Intercultural Perspectives Criteria

Definition

Intercultural Perspectives, Knowledge, and Competence include "a set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills and characteristics that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts.” 1

Framing Language

The call to integrate intercultural knowledge and competence into the heart of education is an imperative born of seeing ourselves as members of a world community, knowing that we share the future with others. Beyond mere exposure to culturally different others, the campus community requires the capacity to: meaningfully engage those others, place social justice in historical and political context, and put culture at the core of transformative learning. The intercultural knowledge and competence rubric suggests a systematic way to measure our capacity to identify our own cultural patterns, compare and contrast them with others, and adapt empathically and flexibly to unfamiliar ways of being. 

Glossary

The definitions that follow were developed to clarify terms and concepts used in defining Intercultural Perspectives and have been adopted from the AACU Intercultural rubric.

Culture: All knowledge and values shared by a group. 


Cultural rules and biases:  Boundaries within which an individual operates in order to feel a sense of belonging to a society or group, based on the values shared by that society or group.

Empathy: "Empathy is the imaginary participation in another person’s experience, including emotional and intellectual dimensions, by imagining his or her perspective (not by assuming the person’s 
position)."
2

Intercultural experience: The experience of an interaction with an individual or groups of people whose culture is different from your own. 


Intercultural/ cultural differences: The differences in rules, behaviors, communication and biases, based on cultural values that are different from one's own culture.

Suspensed judgment in valuing their interactions with culturally different others: Postpones assessment or evaluation (positive or negative) of interactions with people culturally different from one self. 
Disconnecting from the process of automatic judgment and taking time to reflect on possibly multiple meanings.

Worldview: Worldview is the cognitive and affective lens through which people construe their experiences and make sense of the world around them. 



To Qualify as a Intercultural Perspectives course for the Global Miami Plan, a class must fulfill criteria in the six areas delineated below, clear benchmarks in all areas, and accumulate 8 total points toward these benchmarks, milestones, and capstones.

Intercultural Perspectives Rubric
Criteria Capstone = 3 points Milestone = 2 points Benchmark = 1 point
Knowledge: Cultural Self-Awareness Recognizes new perspectives about own cultural rules and biases (e.g. not looking for sameness; comfortable with the complexities that new perspectives offer.) Identifies own cultural rules and biases (e.g. with a strong preference for those rules shared with own cultural group and seeks the same in others.)

Shows minimal awareness of own cultural rules and biases (even those shared with own cultural group(s)) (e.g. uncomfortable with identifying possible cultural differences with others.) 

 

Knowledge: Cultural Worldview Frameworks Demonstrates deeper understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to its history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices. Demonstrates understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to its history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices. Demonstrates partial understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to its history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices. 

Skills: Empathy

Recognizes intellectual and emotional dimensions of more than one worldview and sometimes uses more than one worldview in interactions. 

Identifies components of other cultural perspectives but responds in all situations with own worldview.  Views the experience of others but does so through own cultural worldview. 
Skills: Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Recognizes and participates in cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication and begins to negotiate a shared understanding based on those differences. Identifies cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication and is aware that misunderstandings can occur based on those differences but is still unable to negotiate a shared understanding.  Has some level of understanding of cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication; is unable to negotiate a shared understanding. 

Attitudes: Curiosity

Asks deeper questions about other cultures and seeks out answers to these questions. 

Asks questions about other cultures. 

States interest in learning more about other cultures.

Attitudes: Openness

Begins to initiate and develop interactions with culturally different others. Begins to suspend judgment in valuing her/ his interactions with culturally different others. 

Expresses openness to most, if not all, interactions with culturally different others. Has difficulty suspending any judgment in her/ his interactions with culturally different others, and is aware of own judgment and expresses a willingness to change. 

Receptive to interacting with culturally different others. Has difficulty suspending any judgment in her/ his interactions with culturally different others, but is unaware of own judgment. 

1Our module is a modified version of the AAC&U Rubric for Intercultural Knowledge and Competence, available at < https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/intercultural-knowledge>.

2Research further informing this model may be accessed at https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/intercultural-knowledge.