Examining Assumptions Underlying Instructional Design and Student Learning for the Global Commons

Motivations for Service:

Mary F. Price, PhD.Director of Faculty DevelopmentIUPUI Center for Service and Learning

AAC&U Global Learning Summit 2013 - Providence R.I.

Presenters:

Dawn M. Whitehead, PhD.Director of Curriculum Internationalization IUPUI Office of International Affairs

Session Overview• Sharing our context and environment• Examining “service” as a dimension of learning environments that emphasize civic and community engagement.

• Inter-culturally Competent Faculty and Staff (practitioner/scholars)

• Surfacing our assumptions about service and how to use it to engage students and facilitators of learning in participating AND analyzing their relationships to and roles in the global commons

• Local case study• Rough implications for practice and inquiry

Conceptual Influences

Interculturally Competent

Faculty (Deardorff 2012)

Anthropological Perspectives

(Mary’s Roots)

Comparative Education

(Dawn’s Roots)

Paradigms of Service (Morton

1995)

Faculty Learning and Faculty

Development in SL (Clayton et. al. 2013; Chism et

al. 2013;)

Institutional Context• 30,000+ students (UG, G,

Doctoral)• 21 schools – lg. % of

professional schools• Urban research institution• Mission includes civic

engagement • Responsibility-centered

management• Historic focus of the campus

targets serving local region (89% of students are in-state)

• Evolving mix of tradition and non-traditional students (60% of students work 30 or more hours per week)

• 18% minority enrollment

Distinctive Programs

• Life Sciences (medicine, nursing, public health, dentistry)

• Professional Schools (law, business, public affairs, social work, education, engineering)

• School of Philanthropy

• Nationally recognized for high-impact practices (themed learning communities, first-year programs, service learning)

• Over 2500 faculty and 1600 professional staff

RISE to the IUPUI Challenge

R: Independent, mentored researchI: International study abroadS: Service-learning coursesE: Experiential education, typically pre-professional Undergraduate students

challenged to complete 2 courses in at least two categories before graduation.

Profile of Curricular Civic Engagement• More than a third of our

study abroad programs included a service learning component in 2011-2012

• In 2011-2012, 14 IUPUI schools offered service learning courses in collaboration with 278 community partner organizations, with approximately 9,955 students providing 181,262 hours of service to those partners.

Student Participation in RISE

Recognition for International Partnerships• 2011 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization cited IUPUI's campus-wide strategic partnership model

• As well as in 2009 by the Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Partnerships. 

• Strategic partners include Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya; Sun Yat Sen University (SYSU) in Guangzhou, China; and the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo (UAEH) in Pachuca, Mexico. 

Building Institutional Capacity

Academic Affairs

Center for Teaching

and Learning

Center for Service and

Learning

Center for Research

and Learning

Office for Internation

al AffairsI

R

E

S

International Service Learning (Bringle and Hatcher 2011 pg.14)A structured academic experience in another country in which students: (a)participate in an organized

service activity that addresses identified community needs;

(b) learn from direct interaction and cross-cultural dialogue with others; and

(c) reflect on the experience in such a way as to gain:

• a further understanding of course content,

• a deeper understanding of global and intercultural issues,

• a broader appreciation of the host country and the discipline, and

• an enhanced sense of their own responsibilities as citizens, locally and globally.

Service Learning

International EducationStudy Abroad

Pedagogical Domains of ISL

Building capacity for ISL at the campus level…..

Defining Service in ISL

Margaret Sherraden, Benjamin J. Lough, and Amy Bopp, 2013; adapted from Furco, 1996

Service to what end?

How does “international” challenge practice and inquiry in Service Learning?

• Requires familiarity with standards and practices of study abroad.

• Invites us to think about understandings of service and civic practice that differ markedly from our own.

• Invites us to think about the global dimensions of service, civic practice, partnerships and citizenship.

“The sad truth is that even international service learning can be superficial, destructive or exploitive (Chism, 2004).”

Co-Teaching and Learning Moments…

Who’s the learner? Who’s the teacher?

International Service Learning Teaching and Learning Circle• CSL/OIA collaboration• Create a space for

interdisciplinary dialogue and relationship building among faculty program directors and us.

