Content uploaded by Tobias Schmohl
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Tobias Schmohl on Jan 02, 2024
Content may be subject to copyright.
TeachingXchange
6
Exploring Internationalization
in Higher Education
From Splendid Isolation
to Global Engagement
Birgit Wolf, Tobias Schmohl, Larisa Buhin,
Michael Stricker (Eds.)
From Splendid Isolation
to Global Engagement
Exploring Internationalization
in Higher Education
Birgit Wolf, Tobias Schmohl, Larisa Buhin,
Michael Stricker (Eds.)
Editors of the “TeachingXchange” Series
Prof. Dr. Tobias Schmohl is a professor and dean of research at the OWL Technical
University of Applied Sciences and Art’s Department of Media Production. He specializes in
teaching and learning sciences, focusing on higher education studies, curriculum studies,
and philosophy of science.
Dipl.-Päd. Dennis Schäer is head of project development at the Education & Craf ts
Founda tion. The foc us of his work is o n practice -orient ed and innovat ive projec ts against t he
backgr ound of the upco ming social and e conomic chall enges in the fut ure.
“TeachingXchange”
The publication series “TeachingXchange” invites stakeholders in higher education to exchange novel ideas
and proven concepts around academic teaching and learning. In addition to oering the opportunity to share
best pr actice exp eriences, th e series also p rovides a space t o present inno vative appro aches, creat ive formats
and methods that deviate from the mainstream.
The individual publications, which are linked to a volume under one topic, are to be understood as examples
of implementation or contributions to the discourse on subject-related or higher education didactics by the
author s. Practic ally reected essays can b e published tha t seek theoret ical connec tions to current education al
science concepts, models or discourses. In addition, contributions are included that reect on and examine
one's own te aching prac tice using obse rvational f orms of resear ch.
Contact Series Editors
Prof. Dr. Tobias S chmohl Dipl.-Pä d. Dennis Schä er
tobias.schmohl@th-owl.de dennis.schaeer@s-b-h.de
Exploring Internationalization
in Higher Education
Birgit Wolf, Tobias Schmohl, Larisa Buhin,
Michael Stricker (Eds.)
From Splendid Isolation
to Global Engagement
2023 wbv Publikation
a business division
wbv Media GmbH & Co. KG, Bielefe ld
Overall production:
wbv Media GmbH & Co. KG, Bielefe ld
wbv.de
Cover design: Christiane Zay, Passau
ISBN (Print): 978 -3-7639-7568-6
ISB N (E-B ook) : 978-3 -7639-75 69-3
DOI: 10.3278/9783763975693
Printed in Germany
This publication is freely available for download at
wbv-open-access.com
This pub lication, with t he exception of th e cover photo, is
published under the following Creative Commons licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
All trad e names, company na mes and brand nam es used
in this wor k and company and br and names used in this
work may be protected by intellectual property rights,
even if the y are not designate d as such. Their use in this
work does not justify the assumption that they are freely
available.
Bibliographic information of the German National Library
The German National Library lists this publication in the German National Bibliography;
detailed bibliogr aphic data are ava ilable on the Inte rnet at http://dnb.d -nb.de.
Contents
Larry Moneta
From Splendid Isolation to Global Engagement: Reflecting Global and
Domestic Changes ...................................................
Birgit Wolf, Tobias Schmohl, Larisa Buhin & Michael Stricker
From Splendid Isolation to Global Engagement: Exploring Internationalization
in Higher Education — A Comprehensive Perspective ......................
The Global Classroom ................................................
Kristin O’Rourke, Carolin Kreber
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a
Canadian University ..................................................
Søren S. E. Bengtsen
Doctoral Education In-the-World. (Dis-)Connections between Research and
Society .............................................................
Brian D. Crawford
The Liberal Arts Approach to Higher Education: A Case for the Humanities .....
Rebecca Charry Roje
“The Teacher always announced our Grades out loud.” Student Motivation and
International Practices in Assessment Privacy .............................
Nadejda Burow, Michael Stricker
Academic Writing in the Study Entrance Phase ............................
Marius Fahrner, Birgit Wolf, Christiane Schmieder
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing. Synchronous Lecture
Formats and Student Competence Development ...........................
Karin Sonnleitner, Dominik Rueis
The Role of Formative Assessments in Competency-based Online Teaching of
Higher Education Institutions ..........................................
Nikolina Božinović, Ana Havelka Meštrović
Multicultural and Multilingual Learning Environments: Challenges and
Advantages .........................................................
Training Global Citizens ...............................................
Larisa Buhin, Jules Moskovits
Respect, Reflect, Revise: Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a Globalized
Undergraduate Classroom .............................................
Holger Luedeke, Reinar Luedeke
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers: Findings from
a Long-Term Career Panel in Germany ...................................
Peter Theiss-Abendroth
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin ..................................
Iva Čondić-Jurkić
Valuation Projects: A Taste of Real Life in Finance Education .................
Majken Bieniok
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for Professional Teacher
Trainings: The EVe-LaB Training Program as a Case Study ...................
Peter Schmidt, Vanja Vejzagić
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:Experience and Insights .........
Holger Lüdeke, Sabra Brock
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or Critical Distance? .................
Author Descriptions ..................................................
Contents
From Splendid Isolation to Global Engagement:
Reecting Global and Domestic Changes
Foreword
L M
Studies indicate that nearly million students enroll in colleges and universities out
side their home countries. While a relatively small percentage of the overall college
student body of approximately million, the impact of international students’ pres
ence at institutions of higher education is significant. Every aspect of the college experi
ence offers the opportunity to engage international students as learners or, conversely,
to widen the divide between their domestic student counterparts. For an international
student, simply navigating institutional housing, dining, healthcare, and recreational
processes can be daunting and discouraging. Fortunately, many institutions offer sup
port through dedicated offices and services directed specifically at addressing these
needs. However, admitting international students into a college or university hardly
ensures a truly integrative and engaging experience - one where international and do
mestic students authentically learn from each other’s experiences and environments.
As uncomfortable as it may be for international students to adapt to the cultural,
logistical, and educational differences associated with study in a foreign country, neces
sity is, according to the proverb, the “mother of invention” requiring international stu
dents to adjust as needed, generally with some help from the institution, in order to
survive and advance. Domestic students in most countries may avoid all forms of dis
comfort, often choosing paths of least resistance through their post-graduate studies
and beyond. A truly global and internationally focused education stretches the mind,
enables experiences beyond the sheltered norm and encourages exposure to alternate
viewpoints, challenging conditions, and cultural diversity.
International and domestic students are often too sheltered from the life experi
ences of others. Both will benefit from understanding the plights of first-generation
students, students with various immigration backgrounds, gendered perspectives, reli
gious and racial differences, sexual orientation, and other identity characteristics. To be
sure, designing a curriculum and pedagogical practices that can effectively introduce
identity, cultural, and environmental differences spanning local and international per
spectives is complex and daunting. Yet, it is this very challenge that makes this book
and the work of Wolf, Schmohl, Buhin, and Stricker even more compelling.
Over my nearly -year career in higher education, both as a faculty member and
an administrator, I’ve rarely seen effective approaches to truly internationalizing the
https://timeassociation.org/wp-content/uploads///TIME_Association_International_Mobility_Report.pdf
collegiate experience. International students are generally expected to adjust to local
rules and rituals with fairly significant disregard for confusing and stressful cultural
conditions and expectations. As a result, international students often bond only with
other international students and avoid or are uninvited to connect with domestic stu
dents.
Equally suboptimal are the international exposure and content offered to domestic
students. For those who can and opt to study abroad for a semester or two, the interna
tional experience can be meaningful and illuminating. This is especially true for stu
dents who seek opportunities outside their comfort zones and choose international
venues where culture, history, and conditions require substantial acculturation and re
conditioning. Unfortunately, educational tourism often influences the choices of host
countries and institutions.
Internationalizing a curriculum requires heightened sensitivity to a host of critical
factors. Global challenges and conditions influence pedagogy and course content; local
political processes and contexts, including national immigration policies and conflicts
as well as racial, gender, and religious conditions (among other identity concerns), in
fluence teaching and learning; and regional circumstances and relationships (e. g., Eu
ropean, Pan-Asian, and Latin American distinctions) greatly influence educational pri
orities, perspectives, and environments. Thus, curricula and pedagogy are always in
flux and subject to forces within a country’s context and history as much as they are
shaped by external influences such as visiting international students and scholars.
But nowhere is the opportunity for genuine internationalization of the learner
more likely and currently under-realized than in the classroom. Internationalizing the
classroom experience requires new and effective approaches to teaching and learning
in both didactic and experiential forms. An internationalized curriculum should con
textualize learner outcomes in varied and global circumstances. Problem-based learn
ing that features cases and scenarios grounded in world-wide crises, conditions, and
characteristics will transcend narrower local perspectives. Experiential elements of a
course that embed students in multinational and international challenges should stim
ulate far greater creativity, reflection, and understanding of life beyond domestic bor
ders and invite more intensive and fulfilling engagement with students who bring dif
ferent experiences and expectations to the institution.
All this is to simply affirm the timeliness and critical need for this book. By focus
ing on the teaching mission of colleges and universities, Wolf, Schmohl, Buhin and
Stricker have provided a set of chapters, each of which addresses key opportunities for
genuine internationalization of instructional processes. Readers are invited to draw
from these texts a variety of innovative approaches to inform curricular development,
the integration of experiential techniques to complement formal teaching methodolo
gies, and the application of technologies that permit both asynchronous and synchro
nous learning on a campus and everywhere in the world where their students are likely
to be found.
This book will inspire enhanced approaches to assessment of learning outcomes,
the development of competencies, and consideration of the multicultural, multilingual,
From Splendid Isolation to Global Engagement: Reecting Global and Domestic Changes
and identity diversity ever present in all classrooms. Suggestions are grounded in
theory, offered with evidence of efficacy, and featured with considerable flexibility to
meet the needs of institutions across the globe. The chapters address the internationali
zation of the liberal arts as well as of pre-professional education.
“From splendid isolation to global engagement: exploring internationalization in
higher education” offers unambiguous advocacy. To avoid democratization and inter
nationalization of the classroom is to stay rooted in outdated and ineffective models of
teaching with diminished outcomes. For the next generation of leaders to be properly
prepared for the challenges ahead—all of which have global implications—colleges
and universities must dramatically alter their educational efforts. Wolf, Schmohl,
Buhin and Stricker provide a roadmap and a wide variety of tools for innovation in
teaching and learning, which will inspire institutional leaders and faculty to rise to the
occasion.
Larry Moneta, Ed.D
Vice President for Student Affairs (retired)
Duke University
Larry Moneta
From Splendid Isolation to Global Engagement:
Exploring Internationalization in Higher
Education — A Comprehensive Perspective
B W, T S, L B M S
Introduction
. The Evolution and Impact of Internationalization in Higher Education
In the modern academic milieu, internationalization has emerged as a vital aspect and
objective within universities around the globe. Originating in the s, this phenom
enon has witnessed significant transformation, including the escalating recruitment of
international students, the integration of global perspectives into curricula, and the ex
pansion of research collaborations. These shifts have empowered students to tap into
career opportunities overseas, thereby augmenting their employability and, for some,
even serving as pathways to immigration (OECD, ).
In general terms, internationalization refers to the “infusion of an international or
intercultural dimension into teaching, research, and service through a combination of
a wide range of activities, policies, and procedures” (Knight, , p. ). As character
ized by Teichler (), the concept includes, among others, the following six main as
pects: the global transfer of knowledge through various media; physical mobility across
countries involving students and staff; international cooperation and communication
among countries and educational institutions; international education and research
fostering intercultural learning and understanding; international convergence and
similarity; and the pursuit of international reputation and quality.
Teichler adds, however, that these classifications are not rigoros. For instance, the
Bologna Process in Europe (Curaj et al., ) highlighted additional factors such as
student mobility flows, internationalization as a catalyst for change in higher educa
tion, intercultural competence, strategic international cooperation, funding for interna
tionalization, and a quality review of internationality. These aspects align with the
OECDʼs () definition of internationalization, which encapsulates the infusion of
an international or intercultural dimension into a universityʼs core functions such as
teaching, research, and service.
Knight () aptly distinguishes between Internationalization Abroad (IA) and
Internationalization at Home (IaH). IA refers to the mobility of students, faculty, and
staff, whereas IaH signifies the process of diversifying and globalizing the curriculum
and pedagogy in order to appeal to both international and non-traditional domestic stu
dents (Sa & Serpa, ). IA and IaH, while distinct, interact synergistically to enhance
internationalization. For example, the internationalization of home curricula aug
ments the experience of students studying within their countries while simultaneously
attracting more international students.
The global crisis induced by the COVID- pandemic underscored the need for
technology-supported activities (de Wit & Altbach, ), triggering the inception of a
third paradigm, Internationalization at a Distance (IaD):
“a rising number of technology-supported activities have created new opportunities for
university internationalization. For example, students can now remain ʻat homeʼ while
using technology to study with an institution or program that is simultaneously located
ʻabroadʼ. We have conceptualized these activities as a new third category called Interna
tionalization at a Distance” (Mittelmeier et al., ).
IaD encompasses all forms of cross-border education where teaching and learning pro
cesses need to be facilitated by technology because students, personnel, and institu
tional resources are geographically separated (Mittelmeier et al., ). The current dis
course in this context is geared towards exploring the development of studentsʼ
intercultural competence and its implications for online collaborative international
learning pedagogy (Liu & Shirley, ).
. Internationalization at Home and its Implications for Higher Education
Our discussion within this book focuses on IaH, which encompasses initiatives aimed
at amplifying the international and intercultural dimensions of higher education
within the domestic campus:
“Internationalisation of the curriculum is the incorporation of an international and inter
cultural dimension into the content of the curriculum as well as the teaching and learning
processes and support services of a program of study” (Leask, , p. ).
From our viewpoint, IaH extends to curricular and co-curricular activities such as intro
ducing international themes in the curriculum, hosting international speakers, culti
vating intercultural competencies, and collaborating with international partners in re
search and educational projects (de Wit, ). Given its potential to prepare students
for becoming global citizens (Cottong et al., ), elevating institutional prestige, gen
erating research, addressing global issues, and contributing to the internationalization
of the local communities (Almeida et al, ), this manifestation of internationaliza
tion has gained strategic significance in higher education research, policy, and practice.
Leask () and Beelen and Leask () underscore that IaH should not be re
stricted solely to the presence of international students. Rather, it should be leveraged
as an opportunity to cultivate diversity within the classroom by expanding the defini
tion of culture to encompass elements such as gender and social class. This approach
holds particular promise for institutions aspiring to promote IaH but lacking a sub
stantial international student body.
Empirical evidence illustrating the efficacy of IaH in fostering global, interna
tional, and intercultural (GII) competencies has been provided by Soria and Troisi
(). Their study, conducted across nine large public research universities in the
United States, demonstrates that IaH activities significantly amplify studentsʼ cross-
From Splendid Isolation to Global Engagement: Exploring Internationalization in Higher Education
cultural and global competencies, thereby shaping them into globally competent grad
uates and citizens. Concurrently, Baldassar and Mckenzie () advocate the integra
tion of diverse pedagogical approaches in IaH activities to facilitate cross-cultural en
gagement, emphasizing cultural immersion, perspective-taking, critical reflection, and
community involvement as instrumental in achieving the anticipated benefits of IaH.
The COVID- pandemic has paradoxically catalyzed and impeded IaH, inducing
temporary reductions in mobility, increased use of teleconferencing, and modifications
to curricula, pedagogy, and assessment (Jensen, Marinoni, & vanʼt Land, ). These
changes could potentially become permanent, fostering greater participation and diver
sity in higher education. Simultaneously, the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and
the Russian Federation poses substantial challenges to globalization, affecting cross-
border flows of technology, economy, knowledge, people, values, and ideas. The conse
quent implications for higher education continue to evolve.
Internationalization in German Higher Education: The
Paradox of “splendid Isolation”
The term “Splendid Isolation”, coined by Wildt (), a well-known expert on German
higher education, aptly summarizes the prevailing condition in the country: despite a
myriad of educational initiatives being undertaken, a tangible disconnect from the
global pedagogical community exists. Supporting this assertion, staffing statistics from
German universities (DAAD, ) reveal that the share of international staff in the
total of , academics at German universities is a paltry . % (Fig. ).
Figure : Figure based on data provided by the German Federal Statistical Oce (university personnel statis
tics) and the data preparation in DAAD (, p. )
Birgit Wolf, Tobias Schmohl, Larisa Buhin & Michael Stricker
The proportion shrinks even further for foreign professorships: of the , academic
and artistic personnel with foreign citizenship, a mere . % (,) are professors
(Fig. ).
Figure : Figure based on data provided by the German Federal Statistical Oce (university personnel statis
tics) and the data preparation in DAAD (, p. )
Additionally, the “international” staff turns out to be mainly from Western Europe,
which is the primary region of origin for foreign academic employees, contributing
% of all foreign academic staff and % of foreign professors in Germany. A signifi
cant number of these foreign academics hail from German-speaking countries such as
Austria ( %) and Switzerland ( %).
This striking dearth of international pedagogical engagement stands in contrast to
the ongoing trends of globalization and regionalization, which typically reshape na
tional landscapes and inherently influence higher education systems (van der Hijden,
). This stark divergence between the nationally focused educational approach and
the evolving global milieu, characterized by increased migration and a rising demand
for international education, not only curtails the development of global citizenship and
authentic intercultural exchanges but also constrains the potential benefits for univer
sities and their increasingly diverse student communities.
The Evolving Role of Higher Education in
Internationalization: A Deep Dive into Our Publication
Against this backdrop, our publication serves as a humble attempt to probe into the
role of higher education in bolstering internationalization—more specifically: IaH—
with an intention to magnify the global facet of the three central missions of higher
From Splendid Isolation to Global Engagement: Exploring Internationalization in Higher Education
education: teaching, research, and societal service. Such integration culminates in the
enhancement of education and research quality for all students and staff, thereby mak
ing a significant contribution to society (de Wit, , p. ii). In this context, we find
Hudzikʼs () expansion of Knightʼs definition of “comprehensive internationaliza
tion” especially relevant as it encompasses the curriculum, the learning outcomes, and
the ethos of higher education.
Our publication is divided into two interconnected domains. The first field scruti
nizes responses to the changing and diverse classroom environment that results from
IaH. These contributions focus on curriculum adaptations meant to cater to an increas
ingly student body (Sa & Serp. ), taking into account incoming international stu
dents as well as societal shifts such as immigration influx. The second area focuses on
educational goals with an international outlook, particularly the development of inter
cultural and social competencies deemed crucial for higher education graduates and
prospective global citizens.
The chapters in this book are primarily written by educators and researchers who
strive to address the social dimension by adjusting their curricula and teaching meth
odologies in highly international and intercultural higher education institutions. We
believe that the cross-disciplinary nature of the chapters will demonstrate that interna
tionalization and interculturalism in the classroom are vital considerations across all
academic fields.
As a community of educators, we share the conviction that higher education tran
scends the mere transmission of information and the facilitation of learning. It also has
a growing duty to prepare a workforce capable of meeting the demands of an increas
ingly industrialized, technologically advanced, and globalized world. In response to
this, higher education must keep pace with developments in various industrial and
technological sectors.
In compiling the chapters in this book, we seek to foster a pioneering spirit of
transformation and evolution in the sector of higher education, pinpointing ways to
increase the accessibility and advantages of higher education to the wider public. It is
incumbent upon educational institutions to not just educate but also to foster an inclu
sive environment advocating for equity, diversity, and responsiveness to local commu
nity needs. We argue that integrating internationalization across institutional struc
tures and operations is crucial. By nurturing a campus culture that esteems and
promotes intercultural exchange, the international potential of the student body can be
fully realized, resulting in a more socially conscious and diverse university. We trust
this book will offer readers insights and guidance on how to navigate the changing
landscape of internationalized higher education at home and provide practical ap
proaches to teaching and learning for future global citizens.
Part I: The Global Classroom: Embracing Diversity, Inclusivity, and
Sustainability
In a world that is becoming increasingly globalized, education must equip students
with the skills to navigate the complexities that accompany a diverse society. Conse
Birgit Wolf, Tobias Schmohl, Larisa Buhin & Michael Stricker
quently, the first section of this book takes a broad look at the necessary transforma
tions regarding teaching and learning practices within higher education. It under
scores the importance of cultivating comprehensive viewpoints and the development of
inclusive pedagogies and curricula to serve a diverse student body. Additionally, it
sheds light on the importance of incorporating sustainability studies to help students
confront the challenges that come with crossing cultural, national, and geographical
boundaries.
The contribution by O’Rourke and Kreber delves into the experiences of Indian
students in Canada. The authors conducted surveys and semi-structured interviews to
gain insights into these students’ experiences in the Canadian university system. The
authors’ findings underscore the importance of understanding diverse perspectives
and adapting teaching and learning practices accordingly. Such practices will foster a
more inclusive and accommodating environment for an international student body.
Bengtsen’s work further emphasizes the need to adapt educational practices and
foster inclusivity. His focus is on doctoral education, specifically the requirement for
higher education to produce socially responsible researchers. Bengtsen’s discussion
brings attention to the societal demands and globalization agendas that are shaping
PhD programs and doctoral education.
Crawford’s work echoes the sentiments shared by Bengtsen and stresses the need
for education to cultivate well-rounded, socially responsible individuals. His focus is on
the value of humanities education within the context of a liberal arts approach. The
article underscores the need for international and culturally diverse education and the
importance of adapting course outcomes to multicultural settings.
Charry Roje’s article explores the cultural implications of assessment privacy,
an area often overlooked in discussions of intercultural learning. The investigation
emphasizes the importance of understanding and adapting educational practices to
accommodate cultural differences, ultimately creating an inclusive learning environ
ment.
Fahrner, Wolf, and Schmieder’s research provides empirical data on the shift
from on-campus to online teaching and learning in higher education during the
COVID- pandemic. Their findings suggest that well-planned and utilized technical
environments may positively affect students’ competence development. The authors
also highlight the importance of fostering interdisciplinary skills to empower students
to solve problems independently and collaboratively.
Sonnleitner and Ruffeis examine the importance of formative assessment in on
line and blended learning environments, a topic of great relevance in the digital age.
Their work explores the significance of Bloom’s taxonomy and constructive alignment
in facilitating a more student-centered and competency-based approach to teaching
and learning.
Stricker and Burow demonstrate how academic writing assistance can further en
hance teaching and learning practices in higher education. Their contribution presents
a course titled “Techniques of Academic Work” (TAW), which aids students in their
introductory period by teaching academic writing skills.
From Splendid Isolation to Global Engagement: Exploring Internationalization in Higher Education
Lastly, Božinović and Havelka Meštrović address the role of learning strategies in
language acquisition within multicultural and multilingual learning environments.
Their work emphasizes the importance of educators being familiar with the necessary
skills and methods for successful language teaching in a multicultural setting.
Taken together, these chapters present a comprehensive view of the various strat
egies needed to internationalize higher education. They discuss the significance of in
clusive pedagogies, the understanding of diverse perspectives, and the adaptation of
teaching and learning practices to meet the needs of a diverse student body in an in
creasingly globalized world.
Part II: Training Global Citizens: Integration of Multicultural and International
Dimensions into the Curriculum
The increasingly globalized nature of our contemporary society calls for an inclusive
and internationalized higher education system that equips students with the necessary
multicultural competencies. Our authors have risen to this challenge. In this section,
they present theoretical approaches, empirical data, and their own experiences as in
structors in higher education.
Buhin and Moskovits lay the groundwork, advocating for education steeped in lib
eration pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, and cultural humility. They have de
veloped courses emphasizing critical thinking and bias identification in students.
These courses, with their focus on culturally relevant literature and disclosure of as
sessment methods, contribute to a lively and encouraging learning environment.
In the spirit of internationalizing education, Lüdeke and Lüdeke further build
upon this concept by calling attention to the importance of language education in the
context of management careers. Noting the significance of students’ early decisions
regarding their foreign language specializations, they show how language acquisition
can expand the cultural understanding crucial to a global workforce.
The theme of practical skill development is central to our discussions. Čondić-
Jurkić presents an innovative approach: a semester-long valuation project integrated
into finance education. Echoing Buhin and Moskovits’ focus on critical thinking, Čon
dić-Jurkić’s project is designed to encourage students to hone the same skill, applied to
a real-world business context. Additionally, it links with Lüdeke and Lüdeke’s emphasis
on career preparation by offering students insight into potential career paths.
Despite these innovative approaches, challenges persist. Theiss-Abendroth details
one such issue, discussing the difficulties in integrating psychoanalysis into higher
education. Despite the complexity and controversy surrounding the field, Theiss-Abend-
roth aligns with our earlier authors, emphasizing the need for open dialogue and com
prehensive understanding, a thread of thought that can be found in all of the contribu
tions.
Biniok presents an innovative experiential training program, the EVe-LaB Train
ing Program. Much like Čondić-Jurkić’s valuation project, this program employs
hands-on learning. Aligning with Theiss-Abendroth’s approach, Biniok’s program also
necessitates deep understanding and application of a field of knowledge—in this case,
teacher training—to ensure effective instruction.
Birgit Wolf, Tobias Schmohl, Larisa Buhin & Michael Stricker
As we redefine our traditional learning spaces, Schmidt & Vejzagić provide an ex
ample from RIT Croatia. They repurpose a classic introductory Financial Accounting
course using a flipped classroom model, connecting back to the theme of innovative
instruction and pedagogical strategies presented in previous contributions, thus fur
ther enriching the discourse on internationalizing higher education.
Finally, Lüdeke and Brock explore the impact of varied instructional strategies in
business education. Building on the interconnected themes of practical application and
critical thinking seen in Čondić-Jurkić’s contribution, Lüdeke and Brock examine how
deep familiarity with business practices can impact student perception and evaluation.
The synergy among these diverse yet interconnected perspectives illuminates our
understanding of internationalizing higher education. Each contribution emphasizes
the need for inclusive education that integrates theoretical knowledge with practical
skills, innovative pedagogical strategies, and a rich understanding of multicultural
competencies to prepare students for a globally interconnected workforce.
Conclusion
As we prepared this book and dug deeper into the various contributions, it became
evident to us that IaH is not merely a passing trend but a paradigm shift that is reshap
ing the landscape of higher education. This shift is driven by the realization that in our
increasingly interconnected world, it is essential for students to develop global compe
tencies and intercultural understanding.
As a strategy, IaH aims to incorporate an international and intercultural dimen
sion into the curriculum and pedagogy of institutions of higher education. This strat
egy enables all students to gain international exposure and develop global competen
cies, not just those who can afford to study abroad. It is a response to the requirement
that higher education prepare students for a globalized workforce and promote global
citizenship (Leask, ).
Implementing IaH necessitates novel pedagogical approaches capable of effec
tively integrating international and intercultural dimensions into the curriculum. This
book’s contributions demonstrate that these approaches should aim to foster students’
intercultural competencies, global awareness, and understanding of global issues.
The advantages of IaH are numerous. It improves educational quality by giving
students a global perspective and cultivating intercultural competencies that prepare
them for a globalized workforce. Furthermore, it contributes to the internationalization
of the local community and improves the international reputation of higher education
institutions (Altbach & Knight, ).
However, implementing IaH may also lead to new obstacles. For one, it necessi
tates a shift in institutional culture, modifications to the curriculum and pedagogy, and
investments in infrastructure and resources. In addition, successful long-term imple
mentation of IaH depends on the dedication and support of all stakeholders, including
faculty, students, and administrators (Leask, ).
From Splendid Isolation to Global Engagement: Exploring Internationalization in Higher Education
After editing this book, we believe that IaH is an essential response to the need for
higher education to prepare students for a globalized workforce and to foster global
citizenship. Successful implementation of IaH entails novel pedagogical approaches as
well as the commitment and support of all stakeholders. Despite the difficulties, how
ever, the advantages of IaH far outweigh the disadvantages, making it a worthwhile
investment for higher education institutions.
We hope that this book contributes to this development by providing inspiration
and insight that may enhance institutional prestige, generate research that addresses
global issues, help students become global citizens, and promote the internationaliza
tion of local communities. Last, but not least, we as the editors, would like to thank our
authors for their contributions and flexibility in meeting the special requirements of a
double-blind review process. It has been a great pleasure working on this project with
so many enthusiastic experts. Having mentioned this, we would of course particularly
like to thank the scientific reviewers who supported the quality assurance for this publi
cation by taking part in this double-blind review process.
References
Almeida, J., Robson, S., Morosini, M., & Baranzeli, C. (). Understanding Internation
alization At Home: Perspectives From the Global North And South. European Educa
tional Research Journal, 2(), –. https://doi.org/./
Altbach, P. G., & Knight, J. (). The Internationalization of Higher Education: Motiva
tions and Realities. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(–), –.
https://doi.org/./
Baldassar, L., & McKenzie, L. (). Beyond “Just Being There”. Teach Sociol, 2(), –.
https://doi.org/./x
Cotton, D. R. E., Morrison, D., Magne, P., Payne, S., & Heernan, T. (). Global Citizen
ship and Cross-cultural Competency: Student and Expert Understandings of Interna
tionalization Terminology. Journal of Studies in International Education, 23(), –.
https://doi.org/./
Curaj, A., Matei, L., Pricopie, R., Salmi, J., & Scott, P. (). The European higher education
area: Between critical reflections and future policies. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/
./----
DAAD [German Academic Exchange Service] (). Wissenschaft weltoen kompakt.
Daten und Fakten zur Internationalität von Studium und Forschung in Deutschland
und weltweit. Bielefeld.
de Wit, H. (). Internationalization of Higher Education: The Need for a More Ethical
and Qualitative Approach. Journal of International Students, 10(), i–iv. https://doi.org/
./jis.vi.
de Wit, H., & Altbach, P. (). Internationalization In Higher Education: Global Trends
and Recommendations For Its Future. Policy Reviews in Higher Education, 1(), –.
https://doi.org/./..
Birgit Wolf, Tobias Schmohl, Larisa Buhin & Michael Stricker
Jensen, T., Marinoni, G., & van’t Land, H. (). Second IAU global survey: Higher educa
tion one year into the COVID- pandemic. International Association of Universities.
https://www.iau-aiu.net/IMG/pdf/_iau_global_survey_report.pdf
Knight, J. (). Internationalization of higher education. In Programme on institutional
management in higher education: Internationalisation and quality management in
higher education (pp. –). OECD.
Knight, J. (). Crossborder education: An analytical framework for program and pro
vider mobility. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research
(pp. –). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/./---_
Leask, B. (). Using formal and informal curricula to improve interactions between
home and international students. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(),
–. https://doi.org/./
Leask, B. (). Internationalizing the curriculum. Routledge. https://doi.org/./
Liu, Y., & Shirley, T. (). Without crossing a border: Exploring the impact of shifting
study abroad online on students’ learning and intercultural competence development
during the COVID- pandemic. Online Learning, 25(), –. https://doi.org/
./olj.vi.
Mittelmeier, J., Rienties, B., Gunter, A., & Raghuram, P. (). Conceptualizing Interna
tionalization At a Distance: A “Third Category” Of University Internationalization.
Journal of Studies in International Education, 3(), –. https://doi.org/./
OECD (). Quality and Internationalisation in Higher Education, OECD Publishing
https://doi.org/./-en
OECD (). Education at a Glance : OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, https://
doi.org/./b-en
Sá, M. J., & Serpa, S. (). Cultural dimension in internationalization of the curriculum
in higher education. Education Sciences, 10(), . https://doi.org/./educsci
Soria, K., & Troisi, J. (). Internationalization At Home Alternatives To Study Abroad.
Journal of Studies in International Education, 3(), –. https://doi.org/./
Teichler, U. (). Internationalisation Trends in Higher Education and the Changing
Role of International Student Mobility. Journal of international Mobility, 5, –.
https://doi.org/./jim..
van der Hijden, P. (). Modernising higher education: the emergence of European pub
lic goods. Tuning Journal for Higher Education, 2(), –. https://doi.org/./
tjhe-()-pp-
Wildt, J. (). Entwicklung und Potentiale der Hochschuldidaktik. In M. Heiner &
J. Wildt (Eds.). Professionalisierung der Lehre. Perspektiven formeller und informeller
Entwicklung von Lehrkompetenz im Kontext der Hochschulbildung (pp. –). Bertels
mann. https://doi.org/./w
From Splendid Isolation to Global Engagement: Exploring Internationalization in Higher Education
The Global Classroom
Understanding Implications and Considerations
for International Students at a Canadian
University
K O’R, C K
Introduction
Increasing student mobility and thereby attracting students from other countries is one
among many strategies employed in the effort to internationalize higher education
(Knight, ). The motivations of the host country and institution for recruiting inter
national students are often many, varied, and at times conflicting. It has been argued
that these efforts are increasingly driven by economic considerations, but academic,
social/cultural, ethical, and political reasons are not uncommon either (Kreber, ).
Arguments in favor of attracting international students therefore range from seeking to
include a global perspective into courses and programs of study to increasing diversity
on campus and in the wider local community, to wanting to help the home country
innovate and develop, and to the hope of enhancing intercultural understanding
among graduates and society. An additional motivation for international student re
cruitment, especially at graduate and doctoral levels, is to secure the required brain
power to strengthen one’s own country’s economic, social, and cultural development,
as well as its competitiveness in a global knowledge economy, through research (Con
ference Board of Canada, ). The economic rationale obviously features strongly at
this level.
In a relatively sparsely populated region such as Cape Breton (Canada), which over
many years has experienced a steady decline in domestic students and a slowly diversi
fying economy (following the decline of a formerly booming industry based in coal and
steel), attracting international students is often seen as a beacon of hope for a more
prosperous future. In a context where government funding of public universities is
based on student enrollment, where gradual increases in annual transfer payments to
universities have not kept pace with inflation, and where tuition fees make up a sub
stantial proportion of an institution’s annual budget, many universities see the recruit
ment of more students—including international students—as imperative, not just for
development but often for sheer survival. In this article, we report on a small study
grounded in survey and interview data collected from international students and their
instructors at Cape Breton University (CBU), a small, primarily undergraduate institu
tion in Atlantic Canada that doubled its enrollment over the past five years, largely
through the recruitment of international students. Our focus is on students from India,
who make up the largest proportion of international students at Canadian postsecond-
ary institutions such as CBU.
The article is organized into four sections. We begin by reporting some pertinent
statistics on international students in Canada and providing an overview of Cape Bre
ton University and its region, both of which are relevant for the subsequent discussion.
We then introduce the study’s design, followed by its major findings. Here, we focus
on international students’ academic needs and challenges, pedagogical approaches em
ployed by instructors, and attempts to internationalize curricula and assessment prac
tices. We also report on the extent to which international students feel integrated with
their international and domestic peers both inside and outside the classroom. We con
clude with recommendations for instructors and institutions on how to best support
international students and refine higher education programming and policy for all stu
dents.
Cape Breton University in Context
Canadian colleges and universities have experienced a substantial increase in interna
tional student enrollment, from , to , per year (an increase of . %) over
five years. The vast majority of international students ( %) are from India (Erudera,
). Most international students in Canada ( %) are enrolled at universities, most
of them pursuing a bachelor’s degree or a two-year diploma program. The majority of
international students in Canada study engineering, business, administration, or are
enrolled in health-related programs (Erudera, ). In , there were , interna
tional students in the Province of Nova Scotia in Atlantic Canada, well over half of
whom were from India and China (MPHEC, ). With nearly % of students at
Cape Breton University (CBU) being international in , CBU has had by far the
greatest percentage of international students among Nova Scotian universities over the
past few years; at the other nine universities, the percentage of international students
ranges from . % to . % (MPHEC, ).
CBU is located on an island of only , inhabitants, which is connected to the
mainland of Nova Scotia by a causeway. Although the entire population of Nova Scotia
is only one million people, the province features ten degree-granting institutions, five
of which are located in the famous port city and Nova Scotia’s capital, Halifax.
Due to its many natural and cultural attractions, such as vast parks and impressive
coastlines, the Bras D’Or Lake biosphere reserve, and numerous theater and music
festivals, Cape Breton Island is a renowned tourist destination, especially during the
summer months. However, just like the rest of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton is also charac
terized by substantial economic deprivation and significant inequalities in income
across families. More than one-third of all families in Cape Breton live below the pov
erty line (Frank et al., ). Although going back as far as the s under the name of
Xavier Junior College (an offspring of Saint Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Sco
tia), Cape Breton University, formerly known as the College of Cape Breton and later the
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a Canadian University
University College of Cape Breton, is one of the newest universities in Canada, having
been granted university status through an act of provincial legislature in .
Historically, four distinct cultural groups have defined the region. These include
the Mi’kmaq, the Acadians, the Gaels, and people of African Nova Scotian heritage.
Although culturally significant, these four groups make up a relatively small percent
age of the total population of Cape Breton and the rest of Nova Scotia. Today, the major
ity of Cape Breton’s local population is comprised of descendants of white European
settlers and immigrants of mainly Scottish, English, Irish, French, and German herit
age. However, the population also includes recent immigrants from Syria and several
other countries plagued by political upheavals, as well as small numbers of people from
Asian countries who have made Nova Scotia their home.
