cooperation with Dr. Christine Oakley, Director of Global Learning, WSU

Certificate of global competencies

• Education abroad coursework from one term or longer in an approved program

• Foreign language competency

• Honors thesis incorporating an international perspective significantly developed in the thesis

• Public presentation on experiences abroad

Certificate of Global Competencies39 completed as of spring 2019

Selected titles of CoGC presentations:

• Developing a Global Perspective on Animal Health

• Rhetoric of Brexit: How the Leave Campaign Capitalized on a Divided Britain

• Corporate Responsibility: Global Aficionado Culture and Identity Projection

• London's Graffiti Scene

• Women in Travel Journalism: Past, Present, and Future

• Change or Tradition? Opposing Views of France and the US on Language

• Environmental Ethics in Costa Rica

• FGM/C in Senegal: Intervention Approaches and Recent Findings

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Freshmen/Transfer Enrollments by Year

Enrollment growth during curriculum implementation

After a decade ... is it working?

• Is the curriculum developing the desired global competencies, and how can we really tell?

• Assessment: What have we learned so far?

• Meta-assessment: how can we improve our assessment methods?

• How to move further from compliance-based assessment to more meaningful assessment?

Global competency assessment methods to date

• Online course evaluations for global courses: 5 distinct prompts about global competencies

• Exit surveys: basic questions about foreign language and study abroad

• Study abroad: basic data shared by Global Studies office; anecdotal evidence from certificate students

• Data on students majoring/minoring in foreign languages

In this course I improved my ability to...

(1) describe how one’s own culture and history affect one’s worldview and expectations;

(2) consider new ideas and perspectives;

(3) understand how scientific, cultural and social factors shape global issues;

(4) understand how individual behaviors and choices are connected to global issues;

(5) communicate about global issues.

Course evaluation prompts

5-year average means for course evals (2014/15 – 2018/19)

1

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

370 380 390

5-year average means for course evals (2014/15 – 2018/19)

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

370 380 390

% answering “Strongly Agree” or “Agree” on global Q’s

Challenges specific to study abroad

• Do we learn anything about the individual experiences?

• Do experiences abroad have lasting effects?

• Do we separate between educational experiences and life experiences?

• While increasing numbers signal popularity as an educational practice - do the

numbers in themselves justify incorporating study abroad into curricula?

• Do we need more and more… or are we allowed to plateau?

Experience, reflection, transformation

• “The promotion and nurturing of the shifts in students’ worldviews seems to be rooted in the transformative nature of the experiences had while studying abroad and the critical reflection process that is concomitant to these types of student experiences. This fundamental process of analyzing, considering, reconsidering, and questioning experiences within context of student experiences and personal perceptions is essential to the development of a “new worldview”…” (our italics)

• - “More than a Vacation: Short-Term Study Abroad as a Critically Reflective, Transformative Learning Experience,” Lane Perry, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, Lee Stoner, Massey University, Wellington, Michael Tarrant, University of Georgia (CREATIVE EDUCATION 2012. VOL.3, NO.5, 679-683)

“The Educational Benefits of Travel Experiences: A Literature Review”

Matthew J. Stone and James F. Petrick

Journal of Travel Research 52(6) 731–744© 2013 SAGE Publications

• detail the learning benefits of study abroad

• long term or short term

• experiential learning through travel component

• independent travel

• children, students, adults and seniors

“Regardless of the study sample, it is difficult to measurethe effect of any one experience on cognitive gain and educational achievement (Wanner 2009). Some studies have relied on self-reports of perceived learning (e.g. Chieffo and Griffiths 2004) as opposed to specific content (Sutton and Rubin 2004). Sutton, Miller, and Rubin (2007) proposed that asking students how much they learned does not actually measure change. Many measurements have been designed to measure change (see Paige and Stallman 2007), but most of these gauge global awareness, cross-cultural competence, or similar attitudinal measures instead of actual or perceived learning.” (p. 740; my highlights)

Unconventional or conventional practice?

• Education abroad is historically ingrained in our cultures

• Rich evidence of the human and intellectual value of studying and traveling abroad

• Human kind’s historical narrative is built upon cultural confrontations since the days of emerging bipedalism

• Example: the Roman Empire was commercial and cultural development more than anything

• The Grand Tour or Cavalier’s Tour of the 17th and 18th centuries

• Modern international cooperation in commerce, justice, and politics

Challenges for assessing global learning

• Reliance on indirect vs direct measures

• Low response rates for surveys (survey fatigue?)

• Heterogeneity of content across same course (incommensurability)

• Flat data on course evaluations

• Lack of longitudinal data (pre and post)

• Separate assessment of distinct elements of global competency

• Challenges specific to study abroad

Discussion: Enhancing assessment

(1) Which of your assessment efforts have been most successful and why? What do you find to be the main obstacles to assessment?

(2) How can obstacles to assessing global competencies, especially study abroad, be surmounted?

(3) Which of your successful assessment practices might apply well to global competency learning goals at WSU or elsewhere?

Thank you for participating!

Kim Andersen (kimander@wsu.edu) Honors College (honors.wsu.edu) David Shier (shier@wsu.edu)