Gonzaga University- Capstone Project

Introduction

Sometime in my life I realized how differently people think and communicate. As I read my papers and projects from the program, I see how they fit together as something I am passionate about.

Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity

As I began reading through Teaching Communication of Vangelisti, et al. I was thinking I would probably teach Rhetoric since I love philosophy, Plato, and Aristotle. But when I got to the chapter on Intercultural Communication, I knew that was the one. It is something that I have thought about and formed my own theories based on experiences with people in my own life.

With IC as my topic of choice, I set out to learn more about it. I have never taken a class on IC and needed a framework to understand it. I came across IDR Institute that does research on Intercultural communication.

What is Intercultural Communication?

The research of Intercultural Communication conducted by Milton Bennett at IDR Institute was immediately interesting to me, and seemed so relevant to the current environment we live in. The focus was more a shift in consciousness and understanding than learning details and differences about different cultures. The ability to understand not just culture as an entity but the humans that make up what we call culture.

The shift is from culture as a thing, to the humans that have a different reality. The idea here is not to compare cultures but see each human as someone to understand, as someone who might not share the reality I have, and to see the person as not wrong or different.  Similarly, when you see a beautiful flower for the first time—taking time to look closely, notice the fragrance, notice the type of leaves, the color of the petals and the sepals, to admire the flower for its own sake, and come to understand its value because it is: it exists.

            Lesson Plan

Introducing the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity – A framework to explain how people experience and engage cultural difference. The model assumes that as perceived cultural differences become more complex, one’s experience of culture becomes more sophisticated increasing competence in intercultural communication.

Theory: The DMIS is a way to move from communicative competence in one’s own culture to competence across other cultures, with the assumption that dealing with otherness in complex ways is not a natural way of part of a culture’s adaptive strategy. Otherness exists as a vague concept and isn’t explored beyond recognizing superficial differences. Effective communication with people of other cultures is inadequate until one moves along the continuum from Ethnocentrism to Ethnorelativism. Moving toward Ethnorelativism is done though novel categories for otherness, much like realizing there is much more to coffee than just some brown grinds in a pod or poured into a paper filter. The variety of coffee plants are many, the environment coffee is grown in makes a world of difference in body, sweetness, acidity, and finish; similarly, cultures have their own environments that produce different people. Becoming a connoisseur of people and culture by recognizing their environment, their thought and feeling processes, their values, opens one up to complex personal experience of otherness. This is intercultural sensitivity identified by empathy and making meaning between cultures generates real intercultural value.

Goals & Objectives:

1. The student will be able to describe Intercultural Sensitivity in terms of a continuum based on Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity DMIS.
2. The student will move from the assumption that people generally experience the world in a similar manner, to perceiving the complexities of each person.
3. The student will be able to understand and respect differences in worldview—how people perceive and experience the world.
4. The student will begin to open their perception to adapt to new observation as they continue to construct what is real to themselves.
5. The students will be able to use this information to evaluate their perception of otherness and begin to see otherness in a more nuanced way.

Disciplinary Grounding

According to Milton Bennett, denial, defense/reversal, and minimization are the stages of ethnocentrism in the DMIS, a model that individuals pass along a continuum as they develop greater sensitivity to cultural sensitivity to difference. As people come into contact with ethnicities different from their own, it could lead to a fight of flight response. These types of reactions to a new culture can result in inflicting harm on people, as we saw in the video “And We Stayed.” Cultural differences threaten the integrity of the world view of a person with a denial perspective, thus provoking a negative attitude. This threat to one’s reality and identity can develop the polarized view of “us” and “them”, and individuals may feel they must lose their own identity or feel as though their values and beliefs are threatened. Dennis O. Durocher, Jr. suggests students’ attitudes toward cultural differences is a pressing issue when learning a foreign language and can create a loss of interest in openness and prevent the student from the benefits learning a foreign language as well as culture.

Teaching students to be mindfully aware of their attitude towards foreign culture, and training individuals to recognize their own assumptions and values helps to move the student along the continuum of Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity.

Pedagogical Grounding

In COML 518, Course Design for Online Learning I was introduced to Ignatian pedagogy. Consideration of the learner’s context, who they are, what do they already know, what skills and what context must they already have mastered in order to be successful. The object here is to know what will need to be addressed, what preconceived notions they have about the topic, how motivated are they to learn the topic and how will their interest be piqued.