As previously noted, compared to the rest of the province and Canada at large,
CBU attracts a substantial number of international students. The latest numbers for
spring show that despite the ongoing global pandemic, , of a total of ,
students at CBU—i.e., well over half—are international, with the remaining ones being
from Cape Breton and other parts of Canada. International students at CBU come from
more than different countries, with students from India, China, and Nigeria repre
senting the largest cultural groups within the international student body. For the past
five years, Indian students have made up the vast majority, now accounting for almost
% of all international students at CBU. Looking more specifically at the program
level at CBU, students from India study in many programs, but the highest numbers
are found in two-year diploma programs in the areas of engineering, public health, and
business, mirroring the observations reported for the national level (Erudera, ).
Data released by the Canadian Bureau for International Education shows that
% of all international students in Canada have plans to become permanent residents
after graduation (CBIE, ). According to Canadian rules on immigration (Immigra
tion and Citizenship. ), international students who have graduated from a Cana
dian institution on a program that involved at least two years of full-time study are eligi
ble for a post-graduation work permit of three years, which can bring valuable work
experience and facilitate the path to permanent residency and, eventually, Canadian
citizenship. Many international students at CBU see an additional opportunity for im
migration in the Atlantic Immigration Program (Atlantic Immigration Program,
). This program is meant to meet the needs of employers in the region and allows
recent graduates from a recognized postsecondary institution in Atlantic Canada to
apply for permanent residency as soon as they have found an employer.
Considering these pathways to immigration, it is not surprising that the vast ma
jority of international students at CBU either enroll in programs leading to a diploma
or post-baccalaureate diploma—either of which requires two years of full-time study—
or seek advanced standing through a four-year bachelor’s degree program. In this con
text, it is worth mentioning that the majority of international students at CBU have
gained previous postsecondary experience in their home country. Nearly all of CBU’s
international students from India hold prior degrees.
Kristin O’Rourke, Carolin Kreber
Tuition fees at CBU are comparable to those charged at other universities in the
province but somewhat lower than at many of the bigger universities elsewhere in Can
ada. At Canadian universities, international students pay approximately two to three
times the fees of domestic students. To put this in perspective, fees for one year of full-
time study at the undergraduate level at CBU are currently around $, for domestic
students and approximately $, for international students. Once international stu
dents obtain permanent residence status (PR) in Canada, they pay the same fees as
Canadian students. Therefore, many students continue their studies at that time to pur
sue higher-paid careers in their field.
Although the reported change in student demographics at CBU has been wel
comed, many foundational hurdles and gaps in infrastructure and student services
have come with the sudden growth and increased cultural representation on campus.
To help begin to bridge these gaps, a forward-thinking and innovative strategic plan
(Cape Breton University, ) was created in to realign the university with a real
istic mission, vision, and set of values. In , over community and institutional
consultations shaped and created the strategic plan and its five directions:
. Invest in our Students,
. Champion the Island’s Prosperity,
. Indigenize the L’nu Way,
. Globalize with a Dierence, and
. Empower Faculty and Sta.
As a derivative of the strategic plan, an academic plan (Cape Breton University, )
was created. Grounded in experiential learning and inquiry, its goal is to prepare all
students to be global citizens by providing intercultural academic perspectives.
Although the academic plan has been enthusiastically embraced by academic and
instructional support staff, it is recognized as ambitious. Providing valuable intercul
tural academic experiences and perspectives within programs initially designed for
much smaller and more culturally homogeneous cohorts is not without problems. Be
low, we compare the experiences of international students and their instructors, focus
ing on perceived challenges and any adaptations made to teaching and learning.
Study design
The mixed-methods design involved an electronic survey consisting of closed and
open-ended questions completed by Indian students enrolled at CBU as well as
semi-structured interviews with nine Indian students and eleven CBU instructors. The
first survey was distributed in . Areas of focus included Indian students’ opinions
of Cape Breton, CBU, their social lives in Canada, and their academic experiences. The
second survey was distributed in the spring of with nearly identical questions,
L’nu is the Mi’kmaq term used to describe Indigenous people from this area of Nova Scotia.
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a Canadian University
although we included more questions on academic experience. This additional insight
was aimed at examining whether the academic plan’s goals were being met.
Following the second survey, nine virtual interviews were conducted with interna
tional students from India using Microsoft Teams. A mix of first-year students and
spring graduates discussed their experiences as students at CBU. Five of these students
were from the Engineering programs, two from Public Administration, and one from
Public Health. The semi-structured interviews were designed to deepen our under
standing of themes emerging from the two previous surveys and to examine how stu
dents see and perceive their own learning experiences. The eight questions that shaped
each interview focused on students’ perspectives on their initial perceptions of Cape
Breton and CBU and if/how those have changed over time, their instructors, CBU aca
demic rigor, assessment methods, studying in English, and perceptions of plagiarism.
To provide a broader institutional perspective, eleven instructors from the Busi
ness, Public Health, Public Administration, and Engineering programs who regularly
teach courses with international students also participated in individual virtual inter
views carried out through Microsoft Teams. The questions that guided the semi-struc
tured interviews with the instructors focused on challenges they see Indian students
facing in the classroom and in the community, on adaptations they make to their
courses and teaching methods, on how students’ prior degrees and formal education
impact their performance, on how English levels and plagiarism affect student per
formance, and on students’ academic writing skills.
Main Findings from Surveys and Interviews with
Students
The survey, the survey, and the individual interviews shared several com
mon themes that show that student experiences have not changed significantly over the
-year period. Students have an overwhelmingly positive perspective on Cape Breton
Island and CBT. It is understood that students who feel a part of a supportive commu
nity and whose psychological needs are met are more likely to be successful (Memar
zia, ). Moreover, when physiological needs are met, we see growth in self-esteem
and self-actualization (Lowe, ). We were pleased to see that in our predominantly
Caucasian community, international students reported few experiences with racism.
Rather, the opposite seemed to be the case: locals were described as interested in learn
ing about India and its culture. This can be seen as Indian students are employed every
where around the city of Sydney and its surrounding communities. Moreover, these
businesses are celebrating Indian holidays and forms of cultural expression alongside
their new employees, in addition to importing goods from India. As employees, the
Indian students demonstrate resilience, intercultural competence, flexibility, and com
mitment (McFadden & Seedorff, ), making them ideal employees. One could pre
sume this is due to several factors. Firstly, many of the Indian students who come to
Canada are young adults who had careers in India. Their understanding of responsibil
Kristin O’Rourke, Carolin Kreber
ity and accountability in the workplace is established. Secondly, most students from
India need to work to fund their education and livelihood. Missed shifts equal smaller
paychecks. This is different from many other international students who come from
more affluent backgrounds. Lastly, and widely articulated in our research, due to the
significant lack of jobs in Cape Breton, those who are fortunate enough to have gained
employment are diligent and responsible employees to minimize the risk of losing
their positions.
The following several sections dive more deeply into the data, presenting many
excerpts from the surveys and interviews verbatim to demonstrate authentic student
voices.
. Challenges
The biggest barrier and cause of stress for Indian students at CBU is employment.
Some students commented on this topic in their surveys and interviews:
“Job opportunities are less and financial stability is important aspect which cannot be ig
nored.”
“In Cape Breton … to find part time job is quite hard. A person can survive with their GIC
[Guaranteed Investment Certificate] but the property rent is too high nowadays that it is
higher than their monthly GIC payment.”
“There are not enough jobs and not good pay rate ... haven’t got job in years.”
These sentiments were repeated throughout both surveys and individual interviews. In
the post-industrial community of Cape Breton Island, many jobs typically held by stu
dents are lifelong careers for locals as the municipality continues to build a new infra
structure of tourism and entrepreneurial ventures. Therefore, the jobs are scarce and in
high demand.
The financial burden experienced by Indian students adds another layer of stress
to their academic endeavors. A total of % of Indian students responding to our sur
vey possessed a university degree prior to attending CBU. However, they still struggled
with several elements of higher education, as outlined below.
% of students articulated in both the surveys and interviews that they lack un
derstanding regarding the processes and rules of academic writing. Students were told
to seek assistance from the university writing center, but resources, as shown by our
data, do not seem to meet the demands of the student body on a regular day-to-day
basis:
“The professors tell me to go to the writing center but appointments are always full. I need
more help than they have time to give to me. Because English is my rd language, writing is
sometimes hard.”
“The professors at CBU are very kind but I understand they cannot help us all. Writing
papers and assignments is new to many of us.”
A Guaranteed Investment Certicate demonstrates that international students have sucient funds for one year of living
in Canada.
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a Canadian University
When asked about plagiarism, % of respondents claimed they knew what it was.
However, they said that the standards and ethics of academic writing are not enforced
as strongly in India as they are in Canada. Since plagiarizing to get by is not uncom
mon in their home country, it can be difficult for Indian students to change that mind
set. The following interview excerpts are illustrative of students’ struggles with plagia
rism once they join CBU:
“Even if we paraphrase the whole content and submit. It still says plagiarism is found ... no
idea.”
“Some people I know try and risk it. They just want to pass the course so they can work
towards their PR.”
“I find doing things without plagiarism is possible through thorough understanding and
faculty guidance. But a certain plagiarism percentage should be accepted.”
Moreover, it also appears that their understanding of plagiarism is inaccurate. The par
ticipants’ see plagiarism as a way to succeed rather than an academic violation. CBU
has an Academic Integrity Module on Moodle that all students are required to complete
prior to the start of classes. However, one may wonder if the module is culturally re
sponsive and relevant to a large target audience. This question can be asked as the data
expresses a continued lack of understanding of plagiarism as well as the writing diffi
culties described by Indian students despite the implementation of the module.
. Overall Academic Experience
Despite the challenges experienced by Indian students, the data suggests that they are
enjoying their academic journeys at CBU. Our research showed that Indian students at
CBU are, overall, very happy with their academic experiences. Eighty-six percent of par
ticipants said that professors were kind, helpful, and very willing to put in extra time to
help international students understand the course expectations, which differed signifi
cantly from those of courses in India. The following excerpts show how this topic was
addressed in the interviews:
“India has lots of larger exams. I think this is because there are so many students in every
class. So, you had to study very hard for one test. Here, at CBU, assignments and group
work are hard to understand at the beginning but a much nicer way to learn.”
“Right now, I am doing petroleum engineering technology. I love my course. It’s really
interesting and have best professors to teach this program.”
“CBU definitely is student-centric and I can say it focuses on creating a better learning
experience for students.”
The data shows that the efforts, particularly those made by instructors, are recognized
and appreciated. CBU’s student-centered pedagogical approach to learning resonates
with the students. Despite cultural academic challenges, students feel strongly sup-
ported by their instructors due to their efforts to internationalize curriculum and
courses and ensure that their readings, case studies, and examples represent global
contexts:
Kristin O’Rourke, Carolin Kreber
“Professors are aware that the students belong to dierent backgrounds and they keep
their teachers teaching methods very relevant.”
“They try to explain topics to us that Canadian students already know of. Like dierent
current events or historical events that impacted our field. They try to talk about India and
things that happened there to help us get the idea.”
“I get it. I’m in Canada so they’re going to talk about Canada things. But I really like it
when they talk about other countries. Some teachers really try hard to do that. Make the
course more global.”
Students also discussed their feelings of belonging among the other international and
domestic students on campus:
“I made a lot of friends from dierent parts of the world. It was easy as majority of people
are nice and good.”
“I think it’s great we are getting a opportunity to live with dierent people with dierent
cultures and I think it’s helps to learn even more better when we surround ourselves with
dierent positive solutions.”
However, the programs in which the majority of Indian students choose to study have
mostly Indian students enrolled. This adds an interesting dynamic to classes, as the
instructor is often one of the few Canadians in the room. It also challenges the universi
ties’ enrollment strategy and could potentially have a negative impact on the institu
tions’ reputation. As one Indian student described it in an interview: “The majority of
my classmates are from the same place where I am from. My program doesn’t have
even one native Canadian! Depressing. Forget being classmates with a native, my pro
gram has all the students from my home country.”
While the data suggests that CBU is increasingly culturally responsive to our inter
national students, there are still some significant gaps that need to be addressed by
strategic enrollment management planning, including services and infrastructure that
will have an impact on the student experience.
Main Findings from Interviews with Instructors
As with our findings from our interviews with students, the findings presented in this
section are also grouped to show emergent themes and subthemes. Occasional inter
view excerpts are included to substantiate the claims made.
The instructors interviewed for this study teach in programs that are predomi
nately populated by international students at CBU. Several interviewees raised con
cerns about generalizing the group of “Indian students”, acknowledging the great di
versity within the Indian student population at CBU with regards to prior academic
preparation, English language proficiency, critical thinking, independence of thought,
motivation, and effort. Some also pointed out that India is a vast country with various
sub-cultures (both geographically and economically). Acknowledging that each region
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a Canadian University
in India was already heterogeneous, it was observed that—in the instructors’ experi
ence—students from the regions of Punjab and Kerala would tend to not socialize
much with one another but remain within their respective cultural circles. It was also
noted that students from Kerala usually had a better command of the English language
than those from Punjab. Despite the caveat to avoid unjustified generalizations about
“Indian students”, instructors identified several differences between Indian and other
students they had taught. They were also able to point to numerous challenges they saw
Indian students face while studying at CBU.
. Challenges
The key challenges identified by the instructors were related to cultural adaptation (in
cluding getting used to the Western system of education and associated expectations),
accommodation, financial distress and the associated need to find employment, and,
regrettably, racism. Nine of the eleven interviewed instructors reported that financial
concerns had a negative impact on studying and even health:
“The first thing that they typically struggle with is getting employment. Until they get that
taken care of, they’re in a bad place. Now, in order to come here, they have to have their first
year paid for … but many of them don’t have their second year paid for. So, everyone at
home has saved for them to go here, to come to Canada. There is a lot of pressure [on them]
to succeed.”
“And then they’re struggling to find work. They have to find jobs. They need to make
money. Some of them are living close to the bone. And I know some of them are going
hungry. Some of them will come and say ‘Well, I missed class because I was so hungry.
I couldn’t get out of bed because I hadn’t eaten in hours.’ And then they’ll admit that
they can’t aord to buy the textbook … their financial status impacts their ability because
they can’t aord to buy textbooks?”
While it was noted that some of the challenges Indian students experienced were the
same as for domestic students, such as “being on their own for the very first time,
which can make it difficult to stay motivated to attend class and complete assignments
when there’s no immediate consequences”, a few instructors also identified mental
health issues and racism as particularly burdensome challenges:
“And most of them experience these physical symptoms and they go to the doctor. And
then the doctor is like, oh … you have anxiety or you’re depressed and it’s almost like the
students don’t realize that it is a mental health issue at first.”
“I had a student come to me who just had a great deal of mental health challenges, and she
struggled the entire term. … And then at the end of the term, she had to have an abortion.
… I think a lot of students are going through those things and they don’t tell you.”
“[A]nd then I’ll get people [students] talking about discrimination and racism. Now I re
member stories of a guy being harassed by people in the apartment complex that he’s
living in … Saying ugly things about him. I had women talking, young women, talking
about being harassed on buses and having people say ugly things to them. You know, what
are you doing here? You people don’t belong here. You’re taking our job, you go back to
where you belong. Right? One woman was almost crying in class … and I said … yeah,
Kristin O’Rourke, Carolin Kreber
these people are stupid. There are a lot of stupid, stupid, ugly, ugly Canadians. But that’s
not the majority of us …”
In terms of academic challenges, all instructors highlighted Indian students’ unfami
liarity with the expectations associated with studying and succeeding at a Canadian uni
versity. There was a shared assumption among all the instructors we interviewed that
students in India were taught to reproduce rather than create knowledge. When these
students were assessed on their knowledge in India, it was via methods that did not
involve much writing, and if so, no emphasis was placed on proper referencing and
citations:
“I’ve been told in Indian universities they’re expected to just memorize things and they’re
given their set schedule of courses to take and they just are expected to go to class and then
they’ll pass. Whereas here we’re … expecting them to learn how to problem-solve and learn
how to learn. So, it’s not just memorization and repeating back to you what you’ve told
them. They have to kind of learn how to understand things on a deeper level …”
“Yeah, I think that they’re not as independent in some way. So, they expect a lot more from
me … I walk them through the process of that, especially in the beginning, because they’re
not prepared. They’re used to writing tests. They’re not used to collecting information and
formulating that information and using the research to inform their ideas …”
However, there was also appreciation for the significant progress the students made
over the course of their two-year study period. Instructors mentioned that many stu
dents would adapt and rise to the challenge of succeeding within the Canadian educa
tion system:
“At the beginning. I think they’re very stressed out … because it’s a dierent way of learn
ing. And by the time they’ve taken a course from any one of us, because most of us have
that same applied learning principle, they get more and more comfortable … and then you
see the separation of those who have the capability to learn that way and the others who
just can’t lose the method that they’ve learned in the past, which is just memorization.”
“I think over the course of the two years for the diploma that the Indian students do get
better at this; they’re becoming a bit more, I don’t know, Canadian or Westernized.”
Regarding different academic cultures, many instructors identified language and espe
cially academic writing as big challenges. “Now if you look at it academically, writing is
their biggest change. Comprehension, that’s not usually an issue. Usually comprehen
sion is very good”, one instructor explained. Some also raised concerns about the dis
connect between the students’ reported language proficiency score at the time of ad
mission to the program and their actual demonstrated writing ability on assignments.
Furthermore, eight of eleven interviewees recognized the connection between pla
giarism (which was highlighted as a frequent occurrence) and writing skills, observing
that students were reluctant to hand in their own work as they perceived their language
skills to be inadequate. Others noted that many students from India did not understand
what counts as plagiarism at a Canadian university and required lots of additional sup
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a Canadian University
port to both understand the concept and learn how to write, reference, and cite prop
erly. In this context, some instructors pointed out that the problem with plagiarism
might, to an extent, be cultural in the sense that Indian students were used to working
collaboratively and needed the difference between collaboration and plagiarism to be
explained to them more clearly:
“Working together is not frowned upon, so that’s where you get the plagiarism and then,
you know, they put in the work but the working might involve, you know, meetings with
the cousin, submitting assignments from their cousin, and yeah, that’s a bit of a struggle.”
Several instructors also mentioned a lack of understanding of cultural references
among many of their Indian students. This was recognized as a challenge, especially in
courses where familiarity with certain aspects of local culture was critical to under
standing the course material. While not understanding Canadian pop-culture refer-
ences in an engineering course may leave international students feeling left out, not
being attuned to current social or political affairs in the region or country can be a real
hindrance to academic success in a field like public administration or public health.
The following quote from an instructor teaching Public Administration sums this up
quite nicely:
“I just take it for granted that Canadian students know when Stephen Harper was Prime
Minister. But I mean, I know that some Indian students have never even heard of Stephen
Harper before. … Or political cases that we talk about … especially the SNC Lavalin aair of
a couple of years ago. You know, it’s huge breaking news, it’s a headline for weeks and
weeks in Canada, and they’ve never heard of it. I guess the advantage that a domestic stu
dent would have is they might not know the ins and outs of it all, but they’ll know the
basics …”
All interviewees recognized that obtaining a work visa and, eventually, permanent resi
dence status in Canada was the long-term plan of most Indian students. However,
there was a general sense that the programs from which the students graduated had a
real impact on their future employment and could improve their chances for immigra
tion. Instructors noted that in many cases, the degree or diploma a student obtained
from CBU provided an additional qualification to their existing degree from India,
thereby further enhancing employment prospects in related areas.
Instructors held varying perspectives on whether students applied themselves suf
ficiently to the course material or were adequately prepared for the program they were
studying. Depending on the program, instructors felt that their students’ previous aca
demic background correlated more or less strongly with success. In the Public Admin
istration and Business programs, previous academic background was perceived to mat
ter less than in the Engineering programs, where prior knowledge of advanced math
was important, or in Public Health, where previous study of a health-related field such
as biology or chemistry proved to be an asset.
All the interviewed instructors felt that Cape Breton Island would benefit from
more international students settling in the region and the positive intercultural ex
Kristin O’Rourke, Carolin Kreber
changes within the wider community that this could engender. At the same time, they
recognized that the scarcity of available employment opportunities would likely lead
many students to eventually leave the region and move to larger, more diverse, and
economically vibrant urban centers such as Halifax, Toronto, or Vancouver.
. Adaptations
Among the many adaptations to both teaching methods and supplementary curricu
lum resources implemented by instructors were speaking more slowly, avoiding jar
gon, supplying more background information on local issues (and not taking too much
prior knowledge for granted), employing more interactive teaching methods, giving
choices on assignments (on occasion allowing presentations rather than an essay or
report), and, as was mentioned very often, providing help with academic writing. The
latter included a range of different strategies, including:
. Being explicit about what plagiarism involves and providing multiple examples
on how to reference properly,
. referring students to a Moodle module on academic integrity developed by the
institution,
. using Turnitin as a learning resource,
. making editorial suggestions directly on the student’s writing or inviting students
to oce hours to go over the suggestions orally to make sure the feedback was
engaged with, and
. referring students to the writing support available on campus or bringing this
support into the classroom.
The fifth strategy was adopted by several instructors because they observed that only
very few students, and typically only the strongest, would actually avail themselves of
the services of the Writing Center, even though especially those with weak writing
skills were repeatedly encouraged to seek help there.
Below are two examples of how instructors adapted their courses in response to
language and plagiarism challenges experienced by students:
“Yes. I do [correct their sentences when they are o]. And I have them submit their assign
ments on paper … I know it’s not good for the trees, but it helps me because I can make the
corrections on the paper so much quicker and it’s easier for me …”
“So, the biggest thing that I’ve done to adapt my courses to Indian students, and like I said,
international students in general, is to discuss plagiarism more in depth by giving them
more instruction on how to summarize properly and how to cite things properly. That has
been the big thing.”
Several instructors noted that in case of plagiarism on the first assignment, they give
students a grace period—meaning that students could redo the assignment in re
sponse to constructive feedback and would not be penalized.
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a Canadian University
Instructors also commented that it was important that they make resources availa
ble for students who find themselves in distress and that they ensure their students are
aware of these resources early on.
“The other thing that I do, especially for the Indian students because I’ve had a few stu
dents come to me that were, like, in distress, is to incorporate in my syllabus all the Stu
dent Wellness resources that we have on campus, including the International student app.
And I talk about those at the beginning of the term because I get a really strong feeling that
the students do not know what resources are available to them on campus when they get
here. And I’ve had students who have had really hard times and come to me for help.”
Making textbooks and other learning resources available free of charge was also men
tioned as an adaptation. Not unexpectedly, many instructors commented on making
course content more relevant for Indian students, either by asking students for exam
ples or by finding pertinent material or case studies to include in their courses. There
was also a sense that Canada should not be portrayed uncritically in the scope of course
examples and case studies. The following two quotes illustrate this point:
“I have an interesting assignment and it’s with regard to asbestos. In Canada, up until
probably seven years ago, we were mining asbestos. It was illegal to mine and sell asbestos
in Canada, but it wasn’t illegal to sell it to another country … and we were selling it to India.
It’s really good for discussion. And I have, yeah, there’s a documentary. What’s it called?
‘Canada’s dirty secret’ …”
“In one of the courses I teach, I have some case studies and one of the case studies actually
compares matters of ethics and corruption. How a certain ethical issue would be dealt with
in Canada and African Commonwealth countries and in India … The basic idea is to say …
corruption can occur anywhere. Had Canada not been exempt from corrupt ocials …”
A particularly interesting adaptation was the development of a political science course
that focused specifically on the history and politics of the Canadian immigration sys
tem. This course is now very popular among Indian students because of their desire to
settle in Canada permanently. The instructor explains:
“This is the one course that they truly love. Towards the end, it’s all about the procedures of
Canadian immigration and the numbers of immigrants, so that they begin to see where
the process that they’re all having to go through came from and how it works from a Cana
dian point of view? And how Canada wants … young, healthy immigrants who … come in
in their s and who will be good taxpaying citizens for some years before they really
need the expenses of a healthcare system …”
Instructors also commented on the importance of making students comfortable and on
the value of integrating more group work activities. However, they observe that stu
dents tend to remain within their cultural groups during group work activities. “I’m
not likely to see a lot of diversity in the groups”, a Business instructor commented. “It’s
due to the social castes within in the Indian culture where some group of Indian stu
Kristin O’Rourke, Carolin Kreber
dents will absolutely not mingle with another group of Indian students”, added an En
gineering instructor.
Despite these observations, some of the instructors explicitly remarked on the
value teamwork had for both domestic and international students:
“Umm, the diversity was a really big driver … there were so many Indian students in the
class and I had a couple Chinese students that year and one or two domestic students, and
they were completely in the corner, not talking to anyone.”
“Umm, so it was really trying to get the domestic students engaged, too, in the class.
I found that they would kind of go o to the side because they felt, you know, somewhat
outnumbered. In all of my classes I incorporate teamwork. I choose the group and … I try
to mix them, especially in first year classes, to try to avoid that [they stay in their own
cultural groups].”
The interviewees almost universally expressed a sense that Indian students particularly
enjoy working in groups. Yet, there was also a perception that when Canadian students
were part of the group, they tended to be in charge. One Business instructor observed:
“And it’s almost always the case, and it might be because the other students just defer to
them more because they assume that there’s a stronger English competency, or that they
have cultural knowledge that they might not have, or they just are more familiar with our
academic system here in Canada. So, they might just defer to the Canadian student for
many dierent reasons. But I tend to get the Canadian students coming to me and saying
‘My group members are doing none of the work or not helping to …’ It’s not the case that
none of the group members are helping, but usually the Canadian student feels like
they’re doing much more of the work.”
Interestingly, although all instructors commented on the value of including examples
from India to make learning relevant for this cultural group, they also expressed the
reservation that one might end up incorporating too many examples from India into
the course. “The Canadian students will sort of be wondering about the relevance from
their perspective. You know what I mean”, commented one Public Administration in
structor.
A further adaptation made by some instructors was to let students know about
local and provincial employment opportunities: “We try to get a lot of guest speakers or
employers on campus, too, whether it’s in a class time or lecture or sometimes outside
class or lecture. Umm, to just let the students know, especially international students,
of what’s out there, employment-wise.”
In addition to commenting specifically on the adaptations they made to their
courses, instructors also offered more general observations on the large numbers of
international students admitted over the past several years and how this increase in
enrollment impacted their teaching approach and, by extension, student learning. It
was noted that while teamwork, discussion, and student presentations were very valua
ble teaching methods, the sheer volume of students that had to be accommodated—
especially prior to the pandemic, when intake was even higher—made the employment
of interactive teaching methods difficult.
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a Canadian University
“What I found was when I stopped doing those activities [discussion, group presentations,
etc.] I didn’t get to know the students. They didn’t get to know each other. I found that they
weren’t getting as much out of the classroom as they did before. So now I’m going back
again to more discussions, more interaction, the opportunities for presentations in the
class where students are working with each other to develop presentations … It’s so much
better, the marks are going way up again …”
Instructors also reported that many students found the program structure too prescrip
tive and wanted more flexibility in terms of course offerings and available course sec
tions, as the latter would fill up quickly, making it difficult for some students to com
plete the program within their two-year study period. Many instructors mentioned
having felt overrun by the sudden influx of international students five years ago. In
relation to this, they highlighted the problem of having to teach to the lowest common
denominator given the wide range of prior experiences and backgrounds of students
suddenly enrolling in their courses. The following two interview excerpts provide a
more in-depth illustration of these points:
“I know the first year they started those programs [post-baccalaureate programs in Busi
ness], the supply chain management program might have been first, I’m not sure, but they
anticipated, like, students coming in and there were students, and so that meant
everybody was scrambling to try to accommodate larger classes.”
“So we tend to have students who are highly qualified [in business-related areas such as
organizational behaviour] and even experts [with graduate degrees] in their field. And yet
I’m teaching them something that’s for them very fundamental, like, they already have
this knowledge, but they’re in the class because they need to get a degree so that they can
get a work visa. And so it’s really part of their immigration plan and not necessarily for
their own learning … Whereas other students are coming and they have maybe an under
graduate degree in chemistry or all kinds of stu not related to business. And so I find
I have really no option but to teach at a very introductory level.”
While there was a perception among the instructors we interviewed that Indian stu
dents with prior postsecondary experience were better prepared for studying at CBU
than those who had joined straight from high school, this view was not held unani
mously. Some instructors noted drastic differences in quality among the many univer
sities in India, suggesting that preparation for further study depended largely on the
particular institution from which the students had graduated. Others argued that the
field the students had studied prior to joining CBU was decisive for how well they did
on the program, and some felt that prior postsecondary experience was perhaps not the
best predictor of academic success in any case and that personal attributes such as per
severance were more critical factors.
Comparing Perspectives
The students and instructors who participated in our study shared many similar per
spectives on the academic experiences of Indian students at CBU. For example, both
Kristin O’Rourke, Carolin Kreber
students and instructors highlighted financial stressors and lack of employment as sig
nificant challenges for Indian students at CBU. These stressors may also lead to or
compound existing mental health issues, as particularly discussed by the instructors.
This mental state follows the students into the classroom, where they are confronted
with teaching methods that involve less memorization and material regurgitation than
they previously experienced at Indian universities. Instead, problem-solving and criti
cal thinking are two of the main goals of Canadian postsecondary programs. The neces
sary shift in the way students think and learn is challenging at first, as discussed by
students and observed by instructors. The participants commented that, with time, the
methods the students learn at CBU turn into a more desirable way of learning. Stu
dents and instructors also see the local Canadian context as a challenge when learning
and discussing case studies and North American examples. Instructors have adjusted
their courses by explaining North American contexts and course content that might be
unfamiliar to their international students and by adding more global and Indian exam
ples. The students, in turn, notice and appreciate both approaches and the changes
their instructors have made.
While there were many similar perspectives in the data, there were also two topics
that showed that students and instructors had significantly different views. While stu
dents did not allude to experiencing much racism, the instructors discussed their stu
dents’ first-hand accounts of racism within the local community. Perhaps the methods
used in our study did not provide a safe space for the students themselves to openly
discuss this topic—or perhaps our participants simply did not experience consistent
racism. Similarly, the incidents of racism discussed by the instructors might have been
isolated incidents, or the students might have felt that it was safe to divulge this infor
mation to instructors they already knew. Regardless, racism and how it affects students
must be part of the conversation to ensure that institutions maintain support for all
students who experience racism in the community.
The instructors we interviewed believed that academic and writing support were
in plentiful supply because they work diligently with their classes on the development
of their skills, their writing, and, especially, their education on plagiarism. Additionally,
eight of eleven instructors even invited representatives of CBU’s writing center into
their courses to provide general tips and an overview of the services available to the
students. However, institutional resources remain an issue. Instructors are asking stu
dents to utilize academic resources such as the writing center, but students cannot get
appointments. The data shows that this is a common problem, leading us to the ques
tion whether CBU has sufficient resources in place to meet the needs of both domestic
and international students. Similarly, the mandatory module on plagiarism is seen as a
teaching tool that aims to mitigate and decrease instances of plagiarism, but there con
tinues to be a lack of student comprehension concerning the rules of proper citation
and paraphrasing.
If universities want international students to have positive learning experiences,
providing them with services and a culturally appropriate environment will enable and
promote a successful academic experience (Roberts & Dunworth, ).
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a Canadian University
Recommendations for instructors and institutions
As Canadian universities continue to prosper from international student tuition, infra
structure needs to be in place to accommodate the many and diverse needs of the new
student demographic. Especially if located in predominantly white communities, uni
versities cannot continue to accept international students and expect them to assimilate
without appropriate support (Andrade, ). Moreover, there are provincial and insti
tutional pressures to ensure cultural considerations and equitable processes for do-
mestic students from equity-seeking backgrounds. In the case of CBU, this includes
African Canadians, Indigenous students, and the preservation of Gaelic culture.
Government funding provides the resources to ensure that the founding cultures of
Nova Scotia receive additional student support in postsecondary institutions. At the
same time, local governments ought to recognize that international students are an
important part of economic and cultural development, particularly in smaller com
munities. Without the appropriate infrastructure, however, students’ negative experi
ences in the local communities will logically decrease their desire to stay post-gradua
tion.
In addition to the instructors’ perspective on the issue, this study provided student
voice—which can be described as “a metaphor for identity and agency and … a strategy
for promoting empowerment, inclusion and equity” (McLeod, , p. )—that ar
ticulated clear gaps in CBU’s current international student support system, especially
with regard to Indian students. If universities across the globe are committed to provid
ing culturally responsive education to international students, implementing recom
mendations as outlined below will demonstrate the university’s respect for interna
tional student voice and experience.
Our research suggests that the barriers to student success lie in several areas, in
cluding sustainable financial security, understanding cultural references, English lan
guage comprehension and academic writing, and understanding Canadian university
level expectations. Several key recommendations can be derived from the findings pre
viously discussed.
At the level of the institution, we recommend a variety of strategies that will foster
the learning and well-being of students while they adjust to western expectations in
academia:
• Institutions provide a course for all3 students on learning and studying at the
university level.
• Institutions provide additional support and services to assist international stu
dents with academic and mental health concerns.
• Institutions provide mandatory courses on academic writing for students whose
first language is not English.
• Institutions develop academic integrity policies that are focused on teaching the
students what academic integrity is and how to improve and maintain it rather
This would include domestic students as well, as the rigors of academia are not exclusive to international students.
Kristin O’Rourke, Carolin Kreber
than exclusively punishing students for not complying with Western expecta
tions.
We also suggest that institutions liaise with local communities to understand the re
sources available to international students.
• Institutions advocate for international students with local employers.
• Institutions find ways to oer aordable, quality housing for students, both on
campus for those who choose to live there and in the city.
• Institutions find ways to make learning resources available free of charge (e. g.,
online textbooks).
At the level of the instructors, we recommend a series of strategies that do not compro
mise academic integrity but encourage culturally responsive pedagogical approaches.
• Make eorts to integrate resources and examples from dierent countries and
cultures into their courses, and to encourage their students to add their own ex
amples to facilitate intercultural learning.
• Encourage students from dierent cultures to work together in groups.
• Employ a wide range of instructional strategies (not only Western approaches
such as the Socratic method) to promote deep, high-level learning as well as inter
cultural understanding.
• Provide examples of how to write properly for academic purposes and provide
feedback to students.
• Explain plagiarism and academic integrity within Western systems of education
and oer many examples.
• Make every eort to learn about individual students, be aware of the various chal
lenges they might experience (financial, social, cultural, academic, emotional, or
psychological), and oer appropriate accommodations and/or assistance.
• Share job opportunities with students and help them gain insight into how to
apply for jobs in their field.
Final Thoughts
With many universities now depending on international student tuition to survive,
grow, and thrive, it is important for institutions to ensure that student services accom
modate all students and that policies and practices reflect the current student demo
graphic. For smaller institutions, the shift in student population has exposed how poli
cies, processes, and resources are largely designed for domestic students and that the
varying needs of international students are not adequately considered in long-term
planning. International students’ voices and instructors’ perspectives provide institu
tional leaders and educators with insight and knowledge into international students’
experiences in Canadian universities and the gaps that still exist. This understanding
will not only inform policy and resource decisions but also challenge the inaccurate
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a Canadian University
perspectives of Western narratives of international students, their intentions, and
needs (Guo & Guo, ). A shift in pedagogy to reflect the diverse and intercultural
student population is one that comes with exciting transformation, data-informed rec
ommendations, and the willingness to change.
References
Lowe, T. (). Advancing Student Engagement in Higher Education: Reflection, Critique and
Challenge. Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/./
Andrade, M. S. (). International students in English-speaking universities: Adjust
ment factors. Journal of Research in International Education, 5(), –. https://doi.
org/./
Atlantic Immigration Program. (, January ). [Government of Canada]. https://www.
canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/atlantic-
immigration.html
Cape Breton University (). CBU – Strategic plan. https://www.cbu.ca/about-
cbu/oce-of-the-president/--strategic-plan/
Cape Breton University (). CBU Academic plan. https://www.cbu.ca/about-cbu/oce-
of-the-president/vice-president-academic-provost/academic-plan/
CBIE | Global Leader in International Education (). CBIE. Retrieved April , ,
from https://cbie.ca/
The Conference Board of Canada (). The Conference Board of Canada. https://www.
conferenceboard.ca/
Erudera (). Canada International Student Statistics . Erudera. https://erudera.
com/statistics/canada/canada-international-student-statistics/, https://doi.org/
./dadbac-en
Frank, L., Fisher, L., & Saulnier, C. (n. d.). Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in
Nova Scotia. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Retrieved April , , from
https://policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/-report-card-child-and-family-
poverty-nova-scotia
Guo, Y., & Guo, S. (). Internationalization of Canadian higher education: Discrepan
cies between policies and international student experiences. Studies in Higher Educa
tion, 42(), –. https://doi.org/./..
Immigration and citizenship (, November ). [Government of Canada]. https://www.
canada.ca/en/services/immigration-citizenship.html
Knight, J. (). Student mobility and internationalization: Trends and tribulations. Re
search in Comparative and International Education, 7(), –. https://doi.org/
./rcie....
Kreber, C. (Ed.). (). Internationalizing the curriculum in higher education. New Directions
for Teaching and Learning. Jossey-Bass/Wiley. https://doi.org/./tl.
Kristin O’Rourke, Carolin Kreber
McFadden, A., & Seedor, L. (). International Student Employment: Navigating Immi
gration Regulations, Career Services, and Employer Considerations: International
Student Employment. New Directions for Student Services, 2017(), –. https://
doi.org/./ss.
