Supporting Learning: special consideration for international students

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Supporting Learning special consideration for
international students?

• Clare Kell
• Andy Lloyd

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Welcome!
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Introduction (s)
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Our Plan

• Who are our students?
• Cultural perspectives
• Individual perspectives
• Why should we know?
• What is our role?
• Framed about Plagiarism and Collusion

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Question

• Do international students cheat more or do they
  get caught more often?

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Literature summary

• Socio-cultural factors
• Learning and writing styles
• Ideological Perspectives

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Socio-cultural factors

• Cultural differences, shock and levels of
  support
• Financial pressures
• Parental pressures
• The academic environment (and a wish for familiar
  more teacher-centred approaches)

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Learning and writing styles

• Confucian heritage cultures, memorisation and
  respect for the expert
• Rote learning and repetition
• Understanding and deep learning
• Patch writing and cultural adaptation

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Ideological perspectives

• The morality of plagiarism(crime, insult,
  sinful, theft, disease)
• Notions of ownership
• The different perceptions of plagiarism

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Question

• Whose culture is different?

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Group activity
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Plenary Issues arising
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• Cultures do not talk to each other individuals
  do. In that sense, all communication is
  interpersonal communication and can never be
  inter-cultural communication.
• (Scollon and Wong Scollon, 1995)

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What do we know about our students / ourselves?

• Individual perspectives

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The purpose of HE?

• develop their capabilities to the highest
  potential levels throughout life, so that they
  grow intellectually, are well equipped for work,
  can contribute effectively to society and achieve
  personal fulfilment
• (Dearing, 1994)

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Metacognition

• Who am I?
• Where am I?
• What do I look like?

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Currys onion model
(Curry, 1991)
Instructional Preference
Social Interaction
Cognitive Personality
Information Processing
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Wholist Analytic Dimension
Analytic
Verbal Imagery Dimension
Verbaliser
Imager
Wholist
(Riding, 1997)
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Does it matter?
(Biggs, 1987)
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What can we do?

• Teaching / learning partnership
• Address cross-cultural capability
• Facilitate learner empowerment through
  metacgotnive awareness and reflective practice /
  PDP.

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Thoughts?
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Summary Key messages?
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Issues to take forward
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Thank you!
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References

• Banwell J (2003) Chinese and South East Asian
  students perceptions of plagiarism and
  collusion. Northumbria University
• Biggs JB (1987) Student approaches to learning
  and studying. Melbourne Australian Council for
  Educational Research.
• Curry L (1991) Patterns of learning styles across
  selected medical specialities, Educational
  Psychology, 11 247-278.
• Hall B (2004) International students and
  plagiarism a review of the literature.
  http//www.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre-for-academic-
  practice/researchsupport.htm
• Introna L et al (2003) Cultural attitudes
  towards plagiarism developing a better
  understanding of the needs of students from
  diverse cultural backgrounds relating to issues
  of plagiarism. Lancaster University
• Park C (2003) In other (peoples) words
  plagiarism by university students literature
  and lessons. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher
  Education 28 (5) 471-489
• Riding RJ (1997) On the nature of cognitive
  style, Educational Psychology, 17 29-49.
• Scollon R and Wong Scollon S (1995) Intercultural
  Communication, Oxford Blackwell.

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How do I think I teach?

• Closely related to past experience
• Conceptions of teaching
• Learning facilitation
• Knowledge transmission
• Impact on student learning

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Conceptions of teaching

• The specific meaning attached to teaching
  influences how teachers then respond in teaching
  environments
• The teacher then uses an Approach to teaching
  or strategy for delivering that teaching in a way
  that matches their intentions for teaching
  (Concept).

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CPT Continuum
Learning Facilitation
Knowledge Transmission
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What is a good teaching environment?

• Reciprocal transactions between students and
  staff
• Helpful feedback
• Interest in students ideas
• Make subject interesting
• Motivate
• Active engagement
• Result? Deep learning approach and outcome
  success(Lizzio et al, 2002)