Link to abstract
Contributing to a learning planet?
What do we need to understand about the planet and what do we mean by global education?
Chris Shiel’s keynote speech delivered an inspirational and passionate view of internationalisation and sustainable development. She started us thinking by asking if anyone was wearing anything that was sourced and made exclusively in the UK, which neatly led into the issues to be covered – Internationalisation and Sustainable Development – ‘HUGE AND HIGHLY COMPLEX SUBJECTS’, as she put it (her caps).
A key issue was the strong link between internationalisation and employability. HE is a global industry but – in the UK – how are we ensuring our students have a global awareness? Nowadays many employers are more interested in knowledge and awareness of the wider world than in A-level results and there is evidence that they feel graduates’ horizons are not broad enough. The UK, she argued, will be left behind by fast-growing countries such as China, India and Brazil unless we really start to educate our young people to think globally.
Chris pointed out that although Educational Sustainable Development (ESD) was signed up to by most Vice-Chancellors, the awareness of this policy at the ‘chalk face’ was low (a point she supported by asking for a show of hands from us). Chris also questioned the myth of student mobility, asking whether UK students can actually meet the challenge of moving to another country. She suggested we need support to weave the global perspective into the curriculum and gave examples of how this is being achieved at Bournemouth University through embedding global and international perspectives throughout the learning experience. On the wider stage, her important considerations are: curriculum, pedagogy, mobility, extra-curricular, and social entrepreneurship.
It was a challenging presentation, asking a lot of questions of us: Do we assume we know everything? Do we ask often enough what we can learn from our overseas colleagues?
She feels we should be contributing to a learning planet by connecting agendas and balancing the regional with the global. She left us with a quote: “The global economy demands global thinking. We are preparing learners for a future that is evolving, uncertain and global – that future needs to be sustainable” and a YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6eTr4ldDYg&feature=fvwrel
Celia Cozens, CLTE
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Friday, 29 June 2012
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Track H: Developing communication strategies to support remote teaching teams
Link to abstract
Presenters: Cathy Minett-Smith & Kirsteen Macdonald, Middlesex University
The challenges of supporting remote teaching teams are manyfold, and the roles of staff in developing a strategy to deal with them is often unclear. Cathy and Kirsteen explained how important the role of the module leader is as part of an international team, and suggested that in most cases there is a genuine desire to develop an effective partnership with staff overseas. However, there is an element of academic staff who are frustrated with the effort involved in including international students in their curricula, and are generally of the opinion that the phrase 'my students' refers only to their UK students.
It was explained that it is not easy to build relationships with remote teaching staff when the teams change so often, and lack of time and differing calendars can make communication difficult. When communication does occur, it is usually by telephone or email, which can be quite limiting. We were split into groups and given scenarios to discuss. Issues were raised such as consistent and fair marking while being aware of cultural differences, and the varying expectations that module leaders have of module co-ordinators.
The session highlighted the need for improved, natural communication with remote teaching teams. Tools such as online chat, video conferencing and lecture capture were discussed. It was emphasised that so-called 'virtual teams' consist of real people and communication should reflect that. The end goal would be to move away from the 'parent/child' relationship that exists between module leaders and overseas tutors, and towards a more collaborative team effort.
Paul Smith, CLTE
Presenters: Cathy Minett-Smith & Kirsteen Macdonald, Middlesex University
The challenges of supporting remote teaching teams are manyfold, and the roles of staff in developing a strategy to deal with them is often unclear. Cathy and Kirsteen explained how important the role of the module leader is as part of an international team, and suggested that in most cases there is a genuine desire to develop an effective partnership with staff overseas. However, there is an element of academic staff who are frustrated with the effort involved in including international students in their curricula, and are generally of the opinion that the phrase 'my students' refers only to their UK students.
