Evaluating the international learning experience: what works, what doesn’t, why do it?

Or, Inquiry based learning in global context

Dr Clare Newstead College of Arts and Sciences Global Education Office

Outline

•Introduction to internationalising the curriculum •Making a case for a conversation between inquiry based learning and internationalisation of the curriculum •Examples from NTU

Internationalising the curriculum (IoC)

Key motivations: 1. Offer a curriculum that meets the needs of a diverse international student body (equity and inclusivity) 2. Enable students to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes for effective and responsible participation in a globalised community (global citizenship) Approaches: ‘additive’, ‘intercultural/interaction’ and ‘transformative’ (Clifford, 2013)

In practice…

We see a diversity of drivers and approaches to IoC BUT a common (and growing) emphasis on: Graduate outcomes and the relationships between students and the worlds beyond study

Defining IoC

“Internationalisation of the curriculum is the incorporation of an international and intercultural dimension into the content of the curriculum as well as the teaching and learning processes and support services of a program of study. An internationalised curriculum will engage students with internationally informed research and cultural and linguistic diversity. It will purposefully develop their international and intercultural perspectives as global professionals and citizens” (Leask 2009, emphasis added) “Internationalisation of the curriculum (IoC) is about students developing global perspectives and cross-cultural capability in

order to be able to perform, professionally and socially, in a

multicultural environment.” (Clifford and Joseph 2005, emphasis added)

‘Engaged Global Citizens’

NTU Graduate Attribute: Global Citizenship

• International awareness and openness to the world, based on appreciation of social and cultural diversity, respect for human rights and dignity. • Understanding and appreciation of social, economic or environmental sustainability issues. • Leadership capacity, including a willingness to engage in constructive public discourse, and to accept social and civic responsibility.

This outward orientation is an important contribution of the IoC agenda, but IoC also has profound implications for pedagogy “An internationalised curriculum will…focus on both ‘what is taught and learned’ (that is, on both content and outcomes) and ‘how it is taught and learned’ (that is, on what both teachers and learners do )” (Leask 2008, 61)

A globally-oriented pedagogy

• Decenters claims to truth – challenges disciplinary authority • Encourages openness to plurality (appreciation that all knowledge is contextual) • Invites interrogation and unpacking of a priori assumptions willingness to constantly question and test knowledge claims • Values humility – acceptance of gaps in knowledge • Appreciation of the value of difference • Fosters an awareness of self

•Universities and classrooms as safe meeting places for developing inquisitive pedagogies of

encounter

•Students as co-producers - actively engaged in the construction and reconstruction of knowledges 01 May 2020 9

How can inquiry based learning facilitate internationalisation of the curriculum?

What does taking internationalisation seriously mean for inquiry based learning?

Evidence suggests study abroad is associated with the development of skills that might also support inquiry based learning In addition to improving intercultural competence, the 2014 Erasmus Impact Study found problem-solving skills, innovativeness, curiosity, and self-awareness improved by an average of 42% among students undertaking an exchange period abroad 01 May 2020 11

Warwick University Global People Project: Global Competencies

Information Gathering Flexible Thinking Flexible Behaviour Rapport Building Self Awareness Personal Strength Spirit of Adventure Information Gathering Flexible Thinking Flexible Behaviour Rapport Building 01 May 2020 12

But study abroad is not required!

IoC at NTU

01 May 2020 14

HEA Commissioned Research on disciplinary approaches to Internationalising the Curriculum

• Working Group: Clare Newstead, Cheryl Rounsaville, Rose Gann and Sandra Kirk • Research Assistants: Adam Spencer and Noémie Dehling • Exploration of disciplinary differences in approaches to internationalising the curriculum • 15 disciplinary areas across all nine academic schools • Review of course documents, interviews with teaching staff, focus groups with students • Plus: Testing a tool to engage staff in further integrating international approaches into their curricula

Research-oriented: Collaborative cross-cultural groups in BA (Hons) Furniture and Product Design

Year 2 Design Studies module

• All students have the opportunity to undertake a week-long cultural visit to a European city • At Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Portugal, students work collaboratively with local students on design tasks, while also exploring local industries • Students complete a reflective study on the contextual factors (history, culture, economy, philosophy etc) that influence local design principles and industry development • Students are responding to set questions but they learn to ‘discover’ how design principles shift in context • They also learn to situate and specify their own design principles • Project work – defined communities of engagement

Research-based inquiry: reflecting on the moment of displacement in BA (JHons) Global Studies

In-Country Study (ICS)

• ICS focuses on structured student learning through everyday interactions with local communities and guided reflection on intercultural and international experience • Students complete a reflective diary: – Record of encounters with difference and feelings of dislocation – Set of enquiries • Through online discussion with peers and tutors students select one encounter for further research and inquiry • Students draw on a research skills module, completed in the first semester before exchange, and subject knowledge • Explore the histories and contexts that produce difference and, potentially, contribute to their feelings of dislocation or surprise • Students are discovery-active but also learning to question their a priori assumptions and test their acquired subject knowledge in a different context

Research-tutored: Peer Assisted Learning in Bio molecular sciences

MSc Pharmacology

• Using pairings of students (30 in total) from Universidad de León, Spain and NTU Biosciences, students develop a presentation of scientific research on a mutually agreed topic to be delivered to a multi national audience • Skype, Googledocs and Google Hangouts for information sharing and delivery of final presentation • Tutor support and feedback throughout • Students are ‘information active’ • But also active in locating disciplinary knowledge and conventions in a globalised research context • Student feedback indicates a greater appreciation for similarity and difference and the need to modify approaches

Students as learning resource

Conclusions

• Mutually reinforcing agendas • IoC: focus on inclusivity, diversity, ethics, context, displacement (drives questions) • IBL: how to engage students • Mobility not required to foster pedagogies of encounter • Flexibility in design and delivery of curriculum • Group work to bring together diverse students in learning communities • Students (and staff) as learning resources • Reflexive practice 01 May 2020 20

References

• Clifford, V. (2013) The Elusive Concept of Internationalisation of the Curriculum, Oxford Brookes University • Clifford, V.A., Joseph, C., (2005) Report of the Internationalisation of the Curriculum Project, Monash University, Published, pp. 1-137HEA (n.d.) Internationalising the Curriculum https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/resources/Internationalising_the_curriculum.

pdf • Erasmus Impact Study (2014) Effects of mobility on the skills and employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions European Commission EAC-2012 0545 • Leask, B. (2009). ‘Using formal and informal curricula to improve interactions between home and international students’. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(2), 205-221 • Leask, B. (2008) A Holistic Approach to Internationalisation Connecting Institutional Policy and theCurriculum with the Everyday Reality of Student Life. In Shiel, C. & Takeda, S. (Eds) Education for Sustainable Development: Graduates as Global Citizens. Bournemouth University: 57-66.

• Webb, G. (2005) Internationalisation of curriculum: an institutional approach, in: Carroll, J. and Ryan, J., Teaching International Students: Improving Learning for All, Routledge: Abingdon and New York