Book Description

This volume asserts that international and intercultural experiences are powerful vehicles for first-year college students to learn the perspectives and skills necessary to function interdependently in a rapidly changing and complex world. This thesis is developed through an in-depth case study of efforts to provide such learning opportunities in a project called the First-Year Intercultural Experience at Hartwick College, a 4-year liberal arts and sciences institution in Oneonta, New York. The focus is on one of the courses, "Europe in Transition," which included an off-campus component in Germany and France. Fifteen first-year students participated. Findings from the case study show the usefulness of working with young undergraduates and the importance of student-centered approaches to learning and teaching. The chapters are: (1) "The Context of Undergraduate Intercultural Education in the 21st Century"; (2) "An Overview of Hartwick College"; (3) "An Administrator's Perspective: The Development of the First-Year Intercultural Experience" (David Bachner); (4) "An Economics Professor's Perspective: Educational and Personal Considerations" (Laurence Malone); (5) "A Foreign Language Professor's Perspective: Educational and Personal Considerations" (Mary Snider); (6) "Student Perspectives: Learning Interdependence in an International Setting"; (7) "Evaluations of the First-Year Intercultural Experience"; and (8) "Five Conclusions about Learning Interdependence through the First-Year Intercultural Experience." An appendix contains sample syllabi and course descriptions for some other intercultural learning experiences. (Contains 91 references.) (SLD)