McLeod, J. (). Student voice and the politics of listening in higher education. Critical
Studies in Education, 52(), –. https://doi.org/./..
Memarzia, M. (, May ). A slice of happiness: Making international students feel at
home. The PIE Blog. https://blog.thepienews.com///a-slice-of-happiness-mak
ing-international-students-feel-at-home/
Roberts, P., & Dunworth, K. (). Sta and student perceptions of support services for
international students in higher education: A case study. Journal of Higher Education
Policy and Management, 34(), –. https://doi.org/./X..
Understanding Implications and Considerations for International Students at a Canadian University
Doctoral Education In-the-World.
(Dis-)Connections between Research and
Society
S S. E. B
Introduction: The Highest Education—a Torn
Curriculum?
When the societal purpose and value of the “highest education”, i. e., the PhD, was first
discussed not only in terms of research but also in terms of education and curriculum,
Ernest Rudd () emphasized that doctoral education should not only meet the
promise of the highest international standards of research but should also hold the
promise of influencing, engaging with, and perhaps even changing the world in which
research was situated. Ever since, both research and researchers have been considered
increasingly essential to social and economic competitiveness and societal health (An
dres, ). As a consequence, and in the wake of globalization agendas at universities
around the world, the investment in research and doctoral education has been highly
intensified in order to increase innovation and internationalization. The education of
future researchers, mainly through doctoral education, has turned into a topic of grow
ing political, institutional, and educational interest. Such changes have been visible
through increased enrollment of doctoral students, increased and centralized adminis
tration of doctoral education through graduate schools, and the institutional imple
mentation of strategies for professionalization of the doctorate, quality assurance, in
novation, and entrepreneurship (Andres et al., ; Gokhberg et al., ; Nerad &
Evans, ).
As recently discussed by Bengtsen and colleagues (Bengtsen et al., ), doctoral
education and the PhD face various societal entanglements. With the acknowledge
ment of research as a source of economic and political power, individual prosperity,
and globalized capital accumulation, discussions around societal impact, as Hazelkorn
() argues, take the form of negotiations between institutions, governments, corpo
rate stakeholders, and the wider public sphere as a way of “sealing a ʻsocial contractʼ
between the taxpayer, structured government financing, and the research community”
(p. ). However, as McCowan () points out, agendas aiming for societal impact are
never neutral. They always create implicit hierarchies between different understand
ings of knowledge, research approaches, and the relevance and timeliness of certain
topics over others, which, in turn, become increasingly marginalized and peripheral.
The expanded mandate and complexity of doctoral education and the PhD have re
ceived various bleak replies, such as Goldman and Massy’s () warning that gradu
ate schools are turning into “PhD factories”, or Cassuto’s () description of the or
ganizational and educational complexity of PhD programs as a “Graduate School
Mess”. In a recent study, Mantai and Marrone () show the expanding and multiple
expectations posed to doctoral education, including a whirlpool of various pieces of
knowledge, skills, and competencies catering to a myriad of internal and external stake
holders simultaneously stretching the doctoral curriculum to the extreme.
I argue that we witness at least three major yet unaligned curricular strands pull
ing the doctoral curriculum (including doctoral students and their supervisors) in diffe
rent directions.
Firstly, the goal of doctoral education is to contribute new and original knowledge
to an academic discipline or sub-discipline. Thus, in Golde and Walker’s () term,
the PhD becomes a future “steward of the discipline”. Strong disciplinary anchoring is
often an advantage when applying for large and prestigious research grants, and it can
also help researchers become acknowledged and recognized within established aca
demic communities and networks on a local, national, or international level. The cur
riculum often focuses on the enculturation of doctoral students into the disciplinary
norms regarding research methods and dissertation genres. The de facto curriculum
leadership is first taken on by the doctoral supervisors and international experts within
the field(s), but over time, as the doctoral researchers’ autonomy develops, they become
legitimate and appreciated members of the community of practice in their respective
academic fields (Wisker, ). However, as Acker and Haque () report, the mas
sive increase in the number of PhD students graduating each year does not match the
postgraduate labor market in academia. As a result, universities worldwide have wit
nessed an exponential rise in contract work and researcher precarity. Additionally, Bur
ford () points out that graduate schools are dealing with a “cruel optimism”, where
doctoral students’ aspirations are raised on false assumptions.
Secondly, graduate schools and PhD programs align increasingly with national
and international policies, thereby obligating themselves to uphold certain (interna
tional) standards regarding the quality of doctoral students’ research, the timely com
pletion of projects, and their relevance to a job market that extends beyond the univer
sity and its research environments (Nerad & Evans, ). As Bernstein and colleagues
() describe it, a wide range of new requirements has been integrated into the doc
toral curriculum, including students’ early commitment to their chosen career, the
development of teaching competencies, proficiency in data management and ethical
conduct, high proficiency in English (often the working language in highly internation
alized research cohorts), effective communication (often targeting stakeholders beyond
the research communities), the ability to work in teams and navigate between several
supervisors (some even from non-academic fields), as well as the ability to translate
research expertise for public audiences and policymakers. As already pointed out by
Nerad and Heggelund (), these sets of transferrable skills and generic competen
cies were not traditionally part of doctoral education. Therefore, doctoral supervisors
and research leaders do not necessarily know how (or why) to integrate them with a
more research-focused learning trajectory. Such institutional and curricular “darkness”
has been described by Bengtsen (a) in relation to the increased centralization and
Doctoral Education In-the-World. (Dis-)Connections between Research and Society
complexity of graduate schools. Here, indecisiveness regarding the educational and
pedagogical framings of doctoral education and supervision practices can put a strain
on supervisors and students alike (Bengtsen, b). Recently, Bengtsen and McAlpine
() have shown how differently doctoral supervisors respond to the increased and
complex pressures on doctoral education. While some of them try to influence the cur
riculum by taking on leadership roles and responsibilities, others increase their efforts
in building stronger informal researcher communities, both locally and internation
ally. Others still become demotivated and invest less time and energy in their super-
vision responsibilities and doctoral education altogether.
Thirdly, doctoral scholarships and, thereby, doctoral education and the PhD rely
increasingly on external funding. The STEM fields have worked within this institu
tional framework for decades already, but by now it has become the inescapable reality
of the HASS fields, too (Benneworth et al., ). As more and more PhD scholarships
for the HASS disciplines are co-financed in collaboration with public organizations
(museums, libraries, NGOs), municipalities (daycare institutions, social services),
teacher training colleges, or private companies (publishing houses, drawing offices,
digital platforms, and technology developers), research projects often address local
challenges or problems that need immediate solving. The research is often carried out
in close collaboration with practitioners in the respective professional domains, includ
ing users and customers. Especially within HASS, such partnership PhDs give rise to
curricular debate as the supervisors’ responsibilities are shared across academic and
professional contexts. Negotiating the distribution of tasks and responsibilities is an
unfamiliar process for many supervisors and program leaders, especially if they are
trying to model their strategies on the doctoral supervision and learning trajectory they
experienced themselves within a very different institutional and curricular framework.
The PhD students and their supervisors find themselves challenged by how to deal
with the widening mandate and uncertain ownership, when epistemic, social, eco
nomic, and political interests may overlap, and where the notion of criticality may feel
unexpectedly and uncomfortably negotiable (Bengtsen et al., ).
Seen this way, doctoral education and the PhD have increasingly become bound-
ary objects (Elmgren et al., ), with the responsibilities of managing and integrating
the various interests of the universities and researchers themselves with the interests of
stakeholders within the policy community, the private sector, and other public institu
tions and organizations. With regards to the United States, Golde and Dore (, as
quoted in Bernstein et al., , p. ) have termed the situation a three-way mismatch
between the purpose of doctoral education, the aspirations of doctoral students and
supervisors, and the reality of possible careers within and outside academia. Comment
ing on developments in New Zealand and South Africa, Grant () captures the vari
ous tensions in doctoral education with the term “inchoate curriculum”, and in a Nor
dic context, Bengtsen and colleagues (Bengtsen et al., ) have used the term “torn
curriculum” to similarly describe how various interests and intentions pull the doctoral
curriculum in different directions. This tension does not necessarily lead to chaos and
hopelessness, but it certainly leaves undecided curricular spaces open to further nego
tiation as well as educational and pedagogical decision-making.
Søren S.E. Bengtsen
Emerging Trends: Situating the PhD in the World
New trends are emerging to situate doctoral education and the PhD in the world with
out reducing research practices and collaborations to mere economic schemes or prac
tical solutions to already well-known problems. The connections between research and
the world—or science and society—are breaking new ground, and I will comment on
what I see as the three most prominent emerging trends:
() an ecological curriculum,
() a sustainability curriculum, and
() a justice curriculum.
. An Ecological Curriculum for Doctoral Education
The idea behind the ecological curriculum is that doctoral education and the PhD act as
the glue binding otherwise separate individuals, institutions, organizations, and the
public in a shared synergy and collaboration around knowledge creation. Instead of
being assimilated into other socio-economic or socio-political pursuits, doctoral stu
dents and graduates act as both knowledge brokers and translators between different
knowledge systems—and as the catalysts through which entirely new and creative
forms of knowledge creation become possible. The understanding of an ecological uni
versity and knowledge ecologies is found in the work of Barnett () and Wright
(), where the meaning of ecology becomes the very resistance to subordinating one
form of knowledge to another. The ecology manifests itself as a plurality of knowledge
forms and societal aims, which achieve the possibility of a new and much stronger
potential for knowledge creation through joint and collaborative, yet mutually autono
mous, engagements (Barnett & Bengtsen, ).
Elliot and her colleagues (Elliot et al., ) describe how doctoral education cre
ates an ecology for the individual researcher. The research and learning process ties
together different parts of the world in which the doctoral researcher lives, merging
personal, intellectual, social, bodily, institutional, societal, and cultural contexts. Doc
toral education and the PhD are not neatly confined to certain institutional and intel-
lectual identities and practices but travel through a range of identities, practices, and
contexts, revealing doctoral education as a deeply embodied, contextually anchored, in
stitutionally mediated, and socio-culturally dependent learning trajectory. Also, Elliot
and colleagues (Elliot et al., ) show how formal and informal curricula constitute a
complementary learning ecology for the individual doctoral researcher. Elsewhere
(Bengtsen, ), and in the same vein, I have described how doctoral ecologies take
shape as the vibrant middle ground between the formalization of doctoral education,
the informal and non-linear learning trajectories of individual doctoral researchers,
and the intellectual and social community building that may encompass local institu
tions as well as national and international networks. The ecological curriculum is con
stituted by the very intersecting learning and research journeys happening between and
in the gray zones of individual, institutional, and societal contexts.
Doctoral Education In-the-World. (Dis-)Connections between Research and Society
An example of the ecological curriculum put into practice can be found in an on
going (as I write this) Horizons project titled “Opening Doors”, for which I inter
viewed the director of a large publishing house that creates educational materials and
digital platforms for upper secondary education. By investing in a PhD scholarship
through a partnership model that is co-financed by a local secondary school and the
largest university in the country, the publishing house aimed to improve cohesion be
tween the institutional practices in upper secondary schools. The research is done
within the field of educational technology, focusing on the publishing house’s particu
lar approach to the design of learning materials for secondary schools. Through the
doctoral researcher’s activities, a “research-practice hub” emerged within the publish
ing house, gathering otherwise loosely connected stakeholders around shared knowl
edge creation and collaboration—such as local publishing agents from the publishing
house, teachers and leaders from upper secondary schools, science journalists, devel
opers of educational technology and learning platforms, and researchers from universi
ties and research centers. Here, the research project, process, and activities formed the
very glue and mutual attraction of the doctoral ecology.
. A Sustainability Curriculum for Doctoral Education
This concept focuses on the idea that doctoral education and the PhD have a societal
and moral obligation to respond to impending and grand global challenges, aiming to
provide solutions for problems such as the climate crisis, pandemics, and refugees flee
ing from zones of war and armed conflict (Barnacle & Cuthbert, ). On the more
comprehensive global level, the trend connects with discussions focusing on the social,
cultural, and geopolitical responsibilities of research in a world where the notion of the
human increasingly blends with digital technology (transhumanism) and the notion of
a (post-)Anthropocene characterized by the way in which the role and self-awareness of
the human species change altogether in the face of the much more extensive (and,
sometimes, more violent) forces of the Earth (Braidotti, ; Latour, ; Morton,
). The sustainability curriculum suggests that research and researchers develop a
more vital geopolitical awareness and a heightened sense of cultural leadership. Uni
versities and research form alliances with various publics, addressing immediate and
far-reaching issues such as politics or the climate that, if not solved in a timely manner,
may have severe social and cultural repercussions.
In the literature, we find calls for greater focus on societal outreach in the doctoral
curriculum through “public and persuasive PhD programmes” with a “commitment to
outreach” that would generate more “community engagement and career paths” for
doctoral researchers (Cuthbert & Barnacle, , p. and p. ). Instead of aiming to
produce stewards of the disciplines in the traditional doctoral curriculum (as men
tioned above), the goal is to transform doctoral researchers into “stewards of the Earth”
(Cuthbert & Barnacle, , p. ). According to this concept, research and knowledge
can never be the main objectives of doctoral education: they must always serve the
more important goal of sustainability. The trend links up with a call for care in doctoral
education and a “Care-Full PhD” (Barnacle, ). As Barnacle argues, the responsibil
Søren S.E. Bengtsen
ity of research and, therefore, the researchers’ education is to understand current so
cial, cultural, and bio-political crises as the doctoral curriculum itself. Doctoral educa
tion cannot avoid the bio- and geo-moral demands. The notion of care comprises
intellectual openness, curiosity, and creativity, as well as social and cultural openness
and responsibility. As McAlpine () argues, in order for the individual researcher,
research team, or institution to play a meaningful role in tackling grand global chal
lenges, the curricular framing has to take place through a series of nested contexts
where global issues (macro level) become translated into a national context (meso
level), and further into a concrete organizational or social issue that can be addressed
locally (micro level).
An example of the sustainability curriculum in practice can be found in McAl
pine’s () description of a public outreach project that, through a series of nested
contexts, centers around the challenge of creating eco-friendly play environments for
preschool children by using only recycled materials. On the micro level, we find the
drivers of the project, including the local university, the research team, and the individ
ual doctoral researchers and their supervisors. The researchers connect and collaborate
with stakeholders on the meso level, including daycare institutions, the parent groups
involved in the project, playground designers, and the city council. These stakeholders
all contribute various pieces of knowledge as well as their different experiences, exper
tise, networks, and resources relevant to the research project. However, they are in
volved not only as informants but as co-researchers, which would define this type of re
search as often having an affinity with action research in one variant or another. On the
macro level, the participants of these research projects must align with national laws,
rules, and regulations for playground design and with policies and strategies for day
care education and pedagogy. The example shows new opportunities for shared and
nested agency between researchers and various external stakeholders, as well as the
joint creation of momentum and enhanced focus on core sustainability issues in our
societies around the world.
. A Justice Curriculum for Doctoral education
This idea is based on the premise that research has an inbuilt ethical obligation to,
through its knowing efforts, enhance the level of democracy, equality, and equity of the
societal context within which it operates. Through research collaborations, social iden
tities, unrecognized and unacknowledged perspectives on gender, age, or ethnicity may
receive a more societally accepted and integrated position. The idea connects with theo
ries on social and epistemic (in-)justice found in the works of Fricker () and de
Sousa Santos (), who describe how knowledge and research practices may, some
times unintentionally, silence and suppress certain social and cultural voices and iden
tities that are not wanted or prioritized in any given socio-political context. Through
“testimonial justice” (Fricker, ), i. e., through research endeavors and collabora
tions, silenced and marginalized social groups may (re-)gain social and societal recog
nition and agency. Through “hermeneutical justice” (Fricker, ), historically and
collectively censored, manipulated, and otherwise suppressed truths about one’s own
Doctoral Education In-the-World. (Dis-)Connections between Research and Society
country, political anchoring, institutions, or even family heritage may emerge in a diffe
rent light, giving rise to new forms of social and cultural fairness and inclusion. Simi
larly, McArthur () argues that research and researcher education may help disclose
hidden or suppressed distortions or even pathologies that stand in the way of people
achieving genuine freedom and the capacity for a good and just life.
Sivertsen and Meijer () argue that the societal value of research is created
through daily and ongoing collaboration and commitment to social issues and not
through significant big-bang research results that send shockwaves of impact through
out society. They suggest that researchers should be societally aware and embed critical
and carefully thought-out social justice strategies within their core epistemic endeav
ors. In their recent philosophical study of academic value creation in societies, Shumar
and Bengtsen () argue that entrepreneurship in academic contexts should rest on
an ethical rather than an economic and political foundation. Entrepreneurship con
nected to research and doctoral education shows itself as an ethical activity through
recognizing and acknowledging value(s) that we do not necessarily fully understand
ourselves but that may be necessary for others. Further, we find similar arguments in
the emerging literature on academic activism (Davids & Waghid, ; Nørgård &
Bengtsen, ), where research and the pursuit of knowledge are seen first and fore
most not as a politicized topic but as a forceful social and ethical awareness emerging
through research and higher education. The foundational obligation of research is to
recognize what is strange, weird, different, and “kept in the margins of our conscious
ness and language to enter into institutional and societal awareness and debate and to
become culturally real and a part of our societies” (Nørgård & Bengtsen, , p. ).
An example of the sustainability curriculum put into practice can be found in Si
gurðarson’s () social justice-inspired study of social capacities, where knowledge
and skills developed through research are not understood as something that is merely
to be moved, piece by piece, from one place to another. On the contrary, social capaci
ties are “built over time in particular places” and “developed through sustainable inter
actions with individuals and societies” (Sigurðarson, , p. ). Sigurðarson argues
that research may kindle the empowerment and agency of local communities, which
would otherwise remain in the peripheries and margins of mainstream societal aware
ness and privilege. In Sigurðarson’s study, the Icelandic sign-language community, by
way of the Communication Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, entered a research
collaboration with the University of Iceland that was supported by a range of Nordic
funds and networks. One of the results was that the signing community changed from
a societally peripheral and socially vulnerable community, “becoming more self-confi
dent, accepted, and capable”, while the Icelandic-speaking community also became
“more capable through a ‘more robust debate’”, and sign language in general became
“more obvious in public space and more accepted” (Sigurðarson, , p. ). In the
social justice trend, we find ethical dialectics encouraging doctoral education and the
PhD to assume a greater social and cultural (and sometimes political) responsibility of
their research, both through their research and within their respective research interac
tions and partnerships.
Søren S.E. Bengtsen
Ownership and Agency in Doctoral Education Revisited
The influence of external stakeholders on doctoral education and the PhD is radically
increasing these years, not only through co-financing but also through direct collabora
tion with policy communities, professionals, public organizations and institutions, or
the private sector. As the examples above show, new and exciting ways of going beyond
solely economic regimes are emerging and already generating social value. A new soci
etal meaning seems to open up for doctoral students and their supervisors. However,
the new trends in the doctoral curriculum do not leave doctoral education and the PhD
with more clearly settled terms of ownership. Due to the increased number of collabo
rative research projects and processes, where the PhD product itself may partly consist
of a societally anchored result (sustainable playgrounds for preschool children, voice
and empowerment for social groups in the margins of society), it may be even more
challenging to define ownership and academic autonomy. Even though, on the one
hand, it is compelling to open doctoral education and the PhD towards a more socie-
tally engaged and involved curriculum, we also need to take into account the point
made by Rider (): that universities and research endeavors should never lose their
status as a “safe zone” suspended between the interests of the market on the one side
and the state’s governance on the other. Indeed, the issue of confused ownership is man
datory to tackle in the doctoral curriculum for times to come.
Consequently, a related issue of blurred agency arises, too. Who acts through the
PhD? Is it the doctoral researcher themselves, connected academic communities, or
the professional partners involved—or do they all act at the same time, getting entan
gled in multiple ways within the frame of doctoral education? As McAlpine and
Amundsen () argue, developing researcher agency is paramount to the doctoral
learning journey. Researcher agency is not developed in a vacuum but aims to navigate
opportunities, structures, and horizons for action. While opportunity structures repre
sent an individual’s “structural knowledge, including knowledge about employment in
different sectors, organizational structures and missions”, horizons for action repre
sent “the perceived viable or attractive option within opportunity structures”, which
may be influenced by factors such as “experience, personal intentions and relation
ships, and suggestions and desires of important others” (McAlpine & Amundsen, ,
pp. –). However, who will be able to detect when opportunity structures in profes
sional contexts close down originality and creativity in research? And who can tell when
the doctoral student’s horizon for action slowly but inescapably narrows, leaving the
doctoral research project in a confined and governed space? Barnett () raises the
concern that doctoral researchers, their supervisors, or even leaders of doctoral pro
grams may become so engaged and enthused by a professional collaboration that they
do not wish to see how the research creativity slowly loses height and becomes uncriti
cal. Barnett () argues that if students, supervisors, or leaders become too caught up
in “state regulatory systems or their desire to acquire instrumentally valuable skills—
and so are forgoing their academic freedoms—then there is a responsibility upon those
who teach them to encourage those students to take on the burdens of academic free
Doctoral Education In-the-World. (Dis-)Connections between Research and Society
dom” (p. ). With blurred agency comes the need for new discussions about criticality
in research and the question of how doctoral researchers who work in close collabora
tion with external partners can become aware of assumptions that may challenge or
compromise their criticality.
Paradoxically, when new trends emerge and direct our gaze towards social, techni
cal, or cultural issues that, in the face of prioritized research interests, have thus far
been overlooked, unacknowledged, and unrecognized, there is always a certain risk of
other issues being crowded out and pushed into the (new) social peripheries and cul
tural margins. Relevant as the new trends may be (ecology, sustainability, social jus
tice), foregrounding new research agendas and priorities for research funding always
keeps other agendas and, potentially, similarly worthy topics and research issues in the
background. Further, as mentioned above, research and impact agendas are always
normative and favor some topics, methods, or dissertation genres over others. The so
cial norms guiding research strategies may even blacklist some approaches, such as the
unwillingness to collaborate with external partners or research projects with no imme
diate relevance or visible social or technical outcome. As Bengtsen and Barnett ()
have argued, contesting and challenging dominant trends in both research and doc
toral education may sometimes be the only way to “understand other ecologies only
marginally connected to political and economic drivers” and may only be relevant for
marginal ’subcultures [and] personal lifeworlds’ (Bengtsen & Barnett, , p. ) with
out much relevance for big data, hot political topics, or research buzz. When doctoral
education and the PhD move too close to the political and cultural mainstream, critical
ity and creativity in researcher formation and research approaches risk becoming
eclipsed.
Conclusion
In doctoral education and the PhD, we are witnessing different curricular pulls and
tensions between disciplinary interests. On the one hand, there is a strong push to
wards integrating more generic competencies and transferrable skills into doctoral
education, but on the other hand, doctoral education must also address the potentially
conflicting interests of external stakeholders (local or national) and the expectations of
an international community of experts within a given field. New trends in doctoral edu
cation seem to be able to successfully move doctoral education and the PhD beyond
narrow discussions of societal impact, embedded in economic policy regimes, and out
side the institutional walls—thereby situating doctoral education and the PhD in the
world in new ways. From these new trends, I have identified three major curricular
drivers: ecology, sustainability, and social justice. All of these trends aim to bring doc
toral researchers and their supervisors together with external partners within profes
sional contexts around shared goals and aims. However, in the wake of intensified ex
ternal collaborations, challenging issues around confused ownership, blurred agency,
Søren S.E. Bengtsen
and topical (including epistemic and disciplinary) marginalization threaten to become
an unintentional result.
The educational and pedagogical implications for doctoral education through col
laborative projects with multiple stakeholders are still underresearched. This will be an
essential dimension to follow up on in the future. Regarding the doctoral students,
learning and formation trajectories lead in different directions. Students may not know
whether doctoral education will direct them towards careers as professional research
ers, or towards positions as highly qualified knowledge workers in other professional
contexts. Meanwhile, the doctoral supervisors may find it hard to understand and relate
to the students’ concerns and uncertainties. Many of today’s supervisors have experi
enced a vastly different PhD trajectory, with expectations and career trajectories that do
not match their students’ realities. Therefore, possible ways of guiding and supporting
those students are not always immediately apparent. Elsewhere, I have argued (Bengt
sen, ) for the renewed importance of leadership in doctoral education and the in
troduction of a role that goes beyond the immediate quality assurance and project man
agement provided by doctoral supervisors by incorporating the task of guiding and
advising (perhaps even mediating between) the partners involved. This leadership
would not aim to monitor and manage the research top-down but to support doctoral
students (and their supervisors), to facilitate researcher integrity and agency by helping
them navigate the unknown waters between multiple stakeholders and research in
terests. Perhaps senior doctoral supervisors might be able to take on such a leadership
role, and perhaps even some external partners may prove unexpectedly helpful and val
uable. However, the new demands for leadership (and not management) in doctoral
education require excellent collaboration cultures not only beyond the institutions but
very much so also within universities and doctoral programs.
Acknowledgements
This article is based on ‘Research for impact – integrating research and societal impact
in the humanities PhD’, a Sapere Aude research project funded by the Independent
Research Fund Denmark (DFF).
References
Acker, S., & Haque, E. (). Left Out in the Academic Field: Doctoral Graduates Deal with
a Decade of Disappearing Jobs. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 47(), –.
https://doi.org/./cjhe.vi.
Andres, L., Bengtsen, S., Crossouard, B., Gallego, L., Keefer, J., & Pyhältö, K. (). ‘Driv
ers and interpretations of doctoral education today: National comparisons’. Frontline
Learning Research, 3(), –.
Doctoral Education In-the-World. (Dis-)Connections between Research and Society
Barnacle, R. (). Research Education and Care. The Care-Full PhD. In S. Bengtsen &
R. Barnett (Eds.), The Thinking University. A Philosophical Examination of Thought and
Higher Education (pp. –). Springer. https://doi.org/./----_
Barnacle, R., & Cuthbert, D. (Eds.) (). The PhD at the End of the world. Provocations for
the Doctorate and a Future Contested. Springer. https://doi.org/./---
-_
Barnett, R. (). The Ecological University. A Feasible Utopia. Routledge. https://doi.org/
./
Barnett, R. (). The Philosophy of Higher Education. A Critical Introduction. Routledge.
https://doi.org/./
Barnett, R. & Bengtsen, S. (). Knowledge and the University. Re-claiming Life. Routledge.
https://doi.org/./
Bengtsen, S. (a). An exploration of darkness within doctoral education. Creative learn
ing approaches of doctoral students. In C. Zhou (Ed.), Handbook of research on creative
problem-solving skill development in higher education (pp. –). IGI Global. https://
doi.org/./----.ch
Bengtsen, S. (b). Doctoral Supervision. Organization and Dialogue. Aarhus University
Press. https://doi.org/./jj.
Bengtsen, S. (). Building doctoral ecologies and ecological curricula. The sprawling
spaces for learning in researcher education. In N. Jackson & R. Barnett (Eds.), Learn
ing Ecologies (pp. –). Routledge. https://doi.org/./-
Bengtsen, S. (). Cultural Leadership. In R. Barnett, S. Bengtsen & R. Nørgård (Eds.),
Culture and the University. Education, Ecology, Design. Bloomsbury.
Bengtsen, S., & Barnett, R. (). Higher Education and Alien Ecologies. Exploring the
Dark Ontology of the University. In R. Gildersleeve & K. Kleinhesselink (Eds), Higher
Education and the Anthropocene, Special Issue of Philosophy and Theory in Higher Educa
tion (pp. –). Peter Lang. https://doi.org/./ptihe...
Bengtsen, S., Barnett, R., Grant, B., McAlpine, L., Wisker, G., & Wright, Susan (). The
Societal Entanglements of Doctoral Education: The development of a research framework for
a critical analysis of the societal impact of the humanities PhD, Working Papers on Univer
sity Reform, –. Working Paper , Centre for Higher Education Futures, Aarhus:
Aarhus University.
Bengtsen, S., & McAlpine, L. (). A novel perspective on doctoral supervision. Interac
tion of time, academic work, institutional policies, and lifecourse. Learning and Teach
ing in the Social Sciences (LATISS), 15(), –. https://doi.org/./latiss..
Benneworth, P., Gulbrandsen, M., & Hazelkorn, E. (). The Impact and Future of Arts
and Humanities Research. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/
./----
Bernstein, B. L., Evans, B., Fye, J., Halai, N., Hall, F. L., Jensen, H. S., Marsh, H., &
Ortega, S. (). The Continuing Evolution of the Research Doctorate. In M. Nerad
& B. Evans (Eds.), Globalization and Its Impacts on the Quality of PhD Education
(pp. –). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/./----_
Søren S.E. Bengtsen
Braidotti, R. (). Posthuman Knowledge. Polity Press.
Burford, J. (). The trouble with doctoral aspiration now. International Journal of Quali
tative Studies in Education, 31(), –. https://doi.org/./..
Cassuto, L. (). The Graduate School Mess. What cause it and how we can fix it. Harvard
University Press. https://doi.org/./
Cuthbert, D., & Barnacle, R. (). A Public and Persuasive PhD: Reforming Doctoral
Education in the Outreach-Focused University. In R. Barnacle & D. Cuthbert (Eds.),
The PhD at the End of the world. Provocations for the Doctorate and a Future Contested
(pp. –). Springer. https://doi.org/./----_
Davids, N., & Waghid, Y. (). Academic Activism in Higher Education: A living philosophy
for social justice. Springer. https://doi.org/./----
de Sousa Santos, B. (). Epistemologies of the South. Justice Against Epistemicide. Rout
ledge.
Elliot, D. L., Baumfield, V., Reid, K., & Makara, K. A. (). Hidden treasures: Successful
international doctoral students who found and harnessed the hidden curriculum.
Oxford Review of Education, 42(), –. https://doi.org/./..
Elliot, D., Bengtsen, S., Guccione, K., & Kobayashi, S. (). The Hidden Curriculum in
Doctoral Education. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/./----
Elmgren, M., Forsberg, E., Lindberg-Sand, Å., & Sonesson, A. (). The formation of doc
toral education. Lund University.
Fricker, M. (). Epistemic Injustice. Power & the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford University
Press.
Gokhberg, L., Shmatko, N., & Ludeline, A. (Eds.) (). The Science and Technology Labor
Force: TheValue of Doctorate Holders and Development of Professional Careers. Springer
International Publishing Switzerland.
Golde, C. M., & Walker, G. E. (Eds.) (). Envisioning the Future of Doctoral Education.
Preparing Stewarts of the Discipline. Jossey-Bass.
Goldman, C. A., & Massy, W. F. (). The PhD Factory. Training and Employment of Science
and Engineering Doctorates in the United States. Anker Publishing Company.
Grant, B. M. (). The Bothersome Business of Curriculum in Doctoral Education. In
E. Bitzer & N. Botha (Eds.), Curriculum Inquiry in South African Higher Education.
Some Scholarly Armations and Challenges (pp. –). SUN Press. https://doi.org/
./j.ctvvzcg.
Hazelkorn, E. (). Making an impact: New directions for arts and humanities research. Arts
and Humanities in Higher Education, 14(), –. https://doi.org/./
Latour, B. (). After Lockdown. A Metamorphosis. Polity Press.
McAlpine, L. (). How Might the (Social Sciences) PhD Play a Role in Addressing
Global Challenges? In R. Barnacle & D. Cuthbert (Eds.), The PhD at the End of the
world. Provocations for the Doctorate and a Future Contested (pp. –). Springer.
https://doi.org/./----_
Doctoral Education In-the-World. (Dis-)Connections between Research and Society
McAlpine, L., & Amundsen, C. (). Identity-Trajectories of Early Career Researchers. Un
packing the Post-PhD Experience. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/./--
--
McArthur, J. (). Rethinking Knowledge within Higher Education. Adorno and Social Jus
tice. Bloomsbury.
McCowan, T. (). The five perils of the impact agenda in higher education. London Re
view of Education, 16(), –. https://doi.org/./LRE...
Morton, T. (). Hyperobjects. Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World. University
of Minnesota Press.
Nerad, M., & Evans, B. (Eds.) (). Globalization and Its Impacts on the Quality of PhD
Education. Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/./----
Nerad, M., & Heggelund, M. (Eds.) (). Toward a Global PhD? Forces & Forms in Doctoral
Education Worldwide. University of Washington Press.
Nørgård, R. T., & Bengtsen, S. (Eds.) (). The activist university. Between practice and
policy. Special Issue, Policy Futures in Education, 19(), –. https://doi.org/
./
Rider, S. (). Truth, Democracy, and the Mission of the University, In S. Bengtsen &
R. Barnett (Eds.), The Thinking University. A Philosophical Examination of Thought and
Higher Education (pp. –). Springer. https://doi.org/./----_
Rudd, E. (). The Highest Education: A Study of Graduate Education in Britain. Routledge.
Shumar, W., & Bengtsen, S. (). An Entrepreneurial Ecology for Higher Education. A
New Approach to Student Formation. In S. Bengtsen, S. Robinson & W. Shumar
(Eds.), The University Becoming. Perspectives From Philosophy and Social Theory
(pp. –). Springer. https://doi.org/./----_
Sigurðarson, E. S. (). Capacities, capabilities, and the societal impact of the humani
ties. Research Evaluation, 29(), –. https://doi.org/./reseval/rvz
Sivertsen, G., & Meijer, I. (). Normal versus extraordinary societal impact: how to un
derstand, evaluate, and improve research activities in their relations to society? Re
search Evaluation, 29(), –. https://doi.org/./reseval/rvz
Wisker, G. (). The Good Supervisor. Second edition. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.
org/./----
Wright, S. (). Universities in a Knowledge Economy or Ecology? Policy, Contestation
and Abjection. Critical Policy Studies, 10(), –. https://doi.org/./.
.
Søren S.E. Bengtsen
The Liberal Arts Approach to Higher Education:
A Case for the Humanities
B D. C
Several years ago, when our university was undergoing accreditation, I was asked to
appear before a committee comprised of some sixteen German academics. An Ameri
can literary scholar by training, at my university I teach undergraduate courses in
American literature, college composition, business writing, and public speaking, as
well as graduate-level courses in Jewish studies and Holocaust representation. After
different members addressed my colleagues in German, one council member ad
dressed me in English: “Professor Crawford, we understand that, as a professor of Eng
lish, your job is to correct the students’ papers, but what else do you do here? Could you
please justify your presence as a member of the business faculty? How do your contribu
tions add value to the program and to the students’ education?”
This question revealed an attitude that categorizes the literature and the writing
course as an unnecessary luxury for all students not studying in fields with English
language and culture at their center. This viewpoint imagines the liberal arts class as
appropriate only for students who intend to become future language teachers, editors,
translators, and content creators, as well as professors of literature themselves one day.
Such a course for the student of management (our undergraduate program’s single
area of concentration at that time) was likely seen, by this committee member at least,
as a distraction from the student’s educational process. Viewed from this skeptical per
spective, the course that teaches great works of literature or writing must have been
seen as ornamental: its value is decorative, lacking the depth and practical utility of
courses in, say, accounting that offer skills directly applicable to the management stu
dent who may soon be doing some accounting herself or even supervising accountants.
I recount this exchange because it reveals a clash of cultures that represent dis
tinctly different approaches to higher education. Our different viewpoints represent
two systems intersecting here: on the one hand, the typical liberal arts university struc
ture that offers a wide range of various courses that supplement the focus of the stu
dent’s major, and on the other hand, the more strongly segmented German university
system where students choose a field that defines the bulk of their studies from the
outset, with less room to choose a smaller number of elective, supplemental courses
outside of their major. An American university in Berlin, Germany, offering both an
American and a German degree, must, of course, find a way to negotiate the norms of
the two systems of higher education.
By naming my purpose as “the person designated to correct students’ papers,” this
committee member showed me that he understood the teaching of writing to be the
teaching of grammar, vocabulary, and punctuation. I had the impression he saw my
role at the college as the native speaker of American English who explains to our stu
dents where the commas should go. His choice to ask how my contribution “adds
value” to the students’ education—a question not posed to my fellow business faculty
members with degrees in economics, marketing, or finance—revealed to me that the
inherent value of teaching reading and writing, the essence of the humanities, was lost
on him. From the perspective of an accountant scrutinizing our ledger’s bottom line,
literature and writing courses likely seemed indulgences in an outmoded form of enter
tainment (the novel) or a technical reinforcement for students who will need to use
correct English at the workplace.
Even though the value of the humanities and the liberal arts approach to education
may be obvious to many, some do not recognize its worth. Here I am reminded of the
arguments offered by a speech delivered by C. P. Snow in , who asserted then that
there was a growing, unbridgeable gap between the scientists and the literary people,
and this gap was making it increasingly difficult, or even impossible, for the “two cul
tures” (), to speak to one another. Snow, himself, was a novelist, but he had trained
as a physicist and spent many years working as a scientist in that field. At the time of
publication of The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (), he spoke from a
position as a native informant, literate in the two opposing cultures of academic labor.
In his essay, Snow argued for the necessity of the two cultures finding common ground
and meeting one another in conversation, calling for the sciences and the humanities
to open a dialogue and share the benefits of learning from their partners’ disciplinary
perspectives.
