Education does not exist in a vacuum — it operates within global systems of knowledge, culture, economics, and politics that shape what is taught, how it is taught, and who has access to learning opportunities. ED7314 develops the international competencies that postsecondary and adult educators need to serve increasingly diverse learner populations, design culturally responsive curricula, facilitate cross-cultural dialogue, and prepare learners for professional lives that are increasingly global in scope.
Cultural competence in adult education
Defining and developing cultural competence for education professionals
- Defining cultural competence in context: ED7314 develops the capacity to define cultural competence within one's specific professional context — recognizing that cultural competence in a community college serving immigrant populations looks different from cultural competence in a corporate training department with global operations, which looks different from cultural competence in a university with a large international student population. The course moves beyond generic definitions of cultural competence to context-specific articulations that account for the particular cultural dynamics, power structures, and learner populations of each educational setting
- Cultural competence development models: The course covers developmental models of intercultural competence, particularly Bennett's (1993) Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), which describes a progression from ethnocentric orientations (denial, defense, minimization) to ethnorelative orientations (acceptance, adaptation, integration). Understanding this developmental progression helps educators assess their own cultural competence, design professional development that moves people along the continuum, and recognize that cultural competence is not a destination but an ongoing developmental process
- Beyond awareness to practice: ED7314 pushes beyond cultural awareness (understanding that cultural differences exist) to cultural competence in practice — the ability to design instruction that is responsive to cultural difference, facilitate learning conversations across cultural divides, assess learners fairly across cultural contexts, and create inclusive educational environments where cultural diversity is treated as an asset for learning
Supporting diverse learners globally
ED7314 develops the knowledge and skills to support diverse adult learners in increasingly multicultural and multinational educational contexts. The course examines how cultural dimensions (Hofstede's dimensions of national culture — power distance, individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity-femininity, long-term orientation) affect learning preferences, classroom participation patterns, expectations about teacher authority, and approaches to academic work. The course also examines how socioeconomic factors, colonial and postcolonial legacies, language access, immigration and refugee experiences, and intersecting identity dimensions shape adult learners' educational experiences and needs. The course develops practical strategies for supporting diverse learners including culturally responsive pedagogy (Gay, 2010), culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris, 2012), translingual approaches to academic communication, and the design of learning environments that honor multiple ways of knowing while maintaining rigorous academic standards. The course also addresses the specific challenges of online and distance education in global contexts — designing digital learning experiences that are accessible and effective for learners across different time zones, technology environments, cultural contexts, and language backgrounds.
Cross-cultural dialogue in educational environments
ED7314 develops the facilitation skills needed to encourage productive cross-cultural dialogue in educational settings — a challenging task that requires more than goodwill and general openness. The course covers dialogue facilitation frameworks including Bohm's (1996) dialogue as a practice of thinking together (suspending assumptions, listening without judgment, exploring rather than defending positions), Freire's (1970) dialogic pedagogy (dialogue as the foundation of liberatory education, in which teachers and students learn from each other across cultural positions), and intergroup dialogue models (structured encounters between members of different social identity groups designed to build understanding across difference). The course also addresses the specific challenges of cross-cultural dialogue: navigating conflict that arises from genuine cultural disagreement rather than mere misunderstanding, facilitating dialogue when power differentials between cultural groups are present in the room, addressing microaggressions and implicit bias without shutting down conversation, and creating conditions in which learners from non-dominant cultural backgrounds feel safe enough to share their perspectives authentically.
Integrating global perspectives into curriculum, teaching, and evaluation
ED7314 develops the curriculum design skills needed to integrate global perspectives across all dimensions of educational practice. The course covers curriculum internationalization — not simply adding a "global module" to an existing course but fundamentally rethinking curriculum content, pedagogical approaches, and assessment practices through a global lens. This includes incorporating diverse global perspectives and knowledge traditions (not just Western academic traditions) into course content, designing assignments that develop global competencies (cross-cultural communication, perspective-taking, global systems thinking), using case studies and examples from multiple national and cultural contexts, and creating assessment practices that are valid across cultural contexts (recognizing that assessment formats like individual oral presentations may disadvantage learners from cultures that value collective over individual expression, or that timed tests may disadvantage learners working in a second or third language). The course also covers the institutional dimensions of internationalization — developing institutional policies and structures that support global education, building international partnerships, and creating pathways for student and faculty exchange.
ED7314 assignments include cultural competence self-assessments, curriculum internationalization plans, cross-cultural dialogue designs, and global education proposals
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Frequently asked questions
This distinction is at the heart of ED7314's approach to curriculum internationalization. Adding international content means including a module on "global issues" in an otherwise domestically focused course, assigning readings by international authors, or using case studies from other countries alongside (but separate from) domestic case studies. This additive approach, while better than no international content at all, treats global perspectives as supplementary to the "real" (implicitly domestic) curriculum — something layered on top rather than integrated throughout. Integrating global perspectives, as ED7314 develops, means fundamentally rethinking the curriculum so that every topic is examined from multiple cultural, national, and epistemological perspectives as a matter of course — not just when the "global module" arrives. It means asking, for every concept taught, "How do other knowledge traditions understand this? What assumptions embedded in this theory are culturally specific rather than universal? How does this concept operate differently in different cultural and national contexts? What perspectives are we not hearing?" For example, in an organizational leadership course, integrating global perspectives would not mean adding a module on "leadership in Asia" at the end of the course. It would mean examining, throughout the course, how leadership itself is conceptualized differently across cultures — how the relationship between leaders and followers varies across power distance dimensions, how collectivist vs. individualist cultural values shape leadership practices, how different cultural traditions define effective leadership, and how the dominant Western leadership theories taught in most American programs represent one set of cultural assumptions about leadership rather than universal truths. This integrated approach produces graduates who can think critically about the cultural embeddedness of their own professional knowledge and practice — a capacity that is essential in an increasingly interconnected global professional environment.