Topic outline

  • Three main assignments 

    1. Learning blogs, one after each contact session. If you are absent, please go through the slides, check for extra material in "Materials" folder and formulate your blog (vlog) based on those.
    2. Group project (groups will be indicated) 
    3. Teaching practice in English with a short written plan

    • Please add your blogs here, giving them a logical title (e.g. JaanaS, learning blog after the first session). Please comment on each other's blogs, that makes it more interactional and gives a purpose to blogging.

    • Teach something that can be learned in 20 minutes within a small group (2-4 persons) online. Try to use a method you would like to try/have never used/would like to learn/you would like feedback on. Write a brief plan of your teaching practice and upload it here. Note: you may need to provide the group with essential vocabulary and you need to consider how much background information the others have on your field. Remember interaction, preferrably no straight talk for the entire time!

    • Upload your presentation/illustration/plan/what ever you'll use to present your group project. This is NOT a report, it is just a type of visual representation of your project. What you do during contact session is the important part.

      Project - What is it?
      • Approach a problem with multicultural issues
      • Find a solution as a group
      • Present this to the rest of the course participants, you can use any tools you wish
      • Choose  a  cultural problem/challenge related to  teaching/learning/educational workplace as a group
      • Important to choose a problem in which everyone has an interest
      • The group project is for your learning and sharing experiences
    • Please choose one of the following topics for your group and reply by telling your group name, participants & topic for others.

      • How to promote team working with students from Finland and other cultures?
      • How to teach in a critical manner that is both thought provoking but also respectful for different cultures?
      • What cultural differences and norms a teacher should take into account?
      • What is equity and diversity in teaching and learning of higher education?
      • How to support students from different backgrounds individually in their professional growth?
      • How to inspire students from different cultures to study efficiently?
      • How to develop better communication with the students and create a safe environment with respect to the diversity?
      • How to meet the diversity requirements for students with different background?
      • What is the impact of culture on learning and communication?
      • Challenging students and how to deal with them – does culture play a role?
      • Student well-being – is it our business?
      • Online presence – how do we monitor it/do we have to monitor it?
      • Languages reflect culture and cultures shape languages – how are they present in our classrooms?
      • Multicultural student groups
        - Need to meet cultural characteristics in teaching?
      • In which way should multiculturalism be considered when introducing interactions in courses?
      • Communication challenges in multicultural learning environments
      • Cultural impact on thesis supervision
      • What makes students passive and how can we help them – does culture have anything to do with it?

    • After the course: Final learning journal

      Conclusion and action plan after the last session 
      a. Read through what you have written in the previous stages
      b. Try to detect, what insight did you gain (i.e. what did you learn) during the course. Remember that the purpose of reflection is to learn from experience.
      c. During this stage you should also ask yourself what you could have done differently.

      Action plan - Now what?
      a. What could you do now (with the issues you have learned during the course)? 
      b. What might be the consequences of this action?
      c. Be as realistic as possible. Small realistic steps are better than huge unrealistic ones.

    • Please write your feedback on this course. Some I have already gotten through the learning journals, but please complete this small survey, too.