• Surface and examine issues impacting student learning, partnership processes, and community outcomes

• Emphasis on faculty learning about teaching, service and partnerships.

• Group met actively for one year 2011-12, open access

• No stipends, only books, resources and food.

Teaching and Partnership Questions

“They just aren’t getting it…”

Members of the ISL Teaching and Learning Circle @ the

quality of student reflection narratives…

What is the “it” they aren’t getting?

Shifting their perspective from a charity frame to a

social justice frame…..

Interculturally Competent Faculty (Deardorff 2012)Dimensions:• Understand the complexity of intercultural competence (ICC);

• Design their courses [programs] to go beyond knowledge transmission and address intercultural learning as an outcome;

• Can successfully teach students from a wide variety of backgrounds; and

• Are well prepared to provide feedback to students in their intercultural journeys.

The integration of civic engagement experiences, including service learning, problematizes these dimensions of faculty competence

Teaching and Partnership Questions• How does one give feedback to students on the quality of their learning in the context of civic engagement, moral development, etc.?• “What is framing our concept of service, to what

end, and with what success?” (Taylor 2002, 51)• How does this framing impact:

• our personal/professional goals and outcomes?

• teaching and learning goals and outcomes?

• partnership goals and outcomes?

Scenario here to illustrate????

• Truism…that you get the program you design…..

What assumptions about service are you modeling for your students?

Conceptual Frameworks of Service

Charity Social Justice

A linear, hierarchical continuum?

(Giles and Eyler 1994)

Do different service learning experiences have different impacts because of their individual characteristics?

Paradigms of Service(Morton 1995)

Key Questions:• Is there a continuum of service learning experiences?

• Do different service learning experiences have different impacts because of their individual characteristics?

“Assumptions about progress are a powerful element in how many practitioners view, structure and assess their SL courses and programs” (Morton 1995, 20).”

Social ChangeEmphasizes process – building relationships among stakeholder groups grounded in equity, creating learning environments that consistently “peel away layers” to get at root causes;

ProjectEmphasize participation in programs sponsored by organizations that collectively have knowledge, resources necessary to make things happen; can have relatively long term impacts and somewhat systemic; danger of unintended consequences; overemphasis on experts; roots causes can go unaddressed.

CharityDirect participation service; control of the service (resources/distribution/decision-making) rests with the provider (giver); service limited in time and limited claims on impact on people involved; little effort to surface/address root causes; paternalistic

Traditional Models

Paradigms of Service Model (Morton 1995)

Paradigms of Service-Morton

Charity Project-based Social Change

Each of the paradigms includes:Charity Project-Based Social Change

Worldview Spiritually (not necessarily religiously) based service

All members of society cannot participate equally in social institutions

Society structured inequitably and does give many access or voice

Problem Statement

Action bears witness to the worth and humanity of other persons (a form of connected knowing?)

Seek ways to create opportunities for participation with limited resources; how to efficiently focus resources for greatest impact.

How to build relationships and engaged those impacted in addressing structural issues locally

Agenda For Change

Working toward and sustaining spiritual commitment are the only ways towards a just world.

No solutions are ultimate; thoughtful, reasoned approaches leading to measurable action is the appropriate response to community challenges.

Involve those affected in developing solutionsWork toward changing roots causes.

“Thin” expressions of service across any of the paradigms - MortonPaternalistic—imposes services on “unreceptive” others

Magnify or institutionalize inequality

May produce outcomes than those encountered in original problem

May lead to unsustainable dependencies

Leads to social change work that is narrowly selfish

“Thick” expressions of service across any of the paradigms - Morton

Grounded in deeply held, internally coherent values

Matches means with ends

Describe a principal way with interacting with the world

Offer a way of defining problems and solutions

Suggest a vision of what a transformed world may look like

WHAT MODELS OF SERVICE DO YOU SEE IN YOUR TEACHING?

Some Indicators of Intercultural Competence: Questions for Faculty Discussion (adapted from Deardorff 2012)• How truly open am I to those from different cultural, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds?