The course design will use the Ignatian pedagogical model of Experience-Reflection-Action-Evaluation.

Course Structure

            Lesson Plan

Introducing the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity – A framework to explain how people experience and engage cultural difference. The model assumes that as perceived cultural differences become more complex, one’s experience of culture becomes more sophisticated increasing competence in intercultural communication.

Theory: The DMIS is a way to move from communicative competence in one’s own culture to competence across other cultures, with the assumption that dealing with otherness in complex ways is not a natural way of part of a culture’s adaptive strategy. Otherness exists as a vague concept and isn’t explored beyond recognizing superficial differences. Effective communication with people of other cultures is inadequate until one moves along the continuum from Ethnocentrism to Ethnorelativism. Moving toward Ethnorelativism is done though novel categories for otherness, much like realizing there is much more to coffee than just some brown grinds in a pod or poured into a paper filter. The variety of coffee plants are many, the environment coffee is grown in makes a world of difference in body, sweetness, acidity, and finish; similarly, cultures have their own environments that produce different people. Becoming a connoisseur of people and culture by recognizing their environment, their thought and feeling processes, their values, opens one up to complex personal experience of otherness. This is intercultural sensitivity identified by empathy and making meaning between cultures generates real intercultural value.

Course Objectives

1. The student will be able to describe Intercultural Sensitivity in terms of a continuum based on Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS).
2. The student will integrate and adapt their beliefs from the assumption that people generally experience the world in a similar manner, to perceiving the complexities of each person. Some students will be further along the DMIS and will be learning from a different perspective.
3. The student will be able to understand and respect differences in worldview—how people perceive and experience the world.
4. The student will begin to open their perception to adapt to new observation as they continue to construct what is real to themselves.
5. The students will be able to use this information to evaluate their perception of otherness and begin to see otherness in a more nuanced way.

Experience-Reflection-Action-Evaluation

Experience

In Ignatian Pedagogy experience is a way to get a feel for what the learning is about. I will introduce the Developmental Model by using my coffee analogy. Many people drink coffee, but not everyone enjoys the variety of coffee, liking their particular way of drinking coffee. Other activities will be to sort objects based on some characteristics which will show there is really no right or wrong way to categorize the objects. Each experience will show differences in ways that minimize any threatening aspect by using symbols and not actual cultures. This allows the student to become familiar with the concept of difference in a nonthreatening way.

Reflection

In an online class much of the learning is done at a student’s own pace because it is asynchronous. A reflection will be asked for after the activities are complete. Also, students will post to a discussion form about the experience and comment on other posts. This is an opportunity to process thoughts and emotions, and share them with the class, then give feedback to others as well as getting feedback on their post. Depending on each student, there is much to learn from discussion board posts.

Action

In Ignatian Pedagogy action is a way to use the new knowledge in the world to get a sense of the impact that can be made. An idea for action could be a student could write their own “class” to help others to be culturally competent.

Evaluation

Presenting their action to the class would be a way to demonstrate they are meeting the objectives in the class.

Proposed Artifact

The artifact will be an online class accessed on the Teachable platform and will also live on my website Pattihinman.com.

Ethical Considerations

The design and implementation of this project has the lofty goal of opening hearts and minds (Dannels, 2014) to subtle differences between each human. Encouraging each individual to see their own story with its many dimensions as well as others’ unique experiences, and to understand that education is ongoing, a continual process of inquiry, a willingness to examine one’s own beliefs and discover the world from a different viewpoint.

There is research that shows when high school students begin to learn a second language and encounter the target language culture, there can be a sort of backlash toward the target culture. I will introduce cultural differences in a less direct way with some examples that don’t have to do with people from other location-cultures.

I intend on implementing this class on Intercultural Communication as an innovative way of connecting personal values/ethics and intercultural communication. When I read Schwartz’s Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values, it occurred to me that values form one’s ethic. If one values power and security, one will attempt to preserve authority and image, whereas if one values self-direction and universalism, one will protect the freedom of self and others. (Schwartz, S. H., 2012)

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

This project directly focuses on Intercultural Communication with the objective of promoting sensitivity in the learner to look on “difference” as a connection point, a way to get to know the other who is “different.” This can include differences in skin color, age, ethnicity, language, and more. By recognizing that individuals may see the world from different perspectives, we can take steps towards creating a more welcoming world for all.

Through this project, I hope to enable individuals, teams, and organizations to communicate more mindfully with each other, leading to increased authenticity and a greater sense of being seen, heard, and appreciated.