The defense of the humanities has a long history, with Snow’s voice only one in a
long line of thinkers calling for the continuation of this particular tradition of learning
and thinking. From the vantage point of more than sixty years after Snow’s work, I
marvel at the even footing on which he placed the two groups as he called for a dialogue
between these two cultures. Much has changed since he delivered his lecture, since
today these two cultures exist in different economic classes on university campuses,
with substantial funding supporting the sciences and restrictions and budget cuts now
thinning the support for the arts and humanities.
This hierarchy has not always been in place, of course. Oxford, where Snow
taught, has always been a significant model for American higher education, and was
established as a training center for the church (Oxford University, n. d.). Is it any sur
prise that even in the early part of the twentieth century, the typical American univer
sity curriculum was far more steeped in the humanities than it is today, based on the
ideas that “Greek, Latin, Christianity, and respectable upper-class social values were the
One prominent tradition of written texts that defend the humanities can be traced back to the liberal arts educational
approach in classical Greece and later in medieval Europe, where the teaching of the Trivium—the study of rhetoric, logic,
and grammar —forms the foundation of education. Many scholars since Aristotle have written works that extol the value
of poetry and argue for its necessity in education. To take just two examples out of many, consider Horace whose Ars
Poetica emerged in the Augustan Age of the Roman Empire and famously argued that the poetic work should aim to
instruct and delight. The impact of Horace’s dictum was revisited in with the publication of Sir Philip Sidney’s Defense
of Poesy. Sidney argued that poetry should indeed instruct and delight, and that readers of virtuous work would themselves
express that moral virtue in their behavior in the world.
With the rst abbey, St. Frideswide, built in Oxford in the th century, the foundation of religious scholarship at Oxford
began.
The Liberal Arts Approach to Higher Education: A Case for the Humanities
foundation of a good education” (Graff, , p. )? In classical Greece, education was
established on the foundations of rhetoric, logic, and grammar, as named in Aristotle’s
Organon, later to be named the “Trivium” (Joseph, ). And scholars of the Talmud
(compiled between the second and sixth centuries C. E.) train their students through
reading and interpreting a series of fragments of Jewish legal code, read together with
commentaries on these fragments, and then commentaries on the commentary (My
Jewish Learning, n. d.). Education has a long history of being grounded in this essential
practice of reading and writing and in responding to writing with more writing, aimed
at developing the skills of analysis, interpretation, reasoning, and argument. Many
skills and conditions we consider necessary for participatory democracy, such as a free
press and a society improved by a self-reflective public discourse, are grounded in this
approach to education.
This essay compares two models of education: one that values highly specialized
courses in one’s field at the expense of other courses, and another that prioritizes
courses in one’s major but includes a variety of general education courses that provide
experiences in the humanities as part of a liberal arts method of teaching. We could call
these two curricular philosophies the specialist approach and the integrationist
approach. The specialist approach views the field of study as a complete, closed dis
course and set of established, “settled knowledge” (Graff, , p. ), which consti
tutes information that the student must learn as a prerequisite to becoming a member
of the profession. Such a model has its advantages and shows a direct and observable
link between the student’s labor in the classroom to acquire certain forms of familiarity
and competence and the graduate’s practice in the office, the laboratory, or the field.
The integrationist approach, which characterizes the liberal arts curricular design,
places one’s major within the broader context of courses that develop the student’s mind
in other ways, teaching skills for thought, expression, and participation in civil society.
From the specialist’s viewpoint, the integrationist approach to curriculum design
merely offers the student a watered-down experience that jeopardizes the integrity of
the training itself. Combining specialized courses with other courses that seem to be,
on the surface, irrelevant—at least in terms of their content—must appear to the spe
cialist as an undesirable compromise. Although it might be nice to give the manage
ment student some courses in literature, the thinking goes, such a nicety comes at the
cost of fewer courses in the focus of study, leaving the student disadvantaged among
competitors who have received a greater number of specialized courses in the field.
I argue, however, that the opposite is true.
The liberal arts model as an approach to higher education, regardless of one’s ma
jor or primary area of study, exposes the student to a broad range of supplementary
experiences and disciplines, with a solid base in the humanities and the arts. While
There is a long history of viewing the poet and the artist with skepticism. Plato, who proposed a society ruled by the
philosopher king (Republic, Book V, c-e; Plato, Grube, & Reeve, , p. ), also famously exiled the poets (Book X,
b, p. ), whose craft he compared to deception (Book III and Book X). Many of the contemporary arguments calling
for censorship nd their origins in passages from the Republic where the storyteller’s power and ability to inuence
common people are acknowledged, and therefore must be strictly controlled (see, for example, Book III, b, p. ). Yet
many scholars, rather than fearing the inuence of poets, philosophers, and historians, instead view them as a foundation
for education.
Brian D. Crawford
higher education in the United States has commonly approached learning in this man
ner, there is a general trend to make higher education programs leaner by cutting lib
eral arts funding and curricular requirements. Given this decline in support for liberal
arts in US higher education and the dominance of a specialist approach to curriculum
worldwide (Godwin & Altbach, ), it is the increasing rarity of the liberal arts
approach to learning in universities everywhere that concerns me here, as well as the
consequences of this narrowed perspective.
In this essay, I argue that the humanities classroom has a critical place in the cur
riculum and must therefore remain a part of the educational path for everyone, includ
ing students who pursue degrees in the sciences and in areas of study seen as applied
and practical. Writing, after all, is a form of thinking itself and not merely an expres
sion of finished thought. Two foundational pillars of self-reflection are the develop
ment of writing skills and the (written and oral) engagement with models of thought
found in reading a variety of texts. To maintain this engagement, the concept of literacy
must go beyond its rudiments. Exceeding the basic definition of literacy as the simple
capacity to read words written on the page, a more sophisticated approach to literacy
assumes the reader can connect the ideas from different written works and assemble in
the mind (and in speech, and on paper) a response that participates in a conversation.
One of the foundations of democracy is the free press, and in order for a democ
racy to work, a sophisticated form of literacy and an awareness of public discourse are
necessary conditions for participation. The humanities provide students with the skills
necessary for participatory democracy, modeling the kinds of thought and reinforcing
the habits of mind that make the free press a central component in a free society.
Teaching students advanced skills in writing and reading aids in promoting public dis
course and training self-expression and encourages careful listening and reflection.
Self-reflection and empathy are more frequently found in the student trained to reflect
on complex literary objects (Johnson et al., ; Junker & Jacquemin, ; Koopman
& Hakemulder, ; Leavy, , p. ; Thexton et al., ). This approach to teach
ing and learning includes an attempt to make a society fairer, fighting discrimination
by widening the range of represented viewpoints. In this manner, the humanities class
room works toward social justice by catering to diverse student groups who identify
with voices included in the curriculum. Of course, more needs to be understood about
how effective these approaches are in terms of learning outcomes, but modeling inter
cultural dialogue has at least the potential to increase the likelihood that such ex
changes continue beyond the confines of the classroom.
Where does this view of education come from—one that frames the liberal arts,
with their emphasis on the humanities, as a luxurious indulgence? This brand of skep
ticism belongs to a common, long-held viewpoint that equates higher education with
vocational training and sees courses in the humanities as a waste of time and money
(Jay, ). Studies that track future earnings with university majors frequently show
Dramatist Heinrich von Kleist famously argued that speech is an action facilitating thought, not merely an expression of a
nished thought; he encouraged his readers to nd out what they think about something by speaking about it with some
one who listens (Kleist, ).
The Liberal Arts Approach to Higher Education: A Case for the Humanities
that English majors are projected to earn far less than their peers in economics and the
hard sciences (e. g., Belfield et al., ). As the cost of higher education continues to
increase, parents are looking at the college experience with more scrutiny on the return
on investment, as a recent article shows students in American universities leaving the
English major en masse. (Heller, ). In terms of the job market, it would seem at
first glance that the skills learned in a literature classroom might not be valued. And
yet, studies linking employability to higher education skills include “good written and
verbal communication skills” on a short list of key transferrable “soft” skills that em
ployers seek when hiring (Andrews & Higson, ). I often hear from corporate lead
ers that a skill they often seek is the ability to write clearly, to tell a coherent story, to
explain an idea, to listen, and, in short, to communicate well.
One reason the literature course is undervalued by specialist curriculum design
ers, may arise from a difference in method. While courses of study in chemistry and
accounting teache students the essential skills necessary to become chemists and ac
countants, a course in literature does not teach students how to become novelists, poets,
or playwrights. What students in the literature course generate is not, in fact, their ob
ject of study: the novel, poem, or play. Instead, as Gerald Graff has observed, what these
students produce is criticism (Graff, , p. ). The asymmetry of approaches in
classrooms for literature versus the empirical sciences reveals a difference in align
ment that contrasts teaching methods with their objects of study. In the model of the
chemistry or accounting class, skills taught are transparent in their application to the
workplace: those future workers are training to become chemists and accountants, and
in such labs and classrooms they learn the rules, practices, and applied behaviors of
their profession. The literature classroom does not train the student to reproduce the
object of study, nor does it use the same educational method as the skills taught in
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (commonly known as STEM)
classes. The next part of this chapter will attempt to identify what models of learning
are present in the writing classroom. And since literature students are being taught to
produce criticism, one should consider the question: what is criticism’s value?
Before I address these questions, first some context. The institution of higher edu
cation where I am currently employed, Touro University Berlin, a campus of Touro
University New York, USA, finds itself in an unusual position because of the hybrid
nature of the place, combining American, German, and international elements. On the
one hand, our degree-granting power, as well as much of our academic structure and
support, comes directly from our American parent institution. We are accredited by the
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, an American accrediting body that
authorizes the undergraduate program to offer American bachelor’s degrees. On the
other hand, we operate in Germany and adhere to higher education standards dictated
by the laws of the state, Berlin, and the federal standard across Germany, both of
which, in turn, are shaped by rules and norms established by the European Union. Our
college is a Fachhochschule, which, in English, might best be translated as a technical
college, but it differs from an American technical college because our degrees are bach
elor’s degrees, not associate’s degrees. The German Fachhochschule looks for its fac
Brian D. Crawford
ulty to have qualifications not only through their academic degrees and publications
but also from practical experience. Maintaining policy and standards of practice that
negotiate at least two distinct philosophies of education has presented regular chal
lenges to the faculty and administrative staff of our institution.
For an audience familiar only with one model of higher education, it is necessary
to highlight some contrasting aspects of the partner model. While the American liberal
arts model includes a large number of arts and humanities courses as core require
ments for every student, no matter what one’s major, the German model is far more
specialized, with nearly all required courses taught within one’s major. Consider the
German tendency to view the university as a place of scientific knowledge—as opposed
to the English Oxbridge model, where the university is seen as a cultural institution,
with its mission of building character—and it becomes easy to understand why a tight
focus on specialization shapes the curriculum in the German model of higher educa
tion (Scott, , p. ).
Here in Berlin, the contemporary labor market is global and international. Far
more English is spoken in Berlin than a generation ago. In the global context, English
is the dominant language. It dominates the internet, commerce, academic journals,
international diplomacy, and many forms of cultural products, such as music, cinema,
and television. Experts surmise that the number of non-native English speakers in the
world surpassed the number of native speakers just after the start of the millennium,
making English a language whose role as a lingua franca has outstripped its use as a
national, or even international, anglophone tongue (Mauranen, ). As Berlin has
become an international city where many startups and established corporations con
duct their business in English, the labor market has changed to reflect these qualities.
Even a venerable German automobile company like Daimler-Benz has changed signifi
cantly with globalization; in Daimler-Benz merged with US car company Chrys
ler, and one result of the formation of this multinational corporation is the daily use of
English in the workplace (Erling & Walton, ).
As the educational landscape changes here in Europe to reflect a globalized mar
ketplace, the demographics of our college reflect these shifts. Like many other interna
tional programs in Berlin, our undergraduate classes are taught in English. Nearly half
of the student body is native to Germany, and the other half hails from countries on six
continents. The makeup of this student body, is, therefore, unusually multicultural and
polylingual, which creates an environment where the students’ varied backgrounds en
rich the classrooms with a multiplicity of viewpoints and approaches. Such a resource
for students’ learning about one another and themselves should not be overlooked, and
the liberal arts approach enhances this richness in an inclusive dialogue.
So, to return to this essay’s starting point, I claim that the liberal arts approach to
higher education situates the humanities as a necessary and essential aspect of the cur
riculum. In the context of a German pedagogical framework that presumes students at
an institution of higher education already possess the basics of reading and writing
and, therefore, have no further need of courses in the arts and humanities, I offer the
following line of reflection.
The Liberal Arts Approach to Higher Education: A Case for the Humanities
As a professor who teaches literature and academic writing, I take the literature
classroom and the writing course as models of liberal arts for this discussion, but one
may substitute for them a range of courses in the humanities, including philosophy,
history, film studies, art history, cultural studies, gender studies, and more. The tradi
tional liberal arts argument claims that the goal of education is not merely to train an
employee but to educate the whole person (Lewis, ; Roche, ). I agree with this
claim, but I go even further to argue that even when considered by those who view the
central aim of higher education as a preparation for employment, the benefits of a lib
eral arts education are manifold and supplement specialized knowledge in an impor
tant fashion. The liberal arts component of the college curriculum provides rigorous
intellectual training for the student that complements her professional expertise.
That this training takes place in areas that examine topics beyond the student’s
own major is an asset rather than a liability. To ask the student to make observations
about a fictional world is to liberate the student from making arguments constrained
by the conditions of politics and identities that situate one in the present. Precisely by
asking the student to explain a concept as it appears in a virtual object such as a novel,
one is asking the student to identify an argument outside of the context of one’s daily
life, to isolate it, and to examine how that idea has been presented to the reader. By
requiring the student to produce criticism, we ask her to interpret the situations and
experiences that may be found in a fictional world; by asking a student to respond to a
complex set of ideas that present themselves in a text, we maintain that her assertions
must be supported by evidence found in the text itself. Once this dialogue is estab
lished, the student is encouraged to compare the ideas in the text to those beyond it, by
engaging with, for example, critical texts, legal and historical documents, other cultural
products, or the arguments of a fellow student. These same skills ground the student in
the exchange of reasoned thought made in the here and now that makes debate possi
ble, training the student to make arguments that hold water, testing them against argu
ments and observations of other critics, including those made by peers in the class
room.
Students enhance these skills as they develop a more refined understanding of
complex arguments found in texts, giving them the chance to better understand one
another—a crucial element for building and maintaining a democratic society. The dis
cussion that takes place in a classroom where one is examining a text raises the level of
consciousness simply because language is being used to examine language, promoting
a higher stage of self-awareness. Likewise, the interlocutors in this discussion, when
presenting their own ideas or responses to their colleagues’ ideas, must become adept
at listening in order to grasp what their classmates propose.
The process of learning in the humanities classroom works counter to the rules
and training learning model of the specialist curriculum precisely because the subject
matter (the novel) in the liberal arts classroom is not the same as the product (criticism)
that the students generate together. Consider a novel, such as James Joyce’s Ulysses
(, original ), that explores, among many other things, the nature of relation
ships between children and their parents or between partners in a marriage. In the
Brian D. Crawford
social sciences, there is an increasingly common view that considers fiction as a kind of
research practice (Leavy, ), and fiction can be understood as an imaginative re
sponse to the real world. The student who is asked to examine Joyce’s novel must try to
make sense of this response. An assigned reflection on how those familial relation
ships are represented may teach the student how to interpret a written representation
of the world that demands much from its reader as one finds in the text of Ulysses, but
the assignment also gives the student the chance to reflect on how children and parents
misunderstand each other or how parents cannot help but to see themselves in their
children. Opportunities to reflect on the nature of these kinds of relationships are often
unavailable when we look at our own relationships, simply because we lack enough
distance to allow helpful reflection. A reading of Ulysses that attempts to understand
how Joyce sees Stephen’s relationship to his father, or to Bloom, might not hold the key
to unlocking universal truths about the nature of father-son relationships, but it cer
tainly provides the student with the opportunity to make sense of Joyce’s (or at least
Stephen’s or Bloom’s) point of view on this matter while providing the student with
food for thought to reflect on their own primary relationships.
Every literature and college composition class contains assignments that invite the
student to come to terms with her own arguments and to learn how the process of
developing coherent thought (when it happens successfully) through the stages of revi
sion can train the mind to think more coherently, and with more complexity and so
phistication. What I propose is that engagement with one’s own writing, together with
literature (or history, or philosophy, etc.) is a form of training that provides its primary
benefit through its process, and this benefit is supplemented by its content. The student
engaged in this manner produces what Gerald Graff (, p. ) calls criticism,
which is a way of using language that moves through literary texts but does not neces
sarily train the student to produce literary texts; instead, this practice teaches students
to produce sophisticated, reflective observations as the outcome of engaging with liter
ary texts, resulting in precise forms that track and communicate these thoughts. While
I hope that my students will someday look back and fondly remember how Huckle
berry Finn grew into a young adult during his journey with Jim on the raft, what I
believe are the enduring lessons from our classes come not from remembering the plot
or the characters of a literary work but instead from the experiences of the engagement
itself. The student who can explain, independently, how satire works and what kinds of
behavior Twain finds worthy of ridicule is a student who can manage a very complica
ted set of ideas in a way that makes sense. This process of engagement generates tangi
ble rewards in training nuanced, sophisticated written and spoken responses to the
world.
The fact that this process happens in a classroom is important because of the col
lective nature of this engagement. In the literary classroom, the student is not only
faced with her own interpretation of, for example, Nella Larsen’s novel Passing (,
original ), but also has the shared experience of reading this novel in synchrony
with her peers, and she is invited to engage with her classmates’ different interpreta
tions of this novel, the characters’ motivations, and the circumstances that create con
The Liberal Arts Approach to Higher Education: A Case for the Humanities
flicts within the characters. Larsen’s novel allows the reader insight into how race, gen
der, and class inform one another in s Chicago and Harlem by following the
narrative of two friends whose conflicts around their own racial, economic, and sexual
identities generate the plot. Indeed, the notion of whiteness and the identity positions
of African American people in the United States are highlighted in a narrative that ex
plores the consequences of one woman’s choice to “pass” as a white European-Ameri
can. Instead of approaching the content of Larsen’s novel as settled knowledge, the
student experiences it as a proposed claim that is tested as her own reading is placed in
dialogue with her peers’ varied interpretations. Here, the value comes from the experi
ence of argumentation, and the process of reading forms a community of practice
where the students are united by the shared experience of reading a common text. Stu
dents not only address an important cultural and historical moment that resonates in
contemporary conflicts, but as they audit one another’s own concepts of passing, they
define and identify the categorical limits of belonging—categories of racial, national,
and sexual identity—with one another in a manner that does important work in pro
moting tolerance and generating empathy for a range of people in and beyond the
classroom.
The liberal arts course also promotes pluralistic values. Every student who has
done the reading can actively participate in the community of readers by sharing her
thoughts about the character, the plot, the author’s choices, conflicts that arise, moral
decisions characters make, their successes and regrets, and their growth—or failure to
grow—from these experiences. Every reader in the class can respond to other students’
explanations of their understanding of the literary work. A classroom set up in this way
promotes pluralism, giving the student an encounter with perspectives that represent
her peers as well as with voices from texts that originate outside of the classroom. The
chance to make sense of Adrienne Rich’s poetry or essays, for example, is the opportu
nity to hear a voice that belongs to traditionally marginalized groups (as Rich was a
lesbian and a Jew), and also the chance to hear from a voice now only present in writ
ten form since the author is no longer alive. Additionally, the literature professor who
shares with the students the reasons for making the curricular choices of who is on the
semester’s reading list shares the question of how we respond to a literary tradition and
what considerations one makes when deciding what, and whom, to read. The examina
tion of a text like Adriene Rich’s Diving into the Wreck () demands that the student
take note of what it means to be part of a tradition by participating in criticism of that
tradition, addressing Rich’s efforts to generate a more inclusive dialogue.
Furthermore, the literature course functions as an avenue of cultural exchange,
exposing the student, in my case, for example, to works by American writers from the
nineteenth century to the present. The student who encounters ideas of nation and
belonging in an American literature course has the chance to explore how national
identities are formed and may notice which habits of thought have remained in the
Rich struggled with trying to nd the right language to express her experiences in thought and her experiences in the
world, which she acknowledged was a dicult task since she was working within linguistic traditions that had historically
been employed to silence voices like her own.
Brian D. Crawford
discourse and which have changed over time. The student who participates in this en
gagement with classic and recent new additions to the now-destabilized literary canon
is one who contributes to a form of literacy that traces arguments through cultural pro
duction across generations.
I assert that the student, as a future employee and a future productive citizen, with
a well-rounded set of skills taught in courses that make the humanities and arts a sig
nificant part of their education, is more capable of clear verbal and written expression,
more capable of productive reflection, and more capable of revealing one’s own chain
of thoughts along any particular line of reasoning when compared to the student who
lacks this form of intellectual training. The person who can explain her ideas to others
not only verbally but in written form, whose abstract claims are supplemented by illus
tration and example, is a person whose ideas can reach many fellow members of the
community and the nation, as well as fellow colleagues, customers, and clients.
In defense of the liberal arts education, I argue that the classroom benefits from its
structure as a space of rule-bound play, and perhaps it is the playful aspect of studying
literature that suggests the students are not engaged in serious work. I argue that in the
literature class, serious work gets done in the guise of play. In developmental psychol
ogy, play is understood as something profoundly important for the child’s capacity to
grow (Singer et al., ; Winnicott, ). Other scholars (Van Leeuwen & Westwood,
) draw on Winnicott’s seminal work on play () when asserting that the “crea
tive and experimental character of play which in [Winnicott’s] view constitutes the self-
therapeutic importance of play at all ages with positive consequences for health and
well-being.” Recent studies reveal what developmental psychologists have been argu
ing for decades, confirming there is a strong relationship between children’s playful
ness and their cognitive and emotional development (Whitebread et. al, , p. ).
Recent research shows that one advantage of play, in both humans and animals, is the
liberation from “ends”-oriented thinking, creating contexts that liberate individuals to
focus on “means” instead of “ends” (Pellegrini, , cited in Whitebread, , p. ).
Play allows children to develop language and the capacity to self-regulate—the ability of
the individual to control one’s own emotional and cognitive processes. A recent report
on play concludes: “The significance of this insight has become increasingly recog
nized as evidence has mounted that these two abilities, language and self-regulation,
are intimately interrelated (Vallaton & Ayoub, ) and together form the most power
ful predictors of children’s academic achievement and of their emotional well-being
(Whitebread, )” (Whitebread, ). Developing the capacity for symbolic forms of
play, as this research suggests, fosters skills and trains behaviors that have long-lasting
consequences in terms of individual welfare and student success.
In other words, play is serious business because it is where critical learning takes
place. If the work of reading novels together with one’s peers and one’s professor
sounds more like a leisure activity than an intentional act of learning, one should con
sider that learning and development are often precisely what is at stake when the mind
is engaged in play. In an essay on the topics of play and the imagination, Gregory Bate
son () observes animals at play and famously describes the playful nip as the bite
The Liberal Arts Approach to Higher Education: A Case for the Humanities
that connotes a bite, but one marked with an important difference, since the nip does
not denote what an actual painful and possibly injurious bite would denote. That is, the
nip is, importantly, a representation of a bite but not an actual bite itself, and therefore
the nip allows the animals to explore a circumstance of aggression by staging a safer
version of it, which is a preferable way to learn in comparison to being exposed to dan
gerous raw aggression itself. The kind of work performed in the literature classroom
also offers an engagement in interpretive play, where the readers of a literary work pro
pose their interpretations and understandings of what they have observed in the text,
where fictional representations of the world form a kind of playful staging of that world
suspended from the judgment we might apply if those circumstances were real. For
example, a discussion about Joyce’s description of Paddy Dignam’s funeral may occa
sion various readings of what the novel suggests is happening psychologically when
Bloom is dealing with death directly, or the students may observe certain cultural hab
its associated with mourning, or they may focus on observing the behaviors of particu
lar characters. These observations taking place in a classroom are possible precisely
because they are liberated from the real stakes that appear when attending an actual
funeral, when one’s attentions would be focused on other, more practical matters than
pure observation and reflection.
The conditions that permit a state of play in the literature classroom, one in which
the interpretive act itself is given priority over the content of the reading materials alone,
are conditions that allow the student to focus on the processes of argumentation, gath
ering evidence, and assembling a logical set of claims. This state of play allows both
student and instructor to focus on the process of reasoning itself rather than the sup
posed correct answer, which may be less possible when one is learning, for example, a
set of protocols necessary for reading and interpreting a balance sheet in corporate fi
nance. Of course, the ability to correctly interpret a balance sheet is an important skill,
and one that management students should master. Yet, what I am suggesting here is
that the student in the practical classroom setting whose task is to learn the norms,
codes, and procedures of a specific profession, such as accounting, benefits immensely
from learning how this profession works and is even taught how professionals in that
field think and speak. A student who takes this avenue of study without the supplement
of a liberal arts approach to the curriculum, however, misses the experience of interpre
tive freedom found in the humanities classroom. While the analysis of plot, character,
motivation, and other aspects of an author’s argument are still subject to testing, the
humanities classroom may invite more disagreement and a wider set of viewpoints
when the student is not being judged against the norms of the principles and practices
of her chosen profession. I argue that the combination of both kinds of learning envi
ronments is important for the university student because their methods and goals are
different and complementary.
An environment where the student’s task is to respond to a literary work with criti
cism, and to assert her own set of observations about a text, asks the reader to explore a
hypothetical case in a world that reveals specific problems in, say, Hamlet’s ability to
enter adulthood. These skills that result from training the student to make observations
Brian D. Crawford
about a fictional, imagined world are the same ones that enhance the student’s observa
tions about the real world. A decade ago, a pathbreaking study appeared in the journal
Science (Kidd & Castano, ), whose findings indicate that the act of reading literary
fiction strengthens the reader’s performances in tests that measure “empathy, social
perception, and emotional intelligence” (Belluck, ). The conclusions drawn from
this study suggest that reading what it calls “literary fiction” increases one’s capacity for
certain forms of social intelligence; another study establishes a causal link between
reading “literary fiction” and prosocial behavior (Johnson et al., ). The results of
these studies have encouraged further research that continues to assert the value of
reading fiction for building desirable capacities and character traits in members of a
functioning society (Junker & Jacquemin, ; Thexton et al., ). These findings
may not surprise fellow professors of literature, but they may give pause to skeptics
who still view liberal arts curricular components with disdain.
One may think of fiction as an imagined response to the real world, and as such, it
provides the student with a complex object to be examined. The act of assessing a nar
rative strengthens the student’s own narrative capacity as well as their evaluative power
and critical faculties. The novel may present readers with a world in conflict and, as
such, raise philosophical (including moral and ethical questions) as well as sociological
and political questions about a range of matters that appear in this staged performance
on the page. The literature student presents the class with her own understanding and
observations about the text, inviting classmates and the professor to fine-tune this set of
assessments and claims. All of this work allows the student to engage with the imagina
tion of the author, and the result is a strengthening of the student’s own imagination.
For those who think of imagination as something that only children enjoy, or as a sort
of frivolity, I remind them here that without the capacity to imagine, new solutions to
problems will never be found. Without the capacity to imagine, the student is confined
to a restricted world, and even goals, if they are articulated, remain at a baseline of
development.
As for the student in the college composition classroom, the tools learned there
may seem to have some obvious direct application because the student who learns to
write an essay will be better prepared for essay assignments in other classes. Though
true, this claim represents only the barest notion of writing’s utility as a skill. After all,
writing is not just one tool among many, but rather a form of thinking itself. The begin
ning writer will often tell me that she does not yet know what to write because she does
not yet know what she thinks, as if thinking happened first, followed later by the act of
writing the thought down. I argue that in my experience, writing often happens first,
and I may not know what I think about something until I have written about it. The
recursive writing process allows one to externalize ideas onto paper, then permits re
flection, and only then allows the writer to produce further, more complex responses to
those words. This process trains the development of thought to increase the student’s
capacity for communication and the clear expression of ideas. This kind of learning
reinforces self-reflection and not only improves articulation and the further develop
ment of ideas but also supports the students’ capacity for self-understanding.
The Liberal Arts Approach to Higher Education: A Case for the Humanities
In a chapter that examines the place of the liberal arts in higher education, with
literary studies as its central example, representations of the liberal arts in popular cul
ture should reveal some relevant cultural fault lines that suggest further sources of
skepticism. Frequently in cinema and television, the representation of the English pro
fessor is the object of ridicule. A recent television series on Netflix, The Chair (Benioff
et al., ), portrays an English department fighting to prove its relevance on its small
college campus as funding is cut for a department viewed by the university administra
tors as non-essential and antiquated. Although I began watching this series with enthu
siasm, I was soon disappointed by the way that the series fell into reinforcing carica
tures and negative stereotypes about the work being done by literary scholars, as if
believing in the relevance and importance of work done in such a classroom only re
veals the professors’ own naiveté. The aging scholars who teach courses in literature
from the fourteenth (a Chaucer scholar played by Holland Taylor) or the nineteenth
century (a Melville scholar played by Bob Balaban) appear so old and out of touch with
their students that one wonders if they could be coevals of the authors they teach. Al
though some of the younger faculty seem better able to connect with their students,
one of the show’s principal characters, Bill Dobson (played by Jay Duplass), who is ad
mired by many of his students because of his fame as a successful novelist, appears to
have the maturity of the least grown-up of his charges. His inability to get his act to
gether is counterbalanced by his academic sophistication, as seen in his first lecture,
where he examines Camus’ and Beckett’s responses to fascism with absurdism (Peet &
Wyman, , ::). Even there, his lack of judgment is shown in his choice to illus
trate fascism by making the Nazi salute in class, which, of course, goes viral with pre
dictably catastrophic consequences since the students are filming him with their cell
phones. These English professors may be brilliant in their own way, the show seems to
In the rst episode of the series, Dobson is shown drinking heavily, waking up dressed in yesterday’s clothes in various
places after his class has started, and, at one point, unable to nd where he left his car, he takes an electric scooter on a
zany ride toward campus until he loses control, veers o the road, and takes a madcap spill, ying through the air slap
stick-style to land in a row of hedges and emerge unscathed (Peet & Wyman, , ::). As the inebriated Bill Dobson
leaves a bar, fails to nd his automobile, urinates in public while a passing mother shields her children from the sight of his
bare behind, and then steals a golf cart, which he drives at unsafe speeds around the parking structure, the scene is cross-
cut with the character played by Sandra Oh, who, as the new department chair, delivers the bad news of budget reductions
for the English department in a faculty meeting. As she makes this speech, while we watch these embarrassing, drunken
antics of a popular English professor, she recites a litany of reasons that justify the existence of literary studies, which,
when placed against the background of Bill Dobson’s childish behavior, sound naïve, self-important, deluded, and ridicu
lous. The new chair says to her colleagues: “I’m not gonna sugarcoat this. We are in dire crisis. Enrollments are down more
than thirty percent. Our budget is being gutted. It feels like the sea is washing the ground out from under our feet. But in
these unprecedented times, we have to prove that what we do in the classroom—modeling critical thinking, stressing the
value of empathy—is more important than ever, and has value to the public good. It’s true, we can’t teach our students
coding or engineering. What we teach them cannot be quantied, or put down on a résumé as a skill. But let us have pride
in what we can oer future generations. We need to remind these young people that knowledge doesn’t just come from
spreadsheets, or Wiki entries. Hey, I was thinking this morning about our tech-addled culture, and how our students are
hyper-connected twenty-four hours a day, and I was reminded of something Harold Bloom wrote. He said, ‘Information is
endlessly available to us. Where shall wisdom be found?’” (Peet & Wyman, , ::). By presenting the viewer with
many of the common arguments for the humanities—some of which appear in this chapter—as a voiceover for a montage
that portrays the clownish behavior of an out-of-control English professor, the irony of the contrast invites the viewer to see
the department chair’s impassioned speech with skepticism, suggesting that wisdom is not found in the pursuit of read
ing great works, nor are any of those reasons anything more than delusions by well-meaning, naïve people. The argu
ments, by now familiar to readers of this chapter, that the study of the humanities promotes critical thinking or empathy,
are dismissed here as hogwash, sold at the price of a cheap laugh.
Brian D. Crawford
admit, but as they are represented, these members of the profession do not have a place
in today’s world.
Or, consider the character of the English professor in the feature film Stranger
Than Fiction (Forster, ). The literature professor played by Dustin Hoffman is an
eccentric genius who seems to have read every founding myth and fable but also seems
to belong more in the world of myth and imagination than in the practical world, be
cause although he wears a tailored suit, he also wears no shoes. These representations
of literary scholars suggest that a common view sees them as admittedly intelligent but
impractical people who are more entertaining than enlightening, and this view may
help explain the low value given to the liberal arts component.
In response to the general skepticism that undervalues the role of the liberal arts,
novelists may have something useful to say about these trends in higher education.
Here, it seems fitting to consider the warning found in a novel in concluding this chap
ter. In Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake () the reader encounters a dysto
pian world set in the not-too-distant future. In this society, the arts and humanities are
used only instrumentally; the student of language and art history only mines those aca
demic fields to become better advertisers for goods sold on the market, suggesting they
offer no value beyond their commercial use. The reader sees the low value assigned to
the arts and humanities by the poor facilities at the dilapidated campus where such
courses are still taught. By contrast, the novel’s universities that teach the sciences are
palaces of privilege and luxury, where a student’s every need is met by a pampering
staff and lavish facilities. On one of these research campuses, the science runs amok—
unchecked by any healthy culture of ethical debate, where competing values might
have been discussed and options weighed—so that experiments that began inside a
laboratory get loose and transform the flora and fauna of our planet into something
unrecognizable. These genetic experiments kill much of humanity and create new, un
natural creatures, some strange and some threatening, some of which have already
been produced in actual laboratories today. Atwood’s novel stands as a warning to those
of us who would turn toward the promises of science and the free market, disengaged
from any reflective power and critical dialogue that could have been generated by a
solid grounding in the humanities and liberal arts.
My answer to the committee member who asked how an English professor added
value to the management program was more succinct than these reflections here. My
response was essentially this: Our students training to be future leaders in the business
world really need what they get in the writing and literature classrooms. The question
is not how such classes “add value,” I argued, because without them everything else is
in jeopardy. I suggested that his comment showed that he did not grasp the importance
of a whole set of skills that may not have been visible to some members of the commit
tee but are essential to any university graduate. I argued that what was at stake in this
form of education was “the whole shooting match.” If our graduates have learned rules
and procedures but are unable to share their thoughts clearly in a meeting or a report,
or if they are unable to read carefully enough or consider the impact of a decision being
The Liberal Arts Approach to Higher Education: A Case for the Humanities
weighed, or if they are simply unable to imagine a problem from another point of view,
how will they add value to their place of employment or to their community?
The student who struggles in the humanities classroom is often one who learns
new capacities for thought and expression that remain a part of her for a lifetime. By
continuing to teach the development of the imagination and the capacity for articulat
ing thought, we pass on our own values and ideals to the next generation, providing
them with tools for examining the world they inherit so they may continue discussing
what works and what doesn’t, with the hope they will then forge some new, better paths
ahead.
References
Andrews, J., & Higson, H.().Graduate Employability, ‘Soft Skills’ Versus ‘Hard’ Busi
ness Knowledge: A European Study.Higher Education in Europe,33(),–.
DOI:./
Atwood, M. (). Oryx and Crake. Random House.
Bateson, G. (). A theory of play and fantasy. Psychiatric Research Reports, 2, –.
Belfield, C., Britton, J., Buscha, F., Dearden, L., Dickson, M., van der Erve, L., Sibieta, L.,
Vignoles, A., Walker, I., & Zhu, Y. (). The impact of undergraduate degrees on
early-career earnings. Institute for Fiscal Studies. Department for Education, UK.
https://doi.org/./re.ifs..
Belluck, P. (, October ). For better social skills, scientists recommend a little Chekhov.
New York Times.
Benio, D., Caulfield, B., Longino, D. G., Oh, S., Peet, A., & Weiss, D. B. (Executive Produc
ers). (). The Chair. [TV series]. Netflix.
Deissinger, T.().Germany's Vocational Training Act: its function as an instrument of
quality control within a tradition‐based vocational training system,Oxford Review of
Education,22(),–.https://doi.org/./
Deissinger, T. (). The German dual vocational education and training system as ‘good
practice’? Local Economy, 30(), –. https://doi.org/./
Erling, E., & Walton, A. (). English at work in Berlin.English Today,23(), –.
https://doi.org/./SX
Forster, M. (Director). (). Stranger Than Fiction. [Film]. Sony Pictures.
Godwin, K. A., & Altbach, P. G. (). A Historical and Global Perspective on Liberal Arts
Education: What Was, What Is, and What Will Be.International Journal of Chinese Edu
cation,5(), –.https://doi.org/./-
Gra, G. (). Professing Literature: An Institutional History. Twentieth Anniversary Edition.
University of Chicago Press. (Original work published in ). https://doi.org/
./chicago/..
Heller, N. (, March ). The End of the English Major. The New Yorker. –.
Jay, P. (). The Humanities “Crisis” and the Future of Literary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/./_
Brian D. Crawford
Johnson, D. R., Cushman, G. K., Borden, L. A., & McCune, M. S. (). Potentiating em
pathic growth: Generating imagery while reading fiction increases empathy and pro
social behavior.Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 7(), –. https://
doi.org/./a
Joseph, Sister Miriam (). The Trivium in College Composition and Reading, Third Edition
Revised. Martino Publishing.
