Proceedings of The 5th International Academic Conference on Teaching, Learning and Education
Year: 2022
DOI:
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Reframing Cultural Competence and Civic Engagement: A Replication Study of High Impact Practices in Undergraduate Psychology Courses
Prof. Dr. Lori Simons
ABSTRACT:
Institutions of higher education require diversity courses so that students can increase their multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Multicultural Psychology courses play a pivotal role in instilling cultural competence in students. The study examined differences in cultural competence and civic engagement for 1,053 undergraduate students exposed to different types of high impact practices enrolled in educational psychology, multicultural psychology, and psychology internship courses. There was a significant Group x Time interaction effect for cultural skills. Post hoc analyses revealed that students exposed to diversity service-learning in a multicultural psychology course acquired cultural skills compared to students exposed to academic service-learning in the educational psychology course and students exposed to fieldwork in the internship from the beginning to the end of the semester. Students in the multicultural psychology course were also intellectually challenged, reflected on the course concepts, and gained a deeper understanding of the course content more than students in the educational psychology course. Recommendations for teaching diversity courses are discussed.
Keywords: High Impact Practices, Student Learning Outcomes, Cultural Competence, Civic Engagement.