Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
There’s an article I just stumbled across from September 2015 discussing global pedagogies and global analysis in education, and I thought it would be perfect to share with you all.
- Pushing students to reflect on their own lives and histories is critical to giving them the opportunity to translate this cultural literacy outside of their own culture
- The ability to shift back and forth across and between scales of understanding, particularly between globalized scales and more localized geographies, is critical to developing a sense of global responsibility in students
- Interaction with other cultures, be it in person or from afar through something like videoconferencing, is critical in allowing students to not only learn about other cultures, but transpose themselves in to those cultures for greater understanding
- There are three key competencies that educators must provide to make truly globalized students:
- students must be able to dissect knots, or complex situations, that gain meaning through multiple perspectives and processes
- to adequately explore these knots, students need the ability to shift between various scales of understanding and practice
- students need to be able to leap from an analytic understanding of our interconnected world, and of the knots and knotting that define it, to a sense of commitment and responsibility to others
http://www.nafsa.org/_/File/_/ti_september2015.pdf
The Parthenon Group has a fascinating infographic showing university student mobility around the world. You can hover over each country/region to see where the lines lead to:
http://www.parthenon.com/parthenon_proj/index.html
Some interesting points:
- Inflow to China is almost as high as outflow. We always view China as sending students out for university, but they are getting almost as many back in.
- North America brings in over 830,000 students and sends out only 137,000 students.
- China to North America accounts for only 48,000 students; SE Asia to North America, on the other hand, accounts for an amazing 236,000 students – the largest of any group bound for North America
What surprises you most about this data? How can we learn from it and prepare ourselves for the many incoming student cultures?
h/t to the International Education Forum on LinkedIn for introducing me to this infographic
Most of us here are used to the multiculturalism of every aspect of the US, Canada, Western Europe, Brazil, and Australia/New Zealand. However, there are many places in the world that are still heavily, and often almost solely, made up of a single culture.
Two of the least culturally diverse countries in the world are North Korea and South Korea. These countries are almost exclusively Korean in ethnicity. However, as South Korea continues to flourish, immigration has been increasing, and new cultures have been incorporated in to the country. This has an impact on many facets of life in South Korea, including education.
How are educators in South Korea approaching this increase in multiculturalism? Textbooks have been re-written to expand their coverage of other cultures and the positives of multiculturalism, movies and videos are being shown to highlight multiculturalism, and teachers themselves are being educated on how to promote multiculturalism.
They’re also quick to point on that the issues do not surround race, like they often do in the US and other western nations, but specifically culture. A country that was, not too long ago, solely Korean in ethnicity now has immigrants from many parts of the world. It’s fascinating to see how formal education is being used to expand the multicultural intelligence and awareness of the South Korean population.
http://internationalednews.com/2015/02/19/multicultural-education-in-south-korea/
(For those who are curious, like me, the five most diverse countries are Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, D.R. Congo, Uganda and Liberia.)
How might the Korean educational system (including higher education) change with the increase of Southeast and Central Asian immigration? What lessons can be learned for those of us in the US/Australia/Western Europe? Are we doing enough to promote multiculturalism in education, or is it already built in to our culture and way of life in a way it wasn’t in South Korea?
Now that it appears the US and Cuba will become closer once again, this might open up a new market for education (both traditional and professional education). Obviously, one big hurdle that might need to be cleared up for many of us are the export issues, which I have not seen much about (as of now, Cuba still appears to be one of the “five bad guys” in the export control world, along with places like Iran and North Korea).
The Chronicle of Higher Education had an article last month (sorry for the late post) regarding the potentials of expanding educational ties with Cuba. It’s not a long article by any means, but it really makes one think – what if we had the opportunity to offer our program in Cuba, or to Cubans? How big is that market? Is it lucrative? More importantly – how long would it take to expand, seeing as the majority of Cuban people are still quite poor.
Time will tell!
While not engineering specific, the Journal of Studies in International Education has an article in their November 2014 issues about Chinese students and why many of them decide to go abroad for Master’s degrees.
The main reason for going outside of China appears to be, interestingly enough, cultural enrichment. This is not just to master a foreign language, but really to understand a culture outside of the only one they have known for their entire life (international travel in China is becoming more popular, but is still the exception and not the norm). So, in my personal opinion, while providing students with ties to their native cultures and other students from their country is important, it is even more important to make opportunities for them to really dig in to their new culture. Odds are, that’s why they are there in the first place (beyond even the degree itself).
The demographics, too, are interesting – 64.5% are women, 74.3% are below the age of 24, and the majority have no work experience before leaving for their Master’s degree abroad.
http://jsi.sagepub.com/content/18/5/426.full.pdf+html
(Note: You may need to be logged in to your University system, if you work for a university, to view this journal article for free)
Just a reminder for anyone interested – please consider submitting a paper proposal for the ASEE International Forum, taking place June 14, 2015 in Seattle, just before the ASEE Annual Conference. The deadline for proposals is January 23rd, and information can be found at http://www.asee.org/conferences-and-events/conferences/international-forum/2015. Many of the topics they are interested in are those that hit home with the CPDD crowd!
Many of us are tasked to work with, and want to work with, the People’s Republic of China. It’s a wonderful place, with great people and a huge economy that is impossible to ignore and tempting to partner with. But how long can that economy be sustained? Too often, China is viewed as an endlessly growing behemoth.
The Brookings Institution put out an excellent article a few months back about the future of China, and how many China watchers (myself included!) can already see how that future may be far from bright for the Chinese economy.
Stop going to China? Of course not. But be aware of the challenges facing the PRC…challenges that are far from being worked out.
Credit: Dr. Soma Chakrabarti for introducing me to this article.
”Leading the Globally Engaged Institution: New Directions, Choices and Dilemmas” is a great white paper that I believe can be used for both continuing education and traditional education. In my opinion, the most interesting and useful sections are ”Faculty Engagement” and ”Western Attitudes and Assumptions”
http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/CIGE-Insights-2013-Trans-Atlantic-Dialogue.pdf
(sorry that this is a repost; I meant to post it only in the international SIG instead of the general SIG forum!)
I stumbled on to this very interesting read about teaching across cultures which can apply not only to teaching international students in the US, but is also very critical when looking to expand internationally. It’s from the International Education Association of Australia; however, the US and Australia have extremely similar learning cultures, so most of this applies to us in the US and Canada as well.
It’s a quick read and not the most detailed, but certainly something to consider and look more in to! There are also several references at the end for further reading should you be so inclined.
http://www.ieaa.org.au/resources/good-practice-principles