Joyce, J. (). Ulysses. Everyman’s Library. (Original work published in ).
Junker, C. R., & Jacquemin, S. J.().How Does Literature Aect Empathy in Stu
dents?College Teaching,65(),–. https://doi.org/./..
Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (, Oct ). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind.
Science, 342(), –. https://doi.org/./science.
Kleist, H. v. (). On the gradual construction of thoughts during speech. (M. Hambur
ger, Trans.) German Life and Letters, 5(), –. (Original work published in ; orig
inal date of composition unknown). https://doi.org/./j.-..tb.x
Koopman, E., & Hakemulder, F. (). Eects of Literature on Empathy and Self-Reflec-
tion: A Theoretical-Empirical Framework. Journal of Literary Theory, 9, –. https://
doi.org/./jlt--
Larsen, N. (). Passing. Penguin Classics. (Original work published in ).
Leavy,P.().Fiction as Research Practice: Short Stories, Novellas, and Novels. Taylor &
Francis. https://doi.org/./
Leavy, P. (). Handbook of Arts-Based Research.United Kingdom:Guilford Publications.
Leeuwen, L. v., & Westwood, D.().Adult play, psychology and design.Digital Creativ
ity,19(),–. https://doi.org/./
Lewis, P. (). Globalizing the liberal arts: twenty-first-century education.Higher educa
tion in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, –. Palgrave Macmillan. https://
doi.org/./----_
Mauranen, A. (). The corpus of English as lingua franca in academic settings. TESOL
Quarterly, 29(), –. https://doi.org/./
Mayer, C.().Transfer of Concepts and Practices of Vocational Education and Training
from the Center to the Peripheries: The case of Germany.Journal of Education and
Work,14(),–. https://doi.org/./
My Jewish Learning. (n. d.) Gemara: The essence of the Talmud. Retrieved November .
From https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/gemara-the-essence-of-the-talmud/
My Jewish Learning. (n. d.) What is the Talmud? Retrieved November . From
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/talmud-/
Oxford University. (n. d.) History. Retrieved November . https://www.ox.ac.uk/
research/engage-with-us/local-community/part-of-oxford/history
Peet, A., & Wyman, A. J. (Writers), & Longino, D. G. (Director) (, Aug ). Brilliant
Mistake (Season , Episode ). [TV series episode]. In D. Benio, B. Caulfield, D. G.
Longino, S. Oh, A. Peet, & D. B. Weiss (Executive Producers), The Chair. Netflix.
Plato, Grube, G. M. A., & Reeve, C. D. C. (). Republic. Hackett Pub. Co. (Original work
written ca. B. C. E.)
Rich, A. (). Diving Into the Wreck: Poems 1971–72. W. W. Norton.
The Liberal Arts Approach to Higher Education: A Case for the Humanities
Roche, M. W. (). Why Choose the Liberal Arts? University of Notre Dame Press. https://
doi.org/./j.ctvpj
Scott, P. (). Unified and Binary Systems of Higher Education in Europe. In A. Burgin,
ed. Goals and Purposes of Higher Education in the 21st Century (pp. –). Jessica Kings
ley Publishers.
Sidney, P. (). An apology for poetry or, a defense of poesy. T. Nelson. (First published in
; written in .)
Singer, D., Golinko, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (). Why Play = Learning: A challenge
for parents and educators. In D. Singer, R. M. Golinko, & K. Hirsh-Pasek (Eds.), Play
= Learning: How play motivates and enhances children’s cognitive and social-emotional
growth (pp. –). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/./acprof:oso/
..
Snow, C. P. (). The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge University
Press. https://doi.org/./.
Thexton, T., Prasad A., & Mills, A.().Learning empathy through literature.Culture and
Organization,25(),–. https://doi.org/./..
Twain, M. (). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Penguin Classics. (Original work
published ).
Whitebread, D., Basilio, M., Kuvalja, M., & Verma, M. (). The importance of play.Uni
versity of Cambridge.
Winnicott,D. W.().Playing and reality.Routledge.
Brian D. Crawford
“The Teacher always announced our Grades
out loud.” Student Motivation and International
Practices in Assessment Privacy
R C R
Introduction
The evolution of higher education towards ever more transnational contexts has accel
erated dramatically in recent years, fuelled by market pressures, advances in communi
cation technology, and the aftermath of the global pandemic. Higher education
today brings diverse groups of learners and teachers together in digitally mediated
transnational contexts that could hardly be imagined even a generation ago. These in
tercultural learning contexts almost inevitably involve contrasting or even conflicting
sets of values, traditions, and daily classroom practices, which must be thoughtfully
negotiated if we are to maximize student learning.
Among the many academic contexts in which cultural differences may surface is
the delivery of instructor feedback and assessment results, specifically, the degree of
privacy that is granted to individual students regarding their grades. Interestingly, the
issue of assessment privacy has not received as much attention as other aspects of in
tercultural learning, perhaps because cultural assumptions about the public or private
nature of students’ individual assessment results can be so deeply ingrained and so
widely accepted that many instructors may not even be aware of alternative practices.
North Americans, for example, generally assume the privacy of student grades as the
unquestioned norm and a fundamental principle of good assessment practices (Parks,
; Seevers et al., ; Strickland, ; Tudor, ). Recent research in North
America has focused on the increased challenges posed by the age of big data, learning
analytics, and the general movement towards online learning and digital recordkeep
ing. As a consequence, some researchers are concerned that current regulations in
tended to protect student privacy may no longer be adequate (Alier et al., ; Parks,
; Strickland, ).
In contrast to this orientation towards privacy of student assessment results, many
educators in Europe and elsewhere are accustomed to public sharing of individual stu
dent assessment results, whether announced aloud by the teacher in the classroom,
posted on public notice boards, or published in local media (Gil, ; Gillespie, ;
Lapat et al., ). In some countries, including Balkan nations, the public delivery of
individual student assessment results may even be required by national educational
protocols (Lapat et al., ; Croatian Ministry of Science and Education, ). These
results may be final year-end or semester-end grades, as well as individual test or exam
results.
Not surprisingly, when these contrasting orientations come into contact, some
cultural differences or even conflict may arise. Learning about the traditions of public
assessment results, some North Americans may feel shocked at what seems to them
the cruel humiliation to which European educators subject their students. Meanwhile,
some Europeans may be puzzled by the American practice of keeping grades “secret”
and scoff at the coddling with which it seems to them American students are indulged.
Within the context of these two divergent views—one that values students’ right to
privacy and sees public announcement of individual grades as humiliating and demoti
vating, and another that encourages public release of grades in the name of transpar
ency and motivation—this paper investigates contrasting assessment delivery prac
tices, the pedagogical and cultural philosophies that lie beneath them, and the impact
of these various practices on students.
Beginning with an exploration of differences in beliefs and practices regarding the
privacy of student grades and assessment results on a theoretical basis, this paper then
provides data regarding the perspectives and preferences of students at a private four-
year undergraduate college in Croatia who experienced both assessment orientations.
In particular, the research explores how the students felt about the approaches to as
sessment privacy that they had experienced, and how well they felt that these different
practices had motivated them to study.
Deepening our insight into the consequences of various approaches to assess
ment privacy is an important task, particularly as educators face an ever-evolving array
of tools for digital assessment and recordkeeping, along with changing regulations re
garding data privacy in general. The data collected here can help educators adapt as
sessment delivery strategies for the international classrooms of the future as we move
forward into a world where intercultural and transnational education become the
norm.
North American Academic Practices: The Case for
Assessment Privacy
Use of assessment tools is universal in nearly all forms of education, based on a broad
consensus that measurement of student skills and knowledge is one of the instructor’s
primary responsibilities. Feedback (both positive and negative) for students about their
performance is also considered essential to motivating students to assess themselves
and set their own learning goals. Assessment feedback aims to help students under
stand their individual strengths and weaknesses, and it encourages them to take steps
to build on or improve their skills and close gaps in their performance (Newton, ;
Van Heerden, ).
However, the methods, techniques, frequency, and format in which assessment
results and other forms of feedback are delivered vary widely among and within cul
“The Teacher always announced our Grades out loud.” Student Motivation and International Practices
tures. In North America, student grades, assessment results, and other forms of per
formance feedback are generally treated with a high level of privacy at all age and grade
levels (Seevers et al., ). In this view, assessment results are considered students’
personal data, over which they are granted some degree of control. In classroom set
tings, test and assignment results are usually delivered privately to each student by the
teacher or instructor, whether in written, digital, or oral form. For example, paper tests
and assignments with written grades and comments may be placed face down on each
student’s desk. When results are recorded in digital form on an online educational plat
form, the data is password protected, and students have access only to their own re
cords. On rare occasions when grades or class rankings are posted publicly, student ID
numbers or other coding methods may be used to conceal individual students’ identi
ties. While aggregate scores or averages of a particular school or class may be made
public, and individual schools may be publicly ranked against each other in view of
these scores, public sharing of individual student grades is generally avoided and
frowned upon if it does occur (Strauss, b).
Since the passage of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
in the United States, and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(FIPPA) in Canada, enforcement of students’ rights to privacy has increased. These
and similar laws prohibit the disclosure of personally identifiable information about
minor students’ grades and transcripts without the parents’ explicit written consent.
When students turn , they gain legal control of their own academic records, includ
ing grades. In the absence of student consent, parents and even some faculty or staff
within the educational institution may be restricted from accessing this information.
These laws and practices can be seen as part of a wider student-centered approach
to education, in which students are seen as empowered agents of their own education
and given some degree of control over their own learning processes and over the use of
academic information about themselves. In this view, particular emphasis is placed on
the private delivery of negative feedback or poor results. Widespread consensus among
North American educators is that students should be protected from embarrassment
or shame in front of their peers when they do not do well (Beresin, ; Monroe,
). However, the case has been made that high-achieving students also need to be
protected from what Susan Jacoby has called “nerd shaming.” In this view, high-per
forming students may not experience public praise for positive academic performance
as a reward but rather as a punishment (Jacoby, ).
Traditional privacy standards in the United States have been tested in recent years
within the context of the movement toward data-driven education, with its emphasis on
quantifiable progress measured by standardized test scores. Fuelled in part by federal
legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act (), this movement aims to hold
individual public school districts, principals, and teachers accountable for measurable
student progress and achievement. In this high-stakes environment, teachers, princi
pals, schools, and school districts face various forms of shaming, punishment (includ
ing loss of federal funding), or dismissal from their positions if students as a group fail
to achieve certain benchmarks (Klein, ).
Rebecca Charry Roje
In recent years, many schools in the US have adopted practices such as “data
walls” or “data war rooms”, where test scores of particular classes and sometimes indi
vidual students are displayed or graphed, sometimes with color-coded symbols, such as
red for below-benchmark and green for above-benchmark results (Marsh, ). A
wide variety of practices at the discretion of individual teachers and schools have cre
ated a spectrum of privacy controls. For example, the “data wall” may be displayed in a
teacher-only room, where individual student names may or may not be visible.
Nevertheless, Marsh () reported on “potentially demotivating” classroom
practices involving data sharing, such as “sharing data publicly [and] comparing results
with others” in a middle school setting. She found that the use of public data walls in
the US seems to increase students’ “achievement goal” orientation, with its emphasis
on achievement of grades and external motivation rather than an internally motivated
quest for knowledge and skills (Marsh, ). Data walls have also come under attack as
an invasion of students’ privacy and a source of demotivating “humiliation” for stu
dents (Strauss, a; b).
While academic privacy concerns seem to be most strongly rooted and legally codi
fied in North America, this orientation is not exclusive to the West. Al-Saggaf and
Weckert (), in a study of college students in Saudi Arabia, found that grades and
transcripts were the most important information that these students wanted to keep
private. Students in their research viewed their grades as personal and private informa
tion and felt violated if their grades were made public or revealed to other students
without their permission. In the absence of legal clarity and procedural norms, the
authors make a moral case for the privacy of student grades within an Arabic-Muslim
cultural context.
European Customs: The Case for Assessment
Transparency
In contrast to the predominantly North American orientation towards privacy, educa
tors in much of the rest of the world appear oriented towards transparency and public-
ity of student assessment results. The practice of orally announcing grades aloud dur
ing class time, which American researchers may deem “extreme” (Seevers et al., ,
p. ), appears to be quite common throughout Europe and Asia. Consistent with a
view of education as a public good (publicly funded and centrally controlled by the
state), individual student grades are often considered part of the public domain. In this
view, public grading is a form of transparency that serves both the individual student
and the larger society. Although scholarly literature articulating and exploring this ori
entation appears scarce, insight into the rationale behind these practices can be
gleaned from government documents and lively discussions in popular media.
In many countries, the practice of public oral examinations during class, both an
nounced and unannounced, often begins in first grade of elementary school. These
oral examinations are usually graded immediately and announced aloud by the teacher
“The Teacher always announced our Grades out loud.” Student Motivation and International Practices
in front of the class (Bidjerano, ; Lapat et al., ; “Fear and loathing in the class
room”, ). In European higher education, individual final exam results may also be
published publicly in written form, along with the student’s name. In the United King
dom, for example, “[p]ublishing examination results [in the media] is a common and
accepted practice. Many students enjoy seeing their name in print, particularly in the
local press” (UK Information Commissioner’s Office, ).
In Croatia, public grading is explicitly required by national educational standards
and procedures published by government agencies. Public grading is expected, particu
larly in the case of individual oral examinations, which are conducted during class
time, beginning in elementary school. Oral examinations may be announced in ad
vance or students may be called upon spontaneously without warning. According to the
Croatian Ministry of Education rulebook (pravilnik), teachers are required to announce
and record the oral examination grade “immediately and publicly” (Croatian Ministry
of Science and Education, ).
Investigating elementary school assessment practices in Serbia, Croatia, and Bos
nia and Hercegovina, Lapat et al. () argue that public delivery of feedback is a key
component of successful assessment. According to their research, characteristics of
good grading practices in these countries are that grades should be objective, clear,
public, and diverse. This form of grading has several purposes, including a psychologi
cal effect on the student, the teacher, the parents, and the wider social community (Lapat
et al., , p. ). The authors also argue that hearing other students’ grades allows stu
dents to measure their performance in relation to others and to witness examples of
both exemplary and poor work.
Support for the tradition of public grading, regarding not only year-end university
exams but also routine tests and other assignments in primary and secondary educa
tion, was voiced more recently in conversation with educational experts from the Fac
ulty of Philosophy at the University of Zagreb, Dr. Vesna Vlahović-Štetić and Dr. Željka
Kamenov (personal communication, June , ). In their view, public grading, par
ticularly in unannounced oral examinations, provides students with a sense of how
they compare to others. The student gets an example of what “good” work looks like
from hearing the examples of others who performed better than he did, and thus the
student understands why he received the grade he did. They pointed out that the public
delivery of assessment results acts as a check on the teacher and discourages favoritism
or corruption since all students in the class serve as “witnesses” to the assessment pro
cess.
Active and lively discussions in online news media and various social media fo
rums suggest that a wide variety of public grading practices are also used in many Eu
ropean and Asian nations, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Scandina
via, Russia, Ukraine, China, Korea, and India. (Adkins, n. d.; SuperHeroY, ; Ws,
; “Fear and loathing in the classroom”, ). Many commenters on these forums,
identifying themselves as university students who had their grades made public with
out their consent, express strong negative opinions on public grading, calling it “cruel”,
“humiliating”, and “horrible” (Ws, ).
Rebecca Charry Roje
On the other hand, an online comment from a debate on this issue in Ukraine
may articulate the views of supporters of public grading:
Publicly announcing grades is a great way to promote competition and transparency. Of
course, there will be good students and bad students, but in the real world there are also
successful people and might-have-beens. Let’s teach our children how to work hard and
overcome diculties. Maybe it’s ruthless, but it’s fair! (Bogatsky, )
Other arguments in favor of public grading focus on the value of transparency (e. g.,
allowing students to petition for a change of grade in case of professor error) and the
prevention of collusion or bribery. As another reader of the Kiyv Post (Ukraine) com
mented: “The corruption level Ukraine currently has, combined with the lack of fund
ing and low teacher salaries, makes a private grading system more susceptible to bribery”
(Starodubska, , emphasis added).
Others argue that institutional procedures designed to safeguard student privacy
are bound to fail since students often share assessment results with each other infor
mally. In this view, complete privacy is practically unattainable. Notably, this view
focuses on the end result—the public release of the grade—but overlooks the issue of
the students’ agency in the release of the grades. This raises the question of whether a
student’s intentional revelation of his or her own grade to an audience of peers of their
own choosing has the same psychological and motivational effect as the teacher’s re
lease of the grade to the entire class. As Seevers et al. () particularly noted, this
public grading practice not only provides the student with immediate feedback about
his or her performance, but it also allows and encourages the students themselves and
their peers to form judgments and predictions about their own future grades. Whether
these (self)judgments and predictions of others are useful to the student is a separate
question, which will be investigated in the following section.
Motivational Theory, Culture, and Feedback
Transparency
Interestingly, advocates of both private and public grading generally point to the moti
vational role of assessment as justification for either practice, claiming that public (or
private) feedback will better motivate students to improve their performance. Indeed,
empirical research on the motivational function of assessment has identified the public
or private delivery of assessment results as a key factor in students’ overall orientation
towards their own learning (Ames, ; Ames & Archer, ; Marsh et al., ).
Private delivery of assessment results has been found to be an important element
in the development of a “mastery orientation” (Hsieh, ), in which students are in
ternally motivated by the intrinsic value of mastering a particular skill. In this orienta
tion, the emphasis is on self-regulation and progress over time related to self. In con
trast, public grading is associated with a “performance goal” orientation (Hsieh, ),
in which students focus on grades and achievement in comparison with others, em
“The Teacher always announced our Grades out loud.” Student Motivation and International Practices
phasizing competition among students. Goal performance orientation has been found
to be associated with negative outcomes, such as students avoiding challenging or diffi
cult tasks and giving up, while mastery orientation has been correlated with positive
educational outcomes such as engagement and positive affect (DeLuca et al., ;
Ames, ; Pintrich, ).
Focusing particularly on feedback valence (positive or negative), Seevers et al.
() investigated the transparency of evaluative feedback in light of research findings
in the area of sales and marketing. In business contexts, strategies that promote public
positive and private negative feedback have been found to incentivize job performance
(e. g., office bulletin boards tracking individual sales or employee of the month re
wards). Applying these business models to an educational context, Seevers et al.’s re
search on American college students who were accustomed to a private feedback envi
ronment found that “there may be little to gain from public delivery of grades that fall
below a student’s expectations. Public announcement of a low grade seems to weaken
student ... motivation and satisfaction” (Seevers et al., , p. ). However, they also
found that public announcement of a positive grade increased student motivation and
therefore encouraged educators to incorporate public praise where appropriate.
Thus, the question remains: Does negative public instructor feedback motivate
students to try harder, close gaps in their learning, and adjust and improve their study
habits? Or will it simply cause maladaptive shame and guilt, which lead to low self-
esteem and the avoidance of difficult tasks in the future? Does positive public feedback
encourage high-achieving students to continue working even harder, or does it also
create an unintended sense of embarrassment or set unreasonably high expectations
that may hinder the students’ progress? Recent research suggests that the answer may
depend partly on the individual student’s temperament and cultural background.
In a study of emotional responses to perceived academic failure among elemen
tary school students, Bidjerano () noted that the emotional effect of negative per
formance feedback or academic failure varies not only by individual temperament, but
also by culture (Bidjerano, ). She compared American students (accustomed to a
private grading environment) and Bulgarian students (accustomed to a public grading
environment) and noted that American culture in general is strongly individualistic,
while Bulgarian culture is more collectivist, as defined by Dutch cultural sociologist
Geert Hofstede (“National Culture”, n. d.) and others. She found that students in collec
tivist cultures tend to express more positive beliefs about negative emotions (such as
guilt, shame, and embarrassment) associated with negative public feedback and that
their self-esteem is relatively unaffected by such practices. She also found that they are
more likely to experience increased motivation, persistence, and desire for future suc
cess following public grading, compared to American students accustomed to a private
grading environment. Therefore, in collectivist cultures where public sharing of stu
dent grades is considered normal, it may be useful in motivating students to perform
better. Furthermore, she argues that in collectivistic cultures, negative feelings are not
necessarily maladaptive but can be seen as normative or even motivational (Bidjerano,
).
Rebecca Charry Roje
Public or Private Grades: An Unsettled Question
In the ongoing debates among advocates of public and private grading, there are some
signs that both extremes may be moving towards the center. While commitment to the
privacy of student grades is generally accepted throughout North America, exactly
where to draw the line or establish a boundary for students’ rights to privacy has been,
and continues to be, a subject of debate. The privacy of student grades is rarely a simple
or obvious matter. Thus, a wide variety of assessment practices have been developed
along a broad continuum of relative privacy.
For example, a common practice of peer assessment can involve students grading
each other’s assignments and announcing the results aloud in front of the class. This
practice was legally challenged as an invasion of students’ privacy and a violation of
FERPA in the American court case of Owasso Independent School District vs. Falvo
(). The mother of three students in the district claimed that public peer grading
was causing her children embarrassment, and the prosecution sought to have this as
sessment practice banned in the school district. The US Supreme Court eventually de
cided in favor of the school district, allowing students to grade and report aloud their
peers’ results, arguing that the scores on an individual assignment did not constitute a
formal “educational record,” as would be the case with a final grade for the term or
semester. This case demonstrates some willingness to recognize limits on students’
legal rights to privacy under FERPA (Friedman, ).
Meanwhile, the European tradition of public grading has also come under in
creased scrutiny, with critics voicing scepticism about the supposed motivational bene
fits for both strong and weak students. In this system, as one commenter from Ukraine
put it, “the straight-A student has to bear the burden of being number one, whereas the
poor student receives his usual portion of humiliation” (Nikitina, ).
Elsewhere in Europe, concrete changes to public grading systems have been made
amid rising attention to students’ psychological wellbeing and to data protection in
general. The University of Oxford (England) stopped publicizing exam results in
after more than percent of students enrolled in an opt-out mechanism put in place to
protect privacy (Gil, ).
At Cambridge University (England), the tradition of publicizing exam results pro
voked a protracted university-wide debate that began in , lasted nearly three years,
and reached the highest levels of university administration. A student-led campaign
sought to abolish public grading, citing privacy concerns as well as “a culture of grade
shaming” that could have negative psychological effects on students (Gil, ). Cam
bridge traditionalists, on the other hand, argued that public grading, including a storied
tradition of oral announcement of exam results in front of an assembled crowd, which
dates from , is an integral part of the university’s heritage and should be retained
out of respect for tradition. Eventually, public grading was retained, with an opt-out
mechanism put in place for students who choose not to participate (Gillespie, ).
The Cambridge case points up the potential conflict between the interests of the
individual student and the interests of the educational institution or society at large. At
“The Teacher always announced our Grades out loud.” Student Motivation and International Practices
Cambridge, those in favor of public grading acknowledged that some students may be
harmed but argued that their needs were outweighed by the wishes of the institution or
the larger society. Interestingly, the effect of public grading on student engagement
and motivation to study did not seem to be of major concern to either side in the de
bate. This paper, therefore, aims to shed light on this particular issue through a collec
tion of data from students themselves.
Assessment Privacy: A Survey of Student Attitudes
In order to more fully investigate the relationship between assessment privacy and stu
dent motivation, a survey was conducted to measure the attitudes and experiences of
undergraduate college students who have experienced both systems and are therefore
uniquely suited for exploration of these contrasting approaches. The purpose was to
investigate student perceptions of how public and private grading systems influence
their own motivation to study and to discover which orientation they prefer. The survey
also investigated possible correlations between gender and overall academic achieve
ment with these attitudes.
. Method
Participants (N = ) were recruited from the student body of RIT Croatia, a global
campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology, a private American institution of
higher education operating in Croatia that is accredited by both American and Croatian
educational authorities. The RIT Croatia campus in Dubrovnik opened in in co
operation with the Croatian Ministry of Education, offering a four-year undergraduate
program in Hospitality and Service Management (now Hospitality and Tourism Man
agement). A second campus was opened in the capital city of Zagreb in , offering
four-year undergraduate degrees in International Business and Web and Mobile Com
puting. More than , students have graduated since the college opened.
The American-style education that RIT Croatia offers goes far beyond the aca
demic curriculum and use of English as the language of instruction. In addition, in
compliance with the US Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and in
keeping with North American academic norms, RIT Croatia assumes an orientation of
strict privacy regarding student grades and assessment results, both orally and in writ
ing. This stands in sharp contrast to most students’ previous experiences in public ele
mentary and high schools, in which teachers often announce student grades aloud dur
ing class time.
Participants included male and female students in a four-year undergradu
ate program who voluntarily completed a confidential and anonymous online question
naire. The instrument included five -point Likert scale questions regarding their expe
rience of public and private grading (the frequency of public grading they experienced,
their feelings about public grading, the motivational effect of public grading, their feel
ings about private grading, the motivational effect of private grading, and their overall
Rebecca Charry Roje
preference). There were also five demographic items (gender, year level, age, country in
which they attended high school, and overall self-reported grades), and one open-ended
question inviting general comments. Informed consent was obtained from the partici
pants. Both English and Croatian versions of the questionnaire were available, and par
ticipants were invited to select the language of their choice.
. Results
The survey results confirm that public delivery of assessment results is common in
Croatia and its neighboring countries. Over . percent of respondents reported hav
ing experienced public grading (teachers announcing grades aloud or posting them
publicly) at least “sometimes”. Of these, . percent reported having experienced pub
lic grading “usually” or “always”. Data from students who reported that they rarely or
never experienced public grading was excluded from further analysis.
Students (n = ) with significant experiences with both public and private grad
ing reported their feelings about private grading on a -point scale where = strongly
negative, = neutral, and = strongly positive. Comparison of mean scores indicated
that respondents held more positive feelings about private over public grading
(Mprivate = ., SD = . vs. Mpublic = ., SD = .) and found private grading more
motivational than public grading (Mprivate = ., SD = . vs. Mpublic = ., SD = .).
Overall, student preference for private grading was indicated by a mean response of .
(SD = .) on a -point scale where = strong preference for public grades and
= strong preference for private grades.
Looking beyond these mean values, however, further analysis of the results
showed that student attitudes vary considerably, with significant groups of students
expressing contrasting points of view as well as a significant number of neutral re-
sponses.
Feelings about public grading
About percent of students reported neutral feelings about having their grades made
public, while . percent reported negative feelings about this practice. About one
quarter of students (. percent) reported positive feelings about public grading.
Feelings about private grades
The majority of respondents (. percent) reported positive feelings about private
grading, while . percent reported neutral feelings. Eight percent reported negative
feelings about private grading.
Eect on motivation to study
Participants were asked whether having their grades publicized encouraged or discour
aged them to study. About percent reported that public grading had no effect at all on
their motivation to study. About percent of students reported that public grading
had a negative effect on their motivation to study, while percent reported a positive
effect.
“The Teacher always announced our Grades out loud.” Student Motivation and International Practices
When asked about the effect of private grading on motivation to study, . per
cent reported that it had no effect, while . percent reported that private grading im
proved their motivation. Only percent reported that private grading had a slight nega
tive effect on their motivation to study.
Overall preference
When asked for their overall preference between the two approaches, the majority of
respondents (. percent) expressed a clear preference for private grades. In their
comments, they reiterated the belief that grades should be considered private informa
tion belonging to the student. They expressed particular concern for protecting poor
students from public embarrassment and cited the demotivating and discouraging ef
fect of public negative feedback. Nine students in this group explicitly commented that
sharing grades with peers should be their own decision, not the teacher’s. As one stu
dent put it, “I think that an individual’s grades are their own private business. If they
want to share the grades with someone else, they will do it themselves, just as they
earned the grade themselves.”
Another student also emphasized the importance of student autonomy and
agency in determining the level of privacy accorded to his or her own grades:
I think this topic is very important for every student, and that grades should be kept private
at all universities. The student himself is the only one who should be able to announce his
grades to his colleagues because it is his private thing.
A third student in this group pointed out that public grading may have a negative effect
even on high-achieving students:
I never liked the whole idea regarding grades being shouted out loud in front of the class.
To some that got bad grades or even to those that got good grades, it was a bit annoying
because they wanted to keep it to themselves. All in all, grades should be kept private and
be discussed between the professor and the student only.
However, a significant group—. percent of respondents—expressed no preference
for either public or private grades. Comments from these neutral students suggested
that they believe neither system has any effect on their motivation to study: “I study for
myself and I don’t care if anyone knows my grades or not”, one of them wrote.
A few respondents (about percent) said they preferred public grades and felt
that competition motivated them and others positively. “When grades are announced
publicly, I will be motivated to study more often and strive for that better grade”, one of
these students commented.
Interestingly, among the percent of respondents who reported that public grad
ing increased their motivation to study, over half ( percent) expressed an overall pref
erence for private grading.
Rebecca Charry Roje
Inuence of Gender
The survey results suggest that attitudes toward public and private grading are correl-
ated with gender, with females expressing more negative feelings about public grades
and an even stronger preference for private grading than males. Female students also
felt more negatively than their male counterparts about having their grades made pub
lic, and they also felt more strongly that private grades motivated them to study. Males,
overall, responded more neutrally to all questions (see table ).
Table : Mean values on -point scale ( = strongly negative, = neutral, = strongly positive)
Feelings about
public grades
Feelings about
private grades
Public grading
is motivational
Private grading
is motivational
Overall
preference
Males . . . . .
Females . . . . .
The correlation between gender and attitudes towards assessment privacy is also sup
ported by the finding that the small group of respondents who preferred public grading
overall ( percent of respondents) was percent male.
High- vs. low-achieving students
Since only percent of respondents reported their own grades as below average, these
results were combined with those of students who reported their own grades as average
(. percent) and compared with those of students who reported their own grades as
above average (. percent).
Students who reported their own grades generally as “above average” or “among
the better in the class” felt generally neutral about public grading (M = .) while stu
dents with average or below average self-reported grades felt slightly negatively
(M = .). In addition, good students found public grading slightly more motivating
(M = .) than students who reported their own grades generally as “below average.”
(M = .) However, high-achieving students found private grading even more motivat
ing (M = .) than their weaker colleagues (M = .). Both groups expressed an equal
preference for private grading overall (M = .).
Comments suggest that some high-performing students may not see public praise
as a reward or positive incentive to study. “As a good student I feel that I would be
discriminated against when people knew my grades. I am already seen as smart and it
is not great”, commented one student. “Even students who get good grades sometimes
want to keep that information to themselves”, commented another.
Discussion
Survey results show that most students with experience in both public and private grad
ing environments find the public announcement of their grades either generally incon
“The Teacher always announced our Grades out loud.” Student Motivation and International Practices
sequential or counterproductive to their motivation and engagement. Conversely, they
find private grading more motivating and generally preferable. The privacy of assess
ment results seems particularly important to female students and, interestingly,
equally important to high-achieving and average students. Significant numbers of stu
dents, particularly females, do not experience the public delivery of their assessment
results as a positive incentive to improve their performance, while high-performing
students often want to keep their success to themselves.
At the same time, the results presented here suggest that public grading as a cul
tural norm may not be as devastating as some privacy advocates assume. A significant
number of students with long experience with public grading claim to be largely unaf
fected by it. Some students, particularly males, may even relish the sense of competi
tion that public grading provides, and perhaps develop internal strategies to success
fully insulate themselves from destructive levels of embarrassment when their results
are poor. Yet, even these students tend to prefer private grades when exposed to a pri
vate system and offered the opportunity to choose. Most participants, citing their own
and others’ potential embarrassment over both poor and successful grades, prefer pri
vate grades. Notably, the participants in this research had been raised with public grad
ing as a cultural norm, yet they generally did not prefer the familiar status quo in which
they had been raised when exposed to an alternative orientation and given a choice.
Based on this preliminary evidence that public grading can undermine student motiva
tion, educators should approach the public delivery of assessment results with caution,
even when the practice is customary, permitted, or legally required.
As transnational education continues to grow and educators find themselves
teaching students from ever more diverse backgrounds—often through asynchronous
digital platforms that minimize personal contact—attending to these issues will be
come even more crucial. Educators and administrators should pay particular attention
to exploring their own personal orientations and institutional practices regarding stan
dards and expectations of grading privacy. When moving from one cultural context to
another, or from one institution to another, educators may need guidance and training
regarding the expectations, laws, and traditions of the institution and culture in which
they teach. In order to foster student motivation and engagement, educators will also
need to be familiar with the previous experiences and expectations of their students in
regard to assessment privacy.
These findings invite opportunities for both future research and practical applica
tion. In the classroom, instructors have an excellent pedagogical opportunity to explore
the issue of assessment privacy directly with students, asking their opinions and invit
ing their input on flexible and innovative ways of delivering assessment results. An
open discussion among students and instructors presents an occasion to encourage
learner autonomy and invite students to take a more active role in shaping classroom
policies. Methods of encouraging those students who respond positively to a competi
tive environment should also be explored. Encouraging discussion of this issue addi
tionally signals to students that instructors value their emotional and social wellbeing,
in addition to their academic progress.
Rebecca Charry Roje
These findings also have significant implications for theorists and practitioners of
public grading, as they throw into question one of the major justifications for full trans
parency of grades: competition and comparison with others as positive motivators.
These results add weight to the concern that public grading, as a form of external affir
mation motivated by an extrinsic reward, encourages students to focus even more on
the attainment of the grade as an end in itself rather than on the intrinsic reward of the
attainment of lasting knowledge and skills. This is especially true when class time and
attention are devoted to the public announcement of grades in a tense and emotional
atmosphere.
For advocates of fostering a mastery orientation among students, private grading
is a concrete way in which educators can signal that they expect students to move away
from a comparison with others to forms of self-assessment, taking more responsibility
for their own goal setting and benchmarking, and moving to an internal set of criteria
to measure their own academic success.
As researchers continue to explore the overall context of delivery of assessment
results (DeLuca, ), further research should more deeply explore the connection
between the degree of privacy of assessment results and students’ performance goals
or mastery orientations (Pintrich, ), with particular emphasis on gender differen
ces. Additional research is also necessary to investigate whether public grading prac
tices serve to strengthen the hierarchical relationship between students and instruc
tors, positioning students more passively as they work to achieve goals set by the
instructor rather than developing goals themselves. In this view, public grading may
encourage students to shift some responsibility for the result from themselves to the
instructor. Their question becomes, “What grade did she give me?” rather than “What
grade did I earn?”
Moreover, future innovations in the overall context of assessment, including peer
assessment, should take into account the public or private nature of assessment re
sults, allowing and encouraging some forms of benchmarking while maintaining
some degree of student privacy. Instructors, researchers, and administrators should
ensure that students are involved in developing standards of privacy and transparency
for individual assignments, courses, and institutions. As we navigate the changing
landscape of internationalized higher education, instructors should take advantage of
opportunities to create innovative assessment structures that consider the role of pri
vacy in fostering students’ academic motivation and psychological well-being.
References
Adkins, D. (n.d). Are there positive eects of posting students’ grades publicly? Edarabia.
https://www.edarabia.com/positive-eects-posting-students-grade-publicly
Alier, M., Casañ Guerrero, M. J., Amo, D., Severance, C., & Fonseca, D. (). Privacy and
E-learning: A pending task.Sustainability,13(16), Article . https://doi.org/
./su
“The Teacher always announced our Grades out loud.” Student Motivation and International Practices
Al-Saggaf, Y., & Weckert, J. (). Privacy from a Saudi Arabian Perspective: The Case of
Students in a Private University.Journal of Information Ethics, 20(1), –. https://
doi.org/./JIE...
Ames, C. (). Classrooms: Goals, Structures and Student Motivation. Journal of Educa
tional Psychology, 84(), –. https://doi.org/./-...
Ames, C., & Archer, J. (). Achievement Goals in the Classroom: Students’ Learning
Strategies and Motivation Processes.Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(3), –.
https://doi.org/./-...
Beresin, G. (). Commentary: Should Students’ Grades Be Public? ABC News. https://
abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=&page=
Bidjerano, T. (). Self-conscious emotions in response to perceived failure: A structural
equation model. Journal of Experimental Education, 78, –. https://doi.org/
./
Bogatsky, I. (, May ). What will you tell your children [Comment on the article “Pub
licly Announcing Grades”]. Kiyv Post. https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/life
style/publicly-announcing-grades-.html
Croatian Ministry of Science and Education (). Rulebook on Methods, Approaches and
Elements of Elements of Assessing Students in Elementary and High School. [PRA
VILNIK O NAČINIMA, POSTUPCIMA I ELEMENTIMA VREDNOVANJA UČE
NIKA U OSNOVNOJ I SREDNJOJ ŠKOLI]. https://mzo.hr/sites/default/files/links/
pravilnik-o-nacinima-postupcima-i-elementima-vrednovanja-ucenika-u-osnovnoj-i-
srednjoj-skoli.pdf
DeLuca, C., Schneider, C., Coombs, A., Pozas, M., & Rasooli, A. (). A cross-cultural
comparison of German and Canadian student teachers’ assessment competence. As
sessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 27, –. https://doi.org/./
X..
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA; U. S. C. § g; CFR Part )
Fear and loathing in the classroom (, May ). Kiyv Post. https://www.kyivpost.com/
article/content/lifestyle/fear-and-loathing-in-the-classroom--.html
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, (FIPPA; RSBC , c .)