Recent studies have shown that students studying a foreign language can sometimes develop a negative attitude towards the foreign culture. However, if we can recognize that our reactions to different cultures are often a product of our own conditioning, we can begin to see beyond our own perspective and gain a greater understanding and appreciation of other cultures.

Intercultural communication is crucial to the well-being of all individuals and a key component in creating a more humane world. By broadening our understanding of different perspectives and integrating our knowledge, we can take steps towards a world in which every person feels valued. (Durocher, 2007)

I believe intercultural communication is at the heart of well-being for all. It is when we as humans take the larger view of the world, see that our own lived experience is only one of billions of lives, and desire for all people everywhere to feel valued for who they are. That’s a monumental task and would encompass a paradigm shift from where we are today.

I want to see a world where humans act humanely to each other and with the natural world. The first step is intercultural communication, which I see as the desire to see and know beyond one’s own perspective to see and know multiple perspectives and standpoints. As Artificial Intelligence, social media, wars for land and space, the extinction of species of animals, birds, reptiles, and arthropods continue in our world, it will take all of us communicating, learning, understanding, and integrating our knowledge to create a world that every person feels is worth living in.

Well, that’s a huge ask! Can one online course change the world? Probably not. But my hope is to start a pebble rolling and eventually a landslide of change.

Course Design

Disciplinary Grounding

The objective of this project is to create an online class that promotes intercultural communication and intercultural sensitivity to foster changes in the learner that give opportunity to look at differences as something to learn more about instead of being frightening, frustrating, or angering.

According to Milton Bennett, denial, defense/reversal, and minimization are the stages of ethnocentrism in the DMIS, a model that individuals pass along a continuum as they develop greater sensitivity to cultural sensitivity to difference. As people come into contact with ethnicities different from their own, it could lead to a fight of flight response. These types of reactions to a new culture can result in inflicting harm on people, as we saw in the video “And We Stayed.” Cultural differences threaten the integrity of the world view of a person with a denial perspective, thus provoking a negative attitude. This threat to one’s reality and identity can develop the polarized view of “us” and “them”, and individuals may feel they must lose their own identity or feel as though their values and beliefs are threatened. Dennis O. Durocher, Jr. suggests students’ attitudes toward cultural differences is a pressing issue when learning a foreign language and can create a loss of interest in openness and prevent the student from the benefits learning a foreign language as well as culture.

Teaching students to be mindfully aware of their attitude towards foreign culture, and training individuals to recognize their own assumptions and values helps to move the student along the continuum of Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity.

Pedagogical Grounding

In COML 518, Course Design for Online Learning I was introduced to Ignatian pedagogy. Consideration of the learner’s context, who they are, what do they already know, what skills and what context must they already have mastered in order to be successful. The object here is to know what will need to be addressed, what preconceived notions they have about the topic, how motivated are they to learn the topic and how will their interest be piqued.

The course design will use the Ignatian pedagogical model of Experience-Reflection-Action-Evaluation. (Think about how you accomplish this and have students engage with each other if they are at different places in the curriculum.)

Because of the nature of the desired outcome, namely moving the heart and mind of the student into dialogic communication, we will allow each student to move at their own pace and work through the difficult places they find themselves in. I remember watching the refugee resettlement videos “Go Back to Where You Came From” and the Australian participants moving through many stages of dealing with difference and circumstances. Each participant had a very different experience to the same circumstances. That is normal and

Course Structure

            Lesson Plan

Introducing the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity – A framework to explain how people experience and engage cultural difference. The model assumes that as perceived cultural differences become more complex, one’s experience of culture becomes more sophisticated increasing competence in intercultural communication.

Theory: The DMIS is a way to move from communicative competence in one’s own culture to competence across other cultures, with the assumption that dealing with otherness in complex ways is not a natural way of part of a culture’s adaptive strategy. Otherness exists as a vague concept and isn’t explored beyond recognizing superficial differences. Effective communication with people of other cultures is inadequate until one moves along the continuum from Ethnocentrism to Ethnorelativism. Moving toward Ethnorelativism is done though novel categories for otherness, much like realizing there is much more to coffee than just some brown grinds in a pod or poured into a paper filter. The variety of coffee plants are many, the environment coffee is grown in makes a world of difference in body, sweetness, acidity, and finish; similarly, cultures have their own environments that produce different people. Becoming a connoisseur of people and culture by recognizing their environment, their thought and feeling processes, their values, opens one up to complex personal experience of otherness. This is intercultural sensitivity identified by empathy and making meaning between cultures generates real intercultural value.

