Global Competence Teaching in College

Teaching in College

It would be prudent to note that the relevance of developing global competence cannot be overstated. This is more so the case given that we live in what has variously been described as a global village. As a consequence, we ought to ensure that college students have the skills they need to be effective global citizens. Indeed, according to Majewska (2022), global competence remains one of the most crucial 21st century competency based skills. From the onset, there would be need to first develop a concise definition of global competence. In basic terms, global competence could be perceived as the set of skills and competencies that further enhance a person’s ability to succeed or thrive on the global stage. It relates to the development of awareness about diverse cultures of the world, concerns of global significance, etc. Majewska (2022) has also defined global competence as “a set of skills centered around a knowledge base about world geography, cultures, global issues, and the skills and character to engage sensibly and effectively in a global setting” (77). Towards this end, globally competent college students are likely to be more knowledgeable about not only how the world works, but also what their place is in an increasingly interconnected world. With this knowledge students can play a more meaningful role in global affairs, further enhance their abilities as future professionals (i.e. in relation to interprofessional collaboration) and become accomplished global citizens. For this reason, there is need to ensure that college students are equipped with the relevant global competence skills and capabilities.

As Majewska (2022) indicates, global competence learning (on the part of learners) and teaching (on the part of teachers) is not an easy undertaking. The author indicates that there are some inherent challenges on this front that ought to be addressed. One such challenge happens to be shortage of teachers who are trained on global competence instruction. This is a challenge that could be addressed by ensuring that teachers are prepared effectively for this kind of instruction – especially with regard to skills acquisition as well as provision of the needed resources. There are various globally competent teaching models as well as pedagogies that could be embraced on this front. Key elements that could be incorporated in this case are inclusive of, but they are not limited to; comprehension of multiple cultures, comprehension of current events and globally-relevant issues, intercultural communication, empathy, diversity in contemporary settings, etc. The other equally important challenge in as far as global competence instruction is concerned happens to be the costly nature of global competence teaching. Indeed, in as far as cost is concerned, Haughton and Schodl (2020) make an observation to the effect that exchange programs, which are often deployed on this front happen to be rather costly. More specifically, the authors point out that exchange programs come in handy in efforts to ensure that college students develop the relevant dispositions as well as skills and knowledge by way of immersing them in foreign settings. Indeed, to some extent, this could be deemed a rather effective way of the development of global competence among learners. However, in the words of Haughton and Schodl (2020), “the associated time and financial commitment, attitudes and culture, and various personal obligations have created barriers to participation” (2). For this reason, the authors are of the opinion that there is need to embrace other cost-effective approaches to global competence instruction targeting college students. One such approach is the deployment of what the authors refer to as technology-mediated/facilitated cultural competence instruction. To a large extent, an approach of this nature would make it possible for college learners to closely interact with their peers from diverse global settings without the associated cost as well as logistical constraints that have been alluded to above. According to Haughton and Schodl (2020), learners in this case gain from the resulting cross-cultural encounters and get to embrace and appreciate other people’s perspectives, belief systems, as well as ways of life. This is crucial in the development of global competence.

Although Haughton and Schodl (2020) manage to highlight the relevance of technology-mediated/facilitated cultural competence instruction, they do not sufficiently discuss the actual approaches that ought to be embraced on this front. For this reason, there is need to identify the most effective technology-mediated/facilitated cultural competence instruction models and approaches and their level of effectiveness. One such approach happens to be the gamified e-learning platform (Leung, Lau, Wan, Law, Kwong, and Wong, 2021). In their hugely informative piece, the authors make a finding to the effect that “gamified e-learning platforms could contribute to the development of students’ global perspectives” (Leung, Lau, Wan, Law, Kwong, and Wong, 2021, p. 1). More specifically, the platform taken into consideration in this case was ‘PaGamO’, in which case learners participate or took part in eTournaments and in the course of doing so got to interact with peers from different parts of the world. In essence, the authors indicate that there is need to be more creative in formats of knowledge acquisition on this front. This is more so the case given that technology has provided us with endless possibilities to seamlessly integrate global competence instruction into the curriculum.