Pedagogy

What is this all about?

This topic encompasses description and reflections on the strategies used by the teacher related to teaching and learning goals. These involve, for example, strategies for presenting and explaining (e.g. relating concepts to previous work, monitoring student understanding of concepts using a variety of techniques) or adapting teaching to students’ needs, interests and abilities (e.g. relating instruction to student experience, using a repertoire of instructional techniques to facilitate understanding and learning).

Higher education pedagogy is a key element of teaching development. Such pedagogy tends to be based on constructivist and student-focused approaches to teaching and principles of ‘good learning’ derived from educational psychology.

When reflecting on teaching across disciplines, institutions and countries, IntRef participants were often interested in how to engage students in active learning, in a variety of different classroom situations. Many of the participating academics came from intercultural backgrounds themselves, had an interest in intercultural topics or were teaching in a second or foreign language, so language related questions arose quite frequently.

The video opens to the sound of classical music, displaying the logos of the IntRef project and the three partner institutions: Durham University, University of Padua, Goethe University and Frankfurt am Main.

There is a link to the ‘Intercultural Reflection on Teaching’ website: https://intref.webspace.durham.ac.uk

A quote is displayed taken from Kinsella (2001): ‘Reflective practitioners think about their experiences in practice and view them as opportunities to learn’

The music fades and is replaced by the sound of a people talking in a classroom. Text appears saying ‘You will listen to a short dialogue representing a key theme and focus’

The video now shows us the view from the back of a class of students sitting in rows. They are blurred so you can’t see who they are. Text appears reading: ‘This extract focuses on PEDAGOGY. It raises attention to adaptation, anticipation and adjustment to student difficulties, background and learning styles’ in a dialogue box.

We switch to a blurred image of people moving and a title is displayed: ‘Intercultural Reflecting Team (iRT)’

We hear the voices of staff and their words appear on screen

Teacher 3: So, here is my case. I have two students who came to Germany for their Bachelor studies. Even though they passed some kind of German exam that allows them to study here, their level of German is not very high and of course way lower compared to German native speakers. I sometimes fear that they don’t really understand my questions, and thus I suppose they also have difficulties understanding what I am teaching. What can I do to include them in my classes so that they actually learn something. How can the other German students accept their lower level of German but at the same time not feel they are being disadvantaged when working together with them?

A text note appears saying: The reflecting team: Discussion

We then hear the voices of staff and their words appear on screen

Teacher 4: Well, this is an interesting case. Perhaps he could help the German students to understand that it could be beneficial for them to work in groups with these non-native speakers of German. I mean it could be useful for them to explain complex ideas using simple language. What do you think?

Teacher 5: Yes, that’s a good point. And how about him switching to English sometimes. That might help him to understand if they have taken things on board.

Teacher 6: True, and even if he doesn’t switch to English she could tell the international students that they can always ask him questions in English to clarify concepts.

We switch to a blurred image of people moving and a title is displayed the text note appears saying: ‘That was a short dialogue representing a key theme and focus’

A message appears inviting you to ‘Contribute to the discussion’

Do these suggestions resonate to you? Which points do you find relevant? Can you offer any further reflections/examples from your experience and/or research? Do you have relevant resources or reference you could share with the community?

What did academics discuss?

Here we provide vignettes to illustrate what academics involved in the reflective sessions facilitated by the Intref project said relating to pedagogy.

What resources are there to help with issues like this?

The following lists contains a range of different resources designed to further your exploration of these issues, both from a practice and scholarly perspective. This is intended as a community resource which will grow over time and to which we invite you to contribute.

Facilitating active learning

University of Washington Center for Teaching and Learning (n.d.) Large Lecture Instruction (Teaching)
Information about instructor performance, encouraging active learning, productive struggle and strategies to include everyone.
Ferrero MA (2020) 15 Free Digital Tools To Boost Students’ Engagement Online, mariangelf.com
Western Washington University (2021) Active Learning Toolkit
Biggs J (n.d.) Constructive Alignment johnbiggs.com.au
Brabrand C (2009) Teaching Teaching & Understanding Understanding (1/3) University of Aarhus. YouTube.

Facilitating co-operative/collaborative learning

Western Washington University (2021) Collaborative Learning (Peer/Group Work)
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning (n.d.) Group Learning

Working with international students

Baier ST (2020) Dos and Don’ts When Working with International Students in the Classroom. Faculty Focus, Magna Publications.
Sull EC (2013) Teaching Online with Errol: Effectively Teaching the Multicultural Online Classroom. The Teaching Professor.

Do you want to contribute?

Would you like to offer further reflections or examples emerging from your experience and or research? Do you have other resources or references you would like to share with the community?