I'll be completely honest from the beginning of this post - I haven't done much in the realm of Ph.D. work this month other than just a little bit of reading. But, various other things have come up that might make for interesting reading, or at least what passes for interesting reading here on the blog. Let's get into it. The MoveMost of May was taken up with our move. Even though it was a relatively short distance, it still felt like any other move. Weeks of packing up boxes, realizing that we didn't have enough boxes (and too much stuff), finding things that we thought we'd lost, etc. As I mentioned in my last post, this was my 21st move, give or take, and at this point, I don't find the process to be overly stressful. That said, juggling a move with everything else - even a short move, still complicates life a fair bit. But, I'm sitting in the new office as I type this, so we're all still alive and kicking. The downside is that we moved into a house about half the size of the previous place. The upside is that I now live 110 steps from the lake (of course I counted - those fish aren't going to catch themselves!). All's well that ends well, they say. So it is. The ReadingThough I didn't read as much as I'd have liked, the few articles that I found time for were great. I spent a good deal of time with a paper titled Influences of academic culture in Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL): Differences in Mexican and U.S. students' reported experiences (Ramirez, 2020). As I continue the process of zeroing in on my Ph.D. topic, I'm finding that I'm energized by research which highlights the rockiness that come with virtual exchanges. in this paper, the author found that student preparedness and course format were hugely impactful on the lived experience of participants in the course. In fact, while the U.S. students primarily reported satisfaction with the course, the Mexican students were on the other side of the spectrum. Overall, it was a good read that helped me think through issues centered on power imbalance, student preparedness, and pedagogical bias which will all feature in my research. I also enjoyed an article recently published in the Journal of Studies in International Education (JSIE) called The Transformative Learning Potential in the Hybrid Space Between Technology and Intercultural Encounters (Jorgensen et al, 2020). This paper highlights other limitations in the virtual space: skills and attitudes of lecturers and asymmetries in project goals. I won't go into the reason that I love this paper. That said, if you can get your hands on it, I'd recommend it. Especially if you're currently working or planning to work on COIL projects, this paper has some important points to make that you'd be well-served in considering. Lastly, since I spent so much time packing, I took the opportunity to get through an audiobook. I LOVED listening to Customs of the World: Using Cultural Intelligence to Adapt, Wherever You Are, a Great Courses audiobook by Dr. David Livermore. If you're active in the intercultural learning space, you've likely already heard of Cultural Intelligence, or CQ. It's something that I've been familiar with for a few years, but this audiobook in particular made the concepts come to life for me. As I think through new ways to prepare and equip faculty for COIL development, I see CQ and the research behind it as a fabulous way to bake the intercultural learning into disciplinary courses. Maybe more on that in a future post. The International Educators Discord CommunityIf you've been following the International Educators Discord Community journey, you might know this already, but we're turning six months old in June! It's exciting enough that the whole thing didn't crash and burn right away, but to make it to six months and showing good signs of continues growth is fabulous. I'll be putting out the second "State of the Server" video in the next week or so to update everyone and lay out the next six month roadmap, so stay tuned! Exciting things to come. That's all for now - apologies if this one was a bit short. I'm happy to say that I've got a paper due at the end of June, so for those of you eager to have tasty Ph.D. content to read, you'll get a whole feast in the next post. Until then, let's all start practicing our handshakes again.
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Alright, we've made it through the second month of this five-year mission! In this month's post, I'll talk about my thoughts of a few of the things that I read this month, give a full (ish) list of my reading, share my continuing uncertainty about my research topic, and more. This Month's ReadingAs I continue to hone in on my research topic (more on that later), I've been reading and rereading books, articles, blog posts, reports....it's been a lot of reading. This probably goes without saying, but if you ever want to tackle a Ph.D., figure out a system of reading and notetaking that works for you. You'll be putting those skills to use pretty much constantly straight from the beginning. I've been spending a lot of time reading three books in particular which come from the ubiquitous series, Internationalization in Higher Education, edited by Elspeth Jones and published by Routledge. I mentioned the series in my previous post, but I'm going to again for two reasons:
The three that I've been exploring this month are: ![]() This books is particularly interesting to me for a number of reasons. First of all, I'm a sucker for a good case study. This book covers an online intercultural competency course for students on international exchange programs and then presents the perspectives of a handful or participants. Pretty neat, eh? To top it off, the last chapter is titled "Lessons learned: Optimising study abroad through online intercultural education". I'll admit to you all that I skipped ahead to the end - I couldn't resist that title. If you're interested in how hybrid programs can enhance global learning, this book is for you. It really is a great read, and I love how the author ends the book. The last sentence of a book about marrying mobility and eLearning? "Exciting days ahead!" ![]() This is a more traditional collection of associated chapters from multiple authors, and wow is it a banger! There are a number