• Do I make quick assumptions about a student (in relation to their views on service)? Do I prejudge students or situations, or do I withhold judgment while I explore all facets of the situation?

• Can I describe my own cultural conditioning (for service)? For example, what cultural values impact how I behave and communicate with others?

• How would I describe some of my students’ worldviews (about service)? How might these differ from the ways in which I see the world?

Some indicators of Intercultural Competence: Questions for Faculty Discussion (adapted from Deardorff 2012)

• Do I engage in active reflection on my teaching practice and on my interactions with those from different cultural backgrounds (including frameworks for service)?

• Do I seek to understand why something occurred and what lessons can be learned from the situation?

• Am I able to adapt my behavior and communication style to accommodate students from different culturally conditioned communication styles (including those about service)?

• Am I able to be flexible in responding to students’ learning needs, seeking to understand those needs from their cultural (including service) perspectives? 

Instructional Design Issues raised in MortonHow to:• Challenge and support students to enter more deeply into their paradigm (scaffolding for integrity)?

• Create safe spaces for them to take risk open up opportunities for shifts in perspective?

• Intentionally exposing students to the other modes (promote cognitive dissonance)?

Instructional Design Issues raised in MortonFaculty/Staff:• Course versus curriculum design: What would “thick” models of each of the three models look like in your course/curriculum?

• What implicit assumptions abound in your syllabus? Nature and structure of your assignments, readings, activities as they relate to service?

• What spaces does considering alternative paradigms open up for working with “unmotivated” students? (Bringle et al. 2006)

• How might shifting from a unilinear framework to one grounded in multiple paradigms shift how you provide feedback to students.

DAWN’S EXPERIENCES AND LEARNING

International Service Learning Program Experience• Program Director for 3 Short Term, International Service Learning Programs• Ghana (4 week program)• Kenya (3 week program)• Costa Rica (spring break)

• Will focus on Ghana and Kenya

Ghana Program • School-Based service learning program

• Partner with private school in Accra

• Partner with a rural school just outside Accra

• Examine educational issues: historical development and contemporary issues: access, gender, rural/urban

Cross Cultural Education in Ghana Program

4 Week Service Learning Program with Morning Star School in Accra, Ghana

Organized Service Activity

Classroom and school-wide service, creating TLMs, leading extra-curricular activities, working with students one-one-one, etc.

Community Need Very large class sizes (40 students), limited classroom support, limited time to develop TLMs, etc.

Relationship Building through Dialogue

Students are paired with at least one classroom teacher for experience and these relationships extend beyond the classroom

Reflection to Gain Deeper Understanding

Formal written reflection through Cross Cultural Experience Reports, Formal Reflection Sessions, (DEAL), and Formal Class Sessions connecting service and formal class

Kenya Service Learning Program • 3 week program in Eldoret, Kenya

• Formal lectures at Moi University by Moi faculty

• 4 Service sites for students

• Ki-Swahili Lessons

Academic Requirements: • Critical Book Reviews• Cross Cultural Experience Reports• Service Site Reports• Service Site Observations• Reflection Sessions

3 week program in Eldoret, KenyaMoi Girls School

Lewa Orphanage

AMPATH Farms and Distribution Center

Chepkoilel Primary School

Organized Service Activity

Exam preparation, small group math and science activities, and marking

Outdoor Play activities, Support during lessons, Physical activities, and helping navigate 50 children under the age of 6

Helping plant and harvest crops; filling prescriptions for food for AMPATH clients

Classroom and school-wide service, creating TLMs, leading extra-curricular activities, working with students one-one-one, etc.

