Making Courses Internationalized, Global and Inclusive
Does the presence of international students on campus or in a classroom mean the classroom, curriculum, pedagogy, or even the environment is internationalized? The answer is: not quite. Internationalization is a purposeful pedagogical process by which content, teaching methodology, assignments and assessments include elements that are international, global and intercultural in nature. This one-page document on ‘what makes a course internationalized?’ will help you understand internationalization as a process from a quick-tip point of view. What I want to say is that focusing just on international students or students from historically marginalized groups will not make your course inclusive, international, or culturally diverse. All students, by default, living in socially and globally engaged world, are global students and deserve to have learning experiences that are internationalized and interculturally competent.
Internationalization is a living, breathing, continuous process by which faculty, departments, TAs and students strive for an internationally-focused learning experience not only for international students but also for domestic students where international perspectives, world views and global issues are part of the teaching and learning process.
As the newly appointed educational developer in the recently created position of Educational Developer, Internationalization & Intercultural Competency with the Centre for Learning and Teaching, I have the selfish motive to introduce myself to the Dalhousie University community, but my intellectual motivation is to start the conversation and encourage reflective practices focused on internationalization at Dalhousie as we “think and act globally”.
Think and Act Globally
If you are someone who is interested in the idea of thinking and acting globally for students, through your teaching practice, you can adapt any of the following in your classroom activities.
I. Respect different knowledge systems
o Not all students come from western systems of acquiring knowledge. You can make sure that your pedagogy is not completely based in the western system of knowledge; rather it acknowledges traditional and culturally based knowledge (Indigenous) systems.
o Not all students succeed, but if students from specific groups are unsuccessful or perform low, that can be a call for modification. You can be mindful of which students are not performing well or even failing the course and revise and adapt assessments. You can also add flexibility to submission deadlines or make-up assignments for students who need support.
o Not all students are used to providing to-the-point short and direct answers. They rather build stories and contextual backgrounds because this is how they may have been used to presenting knowledge. You can model respect for the ways students demonstrate learning and validate their way of learning by engaging the whole class in reflection.
o Not all students feel safe, confident, or motivated to participate in classroom activities. Some activities, such as discussions, working with other students, or exploring a critical aspect of a topic can put students at risk of losing their own identity and make them vulnerable to their views about religion, race, sexual orientation, etc. You can start by introducing activities that gradually build on the risk factor and make room for understanding diverse views first.
II. Integrate international students’ perspectives into classroom learning
o Not all international students have been exposed to a westernised way of learning and discipline-specific learning culture. You can discover how your international students learn best, and in the first and/or second week of the term, you can give a short pre-course survey to explore different learning preferences and intelligences.
o Not all international students speak or comprehend English language at the same proficiency level. You can align your lesson delivery with varying linguistic needs of international students and provide support. You are the master of the content; students are novices who may not be speakers of English as their first language.
o Not all international students have tolerance for errors and failure for cultural, social, or financial reasons. You can allow space for errors and build expectations gradually.
o Not all international students respond to feedback in the same way. Some students are motivated by direct and clear feedback while others prefer indirect feedback. You can vary ways to provide, written, verbal, or recorded feedback.
o Not all students understand humour and nuance in the same way as other students. You can gradually develop students’ understanding of idiomatic expressions and cultural references rather than making it hard for them to understand as this could create a barrier to learning.
o Not all international students have been exposed to multicultural experiences. You can make room for the cultural shift by mentoring students who are new to Canada and/or new to the discipline. For example, ask students how they would attempt an assignment and explain your expectations to them. This clarification may help students to feel motivated.
III. Foster intercultural relationships
o Design activities that encourage students to work with their peers across cultural backgrounds.
o Design reflection exercises on what students are learning from each other.
o Consider engaging culturally and linguistically diverse students and TAs to build intercultural relationships in your classroom.
o Be aware of students’ discomfort with participation as they may have come from teacher-centred information systems and may need to be gradually motivated to participate.
o Use varying group work strategies: large groups, small groups, think-pair-share.
o Model how different perspectives are respected and create meaningful opportunities for students to interact with each other.
IV. Create globally aware students
o Include global issues of importance, priority, and practicality as part of activity and discovery in your content. For example, Sustainable Development Goals, poverty, race, gender, sexual orientation, geopolitical relationships and trade, research ethics, and discipline-specific discoveries, etc. Not all students can travel globally but all students can be globally aware. For global issues to be part of your teaching and learning, be prepared for students to disagree with you. As a moderator and facilitator consider how you will foster a critical, respectful and accepting environment for discussing important issues around the world.
o Include international, intercultural, and global competencies as learning outcomes and align assessments with these outcomes. For example, students can work on how a certain problem is resolved in another cultural context around the world.
V. Create future-ready skills
o Students are more encouraged by intrinsic motivation to study a course. You can include assignments, tasks and assessments that prepare students for real life tasks and challenges. Assignments and assessments can focus on building a community of practice (networking), oral presentations, talking about a product (computer programme, research idea, etc.) that are focused on topics of both global and local importance, team projects that encourage students to work in communities (carefully planned community-based projects), etc.
In the end, let’s go back to the ‘think and act globally’ and how it relates to your teaching and research practice, and not just to how your students are identified. One thing COVID and the remote teaching experience has taught us is that higher education is more global and international in nature than we think. Whatever you do in your courses, consider how student learning is meaningful in the ever-so-diverse world outside the physical or virtual classroom.
If this post has piqued your interest in anything I have mentioned, let me know at shazia.awan@dal.ca
References
Dalhousie University (n.d.). Internationalization-Thinking and Acting Globally. https://www.dal.ca/about-dal/internationalization.html
Dimitrov, N. & Haque, A. (2016). Intercultural teaching competence: a multi-disciplinary model for instructor reflection. Intercultural Education, 27:5, 437-456, DOI:10.1080/14675986.2016.1240502
Jones, E. (2013) Internationalisation and student learning outcomes, in H. de Wit, Ed. An Introduction to Higher Education Internationalisation, (Milan: Vita e Pensiero): 107-116.