It was explained that it is not easy to build relationships with remote teaching staff when the teams change so often, and lack of time and differing calendars can make communication difficult. When communication does occur, it is usually by telephone or email, which can be quite limiting. We were split into groups and given scenarios to discuss. Issues were raised such as consistent and fair marking while being aware of cultural differences, and the varying expectations that module leaders have of module co-ordinators.
The session highlighted the need for improved, natural communication with remote teaching teams. Tools such as online chat, video conferencing and lecture capture were discussed. It was emphasised that so-called 'virtual teams' consist of real people and communication should reflect that. The end goal would be to move away from the 'parent/child' relationship that exists between module leaders and overseas tutors, and towards a more collaborative team effort.
Paul Smith, CLTE
David Law: Keynote Presentation - Internationalisation - a crowded world?
Link to abstract
Internationalisation - a crowded world?
David Law, from Edge Hill University, gave a fascinating keynote to close the conference. He struck a good balance between entertaining and informing, keeping the audience engaged after what had been a long day.
He started by outlining the increasingly competitive nature of the competition of the global HE field, and immediately noting that there was no one recipe for success if pursuing internationalisation. What worked for his (and our) institution wouldn’t work for, say, a Russell Group University.
Devising and delivering an appropriate strategy was a major consideration for institutions trying to operate more globally. This strategy may have many strands though. David proposed that this strategy should include an enabling leadership, and encompass academic practice, student support and cultural inclusivity.
David ran through traditional models of importing students, exporting students, and even partnerships, before suggesting that a networked model might be the way forward (even between institutions). He concluded that “universities must operate in a consistent and consciously co-operative way (even though there are many features of a competitive market)”.
Steve Chilton, CLTE
Introduced by Dr Nicky Torrance, Director of Learning and Teaching, MDX
Internationalisation - a crowded world?
David Law, from Edge Hill University, gave a fascinating keynote to close the conference. He struck a good balance between entertaining and informing, keeping the audience engaged after what had been a long day.
He started by outlining the increasingly competitive nature of the competition of the global HE field, and immediately noting that there was no one recipe for success if pursuing internationalisation. What worked for his (and our) institution wouldn’t work for, say, a Russell Group University.
Devising and delivering an appropriate strategy was a major consideration for institutions trying to operate more globally. This strategy may have many strands though. David proposed that this strategy should include an enabling leadership, and encompass academic practice, student support and cultural inclusivity.
David ran through traditional models of importing students, exporting students, and even partnerships, before suggesting that a networked model might be the way forward (even between institutions). He concluded that “universities must operate in a consistent and consciously co-operative way (even though there are many features of a competitive market)”.
Steve Chilton, CLTE
Introduced by Dr Nicky Torrance, Director of Learning and Teaching, MDX
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Track L: A view of internationalisation
Link to abstract
Presenter: Dr David Killick, Leeds Metropolitan University
‘I don’t care what these international students have to say’ interestingly, (and perhaps, given the flavour of the conference, thankfully) this quote was not directly from Dr Killick himself. Instead, and of importance to Dr Killick’s talk, it was a quote proffered by one of his students. The student offered this view upon completion of a piece of group work in which they had worked within consciously created multi cultural groups. Interestingly the student was studying language and was about to embark upon a year studying abroad. In offering this quote, Dr Killick far from trying to ‘out’ a racist student instead cleverly used this quote to cause his audience to recognise that the incorporation of an international identity into a student’s life is a complex and difficult task.
Dr Killick proceeded to offer an introductory framework by asking ‘Internationalisation, by whom, to whom and why’? He stated that the we are pre-conditioned by the discourse of internationalisation into thinking about mostly geographical and business related issues and endeavours namely; overseas campuses, exchanges, partnerships and mobility. He also challenged the audience by reminding us that still, internationalisation may have negative connotations to domestic students and if we are to move on in this area we need to understand these views and why they occur.
