scholarly journals Educating critically about language and intercultural communication: What and who is at stake?

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-178
Author(s):  
Chantal Crozet ◽  
Kerry Mullan ◽  
Jing Qi ◽  
Masoud Kianpour
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
First Year ◽  
Communication Education ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Perspective Theory ◽  
Informal Feedback

This paper reflects on the literature on Critical Language and Intercultural Communication Education in light of learnings gained from designing and delivering a course titled ‘Intercultural Communication’ over four years to large cohorts of first-year tertiary students in Australia. It is based on a qualitative research project which involves the analysis of two sets of data: a) ethnographic notes from teaching staff meetings, tutors’ interviews, and tutorial observation, and b) student formal and informal feedback surveys as well as focus group discussions. The paper explores what and who is at stake when teaching and learning about language and intercultural communication from a critical perspective. It unveils from a praxis perspective (theory informed by practice and vice versa) the deeply political and ethical level of engagement that is required of teachers, the kind of metalinguistic and metacultural knowledge, as well as the kind of disposition towards critical thinking and reflexivity, that are called for when teaching and learning in this domain in an Australian tertiary environment.

Drivers and Barriers to the Uptake of Learning Technologies

2011 ◽  
pp. 125-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Davies ◽  
Kelly Smith
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Learning Technology ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions

This chapter discusses key findings from three focus group discussions held with practitioners in a higher education institution about their experiences of using learning technologies to support student learning. Focus groups were organised in March 2004 to further explore staff responses to a 2003 campus-wide survey, which gave a general overview of learning technology use among teaching staff. The chapter will examine the key issues that staff raised during the focus group discussions, including the barriers to and implications of introducing and implementing learning technologies into different subject disciplines within a research-led institution. The question of whether or not the use of learning technologies enhances, or has the potential to enhance, the teaching and learning experience is also discussed, as well as the lessons that staff have learnt from this use.

scholarly journals Let’s Chat - A fresh take on the invaluable role of peer-to-peer conversation in student engagement, participation and inclusion

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-111
Author(s):  
Rosalind McFarlane ◽  
Marta Spes-Skrbis ◽  
Anne Taib
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Student Feedback ◽  
First Year ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Peer Conversation

This session reports on Monash University’s recently developed Let’s Chat program, delivered at three campuses as a modularised, peer learning opportunity for students from first year to PhD. Involving 3,591 student participants and facilitators in 2015 and 2016, the program responds directly to student feedback and recommendations. Let’s Chat maximises opportunities for peer-to-peer interaction with the aim of increasing participants’ confidence and competence in spoken English and intercultural communication. Informed by current trends in student-centred and peer-assisted learning theory, TESOL and intercultural communication, Let’s Chat is quickly establishing itself as an effective approach to supporting student participation, engagement and sense of belonging in diverse teaching and learning contexts and communities. The session presents a snapshot of the genesis of the program; an evaluation of its implementation; and a summary of emerging outcomes. The session also engages participants in a conversation about how this model might be replicated in other settings.

Strengthening Communication Education in an Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Geertje Boschma ◽  
Rochelle Einboden ◽  
Marlee Groening ◽  
Cathryn Jackson ◽  
Maura MacPhee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Curriculum ◽  
Nursing Curriculum ◽  
Communication Education ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing ◽  
Learning Centered ◽  
Student Focus

As effective communication is an essential professional competency that is conceptualized and developed during undergraduate education, the purpose of this study was to investigate and reinforce the role of communication in the nursing undergraduate curriculum. Analysis of faculty and student focus group discussions revealed the benefit of purposefully structuring and explicitly articulating communication education throughout the undergraduate curriculum for increased accessibility and visibility of communication education, expanded ranges of available teaching and learning methods and resources, and strengthened ability to address undermining mixed communication messages. These findings have implications for how to specifically include communication education in a learning-centered undergraduate curriculum.

