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Teaching towards ‘Cosmopolitan Learning?’. International students and culturally-aware initiatives in an Australian university Jeannie Daniels - Curriculum, Teaching & Learning Centre La Trobe University, M elbourne. La Trobe University – Faculty of Business, Economics & Law (FBEL) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Teaching towards ‘Cosmopolitan Learning?’
International students and culturally-aware initiatives in an Australian university
Jeannie Daniels -Curriculum, Teaching & Learning Centre
La Trobe University, Melbourne.
La Trobe University –Faculty of Business, Economics & Law (FBEL)
Large numbers of international students – 35% of FBEL students are international;– 72% of university’s international student
population
Most of our university students used to look
like this
And this
And often like this
Our studentslook more like this
‘[Internationalstudents are] notaccustomed to havingto participate in theAustralian manner anda lack of languagecompetence and self-confidence furtheraffects their capacity to do so’ (Novera, 2008, p.477)
Challenges
• Language- 40 different countries
• Educational practices/cultures– Learning styles; academic requirements;
engagement
Facing the challenges
• Voluntary workshops for first year skills acquisition– academic skills– information literacy; writing; and numeracy–Cultural ‘norms’• of university; of ‘western-style’ learning
Cultural preparation workshops
• Design informed by literature and research in which educators identified:– English language; academic terminology;
referencing issues; also– Behaviours – silences; expectations of being
‘given’ knowledge; not asking for clarification
• What culture?
• Whose culture?
• And whose education?
• Western education?
• Or …..
..… education that acknowledges the intercultural and transnational nature of the economic, political and social?
Cosmopolitanism
• Not a new concept, many definitions• Kant (1960): moral theory• Nussbaum (1996) : political philosophy• Rizvi (2009): cultural disposition – social, economic and political practices that respond
to contemporary conditions of globalisation
– have one thing in common…
The importance they attach to education:
Cosmopolitan learning
‘a different perspective on knowing and interacting with others’
(Rizvi 2008, p.111)
Cosmopolitan learners
• Empirical understanding of global transformations
• Ethical orientation towards them
Elements:• Social identities• Cultural trajectories• Connectivity
The workshops- double purpose
• How things are ‘done’ here– Western academic cultural ‘norms’
• Prepare for active learning through– Knowing own culture– Examining their intercultural experiences– Recognizing difference– Considering the ways these differences impact on
them
The workshops – process
• Pilot workshops poorly attended• Insufficient students for evaluation• Will persevere
• Won’t overcome the language issues we face• BUT …
• Potential to better prepare students for • WHAT and HOW • Also WHY:– Why things are ‘done’ this way, and – (learning to ask) why as a basis for developing an
active and critical approach to learning– A basis for Cosmopolitan Learning?
References• Kant, I. 1960/1795. Perpetual peace. In LW Beck (ed.) On history (pp.3-13) , New
York; MacMillan• Ly Thi Tran, 2008, ‘Unpacking academic requirements: international students in
Management and Education disciplines’, Higher Education Research & Development, vol.23, no.3, pp.245-256.
• Novera, Isvet Amri, 2004, ‘Indonesian postgraduate students studying in Australia: an examination of their academic, social and cultural experiences’, International Education Journal, vol.5, no.4, 475-487.
• Nussbaum, M. 1996. Patriotism and cosmopolitanism. In M.Nussbaum & J. Cohen (eds.) For the love of country: debating the limits of patriotism (pp.1-14). Cambridge, MA; Beacon Press.
• Rizvi, Fazal, 2009, ‘Towards cosmopolitan learning’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, vol.30, no.3, pp.253-268.
• Rizvi, Fazal, 2008, ‘Education and its cosmopolitan possibilities’ in B. Lingard, J. Nixon & S . Ranson (eds.) Transforming learning in schools and communities: the remaking of education for a cosmopolitan society. London & New York; Continuum.