teaching international students: informing teaching and learning for international and...
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Teaching International Students:Informing teaching and learning for international and internationalised
students
Changing contexts
• UK: 15% and rising (22.9% increase 2010 UUK)
• 12% of first degree students
• 66% of full-time taught postgraduates; 50% of full-time research degree students (43% of all research postgraduates)
Challenges and opportunities
• University contexts have changed BUT teaching and learning practices relatively unchanged
• Responses to increases in IS: Focus on marketing, recruitment and welcome
• Literature on IS rarely moves beyond problem identification - focus is usually on students to change and adapt
• IS seen as ‘bearers of problems’ rather than ‘bearers of culture’
• Need for a different kind of debate and different ways of working
Student issues
Satisfied overall but some issues persist...
• Unclear expectations: don’t know the ‘rules’
• Lack of background knowledge
• Language issues
• Assessment issues
• Know they are seen as a ‘problem’
• Do achieve well but need support
• Difficulties participating and making friends
Staff perceptions
• ‘Deficient’ learning styles: rote learners, lack critical thinking skills, prone to plagiarism
• Don’t want to participate in class discussion
• Only interact with others from similar backgrounds
• Homogeneous group with similar learning styles and expectations
• Don’t consider contextual teaching, learning and assessment factors and role of previous experiences and expectations
What does the research tell us?
• Much qualitative data but little quantitative data
• Qualitative data in different countries identifies similar areas of concern
• Qualitative and NSS data inconsistent with iGraduate data
NSS results for UK and International Students from 2005 to 2009
• There is a positive trend in students’ satisfaction with the quality of their degree course during this period both for UK and international students
• Differences in satisfaction between UK and International students have decreased, with IS still less positive about their experiences for all but one question (Q7 Promptness of feedback)
• ‘Satisfaction’ means aggregated results for Mostly Agree and Definitely Agree
• All differences between UK and international students are statistically significant
Q2: Staff have made the subject interesting
■ In 2005 67.6% of IS and 75.7% of UK students were satisfied
■ In 2009 75.0% of IS and 79.9% of UK students were satisfied
■ Differences in satisfaction between UK and IS have decreased from 8.1% in 2005 to 4.9% in 2009
Q2: Staff have made the subject interesting
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UK students
Int students
Q3: Staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching
■ In 2005 73.5% of IS and 79.6% of UK students were satisfied
■ In 2009 79.6% of IS and 83.8% of UK students were satisfied
■ Differences in satisfaction between UK and International students have decreased from 6.1% in 2005 to 4.2% in 2009
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2005 2009
UK students
Int students
Q4:The course is intellectually stimulating
■ In 2005 75.0% of IS and 82.7% of UK students were satisfied
■ In 2009 78.8% of IS and 82.9% of UK students were satisfied
■ Differences in satisfaction between UK and International students have decreased from 7.1% in 2005 to 4.1% in 2009
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2005 2009
UK students
Int students
Q6: Assessment arrangements and marking have been fair
■ In 2005 65.8% of IS and 73.1% of UK students were satisfied
■ In 2009 69.8% of IS and 73.6% of UK students were satisfied
■ Differences in satisfaction between UK and International students have decreased from 9.3% in 2005 to 3.8% in 2009
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UK students
Int students
Q7: Feedback on my work has been prompt
■ In 2005 54.8% of IS and 52.6% of UK students were satisfied
■ In 2009 60.8% of IS and 55.8% of UK students were satisfied
■ The only question on which international students are more positive then UK students
■ Differences in satisfaction between UK and International students have increased from 2.2% in 2005 to 5.0% in 2009
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UK students
Int students
Q10: I have received sufficient advice and support with my studies
■ In 2005 61.1% of IS and 67.7% of UK students were satisfied
■ In 2009 70.7% of IS and 72.7% of UK students were satisfied
■ Differences in satisfaction between UK and International students have decreased from 6.6% in 2005 to 2.0% in 2009
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2005 2009
UK students
Int students
What students want
• Understanding and support
