Internationalizing Your Classroom

A university education, no matter what the field, needs to integrate learning that helps students become globally-aware, and globally-competent. A globalized curriculum is a strengthened curriculum and one that aligns with the realities of our inter-connected and diverse world.

Given that UK’s degree programs aspire to prepare our graduates for the global communities in which they will live and work, the following overarching learning outcomes serve as guidelines for ensuring that international perspectives are infused across the curriculum of all degree programs.  

While UK Core explicitly addresses global competencies, it is expected that the undergraduate majors and graduate/professional programs will build on this foundation, considering the transnational context and global networks of their own disciplines. UK’s globally educated graduates will be able to: 

KNOWLEDGE 

• Analyze the global context of their chosen profession, and apply perspectives gathered from a global community of scholars as part of their professional expertise. 
• Describe how, in multi-cultural or multi-national situations, individual and collective decision-making often generates ethical dilemmas, conflicts, and trade-offs that must be thoughtfully evaluated, weighed, and resolved. 
• Explain how local features (economic, cultural, social, political and religious) of urban or rural communities, ethnicities, nations and regions are often linked to global trends, tendencies, and characteristics that often mutually shape one another. 

SKILLS 

• Analyze the forces shaping international events, both now and in the past. 
• Demonstrate effective and appropriate communication, interaction, and teamwork with people of different nationalities and cultures. 
• Implement diverse frames of reference to critically examine and address complex global problems. 
• Use world language skills and/or knowledge of other cultures to seek access to information, engage in experiences, and document new understandings. 

ATTITUDES 

• Demonstrate respect and support for the common good of the world community, including attention to internationally recognized human rights, self-determination, the welfare of others, economic development and international trade, and sustainability of natural and constructed systems. 
• Demonstrate awareness of the complexity of cultural systems by describing the role that cultures play in influencing individual behavior, attitudes, and beliefs. 
• Justify openness to difference, and tolerance of ambiguity and unfamiliarity. Seek clarification and explain the benefits of being in the position of a learner when encountering others in multi-cultural or global environments. 
• Demonstrate an ongoing willingness to seek out international or intercultural opportunities, and describe how personal and social responsibility has been demonstrated through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges. 

The University of Kentucky’s general education program – the UK Core – is foundational to a university education at the University of Kentucky. A university education is more than simply learning a set of skills in a specific area in preparation for a job or career. A university education is designed to broaden the students’ understanding of themselves, of the world we live in, of their role in our global society, and of the ideals and aspirations that have motivated human thought and action throughout the ages. It must help individuals effectively put into action their acquired knowledge, to provide the bases for critical thinking and problem solving, and to develop life-long learning habits. The UK Core is composed of the equivalent of 30 credit hours in 10 course areas that address four broad learning outcomes. Depending on choice of major or courses, some students may take more than 30 credit hours to complete the UK Core.  

 

Learning Outcome IV of UK Core, titled "Citizenship" states:  

• Students will demonstrate an understanding of the complexities of citizenship and the process for making informed choices as engaged citizens in a diverse, multilingual world. [6 credit hours]
• Students will recognize historical and cultural differences arising from issues such as ethnicity, gender, language, nationality, race, religion, sexuality, and socioeconomic class; students will demonstrate a basic understanding of how these differences influence issues of social justice, both within the U.S. and globally; students will recognize and evaluate the ethical dilemmas, conflicts, and trade-offs involved in personal and collective decision making.
• Students will take two courses, each with a topical or regional focus. The first course will include critical analysis of diversity issues as they relate to the contemporary United States. The second will be a non-US based course that includes critical analysis of local-to-global dynamics as they relate to the contemporary world.
• In addition, each course must address at least 2 of these 4 topics: societal and institutional change over time; civic engagement; cross-national/comparative issues; power and resistance.

This is the Global Dynamics requirement in UK Core. Global Dynamics courses equip students to participate in a diverse, multiethnic, multilingual world community. Toward this end, students consider issues of equality, ethical dilemmas, global trends, social change, and civic engagement in the context of local cultures outside the U.S. 

Faculty are encouraged to develop new and innovative Global Dynamics courses. For a current list, click here. 

 A template for Global Dynamics courses may be found here.

To propose a course be approved to fulfill the Global Dynamics requirement of UK Core, faculty should consult the Chair of the University Senate's Core Education Committee for up to date information on the approval process, click here.