Intentional Program Design: The Intersection of Global Learning
Outcomes and Experiential Education
April 12, 2013
James M. Lucas Assistant Dean, Global Education & Curriculum
Undergraduate Education, Office of the Provost
Michigan State University
Study Abroad Narrative
• “Life changing” and “transformative”
• Helps students • Personally
• Interpersonally
• Culturally
• Academically
• Linguistically
• Driving force behind campus
internationalization and national
security
Assumptions
• Longer is better, immersive is better
• All experiences are educative just by
the fact that they are experienced
• Students’ motivation and readiness
• Faculty background in intercultural and
experiential learning
Changing the Narrative
• Observation
• Language
• Uni-directional
Positivist
• Intercultural
• Immersion
• Transformation
Relativist
• Intervention in learning
• Purposeful in design
• Mutli-layered and ethical implementation
Constructivist
Traditional Study Abroad Planning
Curriculum
Knowledge, attitudes, and
skills
Pedagogy
How & why
Structure
Who, what, where, & when
Process, not a Program
Pre-Departure
Structure
Curriculum
Pedagogy
In-Country
Structure
Curriculum
Pedagogy
Re-Entry
Structure Curriculum Pedagogy
Backward Design
Backward Design (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998) – Note
many updates to this as well
Program Design with Intention
Goals & Outcomes
Skill-based
Content-based
Dispositions
Course format
Content material
Activities
Readings
Assignments
Assessment
Formative
Summative
Institutional Goals
General Education
College/ Department
Program/ Major
Course
Nested Goals & Outcomes
Institution-Level View Learning Outcomes
Learning Experiences Assessment
College Curriculum
Major Curriculum
Gen. Ed. Curriculum
Quantitative Knowledge
Writing
Integrative Studies
MSU Undergraduate Learning Experience
Co-Curriculum
Neighborhoods
UG Research
Program-Level View
College Curriculum
Education Abroad
Gen. Ed. Curriculum
Quantitative Knowledge Writing
Integrative Studies
Program
B
Program
A
Program
C
How do the program requirements help
students achieve the desired goals and
outcomes?
How does the program interface with other
parts of the institution?
Goals and Rationales for Global Education
• What do you want students to
learn?
– Competency and conceptually based,
not content based
– Content is a vehicle to deeper
understanding, not the end goal
• What is the goal for education
abroad on your campus?
– Utilitarian
– Humanitarian
• Relationship between nation states
• Emphasis on geographical and socio-political actors and boundaries
International
• Relationship between people and cultures
• Emphasis on macro-scale issues that influence people across borders
• Systems focus, cognitive as well
Global
• Relationship between cultural and ethnic group in terms of social, economic, & political power
• Typically a domestic focus in U.S. focusing on “core” racial-ethnic groups
Multicultural
• Encompasses multicultural and international
• Tends to be about engagement and communication only though
Intercultural
International
(Gutek)
Global
(Kirkwood)
Multicultural
(Banks)
Food, fun, & festivals
Acceptance
Social Justice
Citizenship
Equity
Cultural studies
Language
International Relations
Business and Law
Contested Concepts
Hallmarks of Global Education
• Focus on issues from a systems,
integrated, interdisciplinary perspective
• Focus on people and cultures, not places
• Concepts that transcend time and space =
knowledge is transferrable across context
• Social justice and diversity valued and
integrated into content
• Aspect of making student ready to tackle
complex issues and be participative in the
world
Lessons Learned at MSU
• Defining words is critical
• “Competition” between multicultural
and intercultural
• Trouble with certain concepts
– Language
– Citizenship
• Trouble with affective, dispositional
aspects of learning
• What’s the value added for education
abroad?
Make it Measurable
• Need to take lofty goals and translate them
into measurable outcomes
– After X, students can…..
– What can I “measure” or “observe” to indicate that
the students have learned
• Operationalizing dispositional and non-
cognitive outcomes is difficult – what is the
bar and how do you know?
• Develop rubrics to guide evaluation and
benchmarking
Levels of Assessment
• Institutional, program, course,
assignment
• Based on your goals and learning
outcomes
– What do you want your students to think,
feel, and/or do?
– One year after your class or program,
what would you hope that students will
remember or be able to accomplish?
Types of Assessment
• Not about grading and course
evaluation
• Formative and summative
• Not about evaluating the faculty
member
• At this stage, you are thinking about
the types of evidence you would find
compelling as indicators of student
learning, which should guide program
design
Lessons Learned at MSU
• Timing and implementation
– Scale and test fatigue
– Getting students to respond to surveys post-class,
post-program
– Some of this learning takes time to manifest
– Gathering base-line data
• Faculty need assistance with learning
outcomes assessment
– Using classroom assessments to assess learning
and not memorization
– Concepts and outcomes based instead of content
• Finding valid ways to assess non-cognitive
variables; self-reported data
Using activities
• Alignment and intentionality of
readings, lectures, field visits, movies,
speakers, etc.
• Assignments can be assessments
and/or activities that further learning
• All efforts should further students
acquisition of the stated goals
• To be educative, all activities need to
be organized well
Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984)
Lessons Learned at MSU
• New form of course organization and
academic freedom
• Move beyond making assumptions
that student understand what we
intend for them to learn
– Preflection and reflection
– Clear purpose
• Alignment
– Testing for knowledge vs. learning
– Assigning work or doing activities that
does not build toward the goal
Closing Thoughts…
• Nested set of goals for program
leaders to follow
• Support and faculty development
opportunities
• More time upfront, but generally
helpful on the back-end
Build it, and they might
come
Built it intentionally, and
they will learn