Friedman, S. J. (). Andy’s Right to Privacy in Grading and the Falvo Versus Owasso
Public Schools Case. The Clearing House, 76(), –. https://doi.org/./
Gil, N. (, May ). Cambridge students urge university to stop making their exam re
sults public. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education//may//
cambridge-students-petition-against-public-exam-results
Gillespie, T. (, December ). The Winners and Losers of the Class Lists Saga. Varsity.
https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/
Hsieh, PH. (). Mastery Orientation. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J. A. (eds) Encyclopedia
of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/./
----_
Jacoby, S. (). The Age of American Unreason. Penguin Random House.
Rebecca Charry Roje
Klein, A. (, April ). No Child Left Behind: An Overview. Education Week. https://
www.edweek.org/policy-politics/no-child-left-behind-an-overview//
Lapat, G., Milenović, Z., & Jeftović, M. (). Stavovi nastavnika osnovne škole o ocjenji
vanju u Hrvatskoj, Srbiji i Bosni i Hercegovini[Elementary school teachers’ attitudes
towards grading in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Hercegovina]. In A. Jurčević Lozan
čić & S. Opić (Eds.), 5th International Conference on Advanced and Systematic Research:
School, education and learning for the future (pp. –). University of Zagreb.
Marsh, J. A., Farrell, C. C., & Bertrand, M. (). Trickle-down accountability: How middle
school teachers engage students in data use.Educational Policy,30(), –.
https://doi.org/./
Monroe, A. (). Shame Solutions: How Shame Impacts School-Aged Children and
what Teachers can do to Help.The Educational Forum, 73(), –. https://doi.org/
./
National Cultures (n. d.) Hofstede Insights. Retrieved from https://hi.hofstede-insights.
com/national-culture
Newton, P. E. (). Clarifying the purposes of educational assessment.Assessment in Edu
cation: Principles, Policy & Practice,14(), –. https://doi.org/./
Nikitina, H. (, May ). In high school, when a teacher announces students’ grades
[Comment on the article “Publicly Announcing Grades”]. Kiyv Post. https://www.kyiv
post.com/article/content/lifestyle/publicly-announcing-grades-.htmlbog
No Child Left Behind Act of , P. L. –, U. S. C. § ().
Parks, C. (). Beyond Compliance: Students and FERPA in the Age of Big Data. Journal
of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy,2(2), –. http://dx.doi.org/./jifp.vi.
Pintrich, P. R. (). Multiple goals, multiple pathways: The role of goal orientation in
learning and achievement.Journal of Educational Psychology,92(3), –. https://
doi.org/./-...
Seevers, M. T., Rowe, W. J., & Skinner, S. J. (). Praise in public, criticize in private? An
assessment of performance feedback transparency in a classroom setting.Marketing
Education Review,24(), –. https://doi.org/./MER-
Starodubska, M. (, May ). I strongly believe that grades must be read publicly [Com
ment on the article “Publicly Announcing Grades”]. Kiyv Post. https://www.kyiv
post.com/article/content/lifestyle/publicly-announcing-grades-.htmlbog
Strauss, V. (a, February ).How ʻData Wallsʼ in Classrooms Humiliate Kids: Even
very Young Children Find their Test Scores on ʻData Wallsʼ. The Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp////how-data-
walls-in-classrooms-can-humiliate-young-kids/
Strauss, V. (b, March ).How ʻPlatooningʼ and Data Walls are Changing Elementary
School: Not in a Good Way. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/
news/answer-sheet/wp////how-platooning-and-data-walls-are-changing-ele
mentary-school/
Strickland, R. (). The State Student Privacy Report Card: Grading the States on Protect
ing Student Data Privacy.Network for Public Education.
“The Teacher always announced our Grades out loud.” Student Motivation and International Practices
SuperHeroY (, October ). How can I ask a lecturer not to disclose (my) grades pub
licly? [Online forum post]. Academia. StackExchange. https://academia.stackex
change.com/questions//how-can-i-ask-a-lecturer-not-to-disclose-my-grades-
publicly
Tudor, J. D. (). Legal Implications of Using Digital Technology in Public Schools: Ef
fects on Privacy.Journal of Law and Education,44(), –.
UK Information Commissioners Oce (). Publication of Exam Results by Schools:
Data Protection Act.
Van Heerden, M. (). ʻit has a purpose beyond justifying a markʼ: Examining the align
ment between the purpose and practice of feedback.Assessment and Evaluation in
Higher Education,45(3), –. https://doi.org/./..
Ws, E. (, April ). Can a university professor publicly announce your grades to the
class? [Online forum post]. Quora. https://www.quora.com/Can-a-university-profes
sor-publicly-announce-your-grades-to-your-class
Rebecca Charry Roje
Academic Writing in the Study Entrance Phase
N B, M S
Problem Denition
The introductory phase of studies is described by Dehne et al. () as a threshold
situation that marks the transition from school or the vocational education system to
the academic system of higher education. During this phase, students are confronted
with numerous new challenges, for example, with the increasing heterogeneity of edu
cational and personal backgrounds within their own group of first-year students, with
new organizational structures and administrative processes, as well as concepts of
teaching and learning in academia that place new demands on competence and per
formance (Dehne et al., ).
Recent studies show that the initial phase is also of particular importance for aca
demic success (Coertjens et al., ; Jenert et al., ). As they enter higher education,
students learn to deal with a wide variety of requirements. These include personal (e. g.,
dealing with the stress caused by exams and performance pressure, or time manage
ment), organizational (e. g., coping with formal requirements and exam conditions),
content-related (e. g., keeping pace with the progression of their subject, developing
(academic) language skills), and social requirements (e. g., teamwork and communicat
ing with teachers) (Trautwein & Bosse, ). To fulfill these requirements, students
need different skills, which they start to develop during their first semesters of study.
Academic work—and academic writing in particular—play a special role in this as it
requires a skill set that must be continuously honed throughout the entire study pro
gram.
To help students develop these skills, most universities provide specialized train
ing, either through compulsory classes embedded in the curriculum or with optional
seminars that students may take on as an addition to their course of study. This type of
skill training is usually well documented and evaluated. Universities can, for example,
use the results to better understand students’ concerns, to review the impact of their
training measures, or as a means to further the development of the study program. By
offering their unique perspectives on the impact of these training opportunities, aca
demic disciplines such as educational research, educational sciences, or psychology
have given rise to a certain methodological diversity in this field. The methods applied
to course evaluation therefore range from student satisfaction surveys to experimental
settings and go far beyond a purely self-referential attitude of the participants (Beywl
et al., ).
This article explores the question of which methods can be used to evaluate the
impact of support with regard to academic writing that students may receive in the
introductory phase of their studies. We first present an overview of different evaluation
methods, then illustrate how they can be applied to a course. Our findings are based on
evaluation forms and field reports from the seminar “Techniques of Academic Work”
(TAW), which is part of the bachelor’s program “Social Work” at Bielefeld University of
Applied Sciences and Arts. We examine these documents in order to find out which
benefits the participants of the seminar see for themselves and what further support
they would like to successfully complete their studies. In addition, we discuss how the
results of this evaluation can have an impact on the further development of both this
study program’s introductory phase and academic writing courses aimed at an increas
ingly heterogeneous student body.
Academic Writing
The introductory phase begins with students’ enrollment in higher education. Accord
ing to the majority of studies on this subject, it lasts one year and is characterized by the
challenges associated with the transition from school to higher education (Bargel, ,
p. ; Trautwein & Bosse, , p. ; Schaeper, , p. ; Ruhalahti et al., ). Dur
ing this phase, the course is set for successful integration into the new system, with
several factors influencing the outcome.
In their study on first-year students’ experiences, Trautwein and Bosse ()
identify the following requirements as relevant from the students’ perspective:
•Social requirements, e. g., educational background, health impairments;
•Individual requirements, e. g., previous knowledge, grade of university entrance
qualification;
•Organizational requirements, e. g., the higher education system with its rules,
regulations, and institutional frameworks;
•Content-related requirements, e. g., the content of the academic program and its
courses, subject-specific approaches (such as conventions regarding academic
language) or performance and assessment standards that require specific aca
demic skills.
These requirements intertwine with the dimensions of diversity found within a hetero
geneous student body, creating a multidimensional construct with complex interac
tions at the micro, meso, and macro levels. As a result, different characteristics of this
heterogeneity can prove relevant for student success, and their significance depends on
which study requirements are being considered (Bohndick et al., ; Wallis & Bosse,
). In particular, the subject-specific approaches are perceived as problematic by
students with a migration background and/or a non-academic background (Wallis &
Bosse, , p. ). Considering the fact that around % of all students at German
universities have a migrant background (Middendorff et al., , p. ) and more than
% come from a non-academic family (Middendorff et al., , p. ), familiarity with
the concepts and rules of academic work proves to be an important condition for a suc
cessful start into a university career.
Academic Writing in the Study Entrance Phase
Academic writing skills as part of academic working practices would, according to
Trautwein and Bosse (), primarily be counted among the content-related require
ments. The Gesellschaft für Schreibdidaktik und Schreibforschung (gefsus)—which trans
lates to Society for Writing Didactics and Research—defines academic writing skills as the
[a]bility to use texts for learning, as starting points for one’s own text production, and to
express oneself appropriately in writing. This ability is composed of interdisciplinary and
subject-specific components and can be described in three dimensions: Competent writ
ers use writing to think critically, productively manage their own writing process, and com
municate appropriately according to the text conventions present within the community
relevant to the subject. (Society for Writing Didactics and Research, )
It becomes clear that the very same skill set students need to develop for academic writ
ing is also closely interwoven with many of the prerequisites for a successful entry
phase. Therefore, academic writing can be considered one of the key competencies ne
cessary for successful study. Nevertheless, Harju and Werner () find that in sub
ject-specific approaches to teaching, writing skills are usually assumed to be already
developed and therefore rarely taught. Instead of integrating the complex process of
academic writing into the study program and providing structured support, higher
education tends to teach it separately, either as part of propaedeutics or in optional
courses that students may or may not choose to attend.
In Germany, the so-called “writing centers” have made an effort to institutionalize
academic writing courses and help students meet the requirements of academic work
posed by their university in general and their respective degree programs in particular.
In the process, a number of innovative writing concepts have emerged (Knorr, ;
Lahm et al., ). The centers were first created as projects funded by the Quality Pact
for Teaching (QPL), but as their support services were successfully evaluated, many uni
versities decided to maintain their writing centers after the initial funding had ended.
Writing centers focus primarily on academic writing; the writing skills that students
might need for professions outside of academia tend not to be addressed there.
In today’s information society, not only academic writing but writing in general is
an important part of many professions. The proficiency with which writing tasks are
addressed may therefore determine both personal and economic success (Everke Bu
chanan & Meyer, ). As universities of applied sciences explicitly aim to prepare
students for their professional lives, the study program must also include the develop
ment of written communication skills that students can apply to both their studies and
their future careers.
At the same time, however, it is becoming apparent that, as part of universities’
performance requirements, academic writing poses a challenge to both students and
institutions. Studies show that performance problems—often caused by high demands
regarding the quality and quantity of academic work—rank among the most common
reasons why German students drop out of higher education. Among students with a
migration background, the number of dropouts caused by this type of problem is espe
cially high (Ebert & Heublein, ; Heublein et al., ).
Nadejda Burow, Michael Stricker
Implementation at Bielefeld University of Applied
Sciences and Arts: The Seminar “Techniques of
Academic Work”
In order to prevent academic writing from turning into a “trial and error” process (Gott
schalk & Hjortshoj, , p. ), students generally need both writing instruction and
practice during the introductory phase of their studies. Therefore, students enrolled in
the “Social Work” program at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and Arts must
attend a seminar called “Techniques of Academic Work” (TAW) during their first se
mester.
. Concept
The seminar aims to facilitate entry into the study program and prepare the heteroge
neous student body for the requirements of higher education by working on their aca
demic writing skills. Over the course of the semester, the newly acquired knowledge is
put into practice as students write a term paper. The development process for this pa
per is based on the writing process model by Flower and Hayes () and takes into
account the typical steps involved in writing a scientific paper, such as preparation and
planning, data collection and the gathering of material, text revision, the final edit, and
publication (Kruse, ).
The students work in small groups that follow a common concept but allow for
individual adaptation by the respective teachers. In the seminar, the basic skills of aca
demic work and writing are taught and practiced. This way, students learn to narrow
down the topic of their term paper, to find a good question on which they can focus, to
create a logical and formally correct outline, to both find and cite suitable literature, and
to structure and revise their texts. In cooperation with the university’s library, students
can also participate in an additional library orientation course, which provides informa
tion about the research options and advisory services available on site.
The term papers are based on the seminars “Introduction to Social Work Science”
and “Social Science Basics for Social Work”, which are part of the curriculum for the
first semester of the study program “Social Work”. Students can freely choose the indi
vidual topics for their papers from a selection that is updated every semester. They can
also use the content of their term papers as preparation for the oral examination in the
corresponding modules.
As the students write their term papers, the teachers provide close supervision.
The writing process is structured by the following two milestones: ) the exposé, which
contains the topic, the question, and the approach; and ) the first draft of the paper.
Each of these texts is handed in by the deadline specified in the seminar schedule. The
teacher then provides detailed feedback, pointing out which aspects of academic writ
ing are already well-executed, and offering individual recommendations on how to im
prove in other areas (Bean & Weimer, ).
In addition to the term paper, students also learn to write non-academic texts (e. g.,
reports specific to professions within the field of social work) and texts meant for oral
Academic Writing in the Study Entrance Phase
presentation. This way, the TAW seminar helps students apply their writing skills to
the presentations, discussions, and speeches they will need to pass their classes and
examinations.
The courses are accompanied by a supplementary tutorial, which is organized and
run independently by students from the same department. In regular group sessions,
students can deepen the knowledge they gain in the seminar and exchange informa
tion about academic work and writing within a peer group setting. If students need
more support than peer tutors can provide (e. g., for writing in German as a foreign or
second language), they can also make use of the department’s writing counseling ser
vice, which, among other things, provides individual feedback on the parts of the text
that they have already written.
The skills acquired in the TAW seminar are referred to throughout the entire
study program. The detailed so-called “work aid”, which serves as a basis for the prepa
ration of term papers in the first semester, is valid as an orientation for the modules
that use the examination form of term paper or report up to the final thesis after con
sultation with the department’s teaching staff. On the self-study platform of Bielefeld
University of Applied Sciences and Arts, students can also find useful materials and
templates for academic work and writing across all courses, which they can refer to
throughout their studies.
. Evaluation Using Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
In the context of higher education, evaluation is defined as “the systematic analysis and
empirical investigation of concepts, conditions, processes, and effects of goal-oriented
activities for the purpose of assessment and modification” (Rindermann , p. ).
As part of a university’s quality assurance strategy, evaluations of teaching and learning
processes are not only designed to achieve accountability or allow for a performance-
based allocation of funds. They are also used to identify strengths and weaknesses and,
on this basis, make recommendations for further action (Knödler, ). Active use of
evaluation on the part of universities thus presupposes that the evaluation serves at
least one of the following purposes:
•Insight: gathering evidence on the properties and eects of the study program;
•Optimization: using the findings for targeted improvement;
•Learning: fostering dialogue about the results of the evaluation;
•Legitimation: gaining insight into the development and implementation of an in
tervention that can, in turn, be used to legitimize said intervention.
Insights obtained through evaluation are commonly used to provide verifiable evidence
on the effort (input), the performance (output), and the effects (impact) achieved over
time (Döring, ; Döring & Bortz, ; Stockmann, , ).
At German universities, course evaluation is usually based on student surveys in
the form of questionnaires (Großmann & Wolbring, , pp. –; Knödler, ,
p. ). Großmann and Wolbring () criticize this widespread use of cross-sectional
studies by pointing out the danger of “bias due to selective effects and confounding
variables which may go unnoticed” (p. ). Such confounding variables might include
Nadejda Burow, Michael Stricker
the physical attractiveness of instructors, gender effects, or grading (Wolbring, ,
p. ). They therefore recommend the use of a wider variety of research methods in
order to achieve more precise evaluation results (for further information on this topic,
see Bosse & Barnat, ).
For this reason, we present a mixed-method evaluation that uses qualitative re
search (content analysis of reports written by students in the TAW seminar) to enrich a
predominantly quantitative student survey. The data was collected during the winter
semester of / and the summer semester of . During this time, not only the
TAW courses but the entire study program “Social Work” took place online due to the
COVID- pandemic.
. Quantitative Analysis: Course Evaluation
The quantitative analysis was carried out via EvaSys. In accordance with the regulations
for course evaluation at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the question
naire is mandatory. The questions included in the survey cover the relevance and use
fulness of the course content as well as the teacher, their teaching methods, students’
stimulation and motivation, their learning success, and workload. Additionally, the
questionnaire provides respondents with room for individual feedback under the head
line “Your praise/criticism for this course”. The scale applied to the items ranges from
to , with meaning “fully agree”—or “strongly agree” in questions . (motivation)
and . (workload)—and meaning “do not agree” or, respectively, “strongly disagree”
in the aforementioned questions . and .. The survey ran online for two weeks dur
ing the summer semester of , June –. The respondents were students taking
the TAW seminar as part of the bachelor’s degree program in “Social Work”, including
both full-time and part-time students enrolled in this program. A total of students
participated in the survey, which puts the response rate at . %.
Relevance/usefulness of the content
% of respondents fully agree that the relevance/benefit of the topics covered in the
seminar is clearly apparent to them (md = ). % affirm that the course links theory
with practice (md = .), and % of respondents can clearly see how the content cov
ered in this course might prove relevant for further studies or for practical applications
(md = ).
The teacher
The majority of respondents consider the teacher ) to be well prepared, ) to commu
nicate clearly and articulately, and ) to react to students’ questions (md = each).
Teaching methods
. % (md = ) of students find that the teacher illustrates the subject matter with ex
amples/practical cases/case studies. % of respondents claim that the teacher enables
them to check their understanding and learning progress during the seminar (md = ).
The examples and tasks given to improve students’ understanding of the contents are
Academic Writing in the Study Entrance Phase
considered helpful by % of respondents (md = ). . % of students (md = ) find
the teaching materials used in the course to be easily accessible.
Stimulation and motivation
For % of students (md = ), participation in discussions on the course content is en
sured by the course’s use of various avenues of communication (e. g., online forum,
chat, videoconference). All respondents state that the teacher responds appropriately to
questions, feedback, and criticism regarding the course content. . % of participants
(md = ) are motivated to engage with the content through various formats and tasks.
The replies to the item “My motivation to engage with the content of the class has sig
nificantly increased or decreased due to online teaching” are distributed equally across
all options (mw = .; md = .). respondents, however, have not answered this par
ticular question.
Learning success
. % of students (md = ) rate the amount of knowledge gained through the course as
high.
Workload
The average amount of work required to prepare for and follow up on the course (ex
cluding the hours spent on the seminar itself, on exams or exam preparation, etc.) per
week is distributed across almost all possible answers with the exception of “no work
required”. . % of students claim to need – hour, . % need – hours, % need
– hours, % need – hours, and % spend more than hours per week on prepa
ration and follow-ups.
For . % of respondents, the amount of work has increased considerably due to
online teaching as compared to previous face-to-face teaching, while . % claim that it
has decreased considerably (md = ). Only eight students answered these questions;
abstained.
Individual feedback
The evaluation of the feedback given via the text box for item .—“Your praise/criti
cism for this course”—paints a picture that correlates well with the results of the quan
titative part of the survey. There were entries in which students primarily expressed
thanks for a successful event and praised the teacher for her open attitude and/or com
petence regarding the subject matter. The overall concept of the course was assessed as
well thought out, and the small size of the groups ( people maximum) was described
as pleasant.
. Qualitative analysis: testimonials
The field reports are part of the TAW seminar. Students write them at the end of the
semester to familiarize themselves with this particular type of report, in which they are
Nadejda Burow, Michael Stricker
supposed to reflect on events they have witnessed firsthand. Therefore, the field reports
are authentic texts that were not primarily written for research purposes.
In order to practice adopting a reflective attitude, which is fundamental for profes
sional action in social work, the TAW students write a field report of approximately two
pages. In this text, they reflect on the writing process of their term paper, on the knowl
edge they have gained, and on the TAW seminar in general. Since the assignment does
not specify a fixed structure, the students can independently decide which processes
they want to reflect more or less intensely in their field report.
On a voluntary basis, field reports were collected during the winter semester of
/ and the summer semester of . The reports were anonymized and analyzed
using MAXQDA software and the methods of qualitative content analysis proposed by
Mayring and Fenzl ().
The categories for the analysis are based on three sources:
•The model of the writing process according to Flower and Hayes (): knowl
edge of the writing process, research, planning, formulation, revision, and edit
ing.
•Requirements in the study entry phase according to Trautwein and Bosse (),
including social, personal, and organizational requirements.
•Student surveys used for course evaluation at Bielefeld University of Applied Sci
ences and Arts, including relevance of content, the teacher, teaching methods,
students’ stimulation and motivation, learning success, and workload.
A total of text passages can be assigned to at least one of these categories. Our first
review of the data revealed that the writing process, with its subcategories, is addressed
in passages ( %). The requirements of the study entry phase are mapped in
(. %) passages and the social dimension of the requirements students face during
the introductory phase of higher education is mentioned in passages (. %). Per
sonal requirements are mentioned in passages ( %) and organizational aspects are
the topic of passages. The course survey remains mostly unmentioned, but pas
sages (. %) reflect on the subcategory “learning success”.
In the following, an exemplary review of selected results is presented.
Writing process
During their first semester, students often either possess no previous knowledge of
(academic) writing processes or they consider their knowledge to be insufficient:
Before starting on the term paper, I did not know much about how to write a term paper.
Although I had already written a similar paper in school, it was not really comparable to
what was expected of us here. (p. )
On the other hand, students who have already completed an apprenticeship or who
have prior experience in higher education say that they feel well prepared:
Academic Writing in the Study Entrance Phase
The subject area of ʻacademic workʼ is not completely new territory for me. I have already
written term papers of a similar scope in my prior field of study (economics), and in the
context of my training as a health and nursing assistant. (p. )
The structured approach to writing the paper facilitates the planning process and pro
vides orientation:
In the end, however, I felt that TAW accompanied my writing process very well, and time
and again I found that I had already taken a step forward—be it by initially narrowing
down the topic, or in creating the outline. (p. )
In particular, writing an exposé as a mandatory step before students may start to work
on their term paper is usually presented as helpful yet challenging because the function
of this text is not immediately apparent: “The hardest part for me was writing the ex
posé; it felt like I had to know the entire structure of my term paper way too soon”
(p. ).
The phase of literature research and editing is perceived quite controversially.
Some writers describe it as trouble-free and easy: “I found it to be very easy” (p. ) or “I
quickly had a diverse selection of literature on my computer” (p. ). Meanwhile, other
students found this stage of the process rather challenging, e. g., because they had un
derestimated the time required for research and reading:
I will also make sure to start earlier and be more consistent, not just with my research but
also when it comes to reading the literature, since the latter in particular was more time-
consuming than I had planned, and because it is also a prerequisite for some important
steps in the process. (p. )
The elocution stage, in which students do the actual writing, is not presented as prob
lematic in the reports, whereas text revision is associated with a lot of effort: “I revised
my texts and also my outline several times, starting fresh again and again because I was
dissatisfied with my performance” (p. ).
For the revision process, students use various resources, including the knowledge
and experience of fellow students, TAW teachers, other university teaching staff,
friends, and family. Feedback is always appreciated and often actively requested: “Feed
back on my writing helped me enormously. Of course, it was an advantage if it came
directly from the teacher, but the feedback from my fellow students, other teaching
staff, and a trusted person also helped me” (p. ).
However, a distinction must be made between feedback provided by others, and
editing. The latter can be carried out in two very different ways. On the one hand, there
is the final edit of the text, which can be created either by the writer or by a third-party
editor (professional or not) at the end of the writing process. On the other hand, there is
the teacher’s edit of the text, which is part of assessment and grading once the term
paper has been handed in. Inexperienced writers usually do not leave enough time for
editing their text before handing it in. Therefore, this step is often associated with un
certainty and stress: “I uploaded my paper at the last minute, without anyone proof
Nadejda Burow, Michael Stricker
reading it, and without having done a final check on it with the help of the guidelines
from the course, as I had planned” (p. ).
One special feature of the TAW seminars is that students can take advantage of an
interim edit supplied by the teacher after the submission of their first draft. This allows
them to incorporate the feedback before submitting the final version of their term pa
per. In their reports, students also reflect on this process:
I was aware that my first paper failed the first time around, but in the end that was a good
thing because the teacher commented on exactly what the problem was, and so I was able
to address those specific issues. (p. )
Close supervision and multiple submissions are perceived as a relief: “But at the time,
it helped that I knew we had multiple deadlines and that this assignment was there to
ʻlearnʼ, so to speak, and that it would not be graded” (p. ).
Requirements in the introductory phase of studies
The social dimension of the study requirements was widely reflected in the experience
reports. On the one hand, this was due to the changes in students’ social lives caused by
the transition to higher education. On the other hand, during the two semesters cov
ered by our data, the COVID- pandemic played a major role, as there were many
rules and restrictions in place that also affected student life. It became clear that some
times diametrically opposed assessments can occur. Some students took every oppor
tunity to network by actively participating in digital breakout sessions during the
course, forming online study groups, and organizing WhatsApp groups. Meanwhile,
other students felt disconnected and were unable to connect with their peers: “I missed
the exchange and contact with other fellow students and being on site at the university
of applied sciences” (p. ). Another student explains: “The difficulty was, among other
things, the exchange with fellow students and with the teachers, which also set me back
over the course of the semester. I definitely missed being able to talk about questions
and problems in person” (p. ), while a third points out: “On top of that, this is an
online semester, so exchange within the course, getting to know fellow students, and
passing on information can only take place to a very limited extent” (p. ).
Personal demands were often associated with feelings in the reports. Fear played
an important role: “When I found out that we had to write a paper, I was afraid” (p. ).
The exchange with fellow students and the lecturers usually helped against this: “I was
also able to exchange information with the other participants about their progress and
working methods, and so some of my fear and sometimes despair was taken away”
(p. ).
While students clearly focused on the social and personal dimensions, they rarely
used their reports to reflect on the organizational requirements of the introduction
phase of their studies ( passages). The only exception from this rule was the observa
tion that passing the TAW homework would be crucial for admission to examinations.
Academic Writing in the Study Entrance Phase
Student course survey
Learning success is the only subcategory on which the field reports reflect in detail.
Mostly, the students write about the knowledge they gained through the course in the
form of recommendations for action addressed to their future selves or by explaining
what they would do differently when writing the next term paper:
During these seven weeks, I have learned what it means to review the literature, to struc
ture and organize myself, and to recognize and use many previously unknown ways or
options. What opportunities I can create for myself to make the situation more pleasant,
clearer, and easier to understand. The whole seminar was a huge learning process, but one
that I have yet to complete. (p. )
Overall, the relevance of the writing-specific topics is evident in the TAW experience
reports. The students mainly reflected on the categories “requirements for the study
entry phase” and “student course survey” from their point of view as writers.
Discussion: Subjective views on TAW and study success
Based on the quantitative evaluation of the student surveys, the TAW seminar seems to
be very well organized: students are satisfied with the seminar, the teachers, and their
teaching methods. They gain much knowledge, are highly motivated, and invest a rea
sonable amount of work to prepare for the course and follow up on the content. How
ever, the use of student surveys as the sole evaluation instrument has been the object of
criticism for several years now. As the German Sociological Association (DGS) points
out, these surveys may open the door for undesirable extraneous influences. Firstly, the
survey design proves vulnerable to influences that are independent of the quality of the
course, such as the attractiveness of the teachers. Secondly, underlying conditions can
determine the outcome, such as students’ prior knowledge of a subject or the room in
which a course takes place. Thirdly, the surveys are easy to manipulate, e. g., through a
reduction in workload or grade inflation (DGS—German Sociological Association,
).
The qualitative evaluation, on the other hand, provides in-depth insight into sub
jective views and experiences, which partly differ from the results of the standardized
procedures. Regarding the TAW seminar, this part of the evaluation showed that stu
dents had difficulties with some parts of the course. At the same time, however, it also
becomes apparent how they overcame these difficulties and what conclusions they
drew for their further studies.
If students’ academic success is measured from an institutional perspective, it pri
marily serves the purpose of evidence-based management. This perspective includes
basic, statistically easy-to-objectify characteristics such as degree completion, grades,
and duration of studies as the central criteria of successful studies (Bornkessel, ).
In contrast, the subject-oriented perspective focuses on the students and their needs.
Additionally, the requirements of the academic discipline, its questions, methods, and
Nadejda Burow, Michael Stricker
findings are of interest as they determine how students can successfully integrate
themselves into the system of higher education (van den Berk et al., ).
The interaction between the different approaches to course evaluation allows us to
investigate the quality of a course from both a formal institutional and a subjective per
spective.
Eects on the Development of the Study Program
Analyses of student writing processes can be used to rethink the curriculum of the
respective degree program. Regarding the “Social Work” program at Bielefeld Univer
sity of Applied Sciences and Arts, the TAW course provides students with an opportu
nity to engage with core concepts and rules of academic writing during their first se
mester. The other major writing projects students must complete to earn their degree
are a graded term paper in the specialization module (th semester), ungraded practice
reports (nd and th semesters), and a bachelor’s thesis (th semester). The idea of
teaching the necessary writing skills exclusively in the first semester by means of an
exploratory term paper appears to be attractive from the perspective of the study pro
gram organization. The teaching capacities for the subject content are used in the hope
that students’ writing skills will develop freely during the study program and do not
need to be controlled by teachers. The development of competencies for academic work
is supported by the writing advisory service provided by the department and the self-
organized student tutorials. At the same time, teachers repeatedly find that the avail-
able writing support is sometimes insufficient and in need of more systematization.
The question of whether a practice term paper must be written in the first semes
ter of study can be discussed in different ways. The TAW course evaluation shows that
it causes anxiety and stress for many students, but once the term paper has been suc
cessfully completed, there is also a sense of achievement.
In the field reports we examined, the segmentation of the writing process was per
ceived as helpful for the successful submission of the term paper. The individual steps
of the writing process are embedded in a framework of close supervision and regular
feedback. As the field reports show, the reflective attitude that students adopted can
further support the development of competencies and highlight the personal strengths
of the writers. This might help students with a migration background and/or a non-
academic background feel more self-assured during the writing process, whereas
teachers can use the framework and its feedback loops for timely, targeted intervention
in the event of writing problems.
Taking into account the results of the course evaluation, the following suggestion
for the further development of the course curriculum can be derived: The writing process
should continue to be the focus. However, students might consider the introductory phase
of studies to be less stressful if, over the course of the TAW seminar, they could develop
a (digital) portfolio instead of a term paper. With a portfolio, all phases of the academic
writing process would be adequately represented and reflected upon (Bräuer, ).
Academic Writing in the Study Entrance Phase
This would, in turn, bring the individual development of students’ writing skills to the
fore and might even help them develop more confidence in their ability to apply the
methods of academic work and academic writing. Furthermore, the creation of a port
folio supports a more continuous learning process. At the same time, teachers could
differentiate more directly and respond to the heterogeneous needs of an increasingly
diverse student body in a more targeted manner. This would also make the study pro
gram “Social Work” more attractive for future students. Of course, the new course con
cept would have to be comprehensively evaluated and adapted if necessary.
For the degree program, however, this change would have several other important
implications. With the elimination of the practice term paper from the TAW seminar,
the first term paper would be postponed to the fourth semester. This would most likely
mean that the difficulties expressed by the students in the field reports—such as prob
lems with scheduling or even failing the first attempt due to lack of practice—would
occur at this stage during the program, with potentially fatal consequences for the
course of study. To avoid this, competence-oriented writing exercises are necessary in
all semesters and modules. Hüllemann and Spiroudis (, p. ) have developed
promising elements of a curriculum for teaching reading and writing skills in the aca
demic field of social work: They suggest subject modules complemented by writing
modules. Applying this concept to the TAW seminars could mean offering a writing
seminar in each semester, adapting the content of the courses to the different taxono
mies of competencies.
References
Bargel,T. (). Studieneingangsphase und heterogene Studentenschaft - neue Angebote
und ihr Nutzen: Befunde des . Studierendensurveys an Universitäten und Fach
hochschulen.
Bean,J. C., & Weimer,M. (). Engaging ideas: The professor's guide to integrating writ
ing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom. Jossey-Bass.
Beywl,W., Böttcher,W., Hense,J., & Widmer,T. (). Vorläufer, Entstehung und Weiter
entwicklung der Standards für Evaluation. In J. Hense, W. Böttcher, M. Kalman, &
W. Meyer (Eds.), Evaluation: Standards in unterschiedlichen Handlungsfeldern: Ein
heitliche Qualitätsansprüche trotz heterogener Praxis? (pp.–). Waxmann.
Bohndick,C., Bosse,E., Jänsch,V. K., & Barnat,M. (). How Dierent Diversity Factors
Aect the Perception of First-Year Requirements in Higher Education. Frontline
Learning Research, (), –. https://doi.org/./flr.vi.
Bornkessel,P. (). Einleitung. In P. Bornkessel (Ed.), Erfolg im Studium: Konzeptio
nen, Befunde und Desiderate (pp.–). wbv. https://doi.org/./w
Bosse,E., & Barnat,M. (). Kombination qualitativer und quantitativer Methoden zur
Untersuchung der Studieneinstiegsphase. In T. Jenert, G. Reinmann, & T. Schmohl
(Eds.), Hochschulbildungsforschung (pp.–). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
https://doi.org/./----_
Nadejda Burow, Michael Stricker
Bräuer,G. (). Das Portfolio als Reflexionsmedium für Lehrende und Studierende
(., erweiterte Auflage). Kompetent lehren: Band . Verlag Barbara Budrich. https://
doi.org/./
Coertjens,L., Brahm,T., Trautwein,C., & Lindblom-Ylänne,S. (). Students’ transition
into higher education from an international perspective. Higher Education, (),
–. https://doi.org/./s---y
Dehne,J., Knoth,A., & Lucke,U. (). Studieneingangsphase stärken, forschend lernen
und digitale Medien nutzen. In G. Reinmann, E. Lübcke & A. Heudorfer (Eds.), For
schendes Lernen in der Studieneingangsphase (pp.–). Springer Fachmedien.
https://doi.org/./----_
DGS – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie. (). Stellungnahme der Deutschen Gesell
schaft für Soziologie zum Umgang mit studentischen Lehrveranstaltungsevaluatio
nen. https://soziologie.de/aktuell/news/stellungnahme-der-deutschen-gesellschaft-
fuer-soziologie-zum-umgang-mit-studentischen-lehrveranstaltungsevaluationen
Döring,N. (). Evaluationsforschung. In N. Baur & J. Blasius (Eds.), Handbuch Meth
oden der empirischen Sozialforschung (pp.–). Springer VS. https://doi.org/
./----_
Döring,N., & Bortz,J. (). Forschungsmethoden und Evaluation in den Sozial- und
Humanwissenschaften (th edition). Springer. https://doi.org/./---
-_
Ebert,J., & Heublein,U. (). Studienabbruch bei Studierenden mit Migrationshinter
grund: Eine vergleichende Untersuchung der Ursachen und Motive des Studienab
bruchs bei Studierenden mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund auf Basis der Befra
gung der Exmatrikulierten des Sommersemesters . Stiftung Mercator GmbH.
Everke Buchanan,S., & Meyer,H. (). Wissenschaftliches Schreiben lernen – integriert
im Fach. Zeitschrift Für Hochschulentwicklung, (), –. https://doi.org/./
zfhe--/
Flower,L., & Hayes,J. R. (). Identifying the organization of writing processes. In
L. W. Gregg (Ed.), Cognitive processes in writing (pp.–). Lawrence Erlbaum Ass.
Gesellschaft für Schreibdidaktik und Schreibforschung. (). Positionspapier Schreib
kompetenz im Studium. Verabschiedet am . September in Nürnberg. http://
www.schreibdidaktik.de/images/Downloads/gefsus__positionspapier.pdf
Gottschalk,K. K., & Hjortshoj,K. (). The elements of teaching writing: A resource for
instructors in all disciplines. Bedfords/St. Martinʼs.
Großmann,D., & Wolbring,T. (). Stand und Herausforderungen der Evaluation an
deutschen Hochschulen. In D. Großmann & T. Wolbring (Eds.), Evaluation von Stu
dium und Lehre: Grundlagen, methodische Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze
(pp.–). Springer VS. https://doi.org/./----_
Harju,B., & Werner,T. (). Wissenschaftliches Schreiben in der Hochschullehre. In
J. Noller, C. Beitz, D. Kugelmann, S. Sontheimer, & S. Westerholz (Eds.), Methoden in
der Hochschullehre: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven aus der Praxis (pp.–).
Springer VS. https://doi.org/./----_
Academic Writing in the Study Entrance Phase
Heublein,U., Ebert,J., Hutzsch,C., Isleib,S., König,R., Richter,J., & Woisch,A. ().
Zwischen Studienerwartungen und Studienwirklichkeit: Ursachen des Studienab
bruchs, beruflicher Verbleib der Studienabbrecherinnen und Studienabbrecher und
Entwicklung der Studienabbruchquote an deutschen Hochschulen. Forum Hoch
schule: , . DZHW, Deutsches Zentrum für Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsfor
schung.