Dr Killick next shared the work which Leeds Met have been carrying out in order to counter act the potentially negative student view of internationalisation as well as to produce global graduates. Leeds Met have incorporated internationalisation when defining their graduate attributes. The ‘global outlook’ attribute incorporates 2 areas; Inclusivity and Global relevance. Leeds Met has stated that the development of graduate attributes is not separate from discipline knowledge and so is to be embedded within the curriculum. In conjunction with the idea of constructive alignment Leeds Met looked at rewriting learning outcomes to encourage the development of graduate attributes.
This exercise started with Dr Killick’s team authoring generic ‘global outlook’ learning outcomes from which teaching teams then created discipline specific learning outcomes (examples of each were offered and are available within the slides).
Dave Westwood, CLTE
Presenter: Dr David Killick, Leeds Metropolitan University
‘I don’t care what these international students have to say’ interestingly, (and perhaps, given the flavour of the conference, thankfully) this quote was not directly from Dr Killick himself. Instead, and of importance to Dr Killick’s talk, it was a quote proffered by one of his students. The student offered this view upon completion of a piece of group work in which they had worked within consciously created multi cultural groups. Interestingly the student was studying language and was about to embark upon a year studying abroad. In offering this quote, Dr Killick far from trying to ‘out’ a racist student instead cleverly used this quote to cause his audience to recognise that the incorporation of an international identity into a student’s life is a complex and difficult task.
Dr Killick proceeded to offer an introductory framework by asking ‘Internationalisation, by whom, to whom and why’? He stated that the we are pre-conditioned by the discourse of internationalisation into thinking about mostly geographical and business related issues and endeavours namely; overseas campuses, exchanges, partnerships and mobility. He also challenged the audience by reminding us that still, internationalisation may have negative connotations to domestic students and if we are to move on in this area we need to understand these views and why they occur.
Dr Killick next shared the work which Leeds Met have been carrying out in order to counter act the potentially negative student view of internationalisation as well as to produce global graduates. Leeds Met have incorporated internationalisation when defining their graduate attributes. The ‘global outlook’ attribute incorporates 2 areas; Inclusivity and Global relevance. Leeds Met has stated that the development of graduate attributes is not separate from discipline knowledge and so is to be embedded within the curriculum. In conjunction with the idea of constructive alignment Leeds Met looked at rewriting learning outcomes to encourage the development of graduate attributes.
This exercise started with Dr Killick’s team authoring generic ‘global outlook’ learning outcomes from which teaching teams then created discipline specific learning outcomes (examples of each were offered and are available within the slides).
Dave Westwood, CLTE
Track K: Internationalisation and pedagogy
Link to abstract
Presenter: Aftab Dean, Leeds Metropolitan University
Aftab Dean has been researching aspects of university branding, international student recruitment and their experience for a number of years and has compiled a large amount of compelling data and expertise in this field. I last attended a presentation that he gave at a Business School promoted conference back in September 2010.
Aftab was pleased to be able to report on a study that he had recently completed that was based on the successful recruitment and enhancement of learning for Indian students from which he has been able to draw some significant conclusions. This work started with his involvement in reviewing NSS data from an international student perspective on behalf of the HEA. He presented a huge amount of data as graphs and tables that looked very interesting, but were difficult to assimilate in this time restricted presentation.
One of the most interesting aspects of this study is that Aftab was able to look not only at India as a single entity, but had broken the country down into 4 geographical regions that he discovered had their own identifiable separate needs and concerns in respect of their higher education experience. This would allow his university to both target recruitment more accurately as well as tailor the student experience to suit these needs.
The presentation covered important issues such as the time it takes for international students to acclimatise to a UK-based institution. He noted the impact of growing competition and the development of India’s own higher education system, combined with the UK border agencies recent stance on student visas.
In addition Aftab had identified some significant ‘pull factors’ that explain why international students chose a British based education and broken these down into 9 catagories (all beginning with C). Perhaps unsurprisingly the most important category was 'Career' that headed up the key concern from a wide range of responses. Further to this he had identified some significant differences between the learning preferences of home and international students, with the former preferring individual tasks and assignments and with the latter expressing a preference for group work and the use of social media as an education tool. Both groups wanted the programmes to make use of YouTube and visual media within the curriculum.
