What Constitutes Help?

This case study is an account of how pre-service teachers in a study abroad context framed and examined the question of appropriate response to individuals, communities, and institutions with perceived needs. The authors' students worked for four weeks in a rural school in Malawi where they tried to help the students and community. During their experiences, the participants faced their limitations, cultural biases, and personal “filters.” Hard questions such as “Are we really helping at all?” arose. Key global competencies proved critical as they shifted their perspectives in order to understand their experiences and respond respectfully in the context of the Malawian culture.

Understanding Global Competencies Through a Personal Lens

The story in this case study—about a student, a faculty member, and some feedback on a university class assignment—illustrates that people can have radically different understandings of the same situation due to their background and cultural experiences. Thus, it is important that we not allow our assumptions and perceptions to overly influence what happens around us as we interact with others. If we learn to effectively use these three global values/competencies, among others, we could avoid potential international misunderstandings.

I, Too, Am an Émigré

This case study begins with the story of how two teachers met, taught, and became friends in Africa, before one of them returned to the United States and organized the other's immigration there. The rest of the story narrates the immigrant's experience teaching and researching in a cultural setting very different from his own. It is a case study aimed at benefitting those educators who are teaching or leading in international settings, or those who plan to do so.

Teaching Internationally for Internationalization

This is a case study of a Western (Irish born and educated) university academic working internationally in a Japanese context where internationalization is prioritized. The case study is framed by intercultural and cross-cultural research and theories illustrating and discussing cultural competencies. While Japanese universities have encouraged internationalization for several decades in various forms, in recent years this focus has become more central to their missions. Vignettes from the author's international working experience are provided to highlight culturally specific understandings of best practice in education and avenues and procedures for progress with recommendations for how international educators can understand and navigate similar experiences. While highlighting the importance of respect for cultural differences, this chapter also argues against cultural relativism.

Using Personal Life Experiences and Global Competencies to Build an Orphanage for Abandoned Children

This case study tells the personal story of how an American orphan's life experiences and passion to give back led to the building of an orphanage in Mexico for abandoned children. As we expand international collaboration as part of humanitarian efforts, global competencies can provide a framework for deeper understanding of the issues we are addressing, an awareness and sensitivity to different cultures, and mutual respect for different opinions. The work done in Mexico demonstrates that, working together, we can make a difference in the lives of children who come from deplorable living conditions.

Why Did You Choose to Become a Teacher?

In this chapter, the author shares her experience teaching Chinese English teachers in China for four weeks. At the beginning of the training program she asked, “Why did you choose to be a teacher?” The question had no purpose other than to start a conversation that might give some insight into the Chinese teachers' motivation to teach so she might find some common ground with them. She was quite surprised by their answers; they uniformly replied that they had not chosen the teaching profession. In fact, several expressed dissatisfaction with the profession and wished they could choose another one. Their responses caused the author to ask herself what it meant to have no voice in choices about profession, future goals, or even having children. What part did cultural norms and social structures have in self-determination? How did cultural norms and social practices impact a sense of purpose? How have our own cultural experiences influenced our perceptions of and reactions to their responses? Her reflections on this experience are the basis for this case study.

The Place of Ubuntu in Global Education

Global competencies can be promoted only if people from different cultures share their knowledge systems and traditional conceptual frameworks with the rest of the world. It is in this context that the authors propose that global education can benefit from ubuntu, Africa's indigenous philosophy of being. This case study highlights, among other things, how ubuntu aligns with the global competencies articulated in the Global Competence Matrix.

Reflections on a Troubled Experience in Malawi

After more than two decades of what the author perceived as successful work in Malawi, she experienced a failed venture, for which she had held high hopes. This story recounts that experience and her reflection on what went wrong with a good idea. The reflection centers on her failure to account for one core competency and several other selected axillary values/attitudes, skills, and behaviors. The common thread throughout this reflection is that failure to collaboratively communicate in order to develop a shared purpose for a plan of action caused the project to fail. Without such a shared purpose, one or the other parties may lack the commitment to carry through.

Developing Competencies for Global Engagement

This case study tells the story of a teacher who developed and integrated global projects in an elementary classroom, established connections with other teachers around the world, and worked with a university initiative to partner with a school in Taiwan. Going beyond connecting on the internet, this case study shows how leveraging a global project relationship led to international travel experiences for a group of elementary students from a low-socioeconomic environment. Experiences within the Taiwanese culture and student reactions to those experiences are provided. Educators are invited to use the processes, ideas, and methods from this case study to begin their own journey into global education.

Developing Global Competencies Through Community-Based Research Workshops in the Dominican Republic

The purpose of this case study is to illustrate how the planning and implementation of research training facilitated the authors' practice of skills and enactment of values and attitudes that are necessary to be effective global citizens. At the outset of the chapter, the authors introduce the social and cultural context of the research training. Then, they present the processes of creating and executing the research training by identifying the steps they took to adapt a pre-designed research manual and engage participants in workshop activities. Next, the authors explain how certain aspects of the training allowed them to practice and exhibit their commitment to global competencies. In conclusion, the authors use the lessons they learned to offer suggestions for engaging host organizations and community partners in activities before launching a study abroad course and to identify the everyday opportunities for educators to develop their global competencies.