Hüllemann,U., & Spiroudis,E. (). Fassen wir uns an die eigene Nase …: Analyse und
Weiterentwicklung des Curriculums zur Förderung studentischer Schreibkompeten
zen. In S. Lahm, F. Meyhöfer, & F. Neumann (Eds.), Schreiblehrkonzepte an Hoch
schulen: Fallstudien und Reflexionen zum fachspezifischen Schreibenlehren und -ler
nen (pp.–). wbv Media. https://doi.org/./w
Jenert,T., Postare,L., Brahm,T., & Lindblom-Ylänne,S. (Eds.). (). Enculturation and
development of beginning students. Books on Demand. https://doi.org/./
zfhe--/
Knödler,E. (). Evaluation an Hochschulen. Springer VS. https://doi.org/
./----
Knorr,D. (Ed.). (). Universitätskolleg-Schriften: Band . Akademisches Schreiben:
Vom Qualitätspakt Lehre geförderte Schreibprojekte. Universität Hamburg. https://
www.universitaetskolleg.de/publikationen/uk-schriften-.epub
Kruse,O. (). Keine Angst vor dem leeren Blatt: Ohne Schreibblockaden durchs Stu
dium (th edition). Campus concret. Campus Verlag.
Lahm,S., Meyhöfer,F., & Neumann,F. (Eds.). (). Schreiblehrkonzepte an Hochschu
len: Fallstudien und Reflexionen zum fachspezifischen Schreibenlehren und -lernen.
wbv Media. https://doi.org/./w
Mayring,P., & Fenzl,T. (). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. In N. Baur & J. Blasius (Eds.),
Handbuch Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung (pp.–). Springer VS.
https://doi.org/./----_
Middendor,E., Apolinarski,B., Becker,K., Bornkessel,P., Brandt,T., Heißenberg,S., &
Poskowsky,J. (). Die wirtschaftliche und soziale Lage der Studierenden in
Deutschland : . Sozialerhebung des Deutschen Studentenwerks durchgeführt
vom Deutschen Zentrum für Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsforschung. Die wirt
schaftliche und soziale Lage der Studierenden in Deutschland: Vol. .. Bundes
ministerium für Bildung und Forschung.
Rindermann,H. (). Lehrevaluation an Hochschulen: Schlussfolgerungen aus For
schung und Anwendung für Hochschulunterricht und seine Evaluation. Zeitschrift
Für Evaluation, , –.
Ruhalahti,S., Lehto,T., Saarinen,S., & Katto,L. (). Identifying Higher Education First-
Year Studentsʼ Reported Experiences Studying During the Pandemic. European Jour
nal of Education Studies, (). https://doi.org/./ejes.vi.
Schaeper,H. (). The first year in higher education: the role of individual factors and
the learning environment for academic integration. Higher Education, (), –.
https://doi.org/./s---
Nadejda Burow, Michael Stricker
Stockmann,R. (). Was ist eine gute Evaluation? Einführung zu Funktionen und
Methoden von Evaluationsverfahren. CEval-Arbeitspapier: Bd. .
Stockmann,R. (). Entstehung und Grundlagen der Evaluation. In D. Großmann &
T. Wolbring (Eds.), Evaluation von Studium und Lehre: Grundlagen, methodische
Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze (pp.–). Springer VS. https://doi.org/
./----_
Trautwein,C., & Bosse,E. (). The first year in higher education—critical requirements
from the student perspective. Higher Education, (), –. https://doi.org/
./s---
van den Berk,I., Petersen,K., Schultes,K., & Stolz,K. (Eds.). (). Universitätskolleg-
Schriften: Vol. . Studierfähigkeit. Theoretische Erkenntnisse, empirische Befunde
und praktische Perspektiven.
Wallis,M., & Bosse,E. (). Studienrelevante Heterogenität in der Studieneingangs-
phase am Beispiel der Wahrnehmung von Studienanforderungen. Beiträge Zur
Hochschulforschung, (), –.
Wolbring,T. (). Fallstricke der Lehrevaluation: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Mess
barkeit von Lehrqualität (. Aufl.). Campus Verlag.
Academic Writing in the Study Entrance Phase
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social
Distancing. Synchronous Lecture Formats and
Student Competence Development
M F, B W, C S
Introduction
The COVID- pandemic caused a radical reduction of social contacts and forced
higher education to shift from on-campus to online teaching and learning. A total of
,,, learners—. % of all learners worldwide—were affected by shutdowns
(Marinoni, ). Consequently, almost all institutions of higher education replaced
face-to-face education on campus with virtual face-to-face interaction. At many institu
tions, neither instructors nor students were prepared for this sudden change. Both the
online formats and the technical tools used to create and use virtual learning environ
ments were unfamiliar territory. This leads to the questions we aim to address in this
article: How did digital synchronous lecture formats influence the competence devel
opment of students during the first semesters of online teaching and learning? Did the
digital learning environments influence competence development in different ways?
And how did instructors’ and students’ use of digital environments influence teaching
and learning?
As the concept of “competence” includes a broad set of different subcategories, we
first have to take a closer look at the specific concept of competence (Erpenbeck & von
Rosenstiel, ). In the didactic literature, there is generally a distinction made be
tween professional, methodological, social, and self-competence (Kauffeld et al., ).
Professional competence is the ability to make knowledge suitable for new tasks and to
generate it, whereas methodological competence is reflected in the structuring of dis
cussion processes and in the naming of the most important goals (p. ). Social com
petence is evidenced by statements that relate to interaction as well as judgmental state
ments towards people, and statements on participation may be interpreted as evidence
of self-competence (p. ). This study focuses exclusively on professional competence.
In Germany, as well as in most countries in the world, the majority of institutions
quickly switched to online classes in the spring of (Deihamm et al., ). This
allowed not only for the continuation of classes during lockdowns, but also allowed
students who had to stay with their families in or outside their country of instruction to
still be included and take part in the newly set-up digital teaching and learning environ
ments. The study presented here delivers a first analysis of synchronous lecture for
mats and their influence on student competences based on three modules at three
different German institutions of higher education (Bielefeld University of Applied Sci
ences and Arts, Touro College Berlin, and BSP Business and Law School in Berlin). By
early , at the end of their second online semester, instructors and students were on
a very steep learning curve regarding remote teaching and learning, including their
familiarity with digital tools and the pedagogical design of online lectures. Their effort
and dedication shaped the conversion of higher education from on-campus to online
formats. Our analysis offers empirical data for a better understanding of online formats
and can support the future planning of online formats in higher education.
When switching to online teaching during the pandemic, many instructors chose
synchronous lecture settings. Synchronous lecture settings include students’ active
participation and should therefore not be confused with frontal teaching. In the past,
this form of online teaching and learning had been described as the “poor cousin of
asynchronous interactions” (Murphy & Ciszewska-Carr, ) and associated with
many challenges regarding scheduling, availability and cost of equipment, bandwidth
requirements, stability, or reliability (Murphy & Ciszewska-Carr, ). For reasons
such as these, digital synchronous lectures were only used on a limited scale (Slack
et al., ). The switch to online teaching and the consequent use of synchronous digi
tal formats during the COVID- pandemic might have changed this perception. Vid
eoconferencing applications like Cisco WebEx Meetings, GoToMeeting, Jitsi, BigBlue
Button, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom had already been available before the pandemic
started, but until March , there was very little demand for online teaching and
learning in higher education.
With the analysis of the sudden and rapid change in demand for and utilization of
digital learning environments, however, the empirical basis has grown substantially,
offering new insights into online teaching and learning formats. This article elaborates
on lessons learned and potential benefits for the continued use of digital formats in
higher education, such as the promotion of digital formats within current curricula
when pedagogically appropriate and the so-called “internationalisation at home” (De
Wit et al., ), which could offer students international and intercultural experiences
without having to physically leave the country. To this end, we describe a quantitative
study that focuses on digital teaching and its impact on student competencies. The
study is based on student feedback on synchronous online lessons at three different
institutions of higher education in Germany. The interviews were conducted during
the first two semesters of online teaching (spring and fall /). We evaluated
one larger course, which took place at a public university of applied sciences (on aver
age, – students per lecture), and two smaller-scale courses, which took place at
two private universities of applied sciences (on average, – students per lecture). All
three of them were undergraduate courses: Principles of Law & Social Management,
Principles of Accounting, and Mathematics. For each course, students provided gen
eral course evaluations at the end of the semester. Additionally, a number of these stu
dents also participated in a second evaluation with a specific focus on digital breakout
sessions. Our analysis of these evaluations is based on regression analysis. Overall, the
results indicate a significant positive influence of social interaction among students on
competence development if the technical environment—i.e., the use of the different
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing
functions of the videoconferencing tool—is well planned for and used in an expedient
and pedagogically sound manner.
This article is comprised of four sections. The first introduces the topic, and the
second provides an overview of the theoretical foundation of the analysis, including a
short outline of the underlying pedagogical framework and its relevance for the evalu
ated courses. The third section then describes the quantitative analysis and its results.
To conclude the article, the fourth section provides a short summary of the main find
ings, outlines the limitations of our research, and highlights possible avenues for fu
ture research.
Theoretical Foundation of the Study
The courses analyzed for this study are embedded in a moderate constructivist under
standing of teaching and learning as described by Reinmann-Rotmeier and Mandl
(). The next paragraph provides a short introduction to this concept, followed by an
elaboration on online teaching and a description of the main pedagogical elements of
the evaluated courses. These had originally been designed for on-site teaching and
learning but were transformed into online courses due to the pandemic in the spring of
.
. Pedagogical Framework
The overarching idea of the moderate constructivist understanding is that teaching in
higher education should not only encourage students to reproduce factual knowledge
as proposed by behavioral theory (Kunath & Fürstenau, ). Instead, teaching should
also promote interdisciplinary skills and enable students to combine knowledge with
action. In practice, this means that instructors must ensure that students are encour
aged to achieve their learning goals by applying their newly acquired knowledge to real-
life situations. The ultimate goal would be the creation of a learning environment in
which students are empowered to solve problems both independently and with others
(Reinmann-Rotmeier & Mandl, ). A prime element of this approach is so-called
“multifaceted interaction” (see Reinmann-Rotmeier & Mandl, ). This type of inter
action might happen between instructor and student, student and student, or student
and content. An associated approach with a specific focus on social learning is known
as the situative approach. Here, the group work itself is understood as a continuously
negotiated process based on interaction (Greeno, , p. ). The learning goal—inter
pretation and solving of problems—is achieved through working on questions or spe
cific projects, focusing on the learners’ competence development through social inter
action within work and learning groups (Greeno, ; Greeno et al., ; Dewey,
/). In line with the main concepts of the moderate constructivist understand
ing, the situative approach does not provide instructors with specific recommendations
Marius Fahrner, Birgit Wolf, Christiane Schmieder
on how to teach. Instead, it recommends the inclusion of different learning practices,
especially those of inquiry and sense-making.
The term “interaction” includes all forms of interaction, i. e., between instructors
and students, students and students, or students and content (e. g., accessing the con
tent via learning platforms). The term “social interaction”, on the other hand, describes
processes in which individuals interact with each other, for example within the frame
work of group collaboration or in discussions with instructors and fellow students. This
type of interaction focuses on the process and is also possible in online formats. In a
digital synchronous learning environment, social interaction may, for example, include
the virtual hand-raising feature, which lets participants know that someone would like
to speak up in a videoconference. This function helps the instructor manage the lecture
and moderate discussions. During a lecture, the so-called breakout rooms can be used
to create virtual rooms in which smaller numbers of participants may meet. The
screen-sharing feature also helps to present and discuss the results of group efforts or
individual students’ contributions. Social interaction in a synchronous digital learning
environment might also include the use of instant messages (chats) or a voting feature
that lets participants vote on a poll created by the host. Our analysis does not include
the informal social learning spaces such as the cafeteria, which students may use out
side the lecture (for a specific outline, see Matthews et al., ).
. Online Course Pedagogy
In an article on myths about digitization, Schulmeister and Loviscach () outline the
benefits of learning from “analog”, i. e., face-to-face formats. The driving force of learn
ing processes is the immediate presence, the interaction between learners and teach
ers, as well as the participation in knowledge and cognitive processes. Schulmeister
and Loviscach also emphasize the limits of structural digitization due to complex moti
vational interactions, cognitive as well as social feedback and effects (Schulmeister &
Loviscach, ). Important aspects of social interaction in face-to-face formats cannot
entirely be replaced in online formats. Online teaching in higher education has become
increasingly important over the past decades. The forceful transition of most teaching
activities to online settings during the COVID- pandemic was a major disruption to
higher education and created a plethora of new challenges for instructors. Usually,
planning an online course in higher education takes several months. Hodges et al.
() even estimate that a period of six to nine months would be appropriate for de
signing a full online course—excluding the preparation of activating methods under
consideration of the features available within the videoconferencing tool used. Due to
the rapid course of events in early , neither instructors nor students had this much
time to prepare. Rather, they had to adapt and quickly get to know the built-in features
of the videoconferencing tools used at their specific institution of higher education.
Research has shown that meaningful interaction of various kinds—between stu
dent and student, student and instructor, or even student and content—increases
learning outcomes but also needs to be planned carefully (Hodges et al., ; Means
For an overview of the situative approach, see, for example, Renkl (), Stegmann et al. (), or Schmohl ().
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing
et al., ; Dillenbourg, ). Detailed planning includes the thoughtful set-up of in
teraction and collaboration between students. In a literature review on online collabora
tion in international environments, Kolm et al. () identified two main challenges to
successful collaboration: On the one hand, the method needs to be explicitly promoted
in an online environment, and on the other hand, the learning tasks must be adapted to
the specific structure of the digital environment. Ku et al. () conducted another
empirical study on collaboration in online settings. They found that students men
tioned the following elements of a digital learning environment as the main indicators
for successful collaboration:
() instructor support and encouragement, () team commitment, () clear objectives and
goals, () clear communication, () timely resources, () frequent communication, () use
of interactive software, () synchronous meetings, () opportunities to access and view
examples, and () well-defined and well-organized instruction. (Ku et al., , p. )
The authors also noted that % of the participating students felt that the collaborative
environment had produced better learning results (Ku et al., , p. ). A meta-
analysis conducted by Rosen and Salomon () showed major advantages for compe
tence development in digital learning environments designed in line with the situative
approach in comparison to analog learning environments (Rosen & Salomon, ).
Hence, digital collaboration and specifically social interaction seem to be effective
pedagogical measures to enhance engagement and learning in online environments
(Ku et al., , p. ; Stegmann et al., ). However, one element is crucial to suc
cessful online teaching and learning: the technology. In , Jonassen already pointed
out that in order to make online teaching both reliable and convenient, transparent and
functioning technology would be of great importance. By the start of the COVID-
pandemic in March , most institutions of higher education in Germany had the
digital infrastructure to make use of various videoconferencing tools. This required,
among other things, a stable internet connection with an appropriate bandwidth.
. Courses under Investigation
The original design of the courses upon which this paper focuses included a selection
of different teaching methods and specifically activating methods to enhance social in
teraction. All three of the courses included short units of up-front lecturing and short
video sequences, and they all focused on discussions in smaller and larger groups as
well as collaboration based on either case studies or problem-based assignments. The
redesign of the courses, which was made necessary by the COVID- restrictions,
maintained this groundwork and made use of the software and applications available to
set up the digital learning environments to include various forms of interaction framed
by activating methods.
The first pedagogical decision was to transform face-to-face classroom settings
into synchronous online formats. Each of the three institutions of higher education
provided access to either Zoom or Microsoft Teams as a videoconferencing platform.
This way, the lectures could take place live and in real-time (recordings were prohib
Marius Fahrner, Birgit Wolf, Christiane Schmieder
ited), using the originally defined lecture slot while allowing students and instructors to
attend from different locations. The interactive elements of the synchronous lectures
included a similar variety of methods as originally incorporated in the concepts for on-
campus teaching but transformed them by taking advantage of the various digital fea
tures available.
Due to the pandemic situation and the lack of alternatives for meeting and inter
acting in person, instructors focused strongly on activating methods, creating a digital
learning environment in which their students would have space to collaborate in small
groups. For this reason, they ruled out asynchronous lectures. These would have been
lectures with no fixed time schedule, which would have allowed students to access the
material from different locations and—the main difference between synchronous and
asynchronous teaching—whenever they wanted to. Although collaboration is generally
possible within both formats, group activities in real-time, with the instructor acting as
a coach or supervisor, are impossible in asynchronous settings. Following the pedagog
ical understanding outlined above, the instructors of the courses we analyzed deliber
ately decided on synchronous lectures because they wanted to offer sufficient contact
and social interaction to students and instructors. This meant providing structures for
learning activities in which knowledge of the subject matter was envisaged to become
meaningful and functional (Greeno, , p. ), and planning for activating methods
that foster social interaction and collaboration between students.
There were different digital spaces set up for social interaction between students.
The main digital room served as a virtual classroom in which the entire group could
interact, while the so-called breakout rooms—time-limited sessions in which smaller
groups of students met in separate digital rooms—aimed to involve all the students in
discussions. The smaller groups in the breakout rooms worked on outlined problems
and case studies or discussed the literature. After finishing their work in the breakout
rooms, the individual groups then shared, presented, and discussed their results with
the entire group.
The underlying assumption of our analysis is that interactive formats such as
these have a positive impact on students’ competence development. When planning
and designing the courses on-site as well as re-designing them for online teaching and
learning, the instructors followed the “Teaching as Design” approach (e. g., Reinmann,
), which was adapted to the pandemic situation and online teaching by Reinmann
(). Our study was guided by the following research question: Which factors—as
seen from the perspective of the participating students—contribute most to profes
sional competence development in synchronous lecture sessions?
For a detailed outline of how to facilitate synchronous lectures, see, for example, Finkelstein ().
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing
Quantitative Analysis
The students from the three different institutions participated in course evaluation sur
veys at the end of the first two full online semesters during the COVID- pandemic.
Over the course of each of these two semesters, they also provided feedback regarding
their experience with breakout sessions. The first questionnaire represents on overall
evaluation of the courses the students attended (Questionnaire ), and the second rep
resents an evaluation of the breakout sessions they experienced as part of the synchro
nous online lectures (Questionnaire ). The analysis covers feedback provided by two
cohorts of students (spring semester , fall semester /).
Students at the public University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Bielefeld re
ceived their questionnaire in German; the students at the two private universities of
applied sciences (Touro College Berlin and BSP) received theirs in English. The ma
jority of the students who participated in the survey were studying at the larger institu
tion and attended large-scale lectures. The two questionnaires were each statistically
analyzed once using only the data from the larger public institution ( students) and a
second time with the data from all three universities ( students). Questionnaire ,
which focused on the breakout sessions, was completed by students from the pub
lic institution and by students in total. The same types of statistical analyses were
used on both questionnaires.
. Variables Used in the Course Evaluation
Questionnaire contained, among other things, the category Content Section Found to
Be Easy/Difficult. As the name suggests, this part of the survey asked the students to
rate how easy or difficult they found individual sections of the courses they attended.
Answers were given on a scale from (= easy) to (= difficult); the value of the cate
gory Content Section Found to Be Easy/Difficult was calculated by averaging the respec
tive answers. Furthermore, students evaluated how functional they considered the use
of the technical tools embedded within the videoconferencing application used for the
lectures (category Utilisation of Technical Tools). Here, students also commented on
how well the chat was organized, whether the instructional videos could be viewed
without any problems (including posting of links, saving of videos on a shared plat
form, etc.), and whether technical tools such as raising the hand could be handled well.
Answers could be given on a scale from (= very good) to (= not good at all). In the
category Overall Methodological Approach, students were asked to comment on the in
structors’ methodological approach to teaching their respective courses; more specifi
cally, they were asked to rate two different questions on a scale from (= fully) to
(= not at all). The two questions target the extent to which the students thought that the
teaching methods used in a course a) promoted learning and b) kept their attention on
Students at Touro College Berlin and BSP received their survey in English because it is the language of instruction at these
universities of applied sciences.
Small class sizes at the private universities of applied sciences give an explanation why most of the answers came from the
students at the public University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
Marius Fahrner, Birgit Wolf, Christiane Schmieder
the lecture and its content. The value of each of these three categories was calculated by
averaging the scores of the questions within the category.
Questionnaire also listed the items Understanding the Course Content (“I under
stand the content of the seminar”), Presentation of the Instructor (“The presentation/
explanation of the instructor facilitated understanding”), Social Interaction (“The dis
cussions/exchange in the groups facilitated gaining knowledge”), and Reviewing Rele
vant Literature (“I looked at the recommended literature before the corresponding lec
ture”). The answers could again be given on a scale from (= absolutely) to (= not at
all). Finally, some questions in Questionnaire also referred to the professional compe
tence the students acquired during the course. For example, students were asked to
what extent they were now able to illustrate complicated issues (item: Illustration) or to
what extent they were able to deal with typical questions related to the course content
(item: Working on Typical Questions) after having attended the online lecture. These
questions could be answered on a scale from (= strongly disagree) to (= strongly
agree). As a superordinate factor for all questions related to the newly acquired profes
sional competence, the category Competence Development was finally formed by averag
ing. Figure shows the variables used in Questionnaire .
Figure : Variables of the overall course evaluation (Questionnaire )
. Evaluation of the Breakout Sessions
Questionnaire included the item Social Interaction, for which students were asked
how important they considered the breakout sessions to be for interaction (e. g., for
discussions, communication, or networking) with their fellow students. It also in
cluded the item Fellow Students Turning on their Cameras, for which students were
asked how important they considered seeing their fellow students in an online lecture,
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing
and the item Active Participation, in which students were asked to rate how important
they considered the active participation of other students during group work to be. In
addition, Questionnaire incorporated the item Choosing Groups: Here, students were
asked to rate the importance of choosing the group they wanted to work with them
selves (as compared to being assigned to a group). For Returning to the Main Session,
students were asked to rate how important they thought it was that they were allowed to
return to the main session during a breakout session. Some students realize after a
while that they do not want to work in their group anymore. Returning to the main
session gives them the opportunity to collaborate with other students from the main
session and thereby form new groups that are potentially more successful than the old
original ones. The item Leaving the Breakout Session then asked students to rate how
important they thought it was that during the breakout sessions, students were allowed
to choose not to participate in any group and work independently instead. The re-
sponses to all these questions could be given on a scale from (= very important) to
(= not at all important).
Furthermore, Questionnaire asked students to rate how quickly they started
working productively during breakout sessions (item Productivity). This question could
be answered on a scale from (= slow) to (= fast). In addition, the students were asked
whether they thought the breakout sessions were used according to their needs (item
Using the Breakout Sessions). Here, the answers “yes” and “no” were registered for the
statistical analyses. This section of the questionnaire also included some questions on
how well individual aspects, where students had a direct influence on the classroom
activities, functioned during breakout sessions. The participants commented on how
willing they were to switch on their camera during breakout sessions (item Turning on
the Camera), how willing they were to share their own screen (item Screen Sharing), to
what extent writing work was taken over by individual members of a group during the
breakout sessions (item Distribution of Digital Writing Work), or how well the groups’
arrangements for presenting their results to the entire group worked (item Arrange
ment for Presentation of Group Results). All answers could be given on a scale from
(= very good) to (= not good at all). Finally, students rated how important they
thought the breakout sessions were for their personal gain of knowledge (item Compe
tence Development). To measure competence development, self-assessed gain of compe
tence was used because previous studies have shown that self-assessed competence
development can be regarded as a valid indicator of actual competence development
(Braun et al., ). This question could be answered on a scale from (= very impor
tant) to (= not important at all). Some additional items were not included in this analy
sis. Figure shows all analyzed variables of Questionnaire .
These additional items were not relevant for the questions that were asked in this article.
Marius Fahrner, Birgit Wolf, Christiane Schmieder
Figure : Variables used to evaluate the breakout sessions (Questionnaire )
Results
The results of the regression analyses based on the general student evaluation suggest
a significant influence of the utilization of technical tools during the lectures on stu
dents’ self-assessed competence development. These tools are provided within the vid
eoconferencing applications and are described above in the Section . as parts of the
pedagogical framework. The results of the regression analyses based on the evaluation
of the breakout sessions show a significant influence of social interaction—via the
breakout sessions and the collaboration they allow—on students’ self-reported compe
tence development. The analysis of students’ experiences with breakout sessions is
based on an analysis of the large-scale lecture at the public University of Applied Sci-
ences and Arts plus a combined analysis of the large- and small-scale lectures at all
three institutions.
. Overall Course Evaluations
The independent variables in the regression analyses of Questionnaire were Content
Section Found to Be Easy/Difficult, Utilisation of Technical Tools, Overall Methodological
Approach, Understanding the Course Content, Presentation of the Instructor, Social Interac
tion, and Reviewing Relevant Literature. The dependent variable in the first regression
analysis conducted was Illustration (regression analysis .); in the second regression
analysis, it was Working on Typical Questions (regression analysis .); in a third set of
regression analyses, it was Competence Development (regression analysis .). All inde
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing
pendent variables were tested for multicollinearity, but there was no significant multi
collinearity to be observed in any of the cases.
The following section describes the results of regression analyses ., ., and .
with the data taken from the evaluation of the public University of Applied Sciences
and Arts (n = ). Regression analysis . shows an almost significant positive influence
of the independent variable Utilisation of Technical Tools on the dependent variable
Illustration (p-value of approximately ., so more than . and less than .). All the
other independent variables had no significant influence on the dependent variable.
In regression analysis ., there was also an almost significant positive influence of
the variable Utilisation of Technical Tools on the variable Working on Typical Questions
(p-value between . and .). Again, all other independent variables had no signifi
cant influence on the dependent variable. Finally, in regression analysis ., there was a
significant positive influence of the variable Utilisation of Technical Tools on the variable
Competence Development (p-value of approximately .). As before, all the other inde
pendent variables had no significant influence on the dependent variable.
All three of these regression analyses were also carried out with the combined data
of the students from the larger public institution and the data of the students from the
two smaller private institutions (n = ). The results of these analyses essentially did not
differ from the results just described. The only exception is the variable Understanding
the Course Content, which had a significant positive influence on the dependent variable
in some analyses (regression analysis . and .). Thus, based on the overall regression
analyses performed, it can be stated that in addition to understanding the course con
tent, it is primarily the Utilisation of Technical Tools that has a significant positive effect
on students’ competence development. Figure provides a summary of these findings.
Marius Fahrner, Birgit Wolf, Christiane Schmieder
Figure : Regression analysis of overall student evaluations (Questionnaire )
. Evaluation of the Breakout Rooms
The independent variables in the regression analyses related to Questionnaire were
always Social Interaction, Turning on the Camera of Fellow Students, Active Participation,
Choosing Groups, Returning to the Main Session, Leaving the Breakout Session, Using the
Breakout Sessions, and Productivity. The dependent variable was always Competence De
velopment. In addition to the aforementioned independent variables, the first regres
sion analysis included the independent variable Turning on the Camera (regression
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing
analysis .). In the second regression analysis, the independent variable Screen Sharing
(regression analysis .) was also added. Finally, in the third regression analysis, the
independent variables Turning on the Camera, Screen Sharing, Distribution of Digital
Writing Work, and Arrangements for Presentations (regression analysis .) were added.
The following paragraph describes the results of the regression analyses ., .,
and . with the combined data for the large- and small-scale lectures (n = ). Regres
sion analysis . revealed a significant positive influence of the independent variable
Social Interaction on the dependent variable Competence Development (p < .). In addi
tion, a significant negative influence of the variable Leaving the Breakout Session on the
variable Competence Development was shown (p < .). Furthermore, the influence of
the variable Turning on the Camera on the variable Competence Gain was almost signifi
cantly positive (p-value between . and .). All other independent variables had no
significant influence on the dependent variable. In regression analysis ., there was
again a significant positive influence of the independent variable Social Interaction on
the dependent variable Competence Development (p < .). In addition, a significant
negative influence of the variable Leaving the Breakout Session on the variable Compe
tence Development was shown (p < .). All other independent variables had no signifi
cant influence on the dependent variable. Finally, in regression analysis ., as before,
there was a significant positive influence of the independent variable Social Interaction
on the dependent variable Competence Development (p < .), as well as a significant
negative influence of the variable Leaving the Breakout Session on the variable Compe
tence Development (p < .). The influence of the variable Turning on the Camera on the
variable Competence Development was significantly positive (p < .). All the other inde
pendent variables had no significant influence on the dependent variable.
The regression analyses ., ., and . were also carried out only with the data of
students from the larger public institution (n = ). The results of these analyses were
almost identical to the results just presented. In summary, the regression analyses .,
., and . show that Social Interaction within the group has a significant positive in
fluence on the students’ competence development, whereas Leaving the Breakout Ses
sion has a significant negative influence on competence development. In addition,
Turning on the Camera appears to have a significant positive impact on skill develop
ment, as well. The following section provides a more detailed discussion of these re
sults.
Marius Fahrner, Birgit Wolf, Christiane Schmieder
Figure : Regression analysis of the evaluation of the breakout sessions (Questionnaire )
Discussion
Before we summarize and interpret our results, we would like to once again emphasize
the unique situation of higher education in . During the first year of the COVID-
pandemic, institutions of higher education endured a nearly complete shutdown: al
most all teaching and learning activities on campuses worldwide ceased for two semes
ters. In this context, it is worth mentioning a first set of recommendations based on
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing
qualitative student and instructor feedback that was received by Bielefeld University of
Applied Sciences and Arts, the larger public institution in our survey. The recommen
dations were presented in June and were meant for application within the faculty
of social studies. The first full online semester, which at this time was about to end, was
described as overwhelmingly unfamiliar; both students and instructors experienced
online interactions as exhausting and “strange”. Their recommendation for the up
coming months was to include a new primary goal for each of the online courses: to
foster students’ participation and activity in virtual learning environments, which—as
students and faculty emphasized—needed to be explicitly explained and practiced. All
participants had to get used to the videoconferencing tools, which included becoming
familiar with the features so they could use them more intuitively to interact with each
other despite distance and isolation.
Despite the exceptional situation in higher education and the challenges linked to
the shift from on-campus settings to online teaching and learning, the two-year period
spent (mostly) online due to COVID- now provides new insights into teaching de
signs that may enhance future online teaching and learning. The outline presented in
this article offers a first glimpse of useful adaptations which may be of assistance when
designing new courses or single online sessions.
Overall, our quantitative analysis offers insights into students’ perceptions regard
ing a synchronous online format that takes advantage of various technical tools such as
breakout rooms during each session. Our study included large-scale and small-scale
synchronous online courses, but regression analyses of the three universities of applied
sciences (n = ) showed very similar results. The only major difference was the signifi
cant positive effect of understanding the content sections on students’ competence de
velopment, which we observed in our analysis of the combined data from all three insti
tutions. In addition to the students’ understanding of the course content, the utilisation
of technical tools seems to have a significant effect on the increase in student compe
tencies. The aspects of videoconferencing applications being available and properly set
up, and of users being familiar with an application’s technical options were a challenge
at the beginning of the pandemic. Instructors and students alike needed a fair amount
of time and training to get used to their new virtual surroundings. Nevertheless, the
various technical tools allowed for social interaction during these periods of online-only
teaching and learning. From the students’ perspective, this supported them in develop
ing their competencies.
The second part of our quantitative analysis focused on the evaluation of breakout
sessions (Questionnaire ). The results for the analysis of the larger public institution
(n = ) and the joint analysis of large- and small-scale lectures (n = ) proved to be
almost identical. Both the willingness of fellow students to turn on their cameras and
the social interaction among students during breakout sessions were perceived as hav
ing a significant positive impact on competence development. This comes as no sur
prise because social learning is considered a fundamental part of the learning process
in face-to-face courses. Based on the results of our regression analyses ., ., and .,
it can be assumed that social learning also represents an essential component of the
Marius Fahrner, Birgit Wolf, Christiane Schmieder
learning process in digital teaching formats: Social interaction had a significant posi
tive influence on the students’ competence development in all three analyses. It even
seems reasonable to assume, considering the other results outlined in Sections and ,
that social interaction within the learning group is the most significant factor for a suc
cessful learning process. Besides social interaction, the influence of the variable Utilisa
tion of Technical Tools on the development of competences was also significantly posi
tive. Adequate Utilisation of Technical Tools, however, makes good social interaction
within the learning group possible in the first place, so that sufficient Utilisation of Tech
nical Tools can be seen as a prerequisite for successful social interaction in online set
tings. Successful social interaction, in turn, is ultimately decisive for a successfully de
signed learning process. This theory can also be corroborated by the fact that turning
on the camera during synchronous online lectures, which allows for a less anonymous
learning experience, had a significant positive impact on the students’ self-reported
competence development. It seems reasonable to assume that turning on the camera
can be understood as an essential prerequisite for productive social interaction and,
thereby, social learning. More productive social interaction is made possible by turning
on the camera, which consequently leads to an improvement in students’ competen
cies.
As mentioned above, leaving the group during breakout sessions had a significant
negative effect on students’ competence development. If individual students leave the
breakout sessions to study individually, the stability of the remaining study group is in
danger—which, in turn, can have a negative effect on social learning and the related
communication within the group. Stable composition of the groups working within the
breakout rooms thus appears to be a prerequisite for successful social interaction and,
consequently, competence development via breakout sessions.
Conclusion and Limits of this Research
We conducted this study to provide new insights into successful teaching and learning
in online environments. Our goal was to elaborate on the components of online teach
ing and learning that may enhance student competencies. According to our analyses,
students are of the opinion that the evaluated courses facilitate competence develop
ment mainly by utilising technical tools. Since an appropriate choice of digital tools is
what facilitates social interaction in virtual learning environments, we suggest that so
cial interaction, both in breakout sessions and digital classrooms in general, is essential
for successful online learning. Virtual learning environments that provide a variety of
options for stable and multifaceted social interaction are therefore crucial for future
online teaching. Our study also revealed that synchronously organized online teaching
and learning can be very conducive to social interaction. Here, the utilisation of break
out rooms during synchronous lecture sessions seems to be of utmost importance. The
group work that takes place in these breakout rooms, however, needs to be prepared
and presented in a professional manner, including a plan for setting up the groups for
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing
collaboration. Breakout sessions are designed for social interaction, but this interaction
does not happen automatically. Therefore, the group work needs to be embedded
within a carefully planned pedagogical concept that includes a stable and constant com
position of breakout groups in which students keep their cameras switched on to help
achieve the desired learning goals.
According to our analysis, the most important prerequisite for competence devel
opment in online teaching and learning is the appropriate use of the technical features
included in videoconferencing applications. This assumes that the necessary hardware
and software are available, installed, and functioning properly. As trivial as it seems to
be, in practice, well-functioning equipment can be a challenge that often proves hard to
solve (Christian et al., ). The student feedback we analyzed was provided at the start
of the pandemic, when % of all students in Germany did not have access to online
lectures due to technical issues (Deihamm et al., ). Worldwide, the situation was
much worse: In South America, for example, approximately % of all students did not
have access to the digital infrastructure necessary for online teaching; in the Sub-Sa
haran regions of Africa, approximately % of all students could not participate in on
line classes due to a lack of viable equipment (Salmi, ). A quantitative study taking
into account student evaluations (n = ,) from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland
provided insights into the availability of technical equipment for students during the
first online semester in spring (Kreidl & Dittler, ). At that point in time,
. % of the participating students did not have high-speed internet (broadband) avail
able for online learning, and . % of all students did not have a camera to use. During
the first months of the pandemic, this problem was difficult to solve. According to the
evaluations, the students participating in the analysis by Kreidl and Dittler () were
nevertheless quite satisfied (. % very satisfied, . % satisfied) with their participa
tion in online classes that used videoconferencing tools.
According to our analysis, social interaction and collaboration appear to be essen
tial for successful teaching and learning. Appropriate technical equipment, including
enough bandwidth, a camera, and a microphone, is therefore a prerequisite for suc
cessful participation and social learning. Our analysis is based exclusively on students’
feedback and self-assessment, but in the study of Kreidel and Dittler (), instructors
in higher education were found to share this perception. The authors also found social
interaction within the classroom to be one of the central drivers of students’ compe
tence development (Kreidel & Dittler, , p. ). Schulmeister and Loviscatch al
ready outlined in that social interaction may have a particularly positive impact on
competence development if the different methodologies of the academic disciplines
are taken into account. In the natural sciences and mathematics, for example, social
interaction should help learners to think more rationally without including their own
personal opinion; in the humanities, learners should be motivated to include their own
personal opinion as well. They also emphasize the importance of adapting social inter
action to the learning environment, the social contexts, and the motivation of the stu
dents. Less educated learners, e. g., need more positive feedback and encouragement,
whereas well-educated learners profit more from critical comments. Further research
Marius Fahrner, Birgit Wolf, Christiane Schmieder
could now focus on activating teaching methods that enhance social interaction in syn
chronous online lectures, specifically during breakout sessions. How to plan for these
and create an environment in which students can participate and benefit even more
would be of particular interest to higher education.
