Preparing students for internationalisation at home: evaluating a twoweek induction programme in a one-year masters programme Dr Prue Holmes, Durham University Aims of the project This project evaluated the effectiveness of a two-week induction programme in preparing postgraduate students for a one-year taught master s degree. The induction programme had two objectives: to prepare all students - both international and home - for masters level teaching and learning, and to develop intercultural interactions and understanding among the broader internationalised student body. As higher education institutions (HEIs) internationalise - through academic exchanges and increasing their cohorts of international students - preparing all students and staff for these changes in classroom interactions, and teaching and learning processes, is important. If international and home students experience unpreparedfor challenges in their learning and communication experiences, both in the classroom and on the wider campus, then successful learning, and thus, internationalisation, are threatened. Institutional context and history/rationale for the initiative While internationalisation is commonplace in many HEIs, studies of good practice are lacking. The rapid escalation of international student numbers within the full-time master s degree offerings in this HEI - from a few to up to 50 within two years - provides an opportunity to examine the institutional response; the master s programmes had typically been quite small, with no international students, and only a handful of home students. The response was a two-week induction programme, focused on the learning and intercultural needs of all students, considered an important step in preparing all students to learn, study, and socialise together. My task was to develop this programme. Further, evaluating the effectiveness of the programme, drawing on student s experiences, would offer insights into good practice for this HEI and others. Management of the project I developed and delivered the two-week induction to 38 students (mostly international), and designed and managed the study. The study drew from three main sources to inform the outcomes: 1) student evaluations of the two-week induction; 2) open-ended face-to-face interviews with 13 international student volunteers (primarily from East Asia); and 3) an email survey on completion of their degree. The 60-90 minute interviews were conducted by a research assistant. The data from the induction evaluations and the interview transcripts were analysed by the research assistant and me to inform the findings. The induction programme included several aspects: an open-ended questionnaire The Ideal Student, consisting of 20 questions, where students explored the teaching/learning process - their own and that of the host HEI - and discussed their assumptions. A follow up section, 15 questions, asked them to explore and reflect on their intercultural interactions. This learning was supported by the Council of Europe s Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters. This focus was seen as important in responding to the need within internationalisation for students to develop intercultural and global competencies. Other aspects of the programme included: using the library, plagiarism, referencing, reading an academic text, academic writing, the UK schooling system, a one-day visit to a school (in small groups) followed up with a group presentation of the experience, six research presentations by academic staff, two PhD student presentations, and three former master s students briefly discussing their experience.
Timescales Key milestone Date Evaluation of induction programme Completed at the end of the induction programme in October 2011 Project funding announced by HEA Mid-February 2012 Ethics approval for student interviews Preparation of interview protocol (first round) Attendance at UKCISA/HEA event in York Conducting interviews; Data analysis Internationalisation conference presentation, Preston Presentation of findings, Queensland University of Technology Presentation of study, University of Waikato Findings contributed to a workshop on teaching in multicultural classrooms, EAIE, Dublin March March April May/June June/July July July August September Key outcomes The major emergent themes included experiencing induction, responses to activities, and understanding intercultural experiences. The students comments are indicative of unshared assumptions - between me as programme convenor and developer, and them as new postgraduates - about what is useful and interesting. Finally, students recommendations for future inductions are presented. Experiencing induction While most students spoke enthusiastically about being in a new environment, expecting to feel homesick but too stimulated to notice, one male commented on feeling like an outsider The environment is controlled by the English speaking professors, everything is in English, so I feel less involved. I feel like I am just a person sitting in a classroom listening to others. Some Chinese students felt positive about encountering other Chinese students at the outset, nervous and excited like themselves. Pressure was a recurring word in their descriptions of the experience: pressure to work hard, to sacrifice their social life. An analysis of the learning environment, along with the assumptions they bring to it, through the Ideal Student questionnaire, may have helped to create this atmosphere of pressure. Responses to activities Students expressed reservations about the academic staff research presentations. Responses ranged from an appreciation in hearing what academic staff did, and thus, the opportunity to understand the nature of research, while others felt the presentations were not helpful and not related to what they were studying. 2
