Intellectual Foundations

Option 1: Study of a Foreign Language

Students can meet the Global Engagement requirement by taking and passing a college language course at the 102 level. Students with one year of prior language study in high school will take a placement exam to ensure course registration at the appropriate level. Students who demonstrate successful completion of two years of foreign language study (the same language) at the high school level will satisfy the Global Engagement requirement.

Option 2: Proficiency Exam

Students can satisfy the Global Engagement requirement by passing an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) administered by an approved ACTFL organization at the novice-high level.

Option 3: Cultural Immersion through Study Abroad

Students can satisfy the Global Engagement requirement by participating in a semester-long study-abroad experience in a country where English is not the primary language. Students must achieve at least milestone 2 on the final assessment evaluated by the AAC&U Intercultural Knowledge and Competence Value Rubric to satisfy the requirement.

Faculty-led study-abroad programs will include assessment of the Global Engagement student learning outcomes within the context of the course. The assessment must be evaluated using the AAC&U Intercultural Knowledge and Competence Value Rubric. The student learning outcomes must be listed in the syllabus.

Students who engage in study-abroad programs that are not faculty led will be required to submit a portfolio with artifacts, including a 10-page reflective essay (guidelines and prompts provided), demonstrating achievement of at least milestone 2 on the AAC&U Intercultural Knowledge and Competence Rubric.

Option 4: Global at Home and Abroad

1. An approved Global Engagement Buffalo State service-learning course dedicated to serving populations and/or communities where English is not the primary language. The course must include a final assessment of student learning outcomes evaluated by the AAC&U Intercultural Knowledge and Competence Value Rubric. Students must pass the course and achieve a minimum of milestone 2 on the final assessment.

2. A local, regional, or international service experience with an organization dedicated to serving people in cultures where English is not the primary language of communication. Recognized experiences in this category can be part of an organized Buffalo State class or taken as an independent study/special project. Students are expected to provide documented evidence of a minimum of 100 hours of fieldwork (contact), preservice seminars/workshops focused on comprehending the cultural nuances of the population, and postcompletion debriefings. In all cases, experiences in this option must include assignments that promote intercultural competence (see suggested assignments). The final assessment of the student learning outcomes will include a 10-page reflective essay (see sample prompts) evaluated by the AAC&U Intercultural Knowledge and Competence Value Rubric. Students must pass the course and achieve a minimum of milestone 2 on the final assessment.

Implementation Guidelines:

A student with one year of prior foreign language study from high school and who has met placement criteria where needed can satisfy the Global Engagement requirement by choosing from options 1–4. A student with no prior foreign study from high school can satisfy the Global Engagement requirement through Option 2 or a combination of Options 1, 3, and 4 for a total of 6 credits.

Option 4 Rationale

Individualized “Global at Home and Abroad” experiences are foregrounded in questions of identity, interconnections, responsibility, and the realities of American diversity. Experiences in the “Global at Home” category are informed by the college’s mission to be locally engaged and the realities of the ever-increasing diversity found in Western New York. Inherent in new conceptualization of self within society includes “an understanding of how other countries and societies interpret U.S. values, an understanding of how the United States interprets the values of other countries and societies, an understanding of how individual choices affect or influence other societies and countries, and an understanding of how individual consumption impacts the world’s ecological system, cultural values, cultural evolution, and economy” (Hovland, 2009).
Further, in 2006, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) commissioned a study to determine employer perception of graduates’ preparedness for work. More than 70 percent of respondents suggested that recent graduates were not adequately prepared for global issues, including the challenges and opportunities associated with global at home communities (College Learning for a New Century: A Report from the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and American Promise, 2007). The data reconfirm the need for focused attention on the connections between education and the dynamically shifting work and civic environments.

The “Global at Home and Abroad” category addresses the concerns raised by AAC&U by promoting educational experiences that are comprehensive and multilayered. The focus on connecting a learner’s educational experiences to community needs at grassroots levels creates a common ground that combines enhanced interconnectedness of education and community with the demonstrated need for augmented work skills in global contexts, whether international or local.

References

Association of American Colleges and Universities (2007). College learning for the global century: A report from the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America’s Promise. Washington, DC. Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Hovland, K. (2009). Global learning: What is it? Who is responsible for it? Peer Review, 11 (4). Retrieved July 17, 2012, from www.aacu.org/peerreview/pr-fa09/hovland.cfm.
I hereby approve the Intellectual Foundations program recommended to me by the College Senate. I charge the provost with the responsibly of implementing this revised program for new students entering Buffalo State in fall 2014.