of chapter which jumped out at me during my first readthrough; chapters like "The digital information ecology of international students: Understanding the complexity of communication" and "Cultural learning preferences, blended learning, and the internationalization of curriculum". There are so many great things to pull out of these chapters, and I'm looking forward to my second readthrough when I start marking things up. If you were intrigued by the book above, I'd suggest reading the last chapter of this one, titled "Creating an online orientation course: The journey to internationalizing the campus. Similar topics from different angles, but they pair nicely, like chocolate and peppermint. Or chocolate and more chocolate. ![]() I'll admit that this is the book that I've spent the least amount of time with - not for lack of interest, but because I got caught up with a few articles and haven't circled back. Dialogue is a huge player in COIL, which I'm working on in my day job, and I'm eager to get a first pass through this book to see how I can work its lessons into my professional practice. There have been a handful of articles that I've gone through as well, mostly as I try to sniff out the details of my research topic. Nothing mind-shattering to share from them, but there have been some interesting new articles published about student perceptions and preparedness relating to online global education programs that you should check out if you're in that sphere. Research Ping PongHave you ever been out to eat with someone and after you look over the menu, you think "Yep, I'm definitely getting the fish and chips. I knew that's what I wanted when I came in and that's what I'm getting", but then you see that they have a Reuben with corned beef that they make themselves? It's like that. You might know that I've been particularly interested in DEI topics within education abroad since I entered the field, and even before that as an undergrad. It's something that I care deeply about, but also an area where I am always doubting that I'm the right person to be doing research. Should a white, cisgender, Christian man from the Midwest really be talking about diversity issues? I have two camouflage hoodies, for Pete's sake. The optics alone are enough to get the Twittersphere abuzz. So, I've been thinking about not doing that. The other direction to go in, and there area in which I'm doing the majority of my reading, is virtual exchange and COIL. Most of my work now is focused around faculty-led and virtual programs, and as it's a relatively new area within global education research, I think that there's a niche to be found there, but I can't shake my belief that I should be researching and writing about DEI topics. Maybe there's a middle ground? Virtual programs are often touted as being more accessible and equitable, but are they really? What issues are generated by the virtual space that are unique? What power dynamics do we as practitioners need to keep in mind as we develop and implement COIL programs? Still thinking through these ideas, but I think that there's something there... On the home front...My wife and I are packing up our things to move after just over a year living here - our second move in our first two years of marriage, and my....21st move I think? I've lost count at this point. Anyway, it's boxes and packing tape and pickup loads of stuff over to the new house. It's about half as big as where we live now, BUT it's right on a lake and within 5 miles of my in-laws' family farm, so it's hard to complain. This has been a great "pandemic house", but there's not a ton to do in this area, so I've spent a lot of time on my butt getting fat. The lake house will be a fantastic and important change of lifestyle. Now if I could only find that time traveling mailbox...
Well, that's about it for this month's blog post. I'll share more as things develop. As always, if you have questions or suggestions or just an article to share, you know where to find me. I suppose I'll end this on a cute note. We've had our pandemic puppy for 6 months! He's just under 10 months old and 67 pounds. He's also the cutest dog you ever did see. Here's Charlie. Hi all, Adam here with the first "real" monthly blog post for this 5-year project of blogging my way through my Ph.D. in Internationalisation of Higher Education. If you're not sure what's going on, you can get up to speed by reading my introductory post. My first seminar of the Ph.D. started this week with some great presentations and a newcomer session (which I obviously attended). In non-COVID times (read as "The Before Times"), these seminars took place on-site in Milan and Brescia (a smaller town about 30 minutes from Milan). Sadly, we're all confined to Zoom windows instead of being able to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of northern Italy. Alas....fingers crossed for the fall seminar, though! This seems a good a times as any to give a bit more information about the Ph.D. program that I'll be working through over the next 5 years. Hosted by the The Centre for Higher Education Internationlisation (CHEI) at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, the Ph.D. is built specifically for working practitioners who need a less-than-full-time program. Completed remotely apart from the twice-yearly seminars, the program is a fantastic option for just about anyone globally, and indeed in the newcomer session, there were ten or so nationalities represented among about as many participants. Italy, Ecuador, The United States, Sweden, and more were represented. To be a part of such a diverse group of professionals all seeking to become real experts in internationalization was a definite excitement; the first of many that I expect as I make progress in the program. In a very real sense, it felt much like my time on-campus at SIT Graduate Institute; high expectations, intercultural learning, a dash of anxiety, and a heavy pour of knowing that by the end, we'll all be pulling each other across the finish line. |
AuthorHi, my name is Adam, and I'm currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Internationalisation of Higher Education. This blog is where I share my progress, ideas, and much more. Archives
February 2024
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