October 25, 2012: Presentation at the 2012 American Evaluation Association conference in Minneapolis, MN.
My session was called, “Changes in Undergraduate Students’ Orientation Toward Cultural Differences as a Result of an Intentional Human Relations Course.”
This study examined changes in the intercultural competency of undergraduate students that may be attributed to experiences at Minnesota State Mankato. The research question was: What changes occur in undergraduate students’ cultural competency after participating in an intentional, multicultural relations experience? Using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), researchers measured undergraduate students’ intercultural competency before and after students participated in the course, Human Relations in a Multicultural Society. According to the baseline assessments, most of the undergraduates began the semesters in cultural orientations of Denial, Polarization, and low Minimization. Students also began the semesters with low levels of Cultural Disengagement, meaning that they felt some lack of involvement in core aspects of being members of a cultural community. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference between the means when comparing the Developmental Orientation of the pre-instruction group and the post-instruction group for students in the course during Fall 2010 and Spring 2011. However, students in the course during Fall 2011 (with curriculum revisions) had statistically significant higher post-instruction mean Developmental Orientation scores than pre-instruction mean scores. The instructional revisions appear to have helped students improve their Developmental Orientation scores.