‘Internationalising the curriculum’

Jude Carroll

Oxford Brookes University

Royal Technical University, Stockholm

• What does it mean?

• How can it be done?

[Why do it? Why do it now?]

…… ‘internationalisation’?

…’internationalising the curriculum’

Why so difficult to reach a shared understanding of what it means?

‘I ..18 .. n’

Complexity of language

Complexity of the ideas

Complexity of goals; conflicting goals

Complexity of actions

Internationalisation as an add-on

• New marketing material

• Recruiting more international students

• Hiring more international staff

• Remedial support and language services

Internationalisation: it’s not neutral

• What are universities there to do?

• Who are universities’ clients?

Who are ‘our students’?

• In our programme, what are we trying to achieve?

2 suggestions:

… consider the converse of ‘international’?

‘national’, ‘local’, even ‘parochial’

…. adopt a metaphor

[biological] ‘permeable’

[visual] ‘perspective’

[geographical] ‘global’

+ 2 recommendations….

… think about ‘curriculum’ in the widest sense.

… If and when your own programme starts thinking about internationalising the curriculum , take time to agree:

‘What are we trying to achieve by becoming [more] international?’

‘The Big Picture’

Leask, 2005

‘changing activities so [they] are increasingly geared towards people operating in international surroundings and in a global market’ (Haarlov, 1997)

‘integrating an international / intercultural dimension into teaching, learning and research’ (Knight, 1996)

‘viewing our professional practice from diverse perspectives…. teaching and learning materials that reflect diversity’ …producing graduates capable of solving problems w. cultural and environmental sensitivity’ (Aulakh et al, 1997)

‘an international curriculum’

‘A task of stunning intellectual and practical magnitude’

McTaggart, 2003

‘Internationalisation as integral to what we do’

?Changing the goals ‘what we are trying to do…’

?Changing the activities ‘What we teach, what they learn, what we research, what we do in our classrooms, what they read etc’

?Changing the perspective

‘We teach Philosophy’ becomes ‘We teach Western European and American Philosophy from the Greeks onwards…’

‘… practical and intellectual magnitude’: a focus on the practical

1. Chronology

2. Capabilities of graduates

3. Content

4. Classroom practices

1. Chronology [students’]

Before arrival: informing all students of the kind of place, learning activities, academic cultural assumptions etc

On arrival: who is inducted into what?; how is cultural/national difference acknowledged?

As the work of learning begins: - students adapting? teachers adjusting? programmes

accommodating? -sensitivity to language capacity, - early diagnosis and early, safe feedback (Am I ok?)

…chronology (cont)

Interactive tasks (assessed group work,

presentations)

teach cross-cultural skills

Step-up tasks (e.g. academic writing/dissertations, placements; high-value group projects)

Additional support, teaching

Career planning

the practical ‘how’

1. Chronology

2. Capabilities of graduates

3. Content

4. Classroom practices

2. Capabilities for graduates: an example

A graduate of the University of South Australia will have these qualities: 

1. operates effectively with and upon a body of knowledge of sufficient depth to begin professional practice 

2. is prepared for life-long learning in pursuit of personal development and excellence in professional practice 

3. is an effective problem solver, capable of applying logical, critical, and creative thinking to a range of problems

4. can work both autonomously and collaboratively as a professional  5. is committed to ethical action and social responsibility as a

professional and citizen  6. communicates effectively in professional practice and as a member

of the community 

7. demonstrates international perspectives as a professional and as a citizen.

‘meta-awareness’ [Louie, 2005]

…. All students begin to see their own beliefs, assumptions, expectations and values

[no longer ‘common sense’ or ‘normal’ or ‘invisible’]

…allows students to operate consciously amidst diversity

[…much easier if the diversity is present in the classroom]

Reminder… ‘how’

• Chronology

• Capabilities of graduates

• Content

• Classroom practices

3. Content: This is seen differently..

.. No need to change content where subjects are ,

– highly theoretical – specifically ‘Western’ or European or [national] – professional skills for a national system– disciplinary skills/knowledge ‘the same the world over’

- teaching viewed as ‘covering disciplinary content’.

…maybe or yes where students’ learning was: – contextual ‘It depends on …..’ – discursive ‘Students need to develop views about….– experiential ‘Students in practice settings…’– evaluative Bell, 2004

… on the other hand

Here, my Geology colleagues say ‘..teach how it is in

Sweden. The rest of the world does not matter’. So

teaching becomes for ‘typical’ conditions. Everywhere

almost all the same, but that ‘almost all’ is the

problem. Meet something outside ‘typical’, and no one

believes the results. That is what caused the [names a

well-known bridge-building episode] …. No problem

from the global perspective but for engineers only

thinking ‘Sweden, Sweden’… they just didn’t have the

capacity.

To summarise… change the curriculum by

1. Looking at the skills students will need over the time of study (chronology) – teach them!

2. Rethink the graduate capabilities – build towards them!

3. Review the content. Where would an international perspective be useful / appropriate?

Where curriculum and content are unchanged ‘badge them’ - so students know ensure all students have the necessary cultural knowledge

/ background ensure all students know possible graduate careers

An activity: looking for opportunities to add an international perspective ….

You have five minutes

Scan the ‘Questions for panels’ checklist……

With a partner, select one section

How would these questions be useful in your own programe?

• ‘Not every subject can or should be assumed to have international dimensions although all subjects should be culturally inclusive.’

• DVC, Teaching and Learning, James Cook University, 2003

4. Classroom practices: aiming for inclusion

• teaching, learning & assessment strategies

• instructional materials, media and resources

• learning support services

From: A CHANGING WORLD:the internationalisation experiences of staff and students in UK Higher Education, Hyland et al, 2008 http://escalate.ac.uk/downloads/5248

”...they are usually very competent lecturers but they don’t enjoy it. They really do not enjoy it. And it seems ‘oh, [the students] don’t understand what I’m saying, it takes so long to read through their work, they don’t participate in class, when they say something I don’t understand it’.

All of those barriers to effective engagement are part of that management issue, of how do you manage it.”

Five approaches to classroom practice

1. Denial

2. Repair

3. Students adjusting

4. Programmes accommodating students’ diversity

5. Inclusion

What helps all students adjust?

1. Being explicit about academic cultural differences/expectations [‘New game, new rules’]

2. Early ‘lightening of the language load’3. Early diagnostics [‘Am I ok?’] –

especially for assessment4. Choreographing participation5. Skill teaching [esp writing + reading][empathy and patience……]

What can we accommodate?

This is a story for another day……

[It need not mean dropping standards]

No one way to ‘Internationalise the curriculum’ …. but one common question

Show me/us how and where your

programme / service / activity

incorporates international or intercultural perspectives?

….and the ‘why’? , ‘why now’?, ‘why here’?

Resources

Centre for International Curriculum Inquiry and Networking

http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/ioc/

You will find conferences, mailing lists, resources, academic papers, and others interested in this area.