1. Dr Sagi Mathews and Dr Phil Smith
Does Internationalization of Curriculum have an Impact on assessment design?
Authors: Dr Susan Mate and Dr Keith Toh
RMIT Melbourne
Dr Sagi Mathews and Dr Phil Smith
RMIT Vietnam

2. Overview of the study We explore how internationalization of
the curriculum:
Impacts on student engagement
Impacts on course design and assessment
We propose that curriculum and assessment design requires careful planning and opportunity to transform and enrich a diverse cohort to avoid the hegemonic role of English and the development of the ‘global worker’.
RMIT University©2008

3. Student Services Group Planning 2011
Method
A narrative inquiry approach was adopted in the collection of data.
Draws upon the reflections of the academics teaching on varied campuses of RMIT both in Australian and in the Asian Pacific region
The academic reflections foster research-engaged practice
Question:
Does the design and approach to assessment engage your students? The lecturers were asked to provide a bit of a story about their rationale and also to reflect on their interpretations of student feedback.
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

4. Organisation Analysis
Challenge of teaching Knowledge Ontologies to a diverse cohort
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Student Services Group Planning 2011

5. Teaching Organisation Analysis
Organizational Analysis
is highly theoretical…….
We have redesigned the subject to be more Problem/Reflection based and to incorporate practice of theoretical concepts
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

6. Student Services Group Planning 2011
Methodology
We drew on Leask and Bridge’s (2013) model of Internationalisation of the Curriculum (IoC) to reflect on the drivers of the feedback and concern from students who undertook the subject.
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

7. Key Emergent Themes from Teacher Interviews
Students whose first language is English and who study in Australia are three times more likely to get a high distinction in this subject, compared to students who study at RMIT’s other delivery locations.
Design and assessment could be seen to be hegemonic in that students from non-English speaking backgrounds find it challenging to engage with the material due to the theoretical nature.
The students requested that concepts be applied to local business settings and became more engaged when they were given opportunity to have terms translated into local business case study experience as opposed to applied to the academic papers.
Research engaged practice on varied campuses provides some more constructive insight to the internationalisation issues
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

8. Student Services Group Planning 2011
Australian Delivery
Academic’s Reflections
Preparation for the global workforce was a key focus of the thinking for the Melbourne cohort.
The reception is mixed, where students have not been exposed to critical self-reflection or questioning skills were not engaged.
The university in Melbourne as a perceived “safe space” for critiquing governments and social contexts
However, international students, studying in Melbourne, still harbour the fear of surveillance (perceived disrespect, by taking part in debate)
Student Feedback
Too philosophical, the language of ontology and epistemology are not part of corporate parlance; sociology focus, not relevant for engineering students. Ideology was too “anti-corporate”, left-wing influenced
Found the meta-theoretical concepts of ontology and epistemology difficult to grasp, both in language and experiences
Some students appreciated the “out of the box” and freedom, with one saying “Assessment tasks were good, and the essay was really enjoyable to construct and develop with freedom”
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

9. Student Services Group Planning 2011
Vietnam Delivery
Summary of Vietnam
Key emergent themes from teacher interviews 
Academic’s Reflections
Lecturers in Vietnam receive their teaching materials from Melbourne, which was reflected their different focus. Organisational Analysis had been offered for two semesters and was a relatively new offering, as compared with Singapore.
Students do not understanding the highly theoretical material on a conceptual level, and/or do not have the capacity to translate theory into practice the information”. They found the ideology foreign and challenging to understand if not translated into more localised language.
Student Feedback
Students provided feedback that the material was highly theoretical and challenging to understand
There feedback about the lecturing and teaching was very positive
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

10. Student Services Group Planning 2011
Singapore Delivery
Lecturer Feedback
Lecturers pointed out the difficulties faced by students who were presented with meta-theory: “Students who have not been exposed to organisational research approaches and terms such as ‘ontology’ and ‘epistemology’ tend to ‘take fright’ when they see the degree of analysis required to interpret academic articles and to synthesise data to develop an essay that is critically reflective. In some instances, the students want to know what they need to do to pass and the learning outcomes can be worded generally so requirements are unclear”.
“When teaching in a culture that is very structured and designed to foster industry-based skills, how can we deliver a theory-based curriculum that involves a deep level of critical thinking?”. Whilst it was not captured in qualitative comments, it was noted by lecturers that students were wary of Critical Theory in relation to the Singapore context and a teacher suggested the narratives around the “Marxist conspiracy” of 1987 as reasons for their reluctance to engage.
Student Feedback
Some students expressed their preference for a more guided question and one said “Felt the essay question was a little vague wasn't really clear whether are we supposed to write within the given readings itself, or exploring to new references to form an essay out of our own understanding”.
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

