Intercultural Communication

This course examines intercultural interaction from a communication perspective as defined by the theory known as the Coordination Management of Meaning (CMM). This unique communication approach serves to provide students with an analytical framework for understanding how communication constructs selves, relationships, communities and cultures. The course covers not only the theory but also the application of the theory, particularly with respect to intercultural interaction. We will identify a number of barriers to healthy intercultural functioning and how communication might be shaped to make a better social world. Finally, we focus on skill development within the CMM context, enabling and empowering students to forge better relationships, both at home and abroad.

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PROGRAM  FEATURES

Education Abroad Program Name	Intercultural Communication in Poland
Level	Undergraduate, Graduate
Number of Credits for Course	3
Number of Credits for Education Abroad Program	3
Does this course carry major/minor credit? Elective credit?	Major and minor credit or elective credit, depending on the student’s major
Typical Enrollment	13-16
Language of Instruction	English
Duration	Short-term: 2 weeks or less
Time Spent On-Site	Short-term: 2 weeks or less
Last Taught	May 2016
How many times has this course been taught?	17
Curriculum Strong Points/Innovations	This course includes social activities with Polish students, an international student conference focused on “Communication and Culture” that attracts presentations from 10-15 countries, the incorporation of a trip to Auschwitz into the curriculum, lots of opportunity to interact in various ways with people in the host country (social events, interviews, shopping,etc.), strong academic content (over 50 conference papers have come from the work that students do for this course).

FACULTY LEADERS BIO

John Parrish-Sprowl
Affiliation: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

​John Parrish-Sprowl, currently serves as the Director of the Global Health Communication Center (GHCC) of the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts. Prior to this position, he was the Chair of the Department of Communication Studies. In addition, he has been a reviewer and editorial board member for a number of Communication journals. He is known for his international applied communication research and project consultancies, focusing on issues of health, economic development, and education. He has been honored with awards from his current and past universities as well as universities in both Macedonia and Poland for his work. He has numerous papers and publications covering his work. Currently he is contributing to the Community Health Engagement Program (CHEP) of the Clinical Translational Sciences Institute of Indiana (CTSI) and collaborating with WHO on a number of projects. He has been recognized for his teaching on multiple campus across his career.

​Program Details

What are the specific objectives for this course?

• Students should develop a basic understanding of the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM).
• Students should be able to use CMM concepts to analyze conversational patterns observed in Poland.
• Students should be able to use a CMM framework to conduct research on some aspect of communication in Poland.
• Students should develop a greater knowledge and understanding of life in Wroclaw Poland and be able to articulate a comparison to life at home.
• Students should develop a sense of empowerment through greater understanding of communication that can serve them well both abroad and at home.

How does the course make use of modes of instruction, assessment, and learning at the study abroad site that may differ from home institution models?
Students are required to keep a journal of observed interactions and other thoughts for the entire trip. They then use this journal as a data base Students are required to do a research project that can focus on any aspect of communication in Poland and they are required to interview people for this project. They then write the research paper, with full use of library resources, when they return home.to demonstrate the application of concepts in a paper they write when they return home. Both the journal and the paper are turned in for grading.

Both of these major assignments require enmeshment with the people and the location of the course. All graduate students are required to submit a paper for consideration of presentation at the conference. Not all are accepted. This conference usually has fro 30-70 participants from 7-14 countries. All students must attend the conference and are graded on their participation in the Q & A session of the paper presentations and their involvement in the discussion round tables (which divide up participants from each country so the tables represent multiple cultures).

How does the course enrich the classroom experience through use of location and/or unique resources?
The course is designed to provide rich opportunities for the students to interact with people from the local culture, as well as those who visit from other countries for the conference. They stay in a dorm with Polish students, I arrange a boat ride/party on the Oder river with both our students and students from Poland as a get acquainted opportunity (which always results in some developing relationships that lead to other interactions), they participate in discussions at the conference, they interview people for their research projects, they are on their own to go shopping, to dinner, etc. in the evenings leading to other interactions, and I introduce them to a number of local people who share conversation with my students. In addition, when we talk about the problematic aspects of what CMM labels the ethnocentric form of communication, we go to Auschwitz as a specific example of how this can go terribly wrong. Finally, local architecture, museums, and current news provides examples for classroom discussion of concepts and application.

How is the course integrated into the curriculum of the home institution? For program provider organizations: how does the course enhance the curriculum of the home institution?
This course fulfills just about every criteria of our “Principles of Undergraduate Learning.” In addition, it also captures the international and the research dimensions of our RISE designation for degrees (the other dimensions are service and engagement and sometimes the projects they choose cover those as well). It can serve as the capstone course for our undergraduate major. It has resulted in over 50 conference presentations by students including at the National Communication Association, Central States Association, and the Butler University undergraduate honors conference, in addition to the international Communication and Culture Conference held in Poland during the time we are there.

Did you consult any resources on education abroad that were particularly helpful in designing this course? If so, please describe.
Frankly, initially, I did not. Over the 15 years I have taught the course I have since learned from a number of sources, but could not provide anything specific.

If you feel that you have valuable information to contribute to this project that is not addressed in the body of this survey, please elaborate here.
There are a couple of aspects to this course that are not discussed in the interview questions that I think are important.
First, I have made a concerted effort over the years to create the opportunity for traditionally underrepresented groups of students to be part of this course. In each of the 15 years I have had at least one African American and/or Latino/a student go along. This year, I had 21 students total, including 6 African American students and one Latina. In most cases they have never been abroad before and without my scrounging resources and working with them they simply would never have done study abroad. I have also taken students with disabilities on this trip.

Second, in evaluations, a number of students have described this study abroad course as life transforming for them. For some this has meant improving their overall performance as a student. For example, I have had several students with GPAs between 2.01 and 2.6 who, after this class, worked with me and went on to graduate school in various places. For others, it has been more personal. For example, I had a student who suffered from PTSD after returning from a Gulf War and he found this course experience to be healing (it is a long story as to how I discovered this). After 10 years we had a reunion and over 100 attended, some students from every year, with several coming to it from out of town and even from out of the country. Alumni of this course includes 3 who went on for a JD, 7 with PhDs or in PhD programs, and several who went on for an MA after taking this class.

It is in these aspects of the course that I find the most joy. I think that the course is academically rigorous, as evidenced by the number of acceptances of course papers for conferences, etc, and it creates maximally culture exposure by design. These are great from a curricular and pedagogical standpoint, but I am happiest about the encouragement and empowerment that it has provided for so many. They tell great stories, better than I am able to do.