The Teaching International Students Resource Database

Starting next month, the Higher Education Academy will launch a new website for the Teaching International Students project, which aims to provide a 'one stop shop' for staff who teach international students and who are looking for networks, events and resources (both academic and practical) to support their teaching.

The resources for teaching staff will be organised around the ‘International Student Lifecycle’ and will include suggestions for improving teaching and learning in areas such as postgraduate supervision, group work, academic writing, language issues and developing intercultural communication. It will also include suggestions for further reading, including research that examines the complex issues and challenges and often contested concepts and theories in these areas. Case stories from students as well as teaching staff will also illustrate these challenges as well as the ways that lecturers can respond to these challenges more effectively.

In order to capture these "Case Stories" we need international staff and students, and supervisors of international students of all levels and origins, to send in brief, 500-word stories of their experiences in UK Higher Education.

Staff We would ask staff to write approximately 500 words on their experience teaching or supervising international students. For example, What was the problem (the difficulty I had with teaching or assessing international students or getting them to participate) How I addressed this (stories of successful strategies and experiences, not successful strategies, what I learned) What others can do (suggestions for teaching and learning strategies)

Students We would ask students to think about their own experiences as international students and, perhaps, discuss the following: What I found difficult (my story, context, and specific problems and dilemmas) What was useful (what academic staff or others did that was helpful to address this) What I would have liked to have happened (suggestions for improvement in teaching and learning strategies)

 

If you would like to contribute to the project, please contact Melodee Beals for more information.