How can psychology teachers help their students understand and adapt to the likely impact of globalization on their lives? In this article, the authors outline a rationale as to why this question is relevant for the teaching of psychology and issue a call to action. They call on all teachers of psychology to infuse globalization issues and cultural awareness, where applicable, into their courses. They offer several suggestions for key issues teachers should consider in answering this call. They highlight the importance of teachers adopting an empirical approach to their teaching and collecting data regarding the effectiveness of their pedagogy on student learning outcomes, cultural awareness skills, and attitudes about cultural diversity. Globalization and Psychology Education: identifying key issuesThere was a time, not all that long ago, when the primary concern of many, if not most, psychology teachers was simply to teach psychological knowledge. The whole point of college and university instruction for those teachers was to impart the facts and figures of psychology to students who sat passively in classrooms jotting down notes. Indeed, until the latter part of the twentieth century, the teaching of psychology was marked by the transmission of knowledge from teachers to students, who repeated that knowledge back to the teacher through written examinations.Although several early authors pointed out that deep learning of any subject matter involves higher-order thinking skills (e.g., Bloom, 1956;McKeachie & Kimble, 1951), it was not until the last two decades of the twentieth century that, on a large scale, psychology faculty (as well as faculty in other disciplines) began to teach students how to think analytically about the knowledge they were imparting to those students. After all, without teaching students how to think critically about knowledge, apply knowledge to solve problems, synthesize knowledge across disciplines, and create new knowledge from existing knowledge, teachers fall far short of contributing to their students' development as well-informed and careful thinkers.

This study evaluated the use of frequent online assessments due prior to lecture, known as readiness assessment tests (RATs), in 2 sections of an upper-division psychology course. We compared the efficacy of RATs on students' exam performance, in-class participation, and attendance using a nonequivalent control group design. We also measured students' self-report of studying and preference for RATs using a satisfaction survey. Results indicated significantly higher average unit exam grades, a higher level of student attendance, and more reports of active study habits for students exposed to RATs compared with the control group, but we did not find significant differences in student participation. Students also reported a preference for RATs over frequent in-class quizzes. Overall, our results support that RATs may be an effective and preferred assessment strategy to improve students' overall exam grades and promote active study habits. Recommendations for assessment in higher education and future research are discussed.