February 9, 2010

Add a discipline-relevant multicultural component to your course

Students may lack a sense of the larger world, a serious problem in an age of globalization. The following assignment brings students into contact with other cultures while keeping the focus on the content of the course discipline. 

Ask students to write about a topic relevant to the class that includes resources from English-language media from around the world. Faculty may consult with their subject specialist librarian for assistance in directing their students to international media resources.

Require students to represent countries from 3 continents in their paper. The articles selected

• should represent the culture of the country in which the work was published,
• must not be about the United States or research conducted in the United States, and
• should not be an advertisement.

Students should summarize each article, describe whether the article is published by a government agency or an independent press, and describe the questions the article addresses. Ask students to describe the point of view or assumptions made in the article and summarize the facts presented and the conclusions drawn. Students should describe whether the article is consistent with what they’ve read about their topic in resources published in the United States.  Finally, students should describe how the articles were similar and different to one another and reflect on whether reading several international viewpoints altered their opinion, surprised them, or led them to any new conclusions.

Assess the work on clarity, accuracy, logic, relevance, depth and breadth, and the absence of plagiarism.

Students will benefit from this activity by broadening their horizons and experiencing the perspectives of the global community. They might even develop a curiosity about international perspectives and news sources.

Based on a tip provided by:
Sally Kuhlenschmidt
Department of Psychology/Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching
Western Kentucky University

Thanks to Britt McGowan, Shari Johnson, and Melissa Finley Gonzalez for additional information about using resources in the UWF library.

 

Updated 09/29/10