Creating a Truly Global Curriculum

The University has come to recognize that global learning is essential to a well-rounded educational experience and leads to greater success in students’ professional and personal lives. With that in mind, the U has been diligently “internationalizing” its curriculum throughout its five-campus system, regardless if students study abroad or not.

“In today’s world, individuals must be globally minded and have the ability to work collaboratively in diverse settings,” says Gayle Woodruff, the founding director of curriculum and campus internationalization (ICC) at the U. “All students need to have the skills, knowledge, and perspective to be global-ready when they go out into their careers and into the world.”

Woodruff and her team have launched an array of programs to fulfill the U’s educational mission of graduating all students as global citizens. These global learning experiences can be wide ranging. The primary approach to international exposure is with study abroad, but Woodruff and her team are bringing other opportunities to students. Now throughout their entire experience at the U, students are exposed to cultural diversity through classroom interactions, extracurricular activities, and more.

“Cultural diversity is increasingly present on campus and in the workplace, providing many opportunities for students to develop cultural intelligence and global citizenship skills right here,” says Department of Work and Organizations Professor Mary Zellmer-Bruhn, who is an author of many book chapters and journal articles on cross-cultural teamwork and global teams. “Doing so, however, requires that faculty and staff have the knowledge and tools to develop content and effective activities to make the most of these chances.”

The U has been engaging directly with faculty and staff in colleges and academic departments across campus to develop curricula that focuses on global learning outcomes. Support also is given to faculty to identify those outcomes that can specifically be tailored to their academic disciplines.

The Carlson School has long been a leader in global education and has partnered with the ICC for more than 10 years. This year, Stacy Doepner-Hove, director of the Carlson School’s Masters in Human Resources and Industrial Relations Program (MHRIR), is a member of the Internationalizing Teaching and Learning (ITL) faculty cohort. This cohort is through a partnership with ICC and the U’s Center for Educational Innovation.

Doepner-Hove and her cohort work with faculty members from other colleges and departments across the University. Their goal is to develop interdisciplinary approaches to maximize students’ international, global, and intercultural learning. As half the students in her MHRIR cohort are international, Doepner-Hove understands how critically important it is to have a curriculum that reflects the needs of every student. In her case, it is key that her students have the intercultural skills necessary to work with diverse groups in the workplace.

“Our students, as they graduate as human resources professionals, will often be the ones that others will look to when they have questions about cross-cultural agility and working in diverse teams,” she says. “So the more that we can provide an internationalized curriculum, the more comfortable they will be in those sorts of settings and addressing the intercultural needs of organizations.”

To build up the international aspects of her coursework, Doepner-Hove revised the MHRIR leadership practicum. The practicum helps students build cross-cultural agility and develop their leadership qualities. Dopener-Hove’s ITL cohort helped her develop some of the lessons and activities she will implement in the upcoming school year.

“The research and practice show that diverse teams and organizations produce overall better results and working in a global marketplace is inevitable for all of us,” she says. “Whether you are looking at your clients, suppliers, customers, vendors, employees, or any facet of an organization, you will have contact with an increasingly diverse set of people. These connections and relationships aren’t always easy to navigate.”

Since the Internationalizing Teaching and Learning program was developed, 83 faculty members from all five U campuses have participated. Together, they have infused their learning in over 150 courses reaching more than 18,000 students.

Woodruff says she considers the Carlson School a model for how colleges can be leaders in internationalizing the student experience because of how passionate everyone at the school is about making it a priority.

“When I see Stacy wanting to improve her teaching and improve her courses so that her students are learning something new and different so they can be better professionals and better global citizens, that’s really motivating for me,” she says.

In turn, the Carlson School has been instrumental in promoting ICC initiatives. Every two years, the ICC hosts a campus-wide conference to showcase current programs and research. In addition to co-sponsoring the conference and twice serving as the conference location, the Carlson School presents its own groundbreaking research on global learning.

“The Carlson School can always do more to further its efforts in creating and delivering international education opportunities for our students,” says Zellmer-Bruhn. “It is great to have an exceptional resource like the ITL program to support our faculty and staff.”