When Study Abroad is a Training Ground for the Global Workplace Welcome to session 7.10 18 Sep 2010.

When Study Abroad is a Training Ground for the Global Workplace

Welcome to session 7.10

18 Sep 2010

SAFSAStudy Abroad and Foreign Student

AdvisorsWHO:

EAIE members involved in providing services and guidance to foreign students and scholars, advising students about study abroad opportunities or promoting study abroad programmes in their institutions.

WHAT:

The focus of SAFSA is on enhancing intercultural communication skills, orientation and advising programmes, practical aspects of international programmes, promotion and advocacy of international mobility and quality in advising.

So SAFSA is a platform for discussion and networking with other professionals!


SAFSAStudy Abroad and Foreign Student

AdvisorsFor questions please contact any member of the SAFSA board:

Chair

Karin Klitgaard Møller, University of Copenhagen Faculty of Life Sciences, Denmark

[email protected]

Vice-chair

Ingrid Gehrke, FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Austria

[email protected]

Board

Barbara Boldt, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

[email protected]

Kevin Murphy, CEA Global Education, Italy

[email protected]

Léa D. Senn, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy

[email protected]



Chair: Kevin Murphy, CEA Global Education, Italy

I. Acquiring Skills for the Global Workplace

Speaker: Scott Blair, CEA Global Education, France

II. Articulating Study Abroad Classroom Skills for the Global Workplace

Speaker: Barbara Boldt, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

III. Acquiring Skills in the Multicultural Classroom and the Challenge of Assessment


I. Acquiring Skills for the Global Workplace

Kevin Murphy, CEA Global Education, Italy

State of Affairs

• Global mobility and communication on the rise

• Encountering people from a variety of cultures, and the need for effective communication, is already commonplace

• Students need to be better prepared for ‘international’ careers


Old Goals?

to develop awareness of foreign cultures

to acquire foreign language skills


Better Goals

to discover the interaction between culture and communication

to realize how one’s cultural identity influences communication with others

to attain the knowledge and skills to be effective and ethical intercultural communicators


Communication and Global Competence

COM340• Subject Area: Communication, Cultural Studies• Level: 300• Prerequisites: None• Language of Instruction: English• Contact Hours: 45• Recommended Credits: 3• Course Structure: 15 weeks


Intercultural Strategies – first class

• Don’t Assume. Everything is done differently here.


• Don’t Assume. Everything is done differently here.• Don’t Judge. What seems strange or wrong is normal

here.



here.• Don’t aspire to ‘understand’. Accept That You Don’t

Understand. It’s okay.



here.• Don’t aspire to ‘understand’. Accept That You Don’t

Understand. It’s okay.

Instructional methods: lectures, in-class discussions, experiential exercises, a research project, field experiences, guest speakers, book reviews, interviews, reflection journal.

Forms of Assessment

• Continuous

• Account for development and evolution

Some Conceptual Markers for Navigating Culture & Communication

• Cultural aspect of communication is important because culture is subconscious

• Cultural behavior is patterned & predictable• Cultural groups can be organized on the basis of their similarities &

differences• Exploring communication is a key to navigating culture• Exploring culture is a key to navigating communication

The real challenge is not to ‘understand a foreign culture’

but

• to make sense of a foreign culture through the lens of one’s own

• to recognise the culture/communication relationship, how it operates, where it occurs, how to locate and recognize its operation and influence

Local Library Membership Mission


CommunicationTolerance

PatienceIndependence

AdaptationAppreciation

Café Solo What kind of people are there? Outside? How do they use the space/s?What are they doing, how are they dressed?What interactions are taking place? Verbal? Non-verbal?What is the sound\smell environment? How do you feel being there? And making your order?How were you treated? …and so on.

Outsiders on the Inside – not a cohesive group

• Encounters with a variety of local residents who are/were also ‘outsiders’ by nationality, religion, provenance, lifestyle, sexuality, ethnicity, etc

• Reviews of books written by fellow-foreigners about the socio-cultural aspect of X-Anglo relations. Are their authors interculturally competent?

Students critically confront their own

cultural adjustment process to that

of someone else

Culture and communication are

complex, ambiguous, and evolve over time


others

• Nonni di Santo Spirito

• Business Lunch

• Soup Kitchen

• Conversation exchange

• Business simulations

• Blogging


II. Articulating Study Abroad Classroom Skills for the Global Workplace

Scott Blair, CEA Global Education, France

Targeted Learning Outcomes for Study Abroad

• That students grow intellectually, personally and ethically • That students develop higher levels of global & intercultural

competence • That students develop greater fluency in foreign languages • That students are better prepared for international careers

Source: Bolen, M., ed. (2007) A Guide to Outcomes Assessment in Education Abroad, Carlisle, PA: Forum on Education Abroad.


Integrating Study Abroad, Intercultural Learning, & Career Planning

Program Structure & ChronologyT-6 months Pre-Departure E-Orientation

T-0 General Orientation on Study Abroad & Learning Outcomes

T+3 days Academic Orientation on Applying Learning Outcomes to Career

Planning

T+14 days Students Receive Summary Documentation (Career articles,

model personal plan, calendar of coming workshops, biography of

career consultant, etc.)