In conclusion Aftab has evolved an enhancement process for working with international students called M.A.T.E.S. This is an holistic approach that incorporates the roles of Market, Advertising, Training, Engagement and Support in the consideration of an international student’s entire higher education experience.
Mike Seignior, CLTE
Presenter: Aftab Dean, Leeds Metropolitan University
Aftab Dean has been researching aspects of university branding, international student recruitment and their experience for a number of years and has compiled a large amount of compelling data and expertise in this field. I last attended a presentation that he gave at a Business School promoted conference back in September 2010.
Aftab was pleased to be able to report on a study that he had recently completed that was based on the successful recruitment and enhancement of learning for Indian students from which he has been able to draw some significant conclusions. This work started with his involvement in reviewing NSS data from an international student perspective on behalf of the HEA. He presented a huge amount of data as graphs and tables that looked very interesting, but were difficult to assimilate in this time restricted presentation.
One of the most interesting aspects of this study is that Aftab was able to look not only at India as a single entity, but had broken the country down into 4 geographical regions that he discovered had their own identifiable separate needs and concerns in respect of their higher education experience. This would allow his university to both target recruitment more accurately as well as tailor the student experience to suit these needs.
The presentation covered important issues such as the time it takes for international students to acclimatise to a UK-based institution. He noted the impact of growing competition and the development of India’s own higher education system, combined with the UK border agencies recent stance on student visas.
In addition Aftab had identified some significant ‘pull factors’ that explain why international students chose a British based education and broken these down into 9 catagories (all beginning with C). Perhaps unsurprisingly the most important category was 'Career' that headed up the key concern from a wide range of responses. Further to this he had identified some significant differences between the learning preferences of home and international students, with the former preferring individual tasks and assignments and with the latter expressing a preference for group work and the use of social media as an education tool. Both groups wanted the programmes to make use of YouTube and visual media within the curriculum.
In conclusion Aftab has evolved an enhancement process for working with international students called M.A.T.E.S. This is an holistic approach that incorporates the roles of Market, Advertising, Training, Engagement and Support in the consideration of an international student’s entire higher education experience.
Mike Seignior, CLTE
Track E: The view from over here: Branch campuses and their role in the development of Middlesex as a global education provider
Link to abstract
Presenter: Dr Lois Smith
Dr Lois Smith is Head of the MA Education Programme, and Teaching and Learning Coordinator at Middlesex University, Dubai. The aims of Lois’s workshop were to look at branch campuses’ perceptions of teaching & learning and to raise awareness of their place in a ‘global’ University (Middlesex). She pointed out that whilst Trans-National Education (TNE) tends to have a ‘hub & spoke’ approach, with fly-in, fly-out faculty, Middlesex has gone beyond that model and established full offshore campuses in Mauritius and Dubai.
The first question posed to the workshop attendees was “What does Middlesex as a ‘global’ University mean to you?” (This led to some discussion of what actually constituted global & how it differed from ‘international’ – some definitions were offered but no agreement reached & that one will run and run.) Some responses to the question included the observation that individuals at the Hendon ‘chalk face’ don’t really sense the ‘global’ until they actually encounter colleagues from the branch campuses. It was pointed out that those involved in the VLE are well aware of the global nature of the University but only in a ‘virtual’ sense. There was general agreement that London is somehow ‘Head Office’ and the campuses’ awareness of each other is very unbalanced – i.e. branch campuses are far more aware of London than vice versa.
Lois asked us then to consider academic standards & quoted Wilkins (2011) who found that 73% of UK international students felt quality to be higher in the UK than in branch campuses. This, she added, was a common perception. The next question was “How are Academic standards maintained at branch campuses?” The two questions were put to staff at Mauritius and Dubai & we were shown their responses on video.
