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Yolande R. Mc Nicoll, Sue Burney & Anthony R. LuffEAIR August 2008

Enhancing Faculty Culture to Meet Student Needs: Internationalising the Curriculum

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University and Faculty statistics

• MNHS has 8,723 of Monash’s 58,000 students • One of the largest faculties in Australia’s

largest, most international university– Present on 6 of 7 campuses & 3 of 4 continents

• Faculty: 18% international students (32% university-wide) largely from Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, India

• Monash students speak >100 languages– But many are monolingual and untravelled

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Policy environment

• Internationalisation of the Curriculum policy (2005) commits faculties to – Implementation … throughout new course

development, for new course delivery at offshore sites, and in a gradual and progressive manner through course revision for local and offshore programs

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Definitions

• Internationalisation of the curriculum• Internationalisation at home• International education• Monash

– “Curricula, pedagogies and assessments that foster global understanding of national and global perspectives, and of how these intersect and interact with personal perspectives” (Monash 2005)

• Solutions – student exchange <<< >>> classroom intervention– Place of languages

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Public debate - July 2008

• Sensational newspaper coverage– “Cultural divide”, “ghettos”

– “Disengaged” students: local and international

– Social tensions outside the university

• Legitimate concerns– “Patchy” English support

– Economic drivers: government, university, students

• Stereotypes disguise opportunity to develop “enrichment, tolerance and globalisation”

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The project

• 2007-8: Began implementation of Draft Strategic Plan for Internationalisation of the Curriculum (IoC)

• Funded by national Learning & Teaching Performance Fund earnings

• Continued work begun in 2005• Personnel = the authors

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‘Problem’ definition and rationale

• A “sophisticated” (Monash University, 1999) and equitable approach to IoC is required to:

– Offer a relevant education to our evolving student community

– Address the changing skills required for success in the modern world

– Maintain the university’s commitment to the highest standards of teaching, informed by the best research

– Address student satisfaction– Meet student needs– Compete effectively in the marketplace

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Issues

• Access to content• Access to teaching delivery• Assessment access • Relationship development:

– Recruitment, exchanges• Admin and process issues and needs:

– Systems, curriculum change tracking – Student credit for exchange

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A phased model of curriculum internationalisation

1. International students study alongside home students

2. Systematic curriculum development for Internationalisation

3. Transnational operations and Internationalisation of the Curriculum

4. Normalising Internationalisation of the Curriculum (Webb, 2005)

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Aims

• To align with the University’s Graduate Attributes, that

– “graduates will exhibit oral and written communication skills in a broad range of settings and domains [including] communicative competence across cultures and genres”

– generally, and in the discipline in which they graduate

• To make the curriculum transparent to international students

• To normalise curriculum internationalisation across all course offerings

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Strategies

• Pursue IoC through teaching and learning– Ensure all local students receive an international

experience (Nilsson, 2000) and – Link teaching to the best international research

• Promote our aspirations for our students by addressing the commitment to:

– incorporate international and intercultural perspectives and inclusive pedagogy into … courses in order to prepare students to perform capably, ethically and sensitively in international and multicultural professional and social contexts (Monash University, 2005)

=>• For equity, all students will be offered an international

experience within their course of study

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Method

• Inform and support academics to – Enhance the content of curriculum

– Enhance the form of teaching> By consciousness-raising for academic

leaders> By developing infrastructure

– professional development for academics – an offshore teaching guide – a website repository for materials

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Information sessions

• Sponsored appearances at key committees • Covering policy, benefits, resourcing• Addressing misconceptions:

– Exclusive to international students

– The sciences are already international

– My students can’t afford exchange programs!

– But not ‘standardising the curriculum’

• Considerable acceptance across diverse academic staff

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Professional development workshops

• Enthusiastic expert input • Voluntary attendance• Two different campuses• Teaching focus:

– Facilitating learning– Basic intercultural competence – Limited ability to address content

• Generally positive feedback

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Guide for offshore teachers

• ‘Just in time’ induction handbook– Specific teaching issues– Cross-cultural communication– Relevant HR and travel policies– Destination briefing

• Collaborative development: EDeL– Theoretical introduction to teaching– Limited intercultural content

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Website

• Repository for resources– Information session

– Professional development

– Offshore guide

• Lasting reference for academic staff– Progressive addition of material

• Staging issues

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Why did we do it this way?

• We are reliant on the capacity of our staff to respond to this challenge

• Geographic isolation must influence our strategy

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What we learned

• Acceptance vs resistance• Project management and expert input• Webb’s (2005) model

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Acceptability

• Educationally appropriate • Address issues that face the culturally

and geographically diverse population of the FMNHS

• Aligned with the University policy and Graduate attributes

=>• Endorsement of academic leaders

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Webb’s Phases model (2005)

• Useful prompt, but flexible• Progress towards normalisation

– International students study alongside home students

– Systematic curriculum (re)development for internationalisation

> “Gradual and progressive … course revision for local and offshore programs” (IoC policy)

> Involve transnational programs early

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Normalising IoC

• Cultural change– Co-ordinated effort over many years

– Generational?

• One challenge:– To achieve our aims while maintaining

university commitment to> The highest standards of teaching > Informed by the best research

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Next steps

To ensure the project’s continued success– Support sustained cultural change

> More conscious–raising > Further professional development

– Curriculum exemplars

– A Director, IoC to co-ordinate and support implementation