Inclusive Excellence & Cultural Competency Development in Online Education

Today’s college graduates and working professionals are expected to demonstrate adequate cultural awareness, sensitivity, and competence to promote client satisfaction and avoid negative outcomes in the workplace. Employers deem education and training in intercultural communication as important for success in business-related industries and to address disparities in effective treatment in fields such as education, psychology, health care and justice systems (e.g., Betancourt, Green, & Carrillo, 2002; Hernandez & Kose, 2012; Johnson, Lenartowicz, & Apud, 2006). There is a substantial body of literature demonstrating that the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes associated with cultural competence can result in effective communication, trust development, and strengthened relationships in intercultural contexts (Trejo, 2015).

A common—albeit antiquated—model from decades past was for there to be one formally or informally designated faculty member in the department who was the “diversity expert.” However, college and university faculty across different areas of expertise are increasingly expected to be capable of increasing students’ cultural competence within their own discipline-specific contexts. Faculty are often faced with the challenge of working with students who demonstrate a broad range of developmental levels in terms of academic preparation, motivation, critical thinking skills, emotional self-regulation skills as well as cultural intelligence and cultural competency skills (e.g., Brouse, 2007; Nixon-Cave, & Meadows, 2014; Lu, Tsai, & Tseng, 2014; Wang, Heppner, Wang & Zhu, 2015).
This session will provide participants with an opportunity to obtain and share practical tools to implement in their online courses to foster cultural competence development.