T+8 weeks Entry Career Workshop (PowerPoint Presentation & Group

Exercises)

T+10 weeks Career Consultant Live Webinar

T+15 weeks Exit Workshop: Review, Live Webinar on “The Next Steps”,

Assessment

T+24 weeks Follow-Up (Readings, student support, personal advising, survey

materials)When Study Abroad is a Training Ground

for the Global Workplace

How Study Abroad Adds Value to My Budding Professional Skill Sets

Employers value your international experience when you articulate how it adds value to their organization

For example:

• Flexibility: How have you developed greater tolerance for ambiguity? Are you a productive team player?

• Cultural Adaptability: How have you gained new cross-cultural sensitivity, sensibility, and awareness?

• Wider Worldview: How have you gained a deeper understanding of international affairs & global issues?

• Language Acquisition: How have you strengthened your primary and secondary language skills?


(one slide from the T+8 career workshop)

Entry Workshop Topics

Making Career Connections: Impact of Study Abroad Upon My Career Direction

• Workshop Objectives• Self Assessment (Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, Interests)• Group SWOT Analysis Exercise• Communicating the Career Narrative• Developing Skill Statements on the Resume • Resume Analysis Exercise• Cover Letters• Using Social Networks for Expanding Professional Connections• Your Home Campus Career Resources• Creating the Career Action Plan• Landing that Job!



III. Acquiring Skills in the Multicultural Classroom and the Challenge of

Assessment Barbara Boldt, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Skills for International Management(SIM 1)

LIUC

Spring Semester 2009

Instructor: Barbara Boldt, M.A.

Welcome to…


Skills for International Management

Course Overview

This course is designed for Erasmus students studying in Italy for one or more semesters who wish to gain specific intercultural skills that they will be able to transfer to the international workplace. The class is composed of three modules of 12 hours each with a break of 5 weeks in between each block. The premise is that because you will be experiencing cultural difference during the semester, you have the opportunity to learn about and practice specific skills that are necessary and useful in order to work effectively in a multi-national environment. These skills include, understanding the basic concepts of culture and how cultures differ, developing self-cultural awareness, the impact of perception on interaction, practice in suspension of judgment, managing stereotypes and reflecting on behaviour with the goal of developing the skill of perspective taking and cultivating cultural empathy. In addition we will explore how cultural difference impacts specific business interactions such as negotiating and working in teams


Summary of Attributes of Success for International

ManagersJob Factors• Technical skills

• Managerial skills

• Administrative competence

Relational Dimensions• Tolerance for ambiguity

• Behavioral Flexibility

• Non-judgmentalism

• Cultural empathy and low ethnocentrism

• Interpersonal skills

Motivational State

• Belief in mission

• Congruence with career-path

• Interest in overseas experience

• Willingness to acquire new patterns of behavior and attitudes,

Family Situation

• Spouse willing to live abroad

• Adaptive and supportive spouse

• Stable marriage

Language skills

• Speaks or willing to learn host country language


Source: Ronen, S. Training the International Assignee

Competencies for International Managers…

• Interpersonal (relationship) skills

• Linguistic ability

• Cultural curiosity

• Tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity

• Flexibility

• Patience and respect

• Cultural empathy

• Strong ego strength

• A sense of humor

• The ability to respond to multiple cultures simultaneously

• Cognitive complexity

• A “culture general” approach

• Being ready to take on new perspectives and try new approaches.

Source: Schneider, S.C. & Barsoux, J-L, Managing across cultures.Harlow, England: Prentice Hall/FT, 2003.


Primary Objective:

To learn key skills for effective intercultural, interpersonal interaction that can be transferred to a multi-cultural business environment via the facilitated experience of living and studying in a foreign culture.


Learning Goals:• To define culture and explore various metaphors used to represent it.

• To practice the skills of observing, describing and interpreting the behavior of people who are culturally different from ourselves.

• To Practice communication techniques that allow us to overcome the barriers involved in intercultural communication, including:

– suspension of judgment– managing stereotypes– reflecting on and interpreting behavior– development of empathy and perspective taking


Learning Goals Continued...• To increase self-cultural awareness and awareness of other cultures by

learning a framework of cultural difference.

• To study the effect of culture on negotiating and team work.

• To analyze our own experience using the framework of value difference and the other concepts learned during the semester.


You will be evaluated on…

• Class participation and attendance (I) 25%• Analytical notebook & reflection papers (I) 20%• Group presentation (G) 20%• Participation in online discussion (I) 10%• Final critical incident paper (I) 25%


How do we know they’ve acquired these skills?


Assessment Methodology

• Comparing two types of data• Quantitative data: GCI• Qualitative data: reflection papers

• Outcome• Quantitative data: inconclusive• Qualitative data: cumbersome but rich, clearly

showed learning


When Study Abroad is a Training Ground for the Global Workplace Welcome to session 7.10 18 Sep 2010.

Documents

global workplace slide

global workplace speaker

global workplace welcome

safsa study

global workplace kevin

training ground

cea global education

evolution slide