This assessment measures four facets of empathy: perspective-taking, empathic concern, personal distress, and fantasy (ability to imagine oneself in another's situation).

This survey instrument, first published in 2003 by a multinational, multi-ethic team of researchers, measures four different aspects of empathy, including perspective-taking.

Expressed in first-person format, these statements state what the learner is able to do with a non-native language. For example: " I can participate in spontaneous spoken, written, or signed conversations on familiar topics, creating sentences and series of sentences to ask and answer a variety of questions."  The resource offers examples of communication proficiency from beginner/novice to advanced levels.

The non-verbal aspects of communication are a very often overlooked aspect of how to connect across difference. This inventory is designed to help the learner recognize that there are multiple styles of listening --and to reflect on his/her/their own preferences. Listening style, like conflict style and other personality traits is unlikely to shift greatly during a short-term period, but understanding listening style as an important communication skill can boost intercultural and career effectiveness.

This tool comes in two versions: one which explores one's discomfort about communicating across cultural difference and one which explores discomfort when talking about race or ethnicity.

This collection gathers together links to and notes about the 17 formative instruments designated as aligning to the 6 aspects of the AAC&U intercultural competence rubric, on the worksheet for intentional intercultural planning (above).  A formative assessment tool is one that helps a learner identify a specific skill, attitude or behavior that they need to work on, in order to attain the level of mastery required.  For example, a practice round of kicking or throwing balls in the direction of the goal (or hoop), is an assessment that will often tell you that you need to practice your corner kick or your jumpshot before the playoffs!

This instrument measures willingness to listen to speakers who disagree with one's views and the ability to see lively exchange of differing views as a positive thing; e.g. openness. It is a fifteen question Likert-style instrument.

This 5-question instrument has been used in some of the largest-scale US studies to explore college students' openness to diversity and disagreement.

According the researcher, food attitudes and behaviors are closely related to the personality trait of openness, one of the "big five" personality traits which have been the object of much social science research and theorizing.  During study abroad, attitudes towards the local foods and food customs can be the source of great connected-ness as well as of significant disgruntlement.  Use of this formative tool can lead to great group reflections and greater self-awareness.

This short survey, created, validated and published by Kashdan et al in 2009, measures two dimensions of curiosity: appetite for novelty, and "absorption," e.g. the desire to want to "dig deeper" and learn more about a topic, person, activity, etc. Depending on which version you wish to use, it has either 7 questions or 10 questions.

Introduced in 2009 as part of an effort to create instruments for Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education, this rubric was designed by a panel of intercultural competence experts from multiple US universities. It was adopted by the Purdue University Senate as a valid way of measuring intercultural competence (a core curriculum learning outcome) in 2014.

This worksheet asks the potential ICL program leader or curriculum designer to, by using the AAC&U intercultural knowledge and competence rubric, (a) identify one specific intercultural outcome which they intend to nurture in their learners & then leads that person towards a research-validated assessment tool which measures that type of learning. Originally designed as a worksheet for Purdue leaders of short-term study abroad programs (as part of their required program proposal process), where it has been required since 2015, it has been re-designed as of 2023 for adaptation by non-Purdue program leaders.

This short survey tool measures capacity for wonder, which is comprised of two sub-constructs: Emotional Re-awakening and Perspective Shifting.

"Wonderment" has been identified, in the research literature on education abroad (Engberg &Jourian, 2015), as one of the most frequent outcomes of short-term study abroad, particularly for individuals who have not yet been abroad. Ability to shift perspectives is often identified as an outcome that study abroad leaders desire to impart to their learners.  This instrument offers a valid and reliable way of measuring both of those things.

This article, published by Beatty and Manning-Ouellette in 2022, explores short-term study abroad as a leadership development opportunity.  Notable for its integration of leadership development theory with intercultural development theory, it includes the full focus group protocol (question set) used by the authors on the 6th page of the article. It also includes a good example of how to discuss the validity and reliability of this type of data, when publishing.

This form helps you center equity in all phases of the institutional assessment process.

This form helps you think through how to plan for success through all phases of an assessment project.

While conducting a focus group can appear very similar to sitting around and chatting about something, there are guidelines that make it more effective, valid and reliable as research.  The attached methods guide from the University of Reading (United Kingdom) is a good short introduction and suggests further readings. CILMAR's assessment expert is also very fond of the Focus Group Interviewing website  (and books!) of Drs. Richard A. Krueger & Mary Anne Casey, who have over 40 years of experience & with whom she considers herself extremely fortunate to have studied.

This focus group protocol (question set) was developed to probe the learning outcomes of engineering students who have completed junior year abroad programs; it asks open-ended questions about language skills, intercultural skills, engineering skills and professional skills. Questions can be found in the appendix of the article, between the conclusion and the references. The article exists behind a scholarly paywall, so log-in via a scholarly library account if possible.

Otherwise, a similar focus group protocol, somewhat less engineering-focused but open-source, may be found on the website of the University of Minnesota's Learning Abroad Center.

In addition to English and Italian versions of the Rubrica Valutativa della Competenzia Interculturale (see HubICL Tool #467), this toolkit contains a reflection logbook for students, guidelines for a student's capstone presentation about the intercultural learning experience, and a teacher checklist (rubric) for evaluating the presentation. All items available in either English or Italian.