1. Integrating the international
dimension: implications for
teaching and learning
Innovative Doctoral Education for Global Food Security:
Workshop for teachers organizing thematic doctoral courses
October 18, 2013
Alexandra D’Urso
alexandra.durso@slu.se
2. Learning outcomes
• Continue to reflect upon the pedagogical considerations
involved in teaching in an internationalized (glocal) classroom
• Discuss role as educators and cultural beings in different
contexts
• Integrate glocal perspectives into doctoral course content
3.
4. Acknowledging & removing
our blinders
• What do we take for granted when we step into an educational
setting?
• How might having previous international experience help us or
hinder us?
• What are we unable to see when we wish to evaluate the needs
of doctoral students in an international context?
5. Reflecting about glocal
dimensions: discussion
questions
• Is scientific education and research in your field the same no
matter where one lives?
• What are teacher and student roles like in different places?
• What does it mean to internationalize doctoral courses?
6. Intercultural awareness
Cultural rules and biases
Empathy
Intercultural experience (see Jackson, 2009)
Suspending judgment
What about
Language?
Source: http://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/pdf/InterculturalKnowledge.pdf
7. Questioning assumptions:
glocal learning and our own
role
Emic/etic perspectives: teaching as partnership
Considering cultural patterns: generalizations versus stereotypes
(Bennett, 2009)
8. Who are we? Tuning in to our
different selves
family, ethnic,
religious
background
gender,
social
class
YOU!
home region,
peers, country
academia:
local, national,
international
9. “Rather than taking culture and identity as
given, social constructionism insists that it is
linguistic and social practices that bring culture
and identity into being.”
(Piller, 2012, p. .25)
11. Integrating international
dimensions into teaching and
learning
• SLU and ”global learning”
• New literacies related to global/glocal learning: “scientific,
technological, ethical, environmental, global” cultural??
• Intercultural success more than just time abroad or language
competence
• Cross-cultural coursework
12. Integrating international
dimensions
• Without adequate preparation, study-abroad students’ potential
to have “entrenched negative stereotypes” (Jackson, 2009, p.
S59)
• “attitude and empathy towards the whole idea of cultural
difference” more important than gathering cultural knowledge
(Louie, 2005, p. 17)
• Curiosity: investigating what else works
13. Possible teacher tasks for
doctoral courses
• Reflective journals
• Check-ins with / soliciting feedback from fellow course
coordinators
14. Reflective journaling*
“What happened?”
How do I feel about this?
What do I think about this?
What have I learned from this?
What action will I take as a result of my lessons learned?
Directly cited from Shepherd, M. (2006), p. 336.
15. Check-ins with fellow course
leaders
• Comparing reflective journal entries
• Culturally situating pedagogical choices when designing tasks
17. References
Bennett, M. J. (2009) Defining, measuring, and facilitating
intercultural learning: A conceptual introduction to the Intercultural
Education double supplement. Intercultural Education, 20:sup1,
S1-S13, DOI: 10.1080/14675980903370763
Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural
communicative competence. Clevedon, England:
Multilingual Matters.
Jackson, J. (2009) Intercultural learning on short-term sojourns.
Intercultural Education, 20, Suppl. Nos. S1–2, 2009, S59–7, DOI:
10.1080/14675980903370870.
18. References, cont.
Louie, K. (2005) Gathering cultural knowledge: Useful or use with
care? In Carroll, J. & Ryan, J. (Eds.) Teaching international
students. Improving learning for all, pp 17-25. London: Routledge.
Piller, I. (2012) Intercultural communication: An overview. In
Paulston, C.B., Kiesling, S.F., & Rangel, E.S. (Eds). Blackwell
Handbooks in Linguistics Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and
Communication. Hoboken, USA: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 3-18.
Shepherd, M. (2006). Using a learning journal to improve
professional practice: A journey of personal and professional
self‐discovery. Reflective Practice, 7(3), 333-348. doi:
10.1080/14623940600837517
Hinweis der Redaktion
After this session, it is my hope that you will walk away with a better sense about what kind of pedagogical considerations are necessary in order to be more effective and sensitive teachers in a variety of cultural settings.Another hope I have is that after today, you’ll have an increased interest in think about how the different positions you hold (e.g., researcher, parent, gender, social class, ethnic background…) intersect in such a way that alters your outlook on education, pedagogical techniques, collaboration across cultures, etc.I believe you’ll have a better idea of how to integrate international dimensions into your course development process. Ongoing self-reflection and active engagement involved – not just teaching the same course in a different place
Ask participants why I chose this photo- what does it have to do with intercultural communication?Many people, especially those who have gone through an educational system (in the case of some of you, several educational systems in different countries), have thoughts or opinions about teaching and learning. What are yours? What effects might your background and own educational experiences have on your own way of understanding teaching and learning?(NTS: ASK WHERE STUDENTS ARE FROM, EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENCE IN EDUCATION HOME AND IN SWEDEN)In other words, do you have any blind spots?QUESTIONS TO ASK STUDENTS (small groups or as rhetorical questions) - ?s written out on next slide should we break into groupsWhat do we take for granted when we step into an educational setting? Think about resources, expectations regarding knowledge, power relations, etc How might having previous international experience help us or hinder us? What might we unable to see when we wish to evaluate the needs of doctoral students in an international context? What skills should one have when developing a glocally-oriented course with a peer from another country?
