Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill Teaching in China Teaching Chinese Students in the U. S. Curt Hill Valley City State University

Why do I want to know this? Most MICS participant institutions have surplus capacity China has developed a middle class –Many families can afford to educate their children abroad A U.S. degree carries considerable prestige in China The culture and educational system of China makes for some challenges Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

My Experience Not an expert on China Taught three classes for four weeks Java –Freshman class C# and Data Structures –Sophomore classes Three 90 minutes lectures Five 90 minute labs Each class is part of International Studies program Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Chinese education system Entrance exam –Results determine what colleges may be entered No individual schedules –Major determines class mates No evaluation during the term A and B exams at the end of a term Once they are admitted they must work hard to not graduate Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Culture China still has a cultural foundation of Confucianism There is no I in Confucianism, but a very strong group orientation –Projects are always group projects In Confucianism it is better to be right than original These grate on us of Western culture Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Flavor Corporate Style –Company housing and transportation –Substantial property around campus Includes stores and housing –Campus hosting of companies beyond startup –Internships at college stores and businesses High school feel –Bells –Mandatory recorded attendance Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

System The Chinese realize that their system has flaws They are actively trying to improve In 1949 literacy was at about 20% In 2002 it was about 90% Higher education actually got worse before it got better Still excessive attention to memorization and not enough to higher learning skills Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Bias I worked at what we would call a vocational or community college Two or three years Faculty were for the most part very young I did not see the upper tier institutions Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Five reasons that they did not ask questions Deference to foreigners Deference to the elderly Deference to positions of authority Lack of confidence in their English Do not want to look foolish in front of their peers Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Set Up For Failure Transport these students into our system and bad things often happen They do not realize how easy it is to fail a course They have not seen the penalties for plagiarism They do not have the help of all their peers that are in all their classes Normal issues of culture shock, such as English proficiency Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Problems There are several problems that may occur when Chinese students come to the U.S. Understanding our culture and gaining language skills Plagiarism and group orientation Grading issues Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Into our Culture This is a common problem –Take any two students from the same culture and place them in ours and they will become friends Saving face inhibits them from interacting, even with students –Little confidence in their language skills Respect for authority inhibits their asking questions or getting help –They remove themselves from help due to cultural pressures Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Group Think Cooperation is so ingrained that it can often result in what we would consider plagiarism –Families of assignments In software development this is actually desirable –We seldom see it that way in academia Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Grading In the classes I observed the grading was heavily weighted for the final examinations –All or nothing Chinese students are trained to look forward to that –Sometimes at the neglect of day to day assignments Test system emphasizes rote learning because it is easy to test Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

What should you do? Actively engage them in your class in a non-threatening way Directly invite them to seek you out in the office or after class Record your class, so they may view again Be very clear what you expect them to do and when –More commands and fewer suggestions Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill

Questions? Copyright © 2011 – MICS 2011, Curt Hill