Accepters, Converts and

“Resisters” on the road to Globo

sapiens

Dr Patricia KellyCentre for the

Enhancement of Learning, Teaching & Scholarship (CELTS)

University of CanberraAustralia

Talking and walking sustainability

NZSSESAuckland, February

20-23, 2007

Context: what did I do? Survive or fail? 3 graduate visions Accepters, Converts and Resisters -

impacts on teachers and students From Resisters to “resistings”- how

does this help? Examples of change and

transformative learning Countering criticisms of “soft skills”

Outline

What did I do? Professional Studies: Core teaching and

assessment strategies Reflective journals (online)

Lectures/readings (sustainability, environment, personal growth, cultural sensitivities and international responsibilities, ethics etc.)

Group work Peer Interview Formative assessment Summative assessment

Competencies Abilities/Qualities

Stern real-world test Destructive criticisms of “soft skills”,

intercultural work “wishy-washy…drain on resources” (Thaman) “waste of time”, “what do we have to do this

for?” “everyone hates it”.

We can make a difference How do I know?

Pre-post questionnaires Reflective journals Sense-Making interviews

Survive or fail?

A planet in danger

UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

Education hitched to dying star of “limitless growth”

But how? Clash of values when we challenge the

status quo Act as if we are “choosing to survive”

not fail (Diamond, 2005)

3 visions: globally portable, globally

competent or Globo sapiens?

Globally Portable: Homo economicusWe do any job!

Globally Competent: Homo globalisWe do it smarter!

‘Wise’ Global Citizen: Globo sapiens“We do better things- see things

differently”

Gendered - male Gendered - male Gender inclusive

Attributes Attributes (subsumes those of Global Portability + )

Attributes (subsumes those of Global Portability and Global Competence +)

• Leadership skills• Fluency in English

[current]• Ability to work with

others• Depth of work

experience • Communication skills• Creativity

• Substantive knowledge• Perceptual understanding• Capacity for personal growth• Ability to develop

international, interpersonal relationships

• Ability to act as a cultural mediator

1. S/he will be “…sensitive to the different ways we learn from each other and know the world” and able to “feel for and with the other”

2. S/he will show evidence of global consciousness

3. S/he will be able to contemplate changes to their current way of life

4. S/he will be capable of trans-generational thinking

5. S/he will be a person of courage / “critical being”

6. S/he will work towards healthier futures, from the personal to the spiritual

Preferred vision: Globo sapiens (wise, global citizens)

Reflective, reflexive professionals united by a common sense of global responsibility.

“enables…enobles” (Inayatullah)

Wisdom The evidence

ACCEPTERS~65%

“ Positive”, “Hope” , “Try”,“Success and happiness” “Prepared to give it a shot”“Going to try my best”

RESISTERS~10%

“Waste of time”, “Hypothetical garbage”, “Annoying” “Pain in the neck”, “A joke”

CONVERTS~25%

“I must admit that I was a sceptic at the beginning of the semester, but I have been converted. Hallelujah! “

Accepters, Converts, Resisters

From Resisters to resistings

Sense-Making: Brenda Dervin et al.(2003) Meta-theory, methodology, methods

“S-M assumes that people have gaps in situations, that they bridge these gaps, and that they put their new sense to work in guiding their behaviour” (uses).

The “how” of change

Uses (HELPS)

“got respect”, “got connected”, “got insight”, “got inspired”, “got courage”, “got healing”, “got transformation”

We need to heal ourselves in order to heal local and global environments (Inayatullah).

Interviewee

Example What was healed

Geoffrey “I can now try in writing or in person to consider other people’s feelings…. I CAN do it… it will make people like me as a person not just my work. Help me as a person and an engineer.”

Self – able to acknowledge feelings, his own and those of others

Lady Arwen “I can’t express my feelings…I can’t find the words…I gained so much [from the Peer Iinterview]. Mine were low, his were heart level…I wrote journals to try to get in touch with what I was feeling… I learnt about myself”.

Self – able to get in touch with feelings

Gir Bob “I was picked on at school…[the lecture] got it through…that their way isn’t the only way…helps me cope, I see them as a minority group now…helps you move on…”

Pain from the past - racism

Yamaha “I wouldn’t speak up, limited my comments. I was racist, that leads to conflict...I didn’t realise I was.. I got stuff off my chest.. made me think about the way I am and how others perceive me... I became a better person… I’m not so frightened to learn to know someone else.. they become a support for you.”

Self - of racist thinking. More open to others, more open to being vulnerable. Self – of fearRelationships with others

Got Healing

Interviewee Transformation Globo sapiens’ Qualities

Odysseus Incremental: “Uncertain of my true voice, true emotions and feelings …my home life is better now…more able to ask for help, less likely to need it” “Came out with different ideas.. changed my view of how I communicated and my views on it”.

Q.5: Courage (to feel, to be to do)

Q.2: Global Consciousness “sustainability is necessary for survival”

Fiza Epochal: “… it hit me as a person, it hit me as a Pakistani, it hit me as an engineer, as a student , you know like, hey, I might be able to make a

difference to the world”

Q.1 Sensitivity/awareness: “I have a lot more respect for the world…Q.2 Global Consciousness

I have a responsibility to the world…Q.3. Changes to my lifeI can’t have a long shower”.

Expressed Doubts / Myths

Reported Reality

1. Waste of time, Crap, Touchy feely“Waste of time” [Lady- Arwen, Bo]

“Airy-fairy Fluffy subject” [Bo]

”Oh this will be a pain”. [Yamaha]

Transferability

“Took the ‘hoodoo’ [from my bad experiences in Nursing] on the word Reflection away”[Bo] “It helped me with my other subjects” (Yamaha)Approach to learning

“They took up time but freed up space. Frees your mind up...uncluttered my mind”. [ Yamaha] “It changed my idea of what Engineering was. I was really excited about becoming an engineer” [Lady Arwen].

Wishy-washy, waste of time”? Where’s the evidence?

Expressed Doubts / Myths

Reported Reality

“Engineering is a tough course…great responsibility…I always think Engineer is working alone”. [Harry] “How am I going to graduate?” [Harry]

“Engineer is always working with other people…people is very important to Engineer” [Harry] “How do I contribute to people as an engineer?”

Wishy-washy, waste of time”?

Lessons for Higher Education Break-down or break through, we

need Globo sapiens How prepared are educators? Evidence + courage + support

Walking the talk

Patricia.Kelly@canberra.edu.au

•Australian Digital Theses

(2007)

•Towards Globo sapiens: transforming learners in Higher Education, (2007) Sense Publishers, Rotterdam http://www.sensepublishers.com/(Forthcoming)

Thank you

Extra slide follows: if question

Statement 10: Engineers working in teams must be sensitive to gender and ethnicity

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