Following anevaluation of many different universities’ current standards for measuring intercultural knowledge and competence, The Association of American Colleges and Universities developed a set of VALUE rubrics geared toward creating a shared understanding what it means for individuals to succeed at different tasks related to intercultural awareness.Cultural rules and biases: Consider the different cultures in which you’re operating: what are the rules, both official and unwritten? How many different cultures are at work ? i.e., personal life, university self, etc.EmpathyIntercultural experience:To succeed in being interculturally competent, we must do more than spend time abroad or learn another language. Some studies investigating the study abroad experience of undergraduate students have found that without guided reflection and instruction on intercultural communication, students may return to their home country with negative opinions and understandings of their host culture (see Jackson, 2009)Suspending judgment:Depending on what comes up, we might have knee-jerk reactions to different events which may have different interpretations depending on our own beliefs, experiences, cultural norms, etc. Example: not wanting to bother people as a sign of respect, eye contact, relationship to time (keeping strict schedule or not)Language??A language example: “rekommendera” påsvenska and “recommend” in EnglishStudies of miscommunication among native Brits and British people of Indian origin- John Gumperz et al 1979, emphasis on different words causing Linguistics- talk of “worldEnglishes”
Global learning + new literacies = greater attention needed to the finer details of what it means to communicate and how we accomplish our teaching goalsEmic and etic – terms coined by linguist and anthropologist Kenneth Pike to distinguish between insider and outsider perspectives when it comes to how language is viewed examined. used often by anthropologists/ethnologists – emic = perspective from someone within a culture; etic from someone outsideWolcott (scientific names versus common names for plants/animals: scientific name etic, local name for item = emicAvoiding essentializing other people and cultures: i.e., “all Swedes think that ___” YET allowing oneself to note patterns without expecting that they will always be true
Identity as socially constructed: for example, national identity as created or imaginedInter/cultural communication: this term assumes some basic building blocks. 1) inter=across + cultural (i.e., more than one culture), and 2) communication: transmission of information. What are the ways in which we communicate?Verbal (language) and non-verbal communication (body language, gestures, dress/attire, etc.)For example!Look at the clothesyoudecidedtoweartoday. Whatdidyouthinkaboutwhenyoupickedoutyourclothes? Wouldthisoutfit fit well in otherculturalcontexts? Why or why not?Mentionposture, wayonewalksinto a classroom, howone sits, ifone makes eyecontact, greets the teacher or waitsto be spokento, turn-taking in speechRules when communicating with colleagues in other countries: what formalities apply? e.g., first name basis in Sweden, whereas titles very important in other countriesAll of this hints at a larger question: identity and who are we? Who are you? If we are to successfully evaluate how we can be interculturally competent teachers, we need to have a greater understanding of who we are.While there are a number of different theories and perspectives about what identity is, for the purposes of this course, we might consider identity as something achieved or accomplished. (mention theoretical foundation/paradigm)INTERACTIVE:Ask students to give examples of words that describe their identities
Cultures as “imagined communities”“Numerous studies have shown that misunderstandings predominantly result from limited proficiency in one or more of the languages of the participants in the interethnic encounter, especially the dominant language, including limited awareness of different contextualization cues” --Piller, I. Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics : Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication.Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley-Blackwell, . p 11“linguistic misunderstandings are often mistaken for cultural misunderstandings” p 12, Piller, Ingrid.
E-collaboration across borders- what happens to paralinguistic communication in intercultural e-learning settings?NTS: student writing activity – collect afterwardsAsk participants to take a minute to:Write down at least one challenge that has come up when teaching online or collaborating in an international/intercultural contextNote what they did to address the challengeAsk for volunteers to read what they’ve written
1. A term that is often heard in higher education and especially at SLU is ”global learning”, which we can understand to mean the exchange of knowledge in an international contextA 2008 report on internationalization at SLU defined internationalization as “the process of integrating an international and intercultural dimension into SLU’s teaching, research, ongoing environmental analysis, knowledge exchanges and competence development.” 2. In someof the pedagogycourseshere at the SLU Centre for EducationalDevelopment, we talk about new literaciesthatareconnectedto global learning: scientific, technological, ethical, environmental, and global. Another element not includedhere is a cultural element, whichonemightargue in somewaysdictates or informshowwe go aboutengagingwith the other new literacies.NOTE: culture should not necessarily be conflated with national identity
Reflective journals: just as many scientists prepare lab journals, so might you consider doing reflective journal writing- both yourselves as course coordinators and your doctoral students as well.Journal writing: Accountability to yourself and your co-course leader in your commitment to sincerely work to make sure that your assumptions about your research do not prevent you from seeing ways in which your work does not consider both local and global dimensionsCheck-ins with fellow course coordinators – important for both new and old collaborators
