scholarly journals Developing cultural intelligence: Experiential interactions in an international internship program

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-174
Author(s):  
Lisa Lambert Snodgrass ◽  
Margaret Hass ◽  
Mehdi Ghahremani

In recent years, the demand for more culturally competent candidates has risen as employers seek workers highly adaptable to the global marketplace. Study abroad internship programs offer a rich training ground for college students to gain valuable international and intercultural career experience. This study examined the effects of experiential program design on the cultural intelligence of participants in an international internship program. College students from a large Midwestern university were enrolled in an international internship program in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Lima, Peru; or Seoul, South Korea. The program design incorporated principles of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) to increase student reflection on their experience and engage them in the ELT cycle. Participants were scored on the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) before and after the internship, and pre-test and post-test scores were compared and analyzed. Findings indicated significant growth in participants’ cultural intelligence. The intentional incorporation of experiential learning principles in the design and implementation of internship abroad programs has clear potential to increase participant’ intercultural competence and develop their skills for the 21st century workplace.

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lada Helen Kurpis ◽  
James Hunter

Business schools can increase their competitiveness by offering students intercultural skills development opportunities integrated into the traditional curricula. This article makes a contribution by proposing an approach to developing students’ cultural intelligence that is based on the cultural intelligence (CQ) model, experiential learning theory, and contact theory. This study empirically tests the effectiveness of the proposed approach by developing and conducting a cost-efficient, easy-to-implement experiential learning activity where marketing students and advanced English as a Second Language students interview each other about consumer behavior differences. The activity led to a perceived increase in cultural knowledge, motivation, and confidence in the students’ ability to communicate with people from other cultures. Overall, students deemed the activity a valuable part of their education. Students’ CQ was positively correlated with the self-reported (perceived) prior experience-based and studies-based intercultural competence. Compared with domestic students, international students scored higher only on the Cognitive dimension of CQ.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 443-444
Author(s):  
Joy Douglas ◽  
Christine Ferguson ◽  
Beth Nolan

Abstract Research supports the need for healthcare providers who are trained in providing care to older adults with dementia. However, few training options exist for Registered Dietitians (RDs) seeking dementia care training that is specific to nutrition. The purpose of this project was to adapt an existing dementia care training curriculum to meet the learning needs of RDs. The development team included two experts in dementia training and two RDs with expertise in gerontological nutrition. The new training module was based on the existing Positive Approach to Care™ (PAC) curriculum, which incorporates Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory and the Adult Experiential Learning Cycle. The development team first identified learning objectives for content that would be relevant to RDs who work with persons living with dementia, and modified components of the existing PAC curriculum to meet these objectives. After a preliminary pilot, the 2-hour program was presented to 20 RDs using a combination of lecture presentation, experiential learning, and skill-building techniques. Participants were provided written materials to reinforce the concepts presented. Participants answered five dementia-specific questions before and after the training, and overall, the average percentage of correct answers improved following the training. Two weeks following the training, participants completed an open-ended survey to provide feedback on the training. Participants responded favorably to the mixed learning formats in the training. When asked to rank their preferred learning methods, participants indicated lecture-based learning and experiential learning as their top preferred methods. These findings indicate that the adapted curriculum may improve dementia knowledge among RDs.


Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Fabiana Foltran Mescollotto ◽  
Érica Brito Gonçalves ◽  
Ester Moreira de Castro Carletti ◽  
Ana Beatriz Oliveira ◽  
Elisa Bizetti Pelai ◽  
...  

Background: Excessive use of smartphones may be associated with behavioral and physical health changes and might cause musculoskeletal alterations in the head and neck region. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of smartphone addiction in college students and its correlation with symptoms of head and neck pain and masticatory and trapezius muscle activity while resting, before and after smartphone use. Methods: Twenty university students participated in the study. They answered the Smartphone Addiction Scale and the Fonseca Anamnestic Index. Next, the participants were seated and prepared for electromyography through the placement of surface electrodes on the masseter, temporal, and trapezius muscles. Rest condition data were collected for 10 seconds before and after 30 minutes of smartphone use. Results: The results showed that 35% of the evaluated individuals were classified as smartphone addicted and 35% reported no head or neck pain in the previous 30 days. There was no association between smartphone use and head and neck pain. In the electromyography, there was an increase in RMS values after smartphone use in the right and left masseter muscles and the left trapezius. Conclusion: College students presented a high prevalence of smartphone addiction and head and neck pain, but these were not statistically associated. There was a change in muscle activity only in the right trapezius muscles before and after 30 minutes of smartphone use. These findings are contrary to the current belief that the use of smartphones correlates with pain in the neck region and changes in the electrical muscle activity, leading to fatigue in the cervical muscles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 156
Author(s):  
Wai Kian Tan ◽  
Minoru Umemoto