scholarly journals SKDI-Based Needs Analysis for Designing English for Students of Medicine in Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 209
Author(s):  
I Made Sujana ◽  
Untung Waluyo ◽  
Eka Fitriana ◽  
Dewi Suryani
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
First Year ◽  
Medical Doctors ◽  
Situation Analysis ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Language Programs ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract. This longitudinal study aims to seek for solutions concerning the teaching and learning English at the Faculty of Medicine University of Mataram (UNRAM). The first year of the study is emphasized on the outcomes of needs analysis, which encompasses the Present Situation Analysis (PSA), the Target Situation Analysis (TSA), and the Learning Situation Analysis (LSA). Various data were collected form the documents of Standar Kompetensi Dokter Indonesia (SKDI) a.k.a. Competency Standards of Medical Doctors in Indonesia, the Graduates Profile of Faculty of Medicine UNRAM and the documents of student English proficiency levels within the last 5 years. Other sources of data were taken from a number of focused group discussions and in-depth interviews with students, alumni, subject specialists, management of Block, and various techniques. The data were then analyzed descriptively and qualitatively. Findings of the study show that the level of English of students at Medical Faculty was still far from being adequate to meet the SKDI. As such, three learning goals were generated from this study, i.e. the short-tem, mid-term, and long-term goals. The study suggests that to bridge the gap, the Faculty of Medicine needs to develop a number of language programs to prepare these students to achieve competencies that meet the standard of Graduate Profile and SKDI.

Advantages and Challenges of Fostering Cognitive Integration Through Virtual Collaborative Learning: a Qualitative Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanette Ignacio ◽  
Hui-Chen Chen ◽  
Tanushri Roy
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
First Year ◽  
Cognitive Integration ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Learning Session ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Face To Face

Abstract BackgroundThe drastic shift from face-to-face classes to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic has enabled educators to ensure the continuity of learning for health professions students in higher education. Collaborative learning, a pedagogy used to facilitate knowledge integration by helping students translate theory from basic sciences to clinical application and practice, has thus been transformed from a face-to-face to a virtual strategy to achieve the learning objectives of a multi-disciplinary and integrated module.ObjectivesThis study aimed to describe and evaluate, through focus group discussions, a virtual collaborative learning activity implemented to assist first year undergraduate nursing students to develop cognitive integration in a module consisting of pathophysiology, pharmacology and nursing practice.MethodsFourteen first year undergraduate students and four faculty involved in facilitating the virtual collaboration participated in the study. Focus group discussions were conducted to elicit the perceptions of students and staff on the virtual collaborative learning session conducted at the end of the semester.ResultsThree themes were generated from the thematic analysis of the students’ focus group scripts. These were: (1) achieving engagement and interaction, (2) supporting the collaborative process, and (3) considering practical nuances. The three themes were further subdivided into subthemes to highlight noteworthy elements captured during focus group discussions. Three themes also emerged from the focus group discussion scripts of faculty participants: (1) learning to effectively manage, (2) facing engagement constraints, and (3) achieving integration. These themes were further sectioned into salient subthemes.ConclusionThe virtual collaborative learning pedagogy is valuable in fostering cognitive integration. However, meticulous planning considering various variables prior to implementation is needed. With better planning directed at addressing the learners’ needs and the faculty’s capabilities and readiness for online learning pedagogies, and with a strong institutional support to help mitigate the identified constraints of virtual collaborative learning, students and faculty will benefit.

scholarly journals Educating Progressed Learners in Times of COVID-19: How Can Bricolage Help?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-36
Author(s):  
Bekithemba Dube ◽  
Xolisile P. Ndaba
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Attitudes Towards Science ◽  
Thematic Approach

This paper discusses using bricolage to mitigate the struggles faced by progressed learners in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Most progressed learners perform poorly in many subjects, especially sciences. Their struggle has stimulated the need to find ways to enhance their performance. Reinvented artefacts and processes can be used for emancipation, and to transform agendas for improving the performance of progressed learners. To collect data, we used participatory action research, which uses a thematic approach to make meaning of data. We created a WhatsApp group to enable focus group discussions for collecting data, to circumvent COVID-19 restrictions. The group had 14 members, among whom teachers and learners from rural schools. The study found that the factors that contributed to poor performance were a lack of teaching and learning materials, too few teachers, less than optimal teaching methods and learners’ attitudes towards science subjects. The main argument of the article is that, in this time characterised by the COVID-19 pandemic, embracing bricolage has the impetus to mitigate challenges relating to the education of progressed learners. Thus, it is important to emancipate teachers, so that they can bricolise the environment for teaching and learning.

scholarly journals PROMOTING YOUTH’S SELF-EMPOWERMENT IN RESIDENTIAL CARE — THE INFLUENCE OF THE ORGANISATION: THE FIRST YEAR OF THE PROJECT “CREATING FUTURES” AND ITS SWISS–HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 29-53
Author(s):  
Anna Schmid
Keyword(s):  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Youth Participation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Collaborative Process ◽  
Diverse Community ◽  
Organisational Factors

