The crossing borders program: Increasing intercultural competency via structured social interactions

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.