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The purpose of this research was to develop learning activities to improve global competence for a classroom-based course in the field of clothing and textiles and explore how those activities affected the global competence of college students. To achieve this goal, the researchers proposed the following objectives: (a) develop learning activities on global competence and (b) explore the influences of newly proposed learning activities on the global competence of college students. The authors analyzed students' reflective essays to identify themes through constant comparative analysis. The authors found participants learned about the Japanese culture through diverse aspects of global competence--affective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions--throughout the semester via these learning activities. The authors also found informal writing could work as a starting point, where students were slowly exposed to a different culture, and reflective essays worked as a final summarizing phase where students could think further about their learning process related to global competence. This research is significant in terms of providing an empirical example of how to increase global competence in classroom-based courses. Additionally, scholars and teaching practitioners can gain insights from this study on how to improve global competence for the future workforce in a global economy.

The purpose of this exploratory investigation is to examine the use of a pedagogical framework to guide the development of a successful service-learning project within a technical program (clothing construction) as determined by increased student engagement and qualitative feedback. This investigation uses student reflection comparisons to assess the rollout of a service-learning theoretical framework, which was set up in two stages over multiple years. Stage One (pilot) investigated student and faculty reflections of community engagement after completing a community service project for an organization, but without direct interpersonal contact or reciprocity (mutual exchange and benefit) of learning. Stage Two (implementation) investigated student and faculty reflections of community engagement after completing the same activity as a service-learning course developed with a community partner, which provided direct interaction and learning reciprocity (mutual exchange and benefit) between students and affected populations. Through the comparison of student reflections from both stages, results indicate both learning and community engagement are present during the initial stage, which had no direct contact with a community partner. However, reflections from the second stage demonstrate a deeper connection and feeling of engagement with the service aspect during the full-immersion service-learning project.