What does global competency mean in the context of general education? (provide 2-3 sentence succinct overview)

General education is considered the common curriculum and general knowledge base expected of all students within a college/school. But what is general knowledge within a global age? Global competency is characterized by students' knowledge of things that are universal, and appreciation of the distinction between the local, regional, national, international, and global. General education is incomplete without the inclusion of global competency.

What are the educational outcomes consistent with global competencies in general education?

Education must lead to recognizing that one is a full member of a global community, as well as an individual in relation to other individuals. It must create:

Global awareness -- understanding how your actions impact other(s) and how others' actions impact you.

An attitude that is respectful of the diversity of human experience.

Students who are aware of the value and limitations of their own specific identities and are unafraid of going beyond them.

Students willing to imagine and/or experience themselves in another time and space.

Recognition of the interconnectedness of economic, social, political and environmental systems.

What practices/techniques need to be developed to achieve these outcomes?

Teaching an understanding of organizations.

Teaching an understanding of languages.

Promoting reflectiveness wherever possible – teach students to have a relation to their knowledge rather than just possessing knowledge.

Encouraging thinking beyond and across disciplinary lines – move from a selection of diverse courses to interconnectivity between those courses.

Examining from the present (current issues) and working into the past.

Presuming that global competencies cannot be fostered in students if they don't have global interest, how does one instill global interest within general education?

Convince students that global competency will materially affect their careers.

Address the fear within students that can be engendered by taking a global view – empowerment over impotence.

Demonstrate the relevance of the global to something close to the student's own life.

Make geography real and engaging for students.

Addressing the question of who in the world should care about global problems.

Make clear to students that they will not graduate from this institution without global competency.

What are the leadership dimensions needed, and who must exercise them, if global competencies in general education are to be created?

Institutions should infuse attention to global issues across the curriculum (i.e., across all faculty) and concretely empower faculty to include global issues (i.e., through tenure/promotion criteria). Faculty should use whatever pedagogical means necessary to "unglaze" students' eyes.

List any other conditions/barriers relevant to creating global competencies within general education.

Faculty, administration, students, and politicians.