Community Need

Role Models for girls in Math and Science; Support for teachers

Limited staff; need more hands to help with children

More hands to harvest crops and distribute food

Support for staff—average class size is 60

Relationship Building through Dialogue

Paired with a teacher and head of Science and Math Center; students

Paired with staff members

Paired with farmer and staff member

Paired with teachers

Reflection to Gain Deeper Understanding

Group Critical Reflection, Individual Cross Cultural Experience Reports—identifying critical episodes, experiences of acceptance and challenge, connections among readings, service experiences, and formal lectures

Intercultural Learning Goals for the Programs• “Service learning can promote intercultural learning; it can lead students to identify and challenge their own preconceived ideas about community members with whom they are engaging.” (Deardorff, 2008, p. 167)• Driving force of my programs• Breaking the stereotypes of the

African continent and the Ghanaian and Kenyan Contexts• Understanding the diverse realities of

the two countries

Analysis of Attitudes and BehaviorsAttitudes• Respect: for others, demonstrated that they are valued, showing interest in them, listening attentively

• Openness/Curiosity: Willingness to risk and move beyond one’s personal comfort zone in interacting with others

• Challenging personal assumptions, worldviews, and way they perceive others

Behaviors Guided by Knowledge (Deardorff, 2006)• Knowledge• Cultural self-awareness• Culture-specific knowledge• Deep cultural knowledge:

understanding other worldviews

Emerging Concerns after 2010 and 2011 Programs• Strong emphasis on a charity perspective by some participants*

• Inability to Identify and Challenge preconceived ideas about community members

• Inability to Challenge assumptions and perceptions of the local community

Interpreting “Care of Students” by teachers “The teachers at Morning Star seemed to care about their students, but I did not observe them going the extra step to engage them in conversation or ask about their lives. The majority of student teacher interactions took place when the teacher went over the notes on the chalkboard and then called upon students to ask questions. Students had two breaks during each day, and I rarely saw teachers with students during these breaks. I stayed with the students so I am still unsure as to where the teachers went. Taking a few extra minutes to learn more about students, even if it is just during one of their breaks for a couple minutes, I believe could go a long way in learning how to reach those children in the classroom.” Ghana Program 2010

Preconceived notions of “care” and what it looks like for teachers• “The teachers at Morning Star seemed to care about their students, but I did not observe them going the extra step to engage them in conversation or ask about their lives.• Steeped in American value and

perception of what a teacher should do in certain context

Lack of Cultural Awareness and Understanding of the Cultural Context“I stayed with the students so I am still unsure as to where the teachers went. Taking a few extra minutes to learn more about students, even if it is just during one of their breaks for a couple minutes, I believe could go a long way in learning how to reach those children in the classroom.”• Not taking the time to discuss this with the teacher before judging her behavior as a “lack of caring for the students

Lack of Culture-Specific Knowledge and Deep Cultural Knowledge• I was conducting board races after a lecture and a matching exercise. The students had never done this before and they loved it. The teacher who’s class I taught thought that learning shouldn’t involve noise.”

2010 Ghana Program Participant

Charity Model in Action

“The greatest challenge this week, our last week, has been thinking about the question, “where do I go from here?” How does my relationship with the (redacted) School and the students continue? On the one hand, I cannot foresee myself having the ability to assist anyone (student) financially in the next five years. However, on the positive side, perhaps I can be simply a resource or a word of encouragement for the students who do remain in touch with me.”2011 Ghana Program Participant

Lack of Culture-Specific Knowledge• The school she mentioned is a well equipped school with many wealthy children

• The students and/or families would not request money from any one of us

Introduction of Morton and the Impact on my Programs• Admit my own perspective

• Social Change• Reexamine my assignments,

reflections prompts, assessment instruments, and my feedback

• Sub-mission was to expand perspectives about the continent of Africa and help students see Ghana and Kenya with “fresh eyes”

Impact of Morton

• Helping students identify where they are• Charity, Project, or Social Change

• Feedback changed to reflect their place on the continuum

• Changed my analysis of past data• Using the language of “Thin” vs.

“Thick” to interpret some student responses• Imposing service on “unreceptive

others”• Allowed me to see an evolution in

their thinking more accurately

Examples of Changed Course Content• Closer examination of “critical incidents”• Response of the individual

student, key community partner(s), and others at the service sites

• Unpacking the reasoning behind these diverse responses within cultural contexts• Greater integrity

• Began creating case profiles for each student• Examining their growth using

Morton’s model

A few more student quotes

Knowledge: Cultural Self-Awareness“This experience has definitely made me realize how ‘deep’ cultural background can affect decisions/who a person is. It has allowed me to not immediately judge someone who is different but become interested in our differences.” 2012 Ghana Program Participant

