<p>Agriculturalists, educators, students, and professionals
alike, function in a global industry. In order to work effectively and
efficiently to meet industry goals and address challenges, possession of a
specific skillset is necessary. This skillset includes the skill of
intercultural competence. The objective of Chapter 2 was to assess students’
intercultural competence development following participation in an embedded
study abroad program. This program included students studying food security and
environmental challenges who were also engaged in intercultural learning
activities before, during, and after a 9-day trip through Vietnam. Results
showed an average increase in students’ Developmental Orientation (DO) on the
Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC) of 13.68 points through their
participation in the course (p < .05). This positive growth indicates that
on average, student participants increased their intercultural competence
throughout the semester program. </p>
<p> Chapter 3
describes results of a study conducted using the same group of participants of
the embedded study abroad program to Vietnam. The objective of this study was
to assess the beliefs, events, and values of student participants at the
beginning of the semester and following completion of the semester course using
the Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory (BEVI). Additionally, it was an
objective to explore any changes that occurred throughout the duration of the
16-week course. Results from this study revealed little progression on scales
related to course outcomes, unintended meaningful changes in scales unrelated
to course outcomes, and variations between subgroups (gender and ethnic). These
data suggest that the curriculum as delivered requires revision in order to
support individual student needs and further development of formative assessment
emphasizing emotional and attitudinal dimensions, in addition to discipline
content, of student experiences during a study abroad program. </p>
<p> Chapter 4
describes the intercultural competence development of the Cooperative Extension
Educators who served as mentors to the undergraduate participants in the
embedded study abroad program to Vietnam discussed in Chapters 2 and 3. Results
from this study indicated that there was an overall decrease in Extension
Educators’ DO of 8.0 points. Though this decrease was evident, only 2 of the 5
Educators decreased meaningfully on the IDC according to IDI instrumentation.
Further analysis of quantitative and qualitative data revealed professional development
benefits, such as developing new perspectives and connecting with undergraduate
students, of the student-mentor relationship for the Educators. </p>
<p> Chapter 5
describes results from a study conducted in a combined learning community/short-term
study abroad program restricted to incoming and current first-year students
studying food production in Italy. The objective was to assess student
intercultural competence development pre- and post-participation in the program
that had incorporated intercultural learning activities both during and
throughout the course following the study abroad. Results revealed that 42% of
students advanced on the IDC and 26% progressed into a new stage on the IDC.
Overall group growth was not statistically significant at a gain of 4.1 points
on the IDC. This indicates that participating in the program did not
significantly increase students’ intercultural competence. </p>
<p> Data in
this thesis support that intercultural competence has the potential to be
developed in short-term study abroad programs with the implementation of
intercultural intervention. However, literature indicates that destination,
duration, stage of development, and incoming participant worldviews influence
outcomes in the development of intercultural competence. Emphasis on
participant stage development on the IDC and preparedness for meeting course
learning outcomes should be taken into consideration by study abroad leaders
when constructing program design. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/8279381 |
| Date | 02 August 2019 |
| Creators | Jacie Lynne Grant (6843644) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/Development_of_Intercultural_Competence_Through_Short-Term_Study_Abroad_Programming/8279381 |
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