Abstract: This paper reports on the development of a problem based learning (PBL) approach to lectures in a large first-year subject in an undergraduate business degree. The PBL approach was adopted as a means of encouraging students to engage with the formal discourse of the subject discipline and to ground the theories presented in the subject in an authentic simulation of business practice. The first-year undergraduate subject Management and Organisation Behaviour (M&OB) is one of eight in a compulsory common core for all Bachelor of Business degrees offered by Victoria University in Melbourne.The subject is taught across three campuses in Melbourne, and at offshore partner institutions. The subject normally has about 900 students in Melbourne and around 300 students offshore each semester. Students in M&OB come from a diverse range of business degree specialisations. Assessment, central in forming students’ perceptions of learning, has been designed using Biggs’ concept of constructive alignment.
The diversity of degree specialisations for students taking M&OB often results in some them not seeing the relevance of the subject to their degree or their career goals. This has lead to students disengaging from the subject, not attending lectures that they see as ‘boring’ and subsequently failing.
In an attempt to capture students’ interest lectures have been written as a semester-long story centred on a fictional organisation. The characters in the organisation are used to present management theory in the context of authentic business situations. Students are able to participate in the decision making processes of the organisation. Questions about issues faced by the organisation are put to the students during the lecture and they respond using wireless “clicker” devices. Their responses are recorded automatically and can be immediately projected onscreen during the lecture.
Student feedback has been positive and tutors are reporting an improvement in the quality of tutorial participation. Any impact on pass rates is as yet inconclusive, evidence points to an enrichment of the overall student learning experience. However, the lectures rely on the ability of the lecturer to be a convincing ‘raconteur’ and the effects of student participation on the unfolding ‘story’ of the fictional business raises difficult questions regarding the consistent delivery of the subject across multiple campuses with different lecturers. It also meets with problems when lecturers have limited industry experience; student perception of the authenticity of the PBL scenarios may be diminished due to this (Savin-Baden, 2000, p.1). The experiential learning model conflicts with the traditional didactic form of lecture delivery.
Key Words: Problem Based Learning, Constructive Alignment, Undergraduate, Business Degree, experiential learning
Abstract: The Gulf States have identified educational sponsorship as one of the most powerful means of building a better qualified national work force, with a view to redressing the overrepresentation of expatriates in the private sector. Over the past five to seven years, this has created an opportunity for Australian education providers to enrol Gulf Nationals who have been identified as the elite of their high school graduating cohort and sponsored to obtain specialist qualifications overseas.
In general, it has been observed that the students’ academic performance has met neither the institution’s nor the sponsor’s expectations, nor indeed the students’ or their families’. The accepted explanations for the students’ difficulties include: outmoded pedagogical practice in their home countries; the challenges of learning in English; gaps between assumed knowledge and actual high school curriculum; and religious/cultural difference. However, these do not satisfactorily explain why these students’ experience of Australian education differs sodramatically from that of other international students. This study in progress questions some of the assumptions held about Gulf Sponsored students, working on the premise that more productive support mechanisms may be employed once the students’ expectations are better understood.
Abstract: This presentation bases on a PHD research project, which is a detailed case study with the focus on exploring the academic adaptation experiences of a group of Chinese coursework postgraduate students studying in a faculty which is a popular choice of international students at one Australian university.
In twenty years, international education has become Australia’s fourth-highest export earner and the second largest service export industry (Australian Trade Commission, 2006). International students not only bring substantial revenue to Australian universities, but also bring challenges to their overseas study and their host universities. International students from the People’s Republic of China play a significant role in this market with a 25% share of the market (Australian Government Australian Education International, 2006). For Chinese students and their families, coming to study in Australia is possibly the most significant academic investment in the students’ life. Thus, there is high expectation for successful academic achievement.
Due to different educational background and culture, Chinese students have a different perception of their academic role and tasks than do Australian staff and students. Therefore, there is a very important and urgent problem: adjustment to the new educational environment. It is very clear that Chinese students have encountered challenges in their adjustment to studying in Australian universities, which have a great impact on the success of their academic achievement in Australia. The purpose of the presentation is: What can Australian universities and lecturers, as well as Chinese students themselves, do to smooth the adjustment experience?
The presentation includes three parts: 1. general background and relevant literature review of the project; 2. some results from the interviews with the lecturers, academic study support staff and Chinese students in the project, results on their understanding of the academic adaptation process; 3. discussions and suggestions for what can be done to improve the academic adaptation process.
Key Words: international students, Chinese coursework postgraduate students, academic adaptation
Introduction: The paper explains the inception and continuing development of an Academic Professional Development Seminar series for the teaching staff at what appears to be the institution, in Australia with the largest number of international students. There is an explanation about the business venture followed by information about the initiation and on-going provision of the program. A brief report is included which indicates a summary of the participants’ recommendations, about teaching and learning, from the 2006 Seminars, to date. Further, a list of suggested topics for future seminars, is provided.
Key words: professional development, teaching and learning, academic staff
Abstract: A look at the recent statistics will show that large numbers of students from South Asia
are now undertaking postgraduate studies in Australian universities. This paper, drawn from data collected for a broader study about South Asian postgraduate coursework students’ initial understandings, expectations of Australian postgraduate studies and their gradual adaptation experiences, will limit itself to analyzing a few themes that emerge in their initial expectations and experiences.
More specifically the paper aims at providing an overview of the students’ diverse experiences as
international students in Australia, exploring some of their initial expectations as postgraduate students, exploring some of their initial academic experiences of lectures, class participation.
Key words: South Asian students, international students, academic expectations, adjustment experiences, Postgraduate coursework students, class participation, cultural difference.
