Shared Futures: Global Learning and Social Responsibility

Tools for Educators

Models and Assessment Tools

Four-Phase Global Education Continuum
By Ann Kelleher, Pacific Lutheran University

This model used at Pacific Lutheran University maps their four learning objectives (Knowledge and Intellectual Skills, Cultural Knowledge and Skills, Global Perspectives and Personal Commitment) across four increasingly rigorous levels of student engagement.

AAC&U Global Learning Assessment Tool
Coming soon!

This survey was developed by AAC&U to measure the change in global perceptions among students taking courses infused with global content. The tool consists of a pre-test and a post-test, designed to be taken at the start and end of the semester. Pre- and post-test respondents are then matched according to an anonymous ID number, and the change in outlook is measured on a case by case basis. Demographic information, collected in the pre-test, can be used to disaggregate the data.

AAC&U Publications

Shared Futures: Global Learning and Liberal Education (pdf)
By Kevin Hovland

In Shared Futures, Kevin Hovland, the Program Director for Shared Futures, examines the evolving definitions of global learning in the context of previous reform efforts in the areas of diversity, democracy, and civic engagement. It also illuminates how global learning converges with the most powerful current models of liberal education. This publication is also available in print.

Assessing Global Learning: Matching Good Intentions with Good Practice (pdf)
By Caryn McTighe Musil

Assessing Global Learning is designed to help colleges and universities construct and assess the impact of multiple, well-defined, developmental pathways through which students can acquire global learning. Specific program examples demonstrate how and where curricular and co-curricular learning can be embedded at various levels from individual courses to institutional mission. The publication argues for establishing clear global learning goals that inform departments, divisions, and campus life and suggests assessment frameworks. Includes a sample quantitative assessment survey and several assessment templates. This publication is also available in print.

Globalizing Knowledge: Connecting International and Intercultural Studies
By Grant Cornwell and Eve Stoddard

Published in 1999, Globalizing Knowledge remains a foundational text in all of AAC&U's global initiatives. The authors argue in favor of a synthesis of the parallel movements to "internationalize" and to "diversify" higher education. They examine the constructs, such as diasporas, globalization and positionality, that have come to define the discourse on international studies and diversity, before addressing the implications of this paradigm shift for teaching and learning strategies. The ultimate goal is for students and faculty to "be educated to read back and forth between the local and the global, between multiple forms of identity and difference." This is the key to the development of "interculturally educated citizens" who can recognize the global implications of their relationships and actions.