Summary of staff responses on the ‘global’ nature of Middlesex:
Summary of student responses:
Reference
Wilkins, S. and Huisman, J. (2011). International student destination choice: the influence of home campus experience on the decision to consider branch campuses. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 21 (1), pp. 61-83.
Celia Cozens, CLTE
Presenter: Dr Lois Smith
Dr Lois Smith is Head of the MA Education Programme, and Teaching and Learning Coordinator at Middlesex University, Dubai. The aims of Lois’s workshop were to look at branch campuses’ perceptions of teaching & learning and to raise awareness of their place in a ‘global’ University (Middlesex). She pointed out that whilst Trans-National Education (TNE) tends to have a ‘hub & spoke’ approach, with fly-in, fly-out faculty, Middlesex has gone beyond that model and established full offshore campuses in Mauritius and Dubai.
The first question posed to the workshop attendees was “What does Middlesex as a ‘global’ University mean to you?” (This led to some discussion of what actually constituted global & how it differed from ‘international’ – some definitions were offered but no agreement reached & that one will run and run.) Some responses to the question included the observation that individuals at the Hendon ‘chalk face’ don’t really sense the ‘global’ until they actually encounter colleagues from the branch campuses. It was pointed out that those involved in the VLE are well aware of the global nature of the University but only in a ‘virtual’ sense. There was general agreement that London is somehow ‘Head Office’ and the campuses’ awareness of each other is very unbalanced – i.e. branch campuses are far more aware of London than vice versa.
Lois asked us then to consider academic standards & quoted Wilkins (2011) who found that 73% of UK international students felt quality to be higher in the UK than in branch campuses. This, she added, was a common perception. The next question was “How are Academic standards maintained at branch campuses?” The two questions were put to staff at Mauritius and Dubai & we were shown their responses on video.
Summary of staff responses on the ‘global’ nature of Middlesex:
- Students from all over the world
- Multi-cultural faculty and students
- Students learn how to deal with diverse cultures
- Many nationalities give a ‘global’ vibe
- Staff apply ‘expected’ standards (Lois pointed out branch campuses would like to be more involved in setting those standards)
- Staff try to avoid dumbing down and maintain rigour
- Appraisal designed to keep standards high
- Emphasis on CPD
- Assessment procedures clear & transparent
- Co-ordinate with London colleagues to maintain high standards
- Many exams marked in London (some discussion that this could be a two-way process)
- Staff keep up to date with latest developments in subject matter and pedagogy
Summary of student responses:
- Getting a British education was key factor
- Diversity of staff and students
- Strong identity with a British university but also having a global reach
- Felt the combination of a British degree and an international context made them more employable
- Quality maintained by having the same academic standards as London.
Reference
Wilkins, S. and Huisman, J. (2011). International student destination choice: the influence of home campus experience on the decision to consider branch campuses. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 21 (1), pp. 61-83.
Celia Cozens, CLTE
Track D: Teaching transnationally - The challenges and opportunities of flying faculty visits overseas
Link to abstract
Presenter: Dr Karen Smith, University of Greenwich
Karen presented a talk on Trans National Education (TNE), the challenges facing “Flying Faculty” – the process of teaching and supporting staff from the home institution by flying out to the remote campus for short, high intensity bursts of teaching. Karen described her experience of being thrown in at the deep end as a member of a flying faculty at her University, and her research on Disorientating Dilemmas.
Karen’s description of flying faculty is very similar to Middlesex’s experience of teaching overseas before it established its permanent overseas campuses, such as those in Dubai, Mauritius, and Hong Kong.
John Koushappas, CLTE
Presenter: Dr Karen Smith, University of Greenwich
Karen’s description of flying faculty is very similar to Middlesex’s experience of teaching overseas before it established its permanent overseas campuses, such as those in Dubai, Mauritius, and Hong Kong.
John Koushappas, CLTE
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