In this globalization-focused era, the demand for globalized engineers in the creation of borderless societies is increasing. Despite the initiatives by the Japanese government to promote internalization through increasing the intake of foreign students, the exposures gained by the Japanese students from these programs are minimal. For years, internship has been used globally as a platform for training and educating future engineers, but only a few studies have examined the proactive transformation from domestic to international internship. International internships overseas offer a completely new dimension of experiences when carried out in multicultural environments. This article reports and offers evidence of a Japanese engineering university’s rapid global internship reform strategy toward the expansion of international internships in Malaysia. This paper provides insights into the process, from initial setup to implementation of the internship program covering all the necessary preparation and support. From the establishment of an overseas collaboration base and rapport building with hosting industries, the systematic steps taken are reported. Regarding the internship program, feedback from Japanese engineering students who completed their internships show improved satisfaction due to continuous improvement of the internship program with progressing years. It was also discovered that the low participation rate in overseas internship by Japanese students is not due to their inward-looking temperament, but due to the lack of internship program availability that is administered with sufficient preparation enabling them to challenge themselves in a new environment. The challenges encountered in the program, and the sustainable improvements made in alignment with sustainable development goals toward equitable quality education and promotion of lifelong learning are also stated. In this paper, the future perspectives and outlook of internships are also described considering today’s rapid technological advancements and the fast-changing needs of industries, which require future internship programs to have flexible approaches and ideologies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maribel Blasco ◽  
Liv Egholm Feldt ◽  
Michael Jakobsen

The article offers a critique of the concept of cultural intelligence (CQ) from a semiotic perspective. It addresses three assumptions that underpin the CQ concept: that CQ exists, that conflict and misunderstandings are antithetical to CQ and that metacognition involves a cultural dimension. The analysis focuses in particular on the dimension of cultural metacognition which has recently been claimed to be the CQ concept’s main contribution compared to earlier concepts such as cross-cultural or intercultural competence, a claim which is found to be overstated. The article uses the example of CQ training to illustrate the need for greater attention to context and motivation when CQ is deployed for business purposes, as well as to the role of experience in cultural learning processes. At a broader level, the article urges caution in assuming that all human attributes can be trained for business purposes, especially through short-term interventions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 384-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna L. Morrissey ◽  
Joseph A. Beckett ◽  
Ross Sherman ◽  
Lisa J. Leininger

As undergraduate students prepare to enter the workforce and become engaged members in their communities, it is necessary for universities to provide students with opportunities and resources to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to be successful in their professional, personal, and social pursuits. Experiential learning is one approach that may be used to facilitate and strengthen the learning process for undergraduate students. Grounded in experiential learning, Kinesiology-specific service learning and internship programs can help students develop the skillset needed to be successful in their major and future careers. To best facilitate students’ learning, it is imperative that such academic programs build collaborative, sustainable and genuine campus-community partnerships. This paper presents a series of practical and successful partnership-building strategies from three unique institutions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 4891-4899
Author(s):  
Mengzhe Wang ◽  
Jianzhong Li

Objectives: The research on the physical and mental regulation of college students based on two-screen Tai Chi style traditional health sports can help to improve the teaching process of Tai Chi Chuan and help students to obtain better adjustment of their physical and mental state. Methods: In this study, based on the understanding of related theories, and then the author compares the physical and mental status of a college student before and after Tai Chi Chuan training, and finally uses two algorithms to analyze the physical and mental adjustment role of Tai Chi Chuan to college students. Results: The results show that Tai Chi can play a positive and positive role in regulating the physical and mental health of college students to some extent. Conclusion: The research aims to provide reference for the physical and psychological development of Chinese college students.


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