Conference - Redefining the Student Experience: directions for learning, teaching and assessment Sally Alsford and Gabriella Cagliesi University of Greenwich, July 5 th of August 2011

 Multicultural education (USA)  Intercultural education (Europe) Results “outreach within domestic boundaries”  Focus on human diversity within a nation-state to gain awareness of ethnic diversities and stereotypes within the country, and to equip students to be effective in a pluralistic democratic society

 International education: Effort: Integrating international perspectives into the entire curriculum Result: “Outreach beyond domestic boundaries”  Focus on human diversities across nation-states to gain awareness of interrelations among countries and to assist students to participate in a world of “cultural diversity, inequity, interconneted-ness, cooperation, and conflict” (McFadden et al 1997)

Multifaceted nature:  Faculty expertise and recruitment  Faculty research  Curriculum  Students’ diversity  Networking  Prepare graduates for the future world

A useful model: to assess the current nature of your course to determine goal and objectives to identify changes To what extent is your practice integrated?  It is exclusive?  It is inclusive?  It is transformed? Which curriculum components are integrated?  Content  Teaching and learning strategies  Assessment  Classroom dynamics *Kitano, M. K. “What a Course Will Look Like after Multicultural Change”, in A.I. Morey and K. Kitano, eds Multicultural Course Transformation in Higher Education: A Broader Truth. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997, pp18-30

LEVEL ComponentExclusiveInclusiveTransformed Content Teaching and learning Strategies Assessment Classroom dynamics

LEVEL ComponentExclusiveInclusiveTransformed Content Traditional mainstream Add authors from different backgrounds which confirm traditional perspectives or support stereotypes Adds alternative perspectives through material, reading, speakers; analyses historical exclusion of alternative perspectives Reconceptualizes the field through a shift in paradigm or standards; presents content through non-dominant perspectives Teaching and learning strategies Mainly lectures and other didactic methods; question- and-answer discussion; instructor as a purveyor of knowledge Instructor as purveyor of knowledge but uses a variety of methods to:  relate knowledge to previous experience  engage students in constructing knowledge  build critical thinking skills  encourage peer learning Change in power structure so that students and instructor learn from each other; methods centre on student experience and knowledge such as:  Analysing concepts against personal experience  Issue-oriented approaches  Critical analysis Assessment Primarily examination and papers Multiple methods and alternatives to standard examinations and papers; student choice Alternatives that focus on student growth: action-oriented projects; self- assessment, reflection on the course Classroom dynamics Focus exclusively on content; avoidance of social issues in classroom; no attempt to monitor student participation Acknowledgement and processing of social issues in classroom; monitoring and ensuring equity in student participation Challenging of biased views and sharing of diverse perspectives while respecting rules established for group process; equity in participation

An exercise with Kitano’s Model

. Many thanks to colleagues from Oxford Brookes University for permission to use and adapt their online activity for this workshop