Boundary Crossing in the International Classroom: Navigating the Convergence of Cultures and Disciplines

Description

Scholarly literature on the international classroom frequently
emphasizes the importance of making implicit beliefs and norms
explicit in order to equalize all students’ ability to succeed. If
students come from many different cultural, linguistic, and
academic backgrounds, they may have different assumptions
about core academic competencies and procedures. In
international classrooms, pedagogical procedure thus must be
taught explicitly to equip all students with the knowledge needed
to comply with educational norms of their institution.
However, this literature less often considers diversity among
faculty. What if faculty members come from very different cultural and institutional backgrounds? How may disciplinary diversity
undermine the notion of stable implicit norms among faculty
members? Faculty members from varying cultural contexts may
not share the same underlying norms, values, procedures, and
educational standards. Likewise, faculty members may differ in
educational and disciplinary backgrounds. In an international,
inter-, trans-, or multidisciplinary program, faculty may struggle to
present a coherent vision of shared academic values for
international students to understand and rely upon throughout
their degree trajectory.
Higher education in the Netherlands has been rapidly
internationalizing, adding English programs at both the BA and MA
level. This study assesses the experiences and academic norms of
faculty members teaching in the interdisciplinary English-track of
the Media and Culture Studies BA at Utrecht University in the
Netherlands. Through faculty interviews, this program provides a
useful case study as it integrates traditional humanities, digital
humanities, and social sciences approaches taught by an
interdisciplinary, culturally diverse faculty meeting the pedagogical
needs of the international classroom

Period	15 Nov 2023
Event title	National Interdisciplinary Education Conference: Boundary Crossing: Transdisciplinary Teaching and Learning
Event type	Conference
Location	Wageningen, NetherlandsShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National