11. Student Services Group Planning 2011
Jakarta Delivery
Lecturer Feedback
Our reflections around course delivery in Jakarta were limited by only one previous semester of the course.
The students tended not to engage with the material on the website available for background reading but rather sought explanations from their lectures about how to interpret the highly theoretical material and why they needed to learn about this research based approach to inquiry. The lecture sizes were small and the groups were more focused on a seminar style rather than lecturer, however the groups were reluctant to respond to questions from the lecturer.
Student Feedback
Students found the subject challenging and difficult to apply in practice
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

12. Discussion of Findings
Leask and Bridge (2013) proposed a framework of conceptualisation of internationalisation of the curriculum in higher education was useful to consider the diverse range of ways in which internationalisation is contextualised.
Systematic Development across a program provides a framework for students engagement.
This process model did not provide a comprehensive vision of students development across campuses, however the lectures found the Research development framework (Willison & O’regan (2012) provided a useful tool to gain insight into the way in which the subject was designed and assessed and in particular to interpret the feedback from students.
The research skills development framework developed by Willison & O’regan (2012) suggests that there are a range of core skills required to not only undertake research, but also to translate the research into practical contexts and these skills require varied degrees of complexity. Willison et al (2016) highlights the need to gain further understanding of students shifting dimensions of autonomy and capacity to integrate their learning, it is possible we also need to further education about why it is valuable in a global economy to integrate research base enquiry abilities and use language that is meaning for l for diverse groups to do this effectively.
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

13. Influence on Course Curriculum and Assessment Design
Focus on a more integrated narrative
Design project has changed
Immerse students in a modernist paradigm
More structure feedback through the course
More structured Reflection from Learners
( academics and students) about progress
Students’ ability to de-construct organisational realities,
Environmental Analysis, Social impact, Cultural awareness
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

14. Critical Thinking: Implementing a Knowledge Based Approach
Previous approach….Students were asked to analyse written material from the 4 perspectives outlined below and write an essay that demonstrated their knowledge of these perspectives. This was a very sophisticated requirement for many students
Perspective #1
(Modernist)
Perspective #2
(Critical Theorist)
Stud
Perspective #3
(Symbolic Interpretivist)
Perspective #4
(Postmodernist)
New approach has a focus on application of a modernist theory
That is critiqued and throughout the course students engage
in reflection and receive reflective feedback.
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

15. Scaffolding students’ thinking skills- Modelling at level 2 as opposed to level 4….

16. Structure Feedback and Structured Reflection
Problem based on culturally relevant concern within the workplace context and students consider a way to analyse the problem. Given Methodology
Evaluate and reflect and organise and manage information within a group gaining employability skills
Students reflect on their work. Symbolised as a structured online task that fosters their independence and acquisition of discipline specific language
Assessment becomes more authentic as they receive feedback on the problems, application and acquisition of global employability skills, in addition to theoretical literacy.

17. Student Services Group Planning 2011
Implications
Overall the design and assessments involve a more practice based approach to understanding organisation analysis principles the redesign and assessment was based on reflection on the student feedback, teacher reflection and the use of theoretical learning and teaching frameworks.
In particular the RSD framework provides a way to apply postmodern feedback and reflection via the use of designing feedback frameworks for students that outline the way in which the evaluate the application of theory rather than undertaking a hypothetical analysis.
The redesign provides greater opportunity for student lead discussion as opposed to teacher lead. This is also reflected in the student feedback process embedded in the course design.
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

18. Student Services Group Planning 2011
Further Research
The research question that has emerged from this reflective process……
How does redesign of curriculum and assessment provide greater autonomy across two undergraduate subjects and does the redesign have an impact on course evaluation outcomes?
Academics teaching into two different subject one as a common core and another as a penultimate subject (Intro to Management and Organisation Analysis) will be the focus for academic reflection across the various campus.
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

19. Thank you for listening
Any questions
Dr Susan Mate, PhD Management, MEd, BEd (postgrad), BA.
Lecturer Management, School of Management, College of Business
RMIT University - City Campus
Building 80, Level 9,
445 Swanston Street t: m:
RMIT University©2008
Student Services Group Planning 2011

20. MELT Scaffolding your students’ thinking Models of Engaged
Learning and Teaching
Scaffolding your students’ thinking
Conference 11the -13th December National Wine Centre Adelaide
Further information
Dr John Willison
School of Education
University of Adelaide
Supported by the Department of Education and Training, Australian Government
Fluid Thinking