Abstract:

In our increasingly complex and diverse world, it is imperative that our students learn to engage with difference. Cross-cultural education has emphasized the value in learning about the other in order to succeed in new environments. Multicultural education emphasizes the complexities of the diverse classroom and workspace. The objective of this presentation is to demonstrate the value in teaching students metacognitive skills that, we argue, improve students' ability to engage across differences (i.e. race, gender, religion). Our findings are based on our analysis of five student groups: 30 undergraduates who participated in courses that included an international and domestic travel component, and 60 graduate students in three MBA modules on leadership. All courses occurred between 2009 and 2014. Pre- and post-writing samples were administered at the start and end of each course and were assessed to determine students' development in the following areas of metacognition: 1. ability to recognize the role of concepts outside of our conscious awareness 2. the ability to identify the ways emotions interact in complex ways with thoughts 3. the ability to recognize the way our social identities (such as race, gender, religion, etc.) affect what we experience and 4. the ability to recognize the human brain's drive toward certainty and the influence that drive has on our thinking. Our findings suggest that the better able students are to examine their own cognitive processes the better equipped they are to communicate effectively, make better-informed decisions, and serve in leadership roles. However, our findings also suggest that metacognition needs to be practiced regularly and on an ongoing basis for it to be an effective tool in developing one's interpersonal competence. Thus, our presentation also provides an overview of a practice we have developed as a result of our findings that helps students become better metacognitive practitioners. The practice, which we call the "Mind Yourself Practice," is built upon the premise that intrapersonal competence is a necessary component of interpersonal competence. Thus, we have developed a practice specifically designed to improve students' ability to pay attention to the role of the unconscious, emotions, social identities, and certainty. Finally, it is worth noting that the Mind Yourself Practice is informed by recent research in the areas of social psychology, interpersonal communication, and neuroscience, which supports our claims regarding the value of metacognition in one's capacity to engage across differences.

Keywords:

metacognition, intercultural communication, diversity, reflection