• Opportunities to participate
• Ability to draw on own experiences
• Demonstrate knowledge and ability
• Friendships with local students
From problems to action…
Teaching International Students
project
Run by the Higher Education AcademyFunded through the Academy, UKCISA & PMI2
2 year project
TIS Team: Janette Ryan, Jude Carroll, Fiona Hyland (ESCalate), Inna Pomorina (Economics), Melodee Beals (History, Classics & Archeology) , Simon
Steiner (Engineering) , Malcolm Todd (C-SAP), Ali Dickens (LLAS), Andrea Frank (CEBE), Caprice Lantz (Psychology), Richard Atfield
(BMAF), Adam Child & Katherine Lagar, HEA
TIS Project
• Website with teaching and research Resources Bank
• Research database
• Outreach activities and partnerships
• Series of events
Empathy Game – ‘Not knowing the rules’
Based on Leask, B. (2000). Teaching NESB and International Students of the University of South Australia, Teaching Guide. Adelaide: University of Adelaide.Also quoted in Carroll & Ryan (2005; p. 143)
Make a simple set of cards by cutting up paper and with different colour pens writing the numbers 1 - 10 on a few of them (draw a line under 6s and 9s to show which way is 'up'). On the remaining cards draw a few random marks such as black dots in some corners, green triangles at the base, perhaps a blue square in the top left corner and so on. Then divide participants into smaller groups of five or six people. Tell them to devise a simple card game based on Top Trumps or Snap. The rules need to be easy to learn and they need to use the numbers and markings on the card. The game needs to identify who is a winner and who is a loser in each round of play. Groups are bullied NOT to devise too complex a game! Allow groups to practise for three or four minutes until everyone is an expert. Then ask one person from each group to leave the room.Pass round the room a sheet of paper that specifies a change in the rules – for example, that all red numbers are doubled for everyone who has stayed in the room but not for the returner (i.e. a 3 becomes a 6 etc). Or that anyone with a green triangle is automatically the winner – which applies to incomer plus the remaining group. Or that black numbers don't count. The groups now play the game with the additional rule, until it goes smoothly - maybe a minute or two.Invite the people who had gone outside to return and re-join the game. The groups are instructed to be friendly but not to explain what is different, just play. The groups are allowed to play for a maximum of five minutes. After this, ask groups to discuss how they felt about the outsider; and ask the outsider to express how they felt. What was going on for the outsider? How much 'head space' was devoted to trying to understand the new situation? Ask groups to consider how they could have helped the outsider?
An example… ‘The problem with making assumptions’
• ‘In one unit on Qualitative Research Methodologies a couple of years ago, there were now two groups of students. I realised that there were more Chinese students than before and that all of the Chinese students in both groups were regularly sitting together. Previously there had been only a few Chinese students and, I must admit, I hadn’t really noticed where they had sat. The Chinese students and the other international students also seemed to have similar questions and problems and seemed disconnected from the local students. The local students seemed completely uninterested in mixing with the international students and tended to dominate the discussion in class, try as I might to get everyone to talk.
• Were (the international students) starting at a lower level and should I adjust my teaching?... I thought that the local students already had quite good skills.
• …to my surprise, the following week when they turned up for the new self-selected groups, both international and local students almost equally chose each group.
Extract from: TIS Resource Bank, Intercultural Competencies,
Mixing, learning & working together, A teacher’s account…
Philosophy and approach
• Sociocultural theories of learning and teaching
• IS bring international knowledge, experience and skills that can be shared with teachers and peers
• Avoids ‘problematisation’ of IS by expecting them alone to change and adjust
• Focus on teachers and developing a Community of Practice
• Issues are complex and contested – mix of theoretical and practical resources
Moving forward
• Take advantage of opportunities of increased flow of people, ideas, knowledge and perspectives
• Shift and make space for other views
• Talk about ‘cultures’ (not just about ethnicity); develop a ‘meta-awareness’
• Understanding between cultures through mutual respect and dialogue
• Create feelings of belonging, respect for others’ knowledge and opportunities for effective participation