Course Objectives

1. The student will be able to describe Intercultural Sensitivity in terms of a continuum based on Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS).
2. The student will integrate and adapt their beliefs from the assumption that people generally experience the world in a similar manner, to perceiving the complexities of each person. Some students will be further along the DMIS and will be learning from a different perspective.
3. The student will be able to understand and respect differences in worldview—how people perceive and experience the world.
4. The student will begin to open their perception to adapt to new observation as they continue to construct what is real to themselves.
5. The students will be able to use this information to evaluate their perception of otherness and begin to see otherness in a more nuanced way.

Experience-Reflection-Action-Evaluation

Experience

In Ignatian Pedagogy experience is a way to get a feel for what the learning is about. I will introduce the Developmental Model by using my coffee analogy. Many people drink coffee, but not everyone enjoys the variety of coffee, liking their particular way of drinking coffee. Other activities will be to sort objects based on some characteristics which will show there is really no right or wrong way to categorize the objects. Each experience will show differences in ways that minimize any threatening aspect by using symbols and not actual cultures. This allows the student to become familiar with the concept of difference in a nonthreatening way.

Reflection

In an online class much of the learning is done at a student’s own pace because it is asynchronous. A reflection will be asked for after the activities are complete. Also, students will post to a discussion form about the experience and comment on other posts. This is an opportunity to process thoughts and emotions, and share them with the class, then give feedback to others as well as getting feedback on their post.

Action

In Ignatian Pedagogy action is a way to use the new knowledge in the world to get a sense of the impact that can be made. An idea for action could be a student could write their own “class” to help others to be culturally competent.

Evaluation

Presenting their action to the class would be a way to demonstrate they are meeting the objectives in the class.

Significance/Rationale

My artifact for this class will be a six-week intercultural/interpersonal communication course. The course is designed as an online course making it widely available for people to take on their own time. The course will provide students with experiential activities to reveal values and patterns of belief and behavior that are not normally considered or noticed in everyday life. This will have the effect of  

Design Prospectus/Description 

The artifact is an online class on Teachable.com where it can live and be accessed by students interested in Intercultural Communication.

Project Outline

Lesson Plan

Introducing the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity – A framework to explain how people experience and engage cultural difference. The model assumes that as perceived cultural differences become more complex, one’s experience of culture becomes more sophisticated increasing competence in intercultural communication.

Theory: The DMIS is a way to move from communicative competence in one’s own culture to competence across other cultures, with the assumption that dealing with otherness in complex ways is not a natural way of part of a culture’s adaptive strategy. Otherness exists as a vague concept and isn’t explored beyond recognizing superficial differences. Effective communication with people of other cultures is inadequate until the one moves along the continuum from Ethnocentrism to Ethnorelativism. Moving toward Ethnorelativism is done though novel categories for otherness, much like realizing there is much more to coffee than just some brown grinds in a pod or poured into a paper filter. The variety of coffee plants are many, the environment coffee is grown in makes a world of difference in body, sweetness, acidity, and finish; similarly, cultures have their own environments that produce different people. Becoming a connoisseur of people and culture by recognizing their environment, their thought and feeling processes, their values, opens one up to complex personal experience of otherness. This is intercultural sensitivity identified by empathy and making meaning between cultures generates real intercultural value.

Goals & Objectives:

1. 6. The student will be able to describe Intercultural Sensitivity in terms of a continuum based on Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity DMIS.
   7. The student will move from the assumption that people generally experience the world in a similar manner, to perceiving the complexities of each person. (Randy Johnson)
   8. The student will be able to understand and respect differences in worldview—how people perceive and experience the world.
   9. The student will begin to open their perception to adapt to new observation as they continue to construct what is real to themselves.
   10. The students will be able to use this information to evaluate their perception of otherness and begin to see otherness in a more nuanced way.

Out of Class Work:

• • Complete Travel Quiz
  • Have students keep a 24-hour log of contextualizing the behavior of other people, such as people in the market where they shop. How do people choose which fruit or vegetables to purchase? What values are they exhibiting from other people? Is it something new and different to you?
  • Think of a time when someone of a different culture shared an idea with you that gave you completely different perspective on something you thought you understood?

