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.