An international collaborative research project, funded by the Australian Government’s Office for Teaching Learning and Studying, which involves universities in Australia and China. They are interested in exploring how Chinese students might make the transition more successfully into postgraduate coursework studies in communication and media in Australia – and possibly in other fields and other Western countries as well.
They are investigating what does it mean to be a successful student in China and how does that compare with Australia? What similarities and differences are there in the learning teaching and studying contexts of China and Australia?
What are the challenges that Chinese students experience when making the transition from study in China to postgraduate coursework study in Australia? What learning and teaching resources will best prepare students for postgraduate
study abroad?
Based on our research, the project aims to develop teaching and learning resources to be used by lecturers and students in both Australia and China in order to assist Chinese students to transition successfully into postgraduate coursework studies in communication and media in Australia.
There is considerable interest in the project at practical and strategic levels in universities in both countries.
The resources include a model of good practice and associated toolkits of pedagogic practices and materials for lecturers in China and Australia, and learning strategies and materials for students in both countries.
These are based on ethnographic research by both Chinese and Australian researchers into the teaching and learning environments in China and Australia, including the learning experiences of students before leaving China and after arrival in Australia, and the teaching practices of their lecturers.
Materials are now being produced and trialled in the partner and participating universities, and dissemination activities are taking place across Australia and China.
Cross Disciplinary Materials
Research suggests that students learn best when learning and teaching skills, strategies and materials are customized to specific disciplinary needs, and hence our initial focus is on media and communication.
However, we are also testing the feasibility of adapting our materials for use within the disciplines of management, engineering and agriculture so far with possibly more to come. Beyond Australia, we're now working with Singapore and Canada, too, with a view to the potential transfer ability of the resources across disciplines and nations.
To date, relatively little is known about how Chinese students are prepared academically in their home institutions and how and why this experience influences their adaptation to postgraduate study in Australia.
Previous studies have noted that international students face a number of challenges when they study abroad guide such as adjusting to differences in academic cultures, styles of learning and teaching, and differences about what it means to be a ‘successful’ student.
Both Chinese and Western scholars have pointed out that the challenges are often greater for Chinese students when they study abroad in countries where the language and ways of learning differ from those in their home university.
Cultural Adjustment
The difficulties are escalated for postgraduates because the period of coursework study in Australia is relatively short, with often only two or three semesters in which to identify what is expected of them in the new cultural context, adjust to Australian teaching practices and develop culturally appropriate learning skills.
Academics in Australia often struggle to know how best to negotiate the increasing diversity they are encountering in their classes and therefore need resources and training to develop their pedagogical practice and interactions with international students, especially those from China.
They have now completed our research in universities in China and Australia. Chinese higher education is undergoing considerable reform and teaching practices are not homogeneous across institutions and regions of China just as in Australia.
Nevertheless, there do appear to be philosophies and practices that are common to each country, and these point to the existence of distinct differences between Chinese and Australian academic contexts. The differences play out in multiple ways including in forms of assessment, classroom and group interactions, peer and lecturer relationships, communication and how ideas are expressed, and styles of argumentation.
It is not uncommon for students who are acculturated into the practical knowledge and academic expectations of China to be confused and overwhelmed when confronted with the academic norms and practices of Australian universities especially when these are not explicitly taught by Australian lecturers. It is this issue that the project seeks to address.
Trialing Materials in China
At present, They are writing, revising and trialing resources for use by lecturers in both countries. Two of the project team, Dr Lindy Norris from Murdoch University and Dr Fiona Henderson from project partner Victoria University, visited four universities in China in May: our project partner, Communication University of China, as well as Henan University in Kaifeng, Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, and Shandong Jianzhu University in Jinan. The aim of the visit was to work with Chinese academics to evaluate the suitability of our newly developed teaching resources for the Chinese tertiary context.
They also sought to find out if the materials with their current focus on media and communication might be useful for students studying other disciplines, such as management, and at undergraduate level. Working with Associate Professor Yu Haixia and other Chinese academics, Norris and Henderson facilitated and observed teaching sessions for students at final year level before going abroad to take up postgraduate study, as well as those in their first year of study, and others studying a range of topics in the social sciences and humanities.
Final year students reported their enthusiasm for learning how to work interactively in classrooms, and were keen to find out more about what would be expected of them when they joined courses in abroad universities.
Flexible Resources
They noted a genuine enthusiasm by lecturers in the various Chinese institutions to hear about and experience Australian learning and teaching strategies and then to work through what might or might not be appropriated or adapted for their own contexts. This was particularly notable among English language teachers in China who in their feedback to us said they were often frustrated by the lack of authentic English language texts available to them.
In contrast, however, we also noted from feedback and our ongoing conversations that there are significant disadvantages and challenges for Chinese universities in running courses that focus on the skills and processes of learning rather than discipline content for students prior to their going abroad to study.
This suggests that in future the onus of support for Chinese students is likely to continue to remain with the host universities in Australia. There are, of course, exceptions. For instance at Henan University, a long-standing relationship with Victoria University in Melbourne has resulted in a joint history of mutual learning about different styles of teaching. In that university, lecturers are very aware of and open to introducing students to active learning styles, thus preparing them for study abroad in Anglophone cultures.
The variety of contexts and audiences experienced by Norris and Henderson on their visit to Chinese universities remind us once again that the Chinese learning culture is not monolithic. There are differences between regions and institutions and therefore our resources need to be flexible and capable of being tailored according to academic need and cultural diversity.
Developing, Trialing, Translating in Australia
In Australia, our draft resources are currently undergoing trialing in our partner institutions and other participating universities. These include a series of interventions for media and communication lecturers to use on an ad-hoc basis in tutorials and lectures, or as a coherent introductory program for use by student learning centers when international students first arrive at Australian tertiary institutions. There is also a set of briefing notes for lecturers to enhance their awareness and understanding of the different education systems, including learning and teaching practices and implications for Chinese students going abroad to study. These have been translated and distributed in China as a discussion point for lecturers.
Dissemination Activities
To date, the team has been successful in disseminating the research findings at international conferences as well as more intimate regional and local workshops. Presentations to academic communities in Australia and China have sought to raise awareness of the challenges confronting Chinese postgraduates when they arrive in Australia, and also differences between the pedagogical philosophies and strategies between the two learning cultures. With intercultural competency and international collaborations around transnational education being high on universities’ agendas there is strong interest in the project.
At Murdoch University where the project is based, discussions have been held at a strategic level with senior executives with regard to the potential to adapt the materials for the training of lecturers and affiliates at campuses in Singapore and Dubai.
In Australia, the first professional development sessions for staff have taken place at Murdoch University in Perth and Victoria University in Melbourne to test our ideas with small groups. These complement the sessions run in China.
The background literature and mapping of concepts, together with the analysis of research data and feedback from scholars in China will inform a forthcoming paper about the study abroad culture of China and current policy reform. The team will continue to share forthcoming publications, abstracts and slides on the project website. This project represents a unique opportunity to build a socially and culturally responsible educational collaboration in the context of international education of
study abroad, with the potential to refine and adapt the framework and associated resources to other disciplines.
