The international classroom is presumably a far more effective learning environment for the acquisition of intercultural competence when students receive adequate training to make the most of their intercultural encounters. This paper provides a summary of the intercultural training taught to first-year students of an international programme in The Hague University of Applied Sciences. The purpose of the paper is to investigate how the students respond to this intercultural training as well as what signs of intercultural awareness they show after completing the course. The findings were obtained via qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews, observations and student homework assignments. Overall, students evaluate the training positively. Furthermore, students show some awareness of the necessary ingredients for effective intercultural communication in the international classroom as well as of the challenging nature of this communication due to cultural diversity. Finally, this paper provides recommendations from the facilitators on stimulating intercultural learning in the international classroom.
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Hoe krijg je een internationaal perspectief op je toekomstige beroep, als je niet tijdens je studie naar het buitenland gaat? Door lessen te volgen samen met studenten van partneruniversiteiten. Deze zogenoemde international classroom heeft drie aandachtspunten: de passende lesmethode, de differentiatie in voorkennis en de interculturele sensitiviteit.
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Ignite: International skills inside and outside the classroom
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Flipping the Classroom is hot in onderwijsland, iedereen praat erover en veel docenten zijn er al mee aan de slag gegaan. Maar wat is Flipping the Classroom nu eigenlijk ? Wat is de relatie met de taxonomie van Bloom? En waar moet je allemaal aan denken als je als docent aan de slag wil met Flipping the Classroom?
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This study shows how learner initiatives are taken during classroom discussions where the teacher seeks to make room for subjectification. Using Conversation Analysis, subjectification can be observed when students take the freedom to express themselves as subjects through learner initiatives. Drawing on data from classroom discussions in language and literature lessons in the mother tongue, the authors find that learner initiatives can be observed in three different ways: agreement, request for information, counter-response. A learner initiative in the form of an agreement appears to function mostly as a continuer and prompts the previous speaker to reclaim the turn, while the I-R-F structure remains visible. In contrast, making a request for information or giving a counter-response ensures mostly a breakthrough of the I-R-F-structure and leads to a dialogical participation framework in which multiple students participate. Findings illustrate that by making a request for information or giving a counter-response, students not only act as an independent individual, but also encourage his peers to do so.
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Seven college lecturers and two senior support staff were interviewed during 2021 about their experiences teaching in hybrid virtual classrooms (HVC). These technology-rich learning environments allow teachers to simultaneously teach students who are in class (on campus) and students who are joining remotely (online). There were two reasons for this choice: first, ongoing experimentation from innovative teaching staff who were already using this format before the COVID-19 pandemic; secondly, as a possible solution to restrictions on classroom size imposed by the pandemic. Challenges lecturers faced include adjusting teaching practice and lesson delivery to serve students in the class and those online equally; engaging and linking the different student groups in structured and natural interactions; overcoming technical challenges regarding audio and visual equipment; suitably configuring teaching spaces and having sufficient pedagogical and technical support to manage this complex process. A set of practical suggestions is provided. Lecturers should make reasoned choices when teaching in this format since it requires continued experimentation and practice to enhance the teaching and learning opportunities. When external factors such as classroom size restrictions are the driving force, the specific type of synchronous learning activities should be carefully considered. The structure and approach to lessons needs to be rethought to optimise the affordances of the hybrid virtual and connected classroom. The complexity of using these formats, and the additional time needed to do it properly, should not be underestimated. These findings are consistent with previous literature on this subject. An ongoing dialogue with faculty, support staff and especially students should be an integral part of any further implementation in this format.
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More than 45,000 international students are now studying for bachelor programs in the Netherlands. The number of Asian students increased dramatically in the past decade. The current research aims at examining the differences between Western European and Asian students’ perceptual learning styles, and exploring the relationships between students’ learning styles and their academic achievements in international business (IB) study. One hundred and seventy-two students from a Dutch university participated in the survey research. Western European students significantly outperformed Asian studentsin academic performances. Significant differences in learning styles were also found between Western Europeans and Asian students in English, second language, business subjects, and group project learning. Besides, in comparison with Asian students, Western European students preferredto learn from hearing words, taking notes of lectures, and getting involved in some classroom experiences such as role-playing. They may benefit more from lecture-based subjects than Asian students.Based on the findings, practical recommendations are offered for instructors in international higher education
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Good practice contribution to the article "Leveraging Technology and the International Classroom for Cross-Cultural Learning" by Jane Edwards and Hanneke Teekens.
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Docenten van Fontys Hogeschool Bedrijfsmanagement, Educatie en Techniek (BEnT) hebben geëxperimenteerd (Gorissen, 2014) met Flipping the Classroom in relatie tot de taxonomie van Bloom. Bij dit concept worden lage kennisniveaus uit deze taxonomie voor de les aangesproken en in de les worden hogere kennisniveaus aangesproken. Bij het herontwerp van hun lessen zijn docenten ondersteund door workshops, gegeven door Fontys Educatief Centrum (FEC). Het onderzoek geeft inzicht in de ervaringen van docenten als ze Flipping the Classroom toepassen en dient als input voor FEC zodat toekomstige workshops nog beter aansluiten bij behoeften van docenten. De hoofdvraag is: Wat zijn ervaringen van docenten en studenten van een HBO-instelling met het toepassen van de taxonomie van Bloom in relatie tot Flipping the Classroom? Hiervoor zijn drie deelonderzoeken uitgevoerd, te weten een kwalitatieve analyse van de lesvoorbereidingen en individuele interviews met docenten en een kwantitatief onderzoek onder studenten over de door hun gevolgde lessen via dit concept. Resultaten laten zien dat docenten het concept correct toepassen en ze hiervoor activerende werkvormen en ICT tools inzetten. Docenten zijn enthousiast over de toepassing ondanks dat herontwerp tijdrovend is. Studenten kenden het concept vooraf niet maar hérkenden het wel, zowel voorafgaand als in de les. Vanwege de lage respons onder studenten kan alleen een voorzichtige conclusie getrokken worden dat het concept bijdraagt aan betere verwerking van de leerstof en dat het vaker toegepast mag worden. De belangrijkste aanbevelingen zijn gericht op kennisdeling tussen docenten die dit concept (willen gaan) toepassen in het onderwijs en nader onderzoek naar de invloed op de leerprestaties van de studenten.
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