The “Crossing Borders” Program: Increasing Intercultural Competency Via Structured Social Interactions

Abstract

Increasing diversity in American college classrooms and recent trends toward globalization require professors to teach more creatively in order to encourage students’ face-to-face intercultural interactions and resulting competencies. At a commuter campus with a heterogeneous student population, a series of large-group activities and small-group dialogues between American and international students resulted in satisfaction and growth for a majority of American participants. Areas of self-reported growth primarily involved intercultural competencies, including knowledge of, attitudes toward, and skills when interacting with others from different cultures.