1 Intercultural Teaching and Learning in a PBL Environment Lars Peter Jensen, Xiangyun Du

2 Overview Culture Culture Intercultural issues at international programs Intercultural issues at international programs Reflection and discussions Reflection and discussions

3

The perfect European is ….

19 East vs. West - Cultural Differences comparison of Western and Asian culture in the eyes of a Chinese raised in Germany.

20 ME

21 WAYS OF LIFE

22 PARTY

23 TRENDS

24 STREET AT WEEKEND

25 SHOWER TIME

26 QUEUING

27 (Jensen 2005:72) You are so big. You can not stay here! Come back when you become smaller! What are the most surprising experiences you have had with in an intercultural context?

28 Globalized context Intercultural competencies for future engineers Diverse capabilities Lifelong learning Project management Social, environmental, and ethical concerns Effective communication Designing and conducting experiments - National Academy of Engineering, The Engineer of 2020, EUR-ACE (Accreditation of European Engineering Programmes and Graduates, ABET: Identity and solve applied science problems Team work Application of mathematics and science knowledge Analytical skills Interdisciplinary knowledge Intercultural competencies

29 Engineering programs are no longer just dominated by native young men. Increase of diversity

30 Potential advantages from international programs at AAU New experiences and eye-opener Development of process competencies Development of intercultural competencies Prepare to become a global professional

31 Challenges and identified problems 1 Miscommunication arises due to –Use of second language (English) as a means of communication –Learning and working styles –Personality

32 Challenges and identified problems 2 Different beliefs on/ways of learning – different expectations Opinions? Educational background

33 Challenges and identified problems 2 Different beliefs on/ ways of learning  Nobody knows the exact answers until the project is finished  Students are responsible for managing their own learning  Learners are creating new knowledge Studying in a PBL environment, Denmark

34 Challenges and identified problems 3 Can group work be an efficient way of learning? YES, we can meet at 8 tomorrow morning NO, I can’t get up anyway Will they believe me because I am a girl?? Listen to me, I am very experienced If we don’t follow the supervisor’s suggestion, will he allow us to pass? They don’t understand even such easy things!! It is my turn to talk? He complains of my garlic, but he has coffee and carrots all the time!!!

35 ` I have never worked in a group in my educational life… In group work, I preferred to listen when some students discussed intensely, because I could not understand why it was a question to discuss. Sometimes I could not follow their ideas or thinking. I need to change and actively work in the group.´ (Chinese female master student) Student’s reflection

36 Learning story a group of international students in AAU ‘I extended my exchange duration so that I could finish my whole master education here, because I really like this way – it fits into my way of learning’ ‘In my home country, we got so heavy schedule every day. I guess they want us to be good at everything, but I felt that I was good at nothing, here I learned because I am interested.’ Taiwanese –Canadian ‘It is a serious responsibility I have when working on a project from a company, at the end it is a wonderful feeling when seeing our product…’ ‘I am told that graduates from AAU are just popular with many companies in Europe, because we have the needed skills.’ ‘Before, when I sat in the classroom, I was thinking about going home as soon as possible. When working on project now, I get so interested that I just want to stay in the project room.’ ‘It is really good to learn from each other and gain team work skills, it is what is needed, engineering work can’t be done by individuals…’ All ‘Supervisor is one of our resources, we take what is useful from him’

37 Facilitative activities Project organized Learning Courses as a means of facilitation

38 Is ethnicity the only reason that makes us different? Muslim Philosopher Animal doctor Young girl butcher artist wolf farmer

39 Engineering culture – engineer study

40 Engineering culture – engineer study

41 Is culture something we are born with? (Jensen 2005:18) ’I got culture from mom’s breast breeding’

42 PBL in International programs, AAU, Denmark Different backgrounds in educational culture Cultural reflections Doing PBL in ‘the right’ way! A new culture to be established Root of PBL in DK - Tradition of group work in Denmark - Critical thinking - Emphasis on - Collaboration and participation - Lower power gap - Close link between industry and university