Significant Cross-Cultural Experience
Enhancing Student Learning through Significant Cross-Cultural Experiences
The significant cross-cultural experience requirement exemplifies Atlanta Christian College’s commitment to helping students grow not just academically, but also spiritually and socially. The purpose of the program is to initiate and enhance student learning in global awareness and cross-cultural effectiveness.
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ACC students Aaron Moody '11 and Kalyn Reeves '11 perform at an open mic night for Unterwegs, the Globalscope campus ministry in Tuebingen, Germany, led by Beth Jarvis Silliman '04. Such trips abroad can fulfill a student's SCCE requirement, while also providing life-changing academic and spiritual experiences.
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Each ACC student in the traditional program, beginning with those who enrolled in fall 2006, will be required to engage in a significant cross-cultural experience (SCCE) prior to graduation. This will serve to:
- enhance the student's awareness of the variety and diversity of cultures;
- foster the student's respect for the people of another culture;
- encourage the student's initial development of the personal knowledge and skills associated with functioning in another culture; and
- encourage the student's initial development of the personal knowledge and skills associated with influencing people of another culture.
The program will include an orientation session, a pre-experience preparation seminar (1 semester hour), the SCCE itself (includes keeping a journal and attending regular group meetings; 1 semester hour), and a post-experience workshop to guide reflection and evaluation of the SCCE.
For the purposes of this requirement, an SCCE is defined as a field experience that successfully:
- immerses the student in a culture dissimilar to his or her own, either domestic or international, for a minimum of four consecutive days or the equivalent thereof;
- engages the student directly with the people of that culture in service-, education- and/or outreach-oriented (non-vacation) interactions;
- induces a manageable level of disequilibrium in the student by taking the student into a "discomfort zone"; and
- encourages the development of cross-cultural awareness and adaptability.
Examples of appropriate SCCEs include educational tours, short-term mission trips, service projects, sports outreach, language learning and similar experiences. Study abroad could qualify as the SCCE, but only if the experience meets the published criteria.
Students may participate in ACC-based group experiences, such as those led by ACC faculty and staff, or in cross-cultural experiences sponsored by other organizations, groups, churches, or colleges which meet the published criteria for the SCCE.
A variety of geographic possibilities are allowed, and international travel is encouraged; however, domestic cross-cultural experiences, including the Atlanta metro area, could be selected when appropriate. The student will be responsible for funding or raising the funds for the selected SCCE.
For more information on the SCCE requirement, contact the Office of Academic Affairs.