One student commented that he came out of politeness. My assumption was that students would appreciate learning about the research environment as they entered the postgraduate phase of their learning, but also as an introduction to their dissertation. At the end of the programme I learned, through personal communication, that one student felt that the induction was too early to expose students to this level of academic complexity; these presentations would be better grasped and understood later on in the programme. Regarding the plagiarism session, one student commented that it was the first time she had ever heard the word. Students were anxious about the diagnostic writing test required by the language centre, believing that if they performed badly, they may be sent back to China. Intercultural experiences Students generally unfavourable reaction to the intercultural communication activities challenged my assumption regarding the importance of understanding intercultural engagement. Comments ranged from extreme negativity: I am going to reflect by myself, so I don t need this exercise, to skulduggery in order to complete the task for the teacher: some students told me that they have no such experiences to deal with foreign people. Some of them created one just in order to finish the task, to the few who saw their usefulness in building intercultural understanding: [It] urges you to make friends from different nations, or to introduce you that everyone has his own culture, but you can mix up to know more, and to understand about the differences and to accept the differences. However, this student, who also took my intercultural education module, said that she understood the purpose of the Autobiography better after having done the module. Yet, students intercultural experiences were no different to those already confirmed in the literature, with students tending to remain in same culture groupings and struggling to sustain relationships with home students beyond Hi and bye friends. This outcome suggests that different tools, e.g. case studies, might be more appropriate as teaching materials to raise intercultural awareness. Students recommendations Positive evaluations: Some felt everything was useful, worth learning, especially the new students from China, who had not done a pre-sessional programme. Group discussion enabled them to share opinions and get to know others and their backgrounds, making intercultural communication seem natural. School visits were valued, including the lecture on the UK education system, and follow-up presentations Opportunities to participate in research, volunteering, tutoring. One student summed up the experience of induction: I have more critical reflection on my own institution. Implications for future induction programmes: Provide more pre-arrival information, e.g., books to buy, pre-reading, a timetable of the induction programme Include more social events so students can talk to one another during induction (and beyond) Get teachers to introduce their modules instead of just reading about them Shorten induction to one week; describe the programmes, modules and facilities without all the activities (one student) 3
Challenges that have been overcome The study was potentially sensitive in that I was both teacher of the programme, and in some instances, their module teacher and dissertation supervisor. These relationships may have impacted students responses, and thus, potentially increased the subjectivity of the interpreted outcomes; however, the research assistant was an important mediator here. The inability to conduct a second round of interviews did not negatively impact the study; in fact, the decision to elicit students email responses, in some instances, supported by personal communication, on completion of the programme, has added richer insights through their retrospective evaluations of induction. However, this data is not included in the above key outcomes. Sustainability The outcomes of this research offer guidelines for improving future induction programmes in this HEI and elsewhere. An evaluation of this induction programme, and students retrospective evaluations, can be accessed in forthcoming publications. Recommendations This project has enabled me to ascertain how students experienced induction, and thus reconsider the content and focus of the next induction. If HEIs want to develop an effective induction programme, they might consider the following: focus on the academic environment primarily; the intercultural needs to be done in another way, either through case studies, or workshops during the year when students have more immediate experiences in the host culture to draw on; provide ongoing writing classes to address students difficulties in critical writing and weaving in literature; ensure that students feel they belong to the department/school and that they are not just students. This requires more social activities (parties, trips, games); encourage the host institution to find opportunities for students to volunteer in the community, or in this study, in schools, so students have the opportunity to engage with local people and break out of their academic, and in the case of some of the Chinese students in this study, same culture daily routines; use workshops during the programme of study, or in this case, weekly support tutorials, to introduce students to the academic research environment through staff research presentations; include ongoing programmes that offer opportunities to understand intercultural communication experiences, either through an optional or compulsory module or series of workshops; maintain a two-week induction, but interspersed with university-wide activities and a broad range of exposures, including cultural and professional activities, so international students can begin to develop an identity with their host department/school. Continue to provide opportunities to foster this identity. Reflection on learning The international teaching context in many HEIs challenges teachers expectations and assumptions as they encounter other ways of learning, interacting and being. The study enabled my own expectations and assumptions to be tested, formally, through data collection, and informally, through personal communication with students about the induction programme. The outcomes provide important ways of establishing good practice. As both researcher and teacher, I learned that what I had thought was useful and important for students may not be what they think they need or want to know, at least at the time of induction. Balancing these expectations and assumptions, through appropriate activities either during induction or in ongoing 4
support tutorials, necessitates research that enables teachers to learn from their students. This study afforded me that opportunity. This study was carried out amidst several difficulties: institutional ones related to contractual issues that affected initiation and completion all the planned activities and milestones; unexpected personal difficulties encountered by the research assistant which impacted the progress of the data collection; and the need to respect students busy periods of work around collecting data. For example, it became impossible to conduct a second round of interviews. Therefore, I substituted face-to-face interviews for an email open-ended survey sent to students on completion of their programme in early September. Relationship building throughout the study was important in gaining students trust and support. However, students who volunteered to be interviewed did so out of interest, to learn about doing research, or to improve learning experiences for future international students. Their participation in this study will contribute to that knowledge. 5