In the project “Creating Futures”, youths, staff, and leaders from youth homes in Switzerland and Hungary collaborate in a Community of Practice. Their goal is to develop organisational innovations that allow each of the youth homes to more effectively promote the self-empowerment of young people: their ability to take charge of their own lives and realise their own ideas of the future. This paper reports results, learnings, and first impacts regarding both the topic and the collaborative process in the project’s first formalised year, 2019. In developing its ways of working, the Community of Practice aims to engage as many persons as possible in each youth home. Through focus group discussions, a literature review, and a Young Expert Exchange, organisational factors that promote self-empowerment in residential care have been identified. Representatives of each youth home have selected those of most interest and have begun to assess their existing good practice as well as needs and potentials for innovation. The article includes the voices of participants as it reflects on the requirements for, and benefits and challenges of, youth participation and collaboration within a highly diverse Community of Practice.

scholarly journals Online conferencing for focus group discussions with teenage girls

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-293
Author(s):  
Roberta Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Remote Access ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teenage Girls ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Spontaneous Interaction

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of online conferencing platforms for focus group discussions with teenage girls. Design/methodology/approach The paper discusses the use of online conferencing for focus group discussions with Australian teenage girls aged 12–14 years who were participating in a study about their online interaction with friends. It examines both the practical application of online conferencing as a qualitative method as well as the inherent challenges of this context for youth research. Design decisions are explained and methods for ensuring rich contribution are detailed. Findings Online conferencing offers three distinct advantages for focus group work. First, the environment consciously engages participants in spontaneous interaction with other participants by using communication tools familiar to them. Second, elaborated discussion can be stimulated by introducing ideas and trends through visual mediums and artefacts. Third, the virtual setting provides remote access by the researcher which shifts power relationships so discussions flow more naturally between participants. Practical implications Outcomes indicate that online conferencing is an effective method for encouraging participants to share ideas and experiences about aspects of their lives that are often private and/or sensitive. Originality/value Technological advances in online collaboration tools have resulted in an increased use of online conferencing platforms across disciplines especially for teaching and learning contexts. However, application of online conferencing for focus group discussions with young people has not received much attention. Research presented here demonstrates that it is a useful tool for engaging teenage girls in focus group discussions.

scholarly journals Optimal Standards to Measure the Quality of Higher Education Institutions in Oman: Stakeholders’ Perception

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402094744
Author(s):  
Amal Said Al-Amri ◽  
Priya Mathew ◽  
Yong Zulina Zubairi ◽  
Rohana Jani
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Entire Range ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Quality Of Higher Education ◽  
Quality Of Teaching

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly being held accountable for maintaining quality in their activities by governments, industry, students, and the community as a whole. Accreditation agencies formulate assessment criteria covering the entire range of HEI activities so that the quality of HEI activities can be measured. However, as the perceptions of stakeholders varies of what makes a good HEI, it is crucial to investigate their opinions about the standards set by these agencies. This study uses focus group discussions involving Omani HEI stakeholders, including students, HEI staff, and employers, to gain insights into their perceptions on the most significant standards set by Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA) in measuring the quality of HEIs. It was found that stakeholders’ views of the key standards that measure HEI quality varies. Students were in favor of the standards related to the quality of teaching and learning. Students also show a good level of awareness about employers’ priorities. Employers were more concerned about the research skills of graduates and their industry and community involvement. There was also some agreement between staff and employers on the importance of governance and management. This study provides HEIs, OAAA, and partner universities insights into stakeholder priorities and concerns.

scholarly journals PEMBINAAN KARAKTER MAHASISWA BERBASIS LIVING VALUES EDUCATION

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Hayati Nufus
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Values Education ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Character Building

ABSTRACT: This study supports providing solutions to foster student character in the Ambon IAIN environment based on the Living Values Education program. This research is a qualitative descriptive type with instruments of interview (interview) and FGD (focus group discussions), the LVE material used is the values of peace, appreciation, love, unity and divinity (religious). The subjects of this study were the third semester FITK IAIN Ambon students consisting of majors namely Islamic Education and Biology Education which were filled with 23 people and 2 lecturers from two majors. This study uses descriptive narrative analysis. The results of the study provide an overview of Life Values Education must be carried out and developed in everyday life. Whether it is a character building course that is integrated with all existing courses before all teaching staff (lecturers) become role models for students. As well as students realize that the value must be grown in themselves as self control to encourage each learning. Keywords: Character Building, Life Value Education

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