New culture course takes a global approach

New culture course takes a global approach
By Erik Holmes - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Feb 1, 2009 8:59:25 EST

The Community College of the Air Force will begin offering an online course to teach enlisted airmen about other cultures and prepare them to work more effectively in culturally diverse environments.

The course, called Introduction to Culture, seeks to create cross-cultural competence — the ability to function in any culture — in airmen rather than focus solely on the cultural characteristics of any particular region.

“What we’re trying to achieve … is to produce airmen that have the requisite cultural knowledge to be able to go anywhere in the world and perform their mission effectively,” said Robert Sands, culture chair of the Air Force Culture and Language Center, which developed the course. “We’re attempting to ... first build a cultural-general foundation for the airmen to understand what culture is ... so if an airman goes to Horn of Africa and has never been there before, he can be plopped down in a deployment area and ... be able to effectively move toward successful mission.”

Sands said the course is unique in the Air Force and Defense Department in that it provides the depth of a semester-long curriculum rather than simply a batch of pre-deployment tips before airmen head overseas.

The course, which will count for three credits toward the CCAF associate degree, will be taught through Air University’s Black Board Web site and will consist of readings, discussion boards, video presentations and simulations.


Rest of article at: http://airforcetimes.com/news/2009/02/airforce_culture_020109w/%2e