Culturally critical examination of high-impact practices through a case study of graduate students’ virtual teaching abroad experience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v38i1.1130Keywords:
Cross-cultural teaching, college students in India, culturally responsive teaching, high-impact practices, internationalization of higher educationAbstract
This study explores how instructors participating in teaching abroad applied high-impact practices (HIPs) and strategies to make their teaching effective in the teaching abroad setting, using a culturally critical lens. We interrogated the applicability of HIPs across different cultures, considering that they originate from U.S. higher education and cultures. Using a case study approach, we interviewed five graduate students who participated in a teaching abroad program, from a university in the U.S., teaching college students in India. Instructors implemented HIPs in the ways that they practiced in U.S. classrooms. They did not yield the same effectiveness due to the instructors’ imperfect knowledge of the Indian students and the subtle epistemological ethnocentrism. The instructors reflected on their critical consciousness, which enabled them to view students as partners and sources of knowledge, and by employing a significant level of clarity in their communication to make HIPs more culturally responsive in the virtual class.
Abstract in Korean본 연구는 교차문화적 관점을 바탕으로, 해외 파견 수업(teaching abroad)에 참여한 교수자들이 고임팩트 교수·학습 전략(High-Impact Practices, HIPs)을 어떻게 적용하였으며, 해외 수업 맥락에서 효과적인 수업을 구현하기 위해 어떠한 전략을 사용하였는지를 탐색한다. 특히 HIPs가 미국 고등교육 제도와 문화에서 발전하였다는 점을 고려하여, 서로 다른 문화적 맥락에서의 적용 가능성을 비판적으로 검토하였다. 사례연구 방법을 활용하여, 미국 대학 소속으로 해외 파견 프로그램에 참여해 인도 대학생들을 가르친 대학원생 강사 5명을 인터뷰하였다. 교수자들은 미국 교실에서 실천하던 방식 그대로 HIPs를 적용하였다. 그러나 인도 학생들에 대한 충분하지 못한 이해와 미묘한 인식론적 자문화중심주의로 인해 동일한 효과를 거두지 못하였다. 포커스그룹 인터뷰에서 교수자들은 자신의 문화와 HIPs 적용 교수법을 비판적으로 성찰하면서 성공적 교차문화적 수업경험을 위해 현지 학생들은 단순히 지식 수용자가 아닌 수업을 함께 구성해가는 필수 협력자로 인식하게 되었다. 또한 의사소통의 명확성을 크게 강화함으로써, 가상 수업 환경에서HIPs를 보다 문화감응적 방식으로 재구성하는 방법을 모색하였다.본 연구는 고등교육 국제화 시대에 해외 파견 교수자들이 타문화적 맥락에서 효과적이고 의미 있는 대학 수업을 운영하기 위해 요구되는 핵심 역량을 이해하는 데 기여하고자 한다.
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