Respect: For Others, demonstrating they are valued, showing interest, and listening attentively “During the morning porridge breaks the majority of the conversation is held in Ki-Swahili, but the workers try hard to make us not feel left out. Mary translates the jokes, and people are always asking me and Don about how we like the porridge. I’ve sincerely never been in a setting where I understood so little but still felt a part of the conversation.”2012 Kenya Program Participant

Knowledge: Culture-Specific KnowledgeOn visiting Lake Nakuru National Park “The visit to Lake Nakuru was originally part of the appeal of this program, but I am so thankful that we spent the majority of our time outside these tourist attractions. I feel like I have a more accurate view of Kenyan cultures than the “tourist” experiences allow.” 2012 Kenya Program Participant

Knowledge: Culture-Specific

On visiting Maasai Mara• “This program has most definitely transformed my perception of Africa and Africans. Not everyone is incompetent, uneducated, or dirt poor. Being able to live and work in "actual" Kenya was essential, rather than spending the whole time in "tourist" Kenya.”

Charity: Still needs development

“I’m learning that I’m good at navigating a new context-but it’s extremely hard. As an American, I’m definitely more grateful for the resources we have, but have grown in desire to help those who aren’t privileged.”2012 Ghana Program Participant

IMPLICATIONS..A BEGINNING

Research and Scholarship

• Models of service in Morton (1995) are fundamentally cultural models (cannot presume universality)

• Additional work needed to frame cultural models/schemas cross-culturally to identify alternative models

• Because models of service are cultural grounded and context driven, they impact not only students and faculty but all involved in community-university partnerships.

Are there other paradigms? What are their features and underlying logics? How do these impact the practices and

outcomes of ISL, SL and community-university partnerships?

Research and Scholarship

• Feedback Models: What does strong, supportive feedback associated with moving students (and ourselves) toward greater levels of integrity in each model look/sound like?

• Need SoTL work that examines differences in student outcomes related to the feedback process applied when faculty follow a unilinear versus multiparadigmatic approach to service.

Are there other paradigms? What are their features and underlying logics? How do these impact the practices and

outcomes of ISL, SL and community-university partnerships?

Practice (Instructors/Faculty Directors)• Make time to analyze our own teaching or seek out supportive faces in other programs or centralized units

• Critical friends matter

• To support students in building their intercultural competence, we must attend to building/refining our own.

Practice (Instructors/Faculty Directors)

• Failure to be critically reflective about your own framing may mean that you miss shifts in perspective and growth in the intercultural competence of your students (these shifts are more likely to be small not large in the context of a single course/program.)

• Identifying small design shifts or alignments need to accommodate a broader range of student paradigms

• Challenge to create safe spaces for students to engaged in deep examination when you may fundamentally disagree with their home base

Implications for Practice• Reiterates the importance of ongoing formal/informal feedback (relationship building, trust needed for students to engage in risk taking)

• Important to make explicit connections between service experiences at home and abroad • false dichotomy domestic and

international• Our cultural models are an

integral part of us….they are available for regular examination

Practice (Faculty Development)• Those tasked to support faculty in ISL/SL

• More than workshops and resources - Intentional effort to build relationships among faculty that cultivates their awareness of themselves as co-learners along with students/partners (invest in the long term)

• To engage faculty, timing and resourcing are key…note the resources may not be money…..• Find the felt need• Focus on relationship building• Meet faculty where they are

QUESTIONS?

ReferencesDeardorff, D.K. (2012), “Building Interculturally Competent Faculty” in IIENetworker, Spring 2012, http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/IIEB0112/index.php#/40 . Deardorff, D.K. (2006).  “The Identification and Assessment of Intercultural Competence” in Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3), p 241-266.Furco, A. (1996).“Service-learning: A Balanced Approach to Experiential Education.” Expanding Boundaries: Service and Learning, ed. B. Taylor, Washington, DC: Corporation for National Service, p. 10.Sherraden, M. Lough, B., & Bobb, A. (2013). Students Serving Abroad: A Framework for Inquiry. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement. 17(2): 7 – 40.