Many participants reflected on a need to create a positive classroom environment, within which students could feel ‘safe’ and ‘comfortable’ to engage in discussions and contribute to collaborative tasks. This was particularly seen as important in intercultural environments, highlighting that work with international students is ‘about respect and trust’ (Participant 31, Education and teaching, Unaffiliated … Continue reading How our participants created ‘safe’ intercultural teaching spaces
How our participants built relationships with students
Related to facilitating learning from diversity, building relationships with students was seen as a key step for good teaching, particularly with international students. When asked what they saw as the key attributes of a good teacher, many participants highlighted ‘patience and empathy’ (Participant 36, Business and management, Unaffiliated pre-1992), before or rather than mentioning content … Continue reading How our participants built relationships with students
How our participants facilitated learning from diversity
As noted in our introduction, there was broad agreement among participants in the value of diversity in their classrooms, which they believed provided important learning opportunities for students to engage in learning from their peers. This was outlined particularly, but not exclusively, in relation to intercultural learning and the presence of international students. So the … Continue reading How our participants facilitated learning from diversity
How our participants embedded skills into learning
Despite a range of teaching innovations displayed, there was a deficit narrative present through a persistent sense among interviewees that international students were perceived to 'lack' certain skills. Our participants particularly focused on skills for discussion, teamwork, academic writing, understanding plagiarism, and the use of appropriate subject-specific terminology, the absence of which made it difficult … Continue reading How our participants embedded skills into learning
How our participants designed assessment
Although we did not specifically ask participants about assessment practices, several highlighted this as a key strategy for inclusively teaching international students, with a particular focus on varied formats of assessment. Some, for example, highlighted ‘we are encouraged to utilise different methods, different types of assignments’ (Participant 2, Geographical and environmental studies, University Alliance). Others … Continue reading How our participants designed assessment
How our participants made teaching more interactive
Across the disciplines, most interviewed participants (31 out of 45, 69%) explicitly described using interactive pedagogies, guided by some form of active learning. In the words of one participant, ‘I don’t tend to lecture...I’m actually trying to get them to work together to share with one another and do something a little bit different’ (Participant … Continue reading How our participants made teaching more interactive
How our participants ‘chunked’ lectures
Some participants referred to the lecture/seminar model as a programme norm, but when asked to reflect on their teaching practices, they rarely discussed their lecturing and focused instead on more interactive teaching. As one participant explained: I remember from my experience of learning that actually, the bits when I really learned was when I was … Continue reading How our participants ‘chunked’ lectures
Practices of Internationalisation 