Digital and online learning are among the key ways to make intercultural education more inclusive and available to diverse groups of people. At the same time, empowering more people to become interculturally competent and act as active global citizens is core to the AFS mission, as we consider intercultural understanding to be a crucial tool in building more just and peaceful societies. With decades of experience in intercultural study abroad programs, AFS is now also extending our expertise to develop more active global citizens through online learning methods. This International Education Week we organized five completely free webinars on some of the hot topics for intercultural and global competence development.
Attended by more than 500 people from 57 countries, the webinars were rated as highly useful and effective by the attendees. In case you missed them live, webinar recordings are availabe for anyone wishing find out more about intercultural topics, develop critcal skills sought by employers or foster global competence in their own community or organization.
1. HOW TO ASSESS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE?
Our fantastic line-up of speakers included high profle names from the intercultural world, like Dr. Darla Deardorff, executive director of the Association of International Education Administrators at Duke University, and Dr. Michael Vande Berg, principal of MVB Associates. If you want to find out what intercultural competence is and how it can be assessed, Assessing Intercultural Competence webinar has all the answers. Watch this webinar to explore research-based frameworks, discover lessons learned and explore implications for international organizations and educators in addressing intercultural competence.
2. HOW TO DESIGN SUCCESSFUL MOBILITY PROGRAMS?
If you are responsible for or oversee study abroad, volunteering abroad, intern abroad, or language programs, then you shouldn’t miss the webinar on Global Skills Development for the Workforce: Interventions for Mobility Programs. See an evidence- and research-based framework for how to build mobility programs that deliver global skills and find out about AFS’s best practice model called Sentio Global Competence Certificate which integrates all requirements into a scalable solution. Dr. Michael Vande Berg and AFS’s Bert Vercamer offer some great insights!
3. HOW TO INTEGRATE INTERCULTURAL LEARNING INTO YOUR CLASSROOM?
Building intercultural competence is crucial for teacher and educators. That’s precisely what AFS’s very own Julia Taleisnik and Elisa Briga explored in their Intercultural Competence in the Classroom webinar: different ways and benefits for educators to implement intercultural competence development in the classroom and best-practice exmapes and toolkits for educators to use.
4. HOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST?
If you were curious about learning more about the the real Arabs, “incomprehensible” Islam, and reductionist perspectives on the Middle East, explore the useful insights of Sherifa Fayez. The Deeper Insights to Better Understand the Arab, Muslim World webinar will help you develop your own skills and also make you better at supporting students going to and coming from the Middle East.
5. HOW CAN FAMILIES BECOME INTERCULTURALLY COMPETENT?
The role host families play in study abroad programs and learning outcomes they gain from the experience are largely unexplored. Join AFS’s Marcela Lapertosa and Carla Rey Vasquez to discover what research shows about the part host families play in international education. The Missing Piece – Supporting Host Families of Study Abroad Participants webinar looks into best practices to make sure we double up impact when helping people develop intercultural competence.
We’re sure you’ll benefit from these webinars and look forward to continuing the conversation on relevant global issues with you. Help us expand intercultural education to more people, and share these webinars with anyone who should become part of AFS’s learning-to-live-together movement and improve their classroom, workplace, and community.