Effective teaching and learning in a multicultural environment

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Effective teaching and learning in a
multi-cultural environment

• Barbara J Gabrys
• MPLS Division
• University of Oxford, UK

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Outline

• Setting the scene how foreign are foreign
  students?
• Critical thinking as a basis of academic practice
• Improving teacher-learner communication
• Improving teaching to improve learning
• Conclusions and open questions

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1. Setting the scene

• us and them
• galloping globalisation of education a necessary
  evil or benefit?
• in 2005, 16 of FTE in the UK and 24 in
  Australia were international students
• contribution to economy
• BUT are they fit to study with us?

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Our assumptions about teaching and learning

• my main objectives in teaching are
• I expect my overseas students to be able to

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Teachers expectations

• do I know the recruitment criteria?
• how do overseas students measure up to them, and
  how do they compare with home students?
• if there is deficit, what or where is it?

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What do I know about them?

• What is their culture?
• What is their academic tradition?
• What about a (double) culture shock?
• What support do they have in my institution?
• What I personally could do to help them if they
  ask for help?

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Ways to bridge differences

• Should they assimilate or not?

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2. Critical thinking as a basis ofacademic
practice

• examine own assumptions about what constitutes
  critical thinking
• is it possible to teach the Western critical
  thinking to other cultures during a study time?
• how homogenous is the Western academic culture?

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Implementation teaching of critical thinking

• explore the cultural assumptions behind the
  Western legacy
• acknowledge culturally different approaches to
  knowledge acquisition
• illustrate the techniques and mechanisms expected
  in the Western culture

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Critical thinking as a cultural concept

• origin the discipline of Philosophy
• Developed a range of argumentative skills, both
  in speech and writing, through the ages
• confrontational style
• contrast with the Chinese tradition which relies
  on analogy, circular reasoning and incorporation
  of the opponents argument

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3. Improving teacher learnercommunication

• for both students and staff
• become aware of your own cultural
  pre-programming
• to learn about cultural encoding of others
• nice, but how?

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Developing intercultural competencies

• learning from lectures
• encouraging participation in classes, tutorials
  and seminars
• collaborative learning
• developing reading and writing skills
• understanding causes of plagiarism
• communicating across cultures verbal and
  non-verbal communication

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4. Improve teaching toimprove learning

• paper-based vs electronic-based resources
• the Age of the Internet but is information
  always reliable?
• and how to fairly assess international students?

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...challenges and possible solutions

• innovative teaching in combination with
  traditional teaching
• improved teaching does it imply improved
  learning?
• methods and resources
• improving teacher-learner communication as a
  result of teachers personal development

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Innovation in teaching what?

• traditional methods (lectures, tutorials and
  practicals) are crucial can be improved by
  individuals
• adapt individual projects, group work and some of
  distance learning methods
• introduce a short course in problem-solving in an
  early stage of student development

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Why bother?

• the ultimate goal improved, inclusive learning
  environment
• encouraging students independence, creativity
  and problem-solving skills
• nurturing cultural ambassadors and networkers
• increased job satisfaction of lecturers

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Methods and resources

• introduce case studies link to research
• distributed teaching - e.g. see Department of
  Chemistry, University of Oxford website
• http//www.chem.ox.ac.uk/it/lectures.html
• http//www.ch.ic.ac.uk/GIC/
• http//ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Chemistry/index.htm
• but
• always reference your sources!
• project and group work in various guises

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Methods and resources

• case studies collaborative effort of more and
  less experienced staff
• distributed teaching use learning aids
  developed by others
• project and group work tailor to the needs of
  departments or schools
• resources required staff time, funding,
  technical know-how

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Facilitating learning in small groups

• peer learning ?
• work in pairs/threes/fours
• ways to engage students
• half-filled handouts
• problem solving methodology
• tiered explanations

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Working with a group

• most likely it would be primary groups (classes
  or labs), sometimes tutorials
• group size affects its function
• need to establish authority and manage group
  interactions
• common problems with groups

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In a classroom setting

• it helps to be aware about (group)
  characteristics of students
• it helps not only with classroom management but
  can help with learning
• e.g. keep on track resource investigator who
  quickly loses enthusiasm

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Facilitating classroom learning

• planning
• preparation
• aids
• feedback
• assessment

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Exercise

• in pairs, explain a problem/part of a problem to
  a colleague
• get the feedback
• change roles and give the feedback

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Challenges

• for HE institutions development of
  internationalised curricula
• for lecturers making time for developing their
  interpersonal skills and teaching methods
• for students preparing for life in a foreign
  country, study in a foreign language

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Possible solutions

• no magic pill or quick fix
• in long term, develop self-awareness in terms of
  roles (Covey)
• regularly revisit your teaching practice
• cultivate empathy
• benefits better life-work balance

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Conclusions

• international students need support in their
  adjustment to both popular and academic culture
• staff teaching foreign students in a foreign
  language need to develop cross-cultural
  communication skills
• improvement of teaching and learning can be
  achieved by systematic introduction of
  student-centred teaching methods

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Main sources

• Teaching international students (2006) Eds. J.
  Carroll and J. Ryan, Routledge, London and New
  York, ISBN10 0-415-35066-2
• Learning to teach in higher education (2006) P.
  Ramsden, 2nd Edition, Routledge Falmer, London
  and New York, 2006 ISBN 0-415-30345-1
• S. Egege and S. Kutieleh (2004) International
  Education Journal 75, 4 (4)
• JS Higgins et al., Studies in Higher Education,
  14, 169 (1989)
• See selected resources