Key Concept: Intercultural communication shows us how different “cultures” have their own view of truth. The question one must ask is what I believe the only truth? Or is it possible to know multiple versions of “truth?” How is truth constructed and perceived?

Resource Materials: Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, Bennett, M. (2017) Intercultural Development Research Institute

Context

The online course will be implemented on Teachable.com in my own learning studio. It is a free course for anyone to take.

Summary & Conclusion

Results

The result of my capstone project is an online class for intercultural communication. At this point I feel my project is very incomplete, but hopefully I will have it the way I want it before the very end.

Theoretical Grounding Examination

Theories considered in designing this course include Stanley Geertz’s idea of “webs of significance” (Griffin, 2019), Milton Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Communication, Adichie’s TED talk, “The danger of a Single Story,” Schwartz Theory of Basic Values and more.

Ethical Concerns

This project sets out to change the way people think about communicating with another person by drawing attention to the differences each human sees the world. The biggest concern for me is that I grew up in the United States, the most dominant country in the world in a place without much diversity. I think there are things I don’t understand very well and most likely I am unable to see them clearly, such as how a Japanese person may look at communication based on the deep collective perspective they have.

Technical Lessons Learned

I found it challenging to take Online Course Design from COML 518 and apply it to my class because of the limitations of the free version of Teachable. There are three components to an online class: the course design, course creation, and implementing it digitally in a Learning Management System. The course design has to match up with the Learning Management System to get the full content to work well.

Limitations

The scope of my project was too large and involved three disparate skills, web design, course design, and course creation, each done with different skill-sets. I set out with a vison of what it would look like, but there really wasn’t enough time to do all three parts of the work in the three weeks allotted to creating the artifact.

The artifact is more of an introduction to the class I’d like to build. I’d like to expand the scope to include Clifford Geertz’s idea of “webs of significance”, Joyce Osland’s Pyramid Model of Global Leadership, and Stella Ting-Toomey’s face-negotiation as it relates to identifying where an individual lies on the collectivistic-individualistic continuum.

Key Takeaways

I am passionate about Intercultural Communication, and I am keeping a notebook filled with my thoughts and impressions about conversations I have with people, so I know I’m on the right track. I will continue to build out the online course as I have envisioned it.

Future Iterations

Once I have the digital portfolio built out, I will continue to work on the class. I have so many ideas about how to construct it, but didn’t have much time to work on it directly.

References

Bennett, M. (2017) Development model of intercultural sensitivity. In Kim, Y (Ed) International encyclopedia of intercultural communication. Wiley

Dannels, D. (2014). Eight Essential Questions Teachers Ask: A Guidebook for Communicating with Students (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.

Fernback, J. (2014). Teaching Communication and Media Studies (1st ed.). Routledge.

Collins, L., & Lapierre, D. (1975). Excerpt from Freedom at midnight. Avon.

Gbowee, L. (2012) Unlock the intelligence, passion, and greatness of girls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxkxcsrveLw&feature=youtu.be.

Goszczyńska, M., & Rosłan, A. (1989). Self-evaluation of drivers’ skill: A cross-cultural comparison. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 21(3), 217–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-4575(89)90012-2

Griffin, E., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. G. (2015). A First Look at Communication Theory. McGraw-Hill, Ninth Edition

Mendenhall, M. E. (2018). Global leadership: Research, practice, and development (3rd edition). Routledge.

Ngunjiri, F. W., & Madsen, S. R. (2015). Women as global leaders. Information Age Publishing. Kindle edition.

Schuyler, K. G., Baugher, J. E., & Jironet, K. (2016). Creative Social Change: Leadership for a Healthy World (Building Leadership Bridges). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Martinez, L. V, Ting-Toomey, S., Tenzin, D. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research. Dec2016, Identity Mangagement and Relational Culture in Interfaith Marital Communication in a United States Context: A Qualitative Study. Vol. 45 Issue 6, p503-525.

Vangelisti, A. L., Daly, J. A., & Friedrich, G. W. (1998). Teaching Communication: Theory, Research, and Methods (LEA’s Communication) (Lea’s Communication (Paperback)) (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Westover, T. (2018). Educated. Random House.

AFirstLook.com, Video of Stella Ting-Toomey, https://www.afirstlook.com/edition-10/theory-resources/by-theory/Face-Negotiation-Theory/videos https://www.afirstlook.com/edition-10/theory-resources/by-theory/Face-Negotiation-Theory/videos