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Intercultural Competency in the Curriculum: The Intercultural Development Inventory

Resource guide compiled by the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for navigating intercultural curriculum development at CCC.

 

What are we doing?

This program is an opportunity to:

  • Practice talking about our identities as intercultural learners
  • Complete the IDI inventory and meet with a consultant to learn more about (a) where we are as a group and (b) where you are individually on the continuum and what that means as we facilitate this work for our students and peers.
  • Develop a learning community to work on some of the tasks in the customized intercultural development plan (IDP) you’ll receive after meeting with the consultant.

Intercultural Competence

The ability to communicate with, understand, and work with people of various different backgrounds, values, world views and behaviors is critical to achieving:

  • Positive/effective intercultural interaction and learning
  • Professional effectiveness
  • Inclusivity
  • Improved community relations in multicultural environments

Why does this matter?

"A supportive climate can help students develop a sense of belonging, which is an important - perhaps a prerequisite - element of student motivation. [...] A supportive classroom climate promotes students' sense of belonging, and their sense of belonging promotes their academic achievement." (Dewsbury & Brame, 2019)

 

Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)

The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®) is a cross-cultural assessment of intercultural competence. This is a tool to measure intercultural competence along the validated Intercultural Development Continuum (adapted, based on IDI research, from the DMIS theory developed by Milton Bennett). It's a program to assess where you currently are with these skills, and move toward professional growth through an individualized Intercultural development plan.

Intercultural Development Continuum diagram, moving from Denial, Polarization, Minimization, Acceptance, Adaptation

 

Click here to see more information about the different mindsets on this continuum.