As this paper focused on the students’ perspective, investigating the instructors’
perspective and the assessment methods they use for synchronous online lectures
might also lead to additional insight into this particular form of online teaching and
learning. The forced digital transformation of higher education during the COVID-
pandemic demanded much flexibility from students, instructors, and institutions. The
large number of empirical studies on this topic now allows for a more detailed and
thorough understanding of online formats and provides an opportunity for sustainable
change. In , Stegman claimed that in order for digital media to have a lasting posi
tive influence on learning, existing and future evidence should be summarized more
systematically, and findings would need to be communicated to practitioners in appro
priate forms (p. ). Due to the COVID- pandemic, this situation has now improved.
More empirical analyses are available now and offer insights into pedagogical practice.
It can be claimed that synchronous interaction in higher education is no longer the
“poor cousin of asynchronous interactions” (Murphy & Ciszewska-Carr, ). Quite
the contrary: Due to the COVID- pandemic, synchronous lecture formats have
evolved into well-established formats of teaching and learning in higher education.
This could provide arguments for institutions of higher education to include new digi
tal teaching and learning methods in the curriculum for their own students, as well as
setting up digital learning environments which may allow students to gain interna
tional and intercultural experience without the need to fund cross-border activities
(Mittelmeier et al., ).
References
Braun, E., Gusy, B., Leidner, B., & Hannover, B. (). Das Berliner Evaluationsinstru
ment für selbsteingeschätzte, studentische Kompetenzen (BEvaKomp). Diagnostica,
54(), –. https://doi.org/./-...
Christian, D. D., McCarty, D. L., & Brown, C. L. (). Experiential education during the
COVID- pandemic: A reflective process. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 34(),
–. https://doi.org/./..
Dewey, J. (). How we think. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), J. Dewey, How we think and selected
essays, 1910–1911 (pp. –). Southern Illinois University Press. (Original work pub
lished ). https://doi.org/./-
Deihamm, M., Friedrich, J.-D., Neubert, P., & Stelter, A. (, Aug –). Hochschulforum
Digital. Kurz und Kompakt. Das digitale Sommersemester 2020. Was sagt die Forschung?,
CHE Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung, Tagung Bildungsveranstaltung „Bewäh
rungsprobe Pandemie: Welche Lerneekte nehmen die Hochschulen aus der Corona-
Krise für Studium, Lehre und Management mit?, online, Germany. https://
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing
www.che.de//bewaehrungsprobe-pandemie-lerneekte-aus-der-corona-krise-
fuer-studium-lehre-und-management/
Dillenbourg, P. (). Over-scripting CSCL: The risks of blending collaborative learning
with instructional design. In P. A. Kirschner (Ed). Three worlds of CSCL. Can we support
CSCL (pp. –). Open Universiteit Nederland.
De Wit, H., Hunter, F., Howard, L., & Egron-Polak, E. (). Internationalisation of higher
education. European Union, .
Erpenbeck, J., & von Rosenstiel, L. (). Einführung. In J. Erpenbeck & L. von Rosenstiel
(Eds.), Handbuch Kompetenzmessung. Erkennen, verstehen und bewerten von Kompeten
zen in der betrieblichen, pädagogischen und psychologischen Praxis (pp. XVII–XXIX).
Schaefer-Poeschel Verlag.
Finkelstein, J. E. (). Learning in real time: Synchronous teaching and learning online
(Vol. ). John Wiley & Sons.
Greeno, J. G. (). The situativity of knowing, learning, and research. American psycholo
gist, 53(), –.
Greeno, J. G., Moore, J. L., & Smith, D. R. (). Transfer of situated learning. In
D. K. Detterman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), Transfer on trial: Intelligence, cognition, and
instruction (pp. –). Ablex Publishing. https://doi.org/./-X...
Hodges, C. B., Moore, S., Lockee, B. B., Trust, T., & Bond, M. A. (). The dierence be
tween emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause Review.
Jonassen, D. H. (). Designing constructivist learning environments. In C. M. Reige
luth (Ed.), Instructional theories and models (nd ed., pp. –). Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Kaueld, S., Grote, S., & Frieling, E. (). Das Kasseler-Kompetenz-Raster (KKR,
actteams). In J. Erpenbeck, L. von Rosenstiel, S. Grote & W. Sauter (Eds.), Handbuch
Kompetenzmessung. Erkennen, verstehen und bewerten von Kompetenzen in der betriebli
chen, pädagogischen und psychologischen Praxis (pp. –). Schaefer-Poeschel Ver
lag. https://doi.org/./-
Kolm, A., de Nooijer, J., Vanherle, K., Werkman, A., Wewerka-Kreimel, D., Rachman-El
baum, S., & van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (). International Online Collaboration Com
petencies in Higher Education Students: A Systematic Review. Journal of Studies in
International Education, 26(), –. https://doi.org/./
Kreidl, C., & Dittler, U. (). Die Corona-Lehre: Wahrnehmung der Studierenden. In
U. Dittler & C. Kreidl (), Wie Corona die Hochschullehre verändert (pp. –).
Springer Gabler. https://doi.org/./----_
Ku, H. Y., Tseng, H. W., & Akarasriworn, C. (). Collaboration factors, teamwork satis
faction, and student attitudes toward online collaborative learning. Computers in Hu
man Behavior, 29(), –. https://doi.org/./j.chb...
Kunath, J. & Fürstenau, B. (). Klassische und operante Konditionierung. In B. Fürste
nau (Ed.), Lehr-Lern-Theorien. Behaviorismus, Kognitivismus, Konstruktivismus. Lernen
und Expertise verstehen und fördern (pp. –). Schneider Verlag Hohengehren.
Marinoni, G., Van’t Land, H., & Jensen, T. (). The impact of Covid- on higher educa
tion around the world. IAU Global Survey Report.
Marius Fahrner, Birgit Wolf, Christiane Schmieder
Matthews, K. E., Andrews, V., & Adams, P. (). Social learning spaces and student en
gagement. Higher Education Research & Development, 30(), –. https://doi.org/
./..
Means, B., Bakia, M., & Murphy, R. (). Learning online: What research tells us about
whether, when and how. Routledge. https://doi.org/./
Mittelmeier, J., Rienties, B., Gunter, A., & Raghuram, P. (). Conceptualizing Interna
tionalization At a Distance: A “Third Category” Of University Internationalization.
Journal of Studies in International Education, (), –. https://doi.org/
./
Murphy, E., & Ciszewska-Carr, J. (). Instructors’ experiences of web based synchro
nous communication using two way audio and direct messaging. Australasian Journal
of Educational Technology, 23(). https://doi.org/./ajet.
Reinmann, G. (). Studientext Didaktisches Design. Universität Hamburg. https://gabi-
reinmann.de/wp-content/uploads///Studientext_DD_Sept.pdf.
Reinmann, G. () Digitalisierung-Lehre-Pragmatik-2020-Foliensatz. https://gabi-rein
mann.de/?p=.
Reinmann-Rothmeier, G., & Mandl, H. (). Gestaltung problemorientierter Lernumgebun
gen. Pädagogische Psychologie. Ein Lehrbuch. Beltz PVU.
Renkl, A. (). Lehren und Lernen. In Tippelt, R., & Schmidt-Hertha, B. (Eds.). Hand
buch Bildungsforschung (Vol. ), –. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://
doi.org/./----_
Rosen, Y., & Salomon, G. (). The dierential learning achievements of constructivist
technology-intensive learning environments as compared with traditional ones: A
meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 36(), –. https://doi.org/
./RM--U-J
Salmi, J. (). COVID’s Lessons for Global Higher Education: Coping with the Present While
Building a More Equitable Future. ERIC. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED.pdf
Schmohl, T. (). Situiertes Lernen. In T. Schmohl & T. Philipp (Eds.), Handbuch Trans
disziplinäre Didaktik (Hochschulbildung. Lehre und Forschung, Bd. ) (pp. –).
Transcript. https://doi.org/./-fm
Schulmeister, R., & Loviscach, J. (). Mythen der Digitalisierung mit Blick auf Studium
und Lehre. In C. Leineweber & C. de Witt (Eds.), Digitale Transformation im Diskurs.
Kritische Perspektiven auf Entwicklungen und Tendenzen im Zeitalter des Digitalen, –.
http://www.medien-im-diskurs.de
Slack, F., Beer, M., Armitt, G., & Green, S. (). Assessment and learning outcomes: The
evaluation of deep learning in an on-line course. Journal of Information Technology
Education: Research, 2(), –. https://doi.org/./
Stegmann, K., Wecker, C., Mandl, H., & Fischer, F. (). Lehren und Lernen mit digitalen
Medien. Ansätze und Befunde der empirischen Bildungsforschung. In R. Tippelt &
B. Schmidt-Hertha (Eds.), Handbuch Bildungsforschung (pp. –). VS Verlag für
Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/./----_
Teaching and Learning in Times of Social Distancing
The Role of Formative Assessments in
Competency-based Online Teaching of Higher
Education Institutions
K S, D R
Introduction and research question
Different kinds of formative and summative assessments are used in higher education.
Moreover, due to the pandemic, many teaching and testing formats have been trans-
ferred to asynchronous and synchronous online settings since . This article com
pares the role of formative assessment in online and traditional face-to-face teaching. It
provides an overview of assessment formats such as quizzes, structuring cards, or
short interviews that can be implemented online, and highlights the legal implications
that may arise from such online assessments according to the principles for examina
tions in Austrian higher education.
After an overview of the legal basis for asynchronous and synchronous teaching
(), this article describes the distinction between formative and summative assess
ments (). It then focuses on formative assessment in lectures (), identifying ways to
motivate students and discussing the principles of good feedback. These aspects under
line the importance of Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom et al., ) and the concept of con
structive alignment (Biggs & Tang, ) for course design (). Both theories are rele
vant to the creation and evaluation of competence-based learning and assessment
tasks. All the chapters prepare the basis for the description of a seminar () which is
used as an example of how the theories described in this article can be implemented for
teaching and assessment in online settings. The conclusion () provides guidelines for
online course design based on the constructive alignment approach.
Legal basis for asynchronous and synchronous teaching
and the consequences for the teachers’ role
The Mitteilungsblatt of the Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz (, Section ()), which
came into effect in , entitled teachers to use digital teaching and learning elements
and formats in their courses. The use of e-learning and virtual teaching to the extent of
% was thus guaranteed unless the individual curricula provided otherwise (para
grap. ). The prerequisite for this is to inform the students in an appropriate manner—
and before the start of the semester—about the schedule of the course and about the
planned use of digital teaching and learning elements (paragrap. ). A subsequent
change during the course is not possible (Hutter & Walter-Laager, , p. ), so stu
dents must be informed about both the criteria for virtual teaching (e. g., the outcomes,
form, content, dates, methods, and assessment standards) and the criteria for “regular”
face-to-face courses in a suitable manner (§ Abs UG).
What does this mean for the lectures? Virtual teaching is defined as textual or au
diovisual virtual presence in the form of immediate (synchronous) or time-delayed
(asynchronous) interaction. Synchronous teaching covers, for example, online lectures
or seminars that use a video conferencing tool such as Big Blue Button or Zoom. Al
though these courses are independent of the learners’ individual locations, they are
held in real time. Examinations can be conducted in similar synchronous formats,
either as online versions of written examinations (using tools like Perception) or as oral
examinations via videoconferencing tools. Asynchronous teaching offers even more
flexibility in terms of time. In these formats, the teacher sets tasks (and usually a dead
line), and the students get to decide when they want to study and exercise. The learning
materials the students may need, such as teaching videos, presentations with audio
recordings, virtual labs, or literature, can be uploaded to learning platforms or trans
mitted by email. Asynchronous examinations may include written assignments as well
as remote take-home exams (written or oral). However, asynchronous teaching also
challenges students to communicate exclusively in a text-based and time-delayed man
ner (McGrath et al., ; Saghafian & O’Neill, , p. ). Since this form of learning
and assessment requires self-directed learning (Sonnleitner, , p. ), which
evolved in constructivism, of the students, the teacher must consider in the design
where the students’ limits lie and whether they will be able to use the freedom and
flexibility granted.
As in constructivism in general, when self-directed learning processes are initi
ated, the teacher’s role changes to that of a consultant. The teacher creates a stimulat
ing learning environment through his wealth of experience and prior knowledge, and
helps learners define problems and tasks. Dubs developed one of many models of self-
directed learning and emphasizes adequate scaffolding, in which dialogues between
students as well as dialogues between students and their teachers must be encouraged.
An example of successful scaffolding would be a discussion in which no predeter
mined answers or solutions are formulated. Instead, the teacher offers the basis for an
independent critical and constructive discussion through specific thought-provoking
impulses. In addition, the learners themselves are required to evaluate and reflect on
their newly acquired knowledge (Dubs, a, p. ; Dubs, b, p. ; Dubs, ,
p. ).
Not only the digital transformation but ultimately the COVID- pandemic led the
authors of this article to the conclusion that the adaptation of § was necessary to
make teaching and learning even more diverse and flexible for students and teachers.
What constitutes this suitable manner, however, is not specied. A presentation of the intended teaching schedule in the
UGO (Uni Graz Online system) would be conceivable, especially since the phrase “before the beginning of the semester”
suggests that students must receive information before they decide to register for a specic course.
The Role of Formative Assessments in Competency-based Online Teaching
Since January , , up to % of the contact hours of a course can be held using
virtual teaching unless specified otherwise in the curriculum (§ Satzungsteil Stu-
dienrechtliche Bestimmungen). The director of studies can even approve a higher
extent.
Teaching includes all types of courses according to § (Satzungsteil Studienrecht
liche Bestimmungen). In the case of the course type, not only the teaching format is
decisive, the type of examination must also be considered. Whereas a lecture is charac
terized by the lecturer’s presentation and a single examination, a lecture that includes
mandatory tutoring combines knowledge transfer via the lecture with practical tasks
and solutions. These two examples already show that the teacher must differentiate
which forms of examination (e. g., summative and/or formative) are permitted before
preparing the content and didactics.
Based on the aforementioned legal principles, formative forms of examination in
lectures are ruled out because the examination consists of a single summative act (§
Abs Z ; § Abs UG). However, in other types of courses, such as seminars or
lectures that are combined with exercises, formative examination can be easily used.
Both regulations apply to face-to-face and virtual courses. However, § a UG stipulates
that special rules apply to electronic audits in addition to the general rules. Accordingly,
the standards with which students’ computers must comply to participate in examina
tions have to be announced before the beginning of the semester. Technical or organi
zational measures must be provided to ensure that students take the examination on
their own.
Formative and summative assessments
If a teacher wants to know whether his approach to teaching has been successful and
the students have achieved the intended learning goals, there are two ways of finding
out. On the one hand, he can assess his students once they have reached the end of a
learning period, for example at the end of a lecture or a course (summative assess
ment). Summative assessment is a performance review which addresses the totality of
the learning process and usually includes a grading process that compares students to
each other (Wildt & Wildt, , p. ).
On the other hand, a teacher can review his students’ progress during the learning
period, which in higher education means during the semester (formative “mid-time
assessment”), and use the results to guide the further processes of teaching and learn
ing. Therefore, formative assessment can be defined as a method of evaluation used by
teachers to recognize and respond to students’ progress (or lack thereof) in order to
enhance the learning process while it is still ongoing (Cowie & Bell, , p. ). () The
teacher must share the learning targets and clearly state the criteria for success.
() Feedback is necessary to inform the students about their learning progress and
() student self-assessment can be implemented as well as peer assessment. Formative
assessments aim to improve learning and do not focus only on the grade. So, the pro
Karin Sonnleitner, Dominik Rueis
cess is in the foreground and involves both () strategic teacher questioning and
() students’ engagement in asking effective questions. () Student goal setting means
that the students focus on goal-directed behavior (Moss & Brookhart, , p. ). There
is a change from “assessment of learning” to “assessment for learning” so that the stu
dents are learning how to learn (Torrance, ).
Formative assessment in lectures
The lecture plays a central role in university teaching. In the classical sense, the teach
ers present their knowledge, experience, and research in their field to students. In the
past, and to some extent today, the focus has not necessarily been student-centered and
on interactive elements that promote student learning. Rather, the expert knowledge of
the lecturers is imparted to students without special focus on the practical application
of the content.
Ever since the Bologna process, higher education has adopted a more student-cen
tered and competence-based approach to learning and teaching in any given course
format. Instead of focusing on their own knowledge and the content of their courses,
teachers are expected to focus more on students’ learning processes and their achieve
ment of the outlined learning outcomes. The teacher has become more of a facilitator
than a conveyor of his own expert knowledge, while students have become active
agents in the learning process (Barman, ).
However, this only partially applies to lectures, which in many cases still use a
teacher-centered setting. In lecture style teaching—and, to some extent, in online set
tings—students still play a passive and teachers an active role. Additionally, the shift to
online teaching or hybrid settings may provide a large variety of technological means of
interaction and student activation, but it also significantly decreases real-life social in
teractions. As a result of the weaker interaction and the increased share of self-learning
phases in online teaching and blended learning settings, formative assessments seem
to play an important role in online teaching formats as they influence students’ self-
regulated learning (Rezaei & Lovorn, ). So, with the growing importance of online
teaching, it would make sense to use more formative assessments. According to Rezaei
and Lovorn (), frequent assessments could be used as an integral part of teaching
to engage students and to enhance their learning. Day et al. () identify continuous
assessment as a useful tool for lecturers because it encourages consistent work effort
on the students’ part throughout the course.
Two main drivers of formative assessment being important in this context are in
centives for good work habits (Scheyvens et al., ) and students’ motivation. Accord
ing to Agnew et al. (), students recognize the benefits of preparatory work com-
pleted prior to lectures, but this insight does not increase their motivation to complete
those preparatory tasks. Other research has found that students who engage in contin
uous online assessments are more likely to achieve higher marks on summative, high-
stakes assessments such as examinations. In their study, Agnew et al. () state that
The Role of Formative Assessments in Competency-based Online Teaching
“completion of small-stakes online continuous assessment identifies students who are
doing better academically because they are engaged, motivated students rather than
identifying any inherent benefit from actually completing the online assessment
tasks.” (p. ). According to the study, students are less likely to complete formative
online assessments if the small-stakes incentives are removed. Agnew et al. ()
argue that the removal harms student motivation and achievement. Students who com
plete formative online assessments without incentives make fewer attempts, start their
work on the assessment later in the allotted time frame, spend less time completing the
assessments, and achieve a lower mean score than students who work on formative
assessments with incentives. The study concludes that lack of incentives adversely im
pacts the average final examination achievement.
Hence, any form of formative assessment which is deployed to initiate assessment
for learning is not mandatory and cannot be graded. Non-graded activities can there
fore only be suggested to students to assist them to deepen their knowledge and de
velop their competences by applying what they have learned. In lectures, these activi
ties, in the form of formative assessments, are only complementary to the summative
assessment and are not mandatory. Based on these circumstances, the question re
mains how to increase the motivation of students to complete tasks and assignments in
the form of formative assessments despite missing incentives which could support
their learning process and positively impact self-regulated learning.
Whether students are actively engaging in courses and whether they are learning
highly depends on their motivation (Ryan & Deci, ). Students’ motivation, in turn,
is affected by the formative assessment practice through the satisfaction of students’
basic psychological needs (Skinner & Belmont, ; Ryan & Deci, ; Leenknecht
et al., ). Students who are studying because they like the task or the process in
which they are engaged are autonomously motivated. Furthermore, autonomous moti
vation is associated with higher achievement (Ryan & Deci, ; Leenknecht et al.,
).
The formative assessment itself promotes students’ feelings of competence as it
provides the students with insight into their own progress (Leenknecht et al., ). In
addition to intrinsic and autonomous motivation, Onah et al. () state that students
may regulate their learning (self-regulated learning) under a third party’s direction.
Leenknecht et al. () also note that teachers can influence the motivation of their
students through, as they describe it, external mechanisms:
. contingency,
. help,
. expectations, and
. translations.
Those external mechanisms explain why formative assessment practices result in
either the satisfaction or the frustration of needs, depending on whether the students’
feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met or not. To enable students
to experience autonomy, competence, and relatedness, Leenknecht et al. () de
Karin Sonnleitner, Dominik Rueis
scribe () a context (contingency) created by teachers and the course design in which
students’ actions result in the desired outcomes. In the context of formative assess
ment, this means that students are provided with tasks that help them reach the in
tended learning outcomes. Students also need to receive the appropriate () level of
help to complete those tasks. This includes resources as well as information (strategy
explanations) on how to apply these resources to achieve a certain goal. Providing help
to students will empower them to act autonomously and effectively. The third external
mechanism, () expectation, stimulates students to act by communicating clearly what
is expected of them and how they can take action. The last mechanism Leenknecht
et al. () mention is () translation of formative assessment through feedback.
Those translations are about attribution: why did you fail or succeed, and what role did
you play in this? Feedback that provides information on how to proceed (feed-forward)
has proven to be effective (Hattie & Timperley, ). Wylie and Lyon () conclude
that contingency is essential for effective feedback. Feedback can be used to communi
cate clear expectations as well. Feedback containing information about the learning
goals, actual task performance and suggestions on how to proceed contributes to stu
dents’ feelings of competence (Wollenschläger et al., ).
Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick () state that there is strong evidence that feedback
messages are invariably complex and therefore difficult to interpret correctly and
meaningfully. Students require opportunities to gain an understanding of how feed
back messages work before they can use them to regulate their own performance
(Ivanic et al., ; Higgins et al., ).
Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick () formulate seven principles of good feedback
practice to facilitate self-regulation. Good feedback:
. clarifies what is considered “good performance” (goals, criteria, expected stan
dards);
. facilitates the development of self-assessment (reflection) in learning;
. delivers high quality information to students about their learning;
. encourages teacher and peer dialogue on learning;
. encourages positive motivational beliefs and improves learners’ self-esteem;
. provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired perform
ance;
. provides information to teachers that can be used to shape teaching processes.
Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick () argue that formative assessment and feedback
should be used in higher education to empower students as self-regulated learners.
They further state that in practice, self-regulation manifests as active monitoring and
regulation of a number of different learning processes, such as the setting of and orien
tation towards learning goals, the strategies used to achieve these goals, the manage
ment of resources, the effort exerted, students’ reactions to external feedback, and the
products produced.
In online settings, the mode of classical lectures has changed at the University of
Graz. Both digital technologies and the specific teaching concepts which focus on
The Role of Formative Assessments in Competency-based Online Teaching
media-supported formats are used more frequently because teachers were forced to
adopt a more diverse mode of teaching when the COVID- pandemic hit. This, in
turn, has created more options for integrating different forms of synchronous and
asynchronous teaching into the classical lecture format. These formats make the use of
formative assessments a valuable choice, even though—as outlined before—those as
sessments are non-graded activities.
Pachler et al. () argue that technology alone does not generate formative ef
fects. They furthermore state
that ‘formative e-assessment’ is better understood as multiple processes involving technol
ogies, where evidence is generated about a learner’s state of understanding relative to de
sirable goals, and where individuals are enabled to take actions which bring about changes
in learners’ skills, knowledge and understanding, or in teachers’ pedagogical practice.
(p. )
However, in line with Leenknecht et al. (), Pachler et al. also concede that the tech
nology does not in and of itself create these moments of contingency. They depend on
the set of human responses, motivational factors, and socio-inter-active contexts which
create opportunities for the choices made by learners and for actions taken in conjunc
tion with feedback and interaction offered by electronic tools. Pachler et al. () con
clude that the tools have particular shaping effects on the types of choices and actions
which can emerge.
When creating a teaching concept for online teaching, it seems to be important to
consider the aforementioned four mechanisms of contingency, help, expectations, and
translations. Therefore, technologies and teaching designs for media-supported for
mats should be applied in a way that enhances these mechanisms in order to facilitate
self-regulated learning. The effect of formative assessments has been proven in many
studies when it comes to grading activities. In “classic” lectures which typically do not
include any assessment of individual assignments or tasks, the students’ willingness to
learn must be controlled via motivation. The integration of low-stake assessments or
classroom assessment tools into the teaching and learning process is therefore another
additional option which may support students on their way through the course. Teach
ers can be advised to follow the described mechanisms contingency, help, expectation
and translation. The technologies used in online settings can only support a well-con
ceived didactical design and not replace it. As formulated before, the moments of con
tingency also depend on human responses and the socio-inter-active context. Transpar
ency, clear work assignments, and clearly defined learning outcomes that are aligned
with the assessment (formative and summative) in the sense of constructive alignment
and feedback play a very important role. In the sense of the expression “assessment
drives learning”, we might alternatively say: “motivation drives learning.”
Karin Sonnleitner, Dominik Rueis
Bloom’s taxonomy and constructive alignment,
or: a Janus-faced view on how to create a course
In the mid-th century, Bloom et al. () developed a hierarchical approach to the
classification of learning settings, the so-called “Taxonomy of Educational Outcomes”
which today is usually referred to as “Bloom’s taxonomy”. The levels of this taxonomy
are to be considered when deciding which contents are to be taught using which teach
ing methods and which forms of assessment. Due to the hierarchical structure of the
system, each learning level serves as the foundation of the next level. Anderson and
Krathwohl () defined new terms at the beginning of the st century. The three
most important changes were that ) the categories of Bloom’s taxonomy were changed
from noun to verb form, ) that “knowledge” was changed to “remembering”, and
) “synthesis” was updated to “creating”.
At the level of remembering, learners must first gather facts and information to
build their knowledge. This includes, for example, their knowledge of terminology,
specific facts, methodology, theories, and structures as well as metacognitive knowl
edge—all of which they must memorize before they can access it in their long-term
memory. All the other levels in the taxonomy are based on this knowledge. The in
tended learning outcome for the first stage is therefore to internalize and reproduce
information. Suitable methods to achieve this goal in both face-to-face and online
teaching include lectures, instructional videos, and self-study of specialized literature.
The second level, understanding, means placing what has already been learned in
a different context. This enables the learner to reproduce the content of their learning
materials in their own words, and to create connections and links between different
facts. This level of understanding can be promoted by exercises which confront stu
dents with familiar knowledge but present it in a new way.
The third level, applying, then focuses on the transfer of knowledge (e. g., via
translation, interpretation, or extrapolation). To achieve this goal, learners should work
on problems which allow them to find, execute, or use concrete solutions. This applica
tion strengthens imparted knowledge and, consequently, grants a deeper understand
ing. In digital teaching environments, virtual role-playing exercises in break-out rooms
or design tasks in which the students have to create their own presentation or question
naire can be used to promote application.
In the fourth stage, analysing, the already acquired information is broken down
into individual elements and examined to see how other procedures and models affect
it. The learners review, draw conclusions, and consolidate the previous stages by ana
lyzing elements, relationships, or organizational principles. With this goal in mind,
teachers can provide forums, chats, and empirical research results or mind maps to
promote exchange.
The focus of the fifth stage is evaluating the facts based on criteria or standards.
Students formulate alternative solutions and new contexts, thereby creating a synthesis
of what they have learned. At this stage, teachers can support their students by tasking
them with the evaluation of complex data sets and ideas. This could mean, for example,
The Role of Formative Assessments in Competency-based Online Teaching
that students may be included in the development, implementation, and analysis of an
empirical study, or asked to develop recommendations.
The sixth level of the taxonomy takes this idea one step further as learners start
creating their own ideas. They generate hypotheses, present content, weigh theories
against each other, defend their own opinions, and criticize constructively. This goal
may be achieved via projects which are both complex and creative, such as drafting a
business plan or constructing a new machine (Baumgartner, ; Anderson & Krath
wohl, ).
For successful knowledge transfer in online teaching and learning, the levels of
Bloomʼs taxonomy need to be supported by the virtual learning environment. Tradi
tional online learning formats can still be used at the level of knowledge and under
standing, in which the learners familiarize themselves with the provided content
through self-study, but the higher levels of application—analysis, assessment, and cre
ation—need online learning scenarios which engender social interaction between
learners.
Once the central competencies have been determined, the next step is to transfer
the outcomes into suitable teaching, learning, and examination arrangements. Con
structive alignment (Biggs & Tang, ), which has increasingly found its way into
everyday teaching in higher education (Reinmann, ), is suitable for this purpose.
This concept is based on constructivist theory and summarized by Tyler (, p. ) as
follows: “Learning takes place through the active behavior of the learner; it is what he
does that he learns, not what the teacher does.” Constructivism postulates the self-
organization and self-activity of the learner. The teacher acts more as a guide who may
provide feedback and help as needed. Consequently, constructivist learning environ
ments are characterized by complex real-life problems which can be conveyed to the
students via different media. The initiation of learning processes requires an active,
self-directed, constructive, situational, and social process (Shuell, ; Ertmer &
Newby, , p. ; Gräsel & Gniewosz, , p. ).
“The term ‘alignment’ is used because both teaching and assessment need to be
aligned to the intended learning outcomes” (Biggs, , p. ). Consequently, the
teacher must first define the intended learning outcomes and the assessment when
planning a lesson. Intended learning outcomes are what the students should learn. As
sessment describes the learning activities in which the learners should engage to reach
the intended learning outcomes.
From this basic concept, Biggs and Tang derive four steps for developing a lesson
design:
. Describe the intended learning outcome in the form of a verb (learning activity) and
its object (the content), and specify the context and a standard the students are to
attain;
. create a learning environment using teaching/learning activities that address that
verb and therefore are likely to bring about the intended outcome;
. use assessment tasks that also contain that verb, thus enabling you to judge with the
help of rubrics if and how well students’ performances meet the criteria;
. transform these judgments into standard grading criteria. (Biggs & Tang , p. )
Karin Sonnleitner, Dominik Rueis
Figure : Aligning the intended learning outcomes with teaching activities and assessment tasks (Biggs &
Tang, , p. )
So, if the competence goals are reflected in the assessment tasks and these goals have
been made accessible to the learners beforehand, it is possible to control students’
learning behavior. For teachers, this means that the examinations must be adapted pre
cisely to the competence outcomes. It does not make sense to conduct an examination
in which only knowledge is tested. In this case, it is necessary to at least use application-
related examples (Schaper & Hilkenmeier, , p. ). Both theories, Bloom’s taxon
omy as well constructive alignment, offer teachers the chance to develop and evaluate
competence-oriented learning and assessment tasks.
Example: Seminar Alternative Dispute Resolution and
Mediation
What do the outlined considerations mean for practice? We will use the seminar Alter
native Dispute Resolution and Mediation, which is part of the legal studies at the Uni
versity of Graz, to illustrate how formative assessments can be integrated into a virtual
setting. In the discourse on legal education, questions arise not only about the content,
but also about the methods and educational designs that are used to teach legal knowl
edge and skills. Lachmayer (, p. ) suggests a constructivist approach which
The Role of Formative Assessments in Competency-based Online Teaching
teaches jurisprudential knowledge in combination with social skills. Both could be
taught at the same time by a teacher who not only addresses important legal issues but
also discusses or debates them critically with his students. The development of these
problem-solving and argumentation skills requires the promotion of cooperative and
self-directed learning methods that are applied in a learner-centered manner (Bayreu
ter, , p. ; Zumbach & Moser, , p. ).
The content and the methodological part must be prepared in great detail when
teaching is done in presence. When digital and hybrid learning environments are (or
have to be) implemented, the design also must be changed.
Figure : The structure of the seminar Alternative Dispute Resolution and Mediation (own illustration)
In presence, the seminar was a so-called “Blockseminar” which was held over the
course of three days. This did not change in the hybrid version. As the intensity of a
three-day seminar may affect both the learner and the learning process, the teachers
decided to split the course schedule into asynchronous and synchronous digital phases.
The seminar therefore starts with a preliminary meeting in which the students get to
know the procedure and the content of the seminar, the different topics, and the re
quirements for receiving a grade. Each student must prepare a presentation on a spe
cific topic. In the seminar, the students will acquire knowledge in the field of alterna
tive dispute resolution and the ability to analyze different forms of dispute resolution.
The overall aim of the course is for the students to acquire an overview of dispute reso
lution tools. After the seminar, they should be able to identify differences and similari
ties between these tools.
Karin Sonnleitner, Dominik Rueis
Table : Example for the practical implementation of Bloom’s Taxonomy in a seminar
Levels of Bloom’s
Taxonomy
Example
Seminar Alternative dispute resolution and mediation
Remembering The student repeats and listens to the general types of alternative dispute resolutions.
Understanding The student reviews and paraphrases the content on the topics of mediation and
negotiation in small groups.
Applying Each student presents his prepared topic to the class.
Analysing The students ask each other questions and work in small groups to structure their
topics through mind-maps.
Evaluating The students reect on and debate supreme court and arbitration decisions as well as
mediation cases in the context of alternative dispute resolution.
Creating In small groups, the participants negotiate in a roleplay, trying to solve an already
escalated conict as judge, mediator, and negotiator/arbitrator. This allows them to
experience dierent perspectives and roles. At the end of the seminar, the students are
able to devise an appropriate form of dispute resolution for a case.
The oral presentations of the students will be prepared in advance, using Power Point
and audio recordings, and made available for mandatory self-study to all participants in
the Moodle course. Each student is required to come up with questions on the presen
tations of all other students and post them in the forums available through the Moodle
course. Additionally, learning materials in the form of PDF files and links to websites
are available in the Moodle course, and students can use exercises in the Moodle course
to review and deepen their newly acquired knowledge.
Questions regarding the preparation of the presentations and the seminar papers
are answered during the online preliminary meeting as well as via email by the course
instructors. If course units cannot be held with students in attendance on campus, they
will be held synchronously as videoconferences using uniMEET (Big Blue Button). Par
tial course assessments that would otherwise take the form of oral participation but
cannot be held in class will be completed as videoconferences as well. The grade and, in
turn, the formative assessments are on the one hand based on the presentation (Power
Point and audio recording) and the questions which the students worked out. On the
other hand, the students must pass tests (e. g., multiple choice or single choice), work
in groups (role-playing exercises, mock mediations), and write a seminar paper.
Conclusion
Bloom et al. () developed the taxonomy levels that should be considered when de
ciding which content can and should be conveyed by applying different teaching meth
ods and assessment formats. Using the concept of constructive alignment, the learning
outcomes can be defined to provide teachers with a goal for which they can design ap
propriate teaching and assessment methods. Based on the framework of Bloom’s
The Role of Formative Assessments in Competency-based Online Teaching
taxonomy and constructive alignment, this paper gave an overview of how higher levels
of learning can be achieved in the design of teaching concepts for different course for
mats and what role formative assessments play in this context. Constructive alignment
is characterized by the fact that both the central elements of a teaching/learning design
and the examinations are related to the competence goals with the respective compe
tence level of Bloom’s taxonomy.
The following guidelines may therefore serve as a basis for the design of a course
that includes the learning outcomes, the possible summative and formative forms of
assessment, and the activities and methods used in online teaching formats.
() Start by defining the learning outcomes according to the levels of Bloom’s taxon
omy. Choose no more than three to five goals for a lesson and make sure that they
are as concrete, clear, and realistic as possible. Reduce the lesson content accord
ingly in a didactically sensible way. Remain honest in your expectations towards
yourself and your students.
() In the second step, design assessment tasks that can be used to test the intended
learning outcomes. There is a recognizable tendency of students to primarily
focus on content that is already part of the assessment. Biggs () calls this the
“backwash eect”. Due to the increase of self-study phases in online settings, for
mative assessments oer more opportunities to control the learning process of
students in the sense of assessment for learning. Feedback acts as small incen
tives that have positive eects on the motivation of students and—depending on
the course format—can support continuous learning progress.
() In the third step, you will design the actual course. The teaching activities you
choose during this stage are meant to prepare your students to achieve the in
tended learning outcomes and succeed in possible examinations. This strength
ens the students’ motivation to actively participate in the learning process and be
responsible for self-study phases in online settings.
If constructive alignment is implemented consistently, the effort for students and
teachers is indeed comparatively high at the beginning of the semester. It is, however,
rewarded by a clear lesson structure and higher student motivation. Constructive align
ment can be facilitated by aiming for greater differentiation and flexibility in the devel
opment of examinations—of course always within the framework of the examination
regulations, which includes the approved forms of examination.
With respect to online teaching, it seems important to emphasize that the use of
technology alone does not generate formative effects. Formative assessment and as
sessment for learning in online settings can be defined as complex processes involving
digital technologies. These processes create moments of contingency through teachers’
activities (Pachler et al., ). Besides the technologies themselves, clearly defined
learning outcomes, well aligned assessment tasks, and teaching activities (constructive
alignment) in conjunction with human responses (feedback), motivational factors, and
socio-inter-actions are the most important factors in the design of online teaching for
mats.
Karin Sonnleitner, Dominik Rueis
Figure : The role of formative assessment and constructive alignment in online learning settings (adapted
from Smith, )
References
Agnew, S., Kerr, J., & Watt, R. (). The eect on student behaviour and achievement of
removing incentives to complete online formative assessments. Australasian Journal
of Educational Technology 37(), –. https://doi.org/./ajet.
Anderson, L., & Krathwohl, D. (). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing.
Longman.
Barman, B. (). Shifting education from teacher-centered to learner-centered paradigm. In
ternational conference on tertiary education (ICTERC ). Daodil International
University, Diaka, Bangladesh.
Baumgartner, P. (). Taxonomie von Unterrichtsmethoden. Ein Plädoyer für didaktische
Vielfalt. Waxmann.
Bayreuther, F. (). Was soll im juristischen Studium unterrichtet werden? In U. Kramer,
T. Kuhn & H. Putzke (Eds.), Fehler im Jurastudium – Ausbildung und Prüfung
(p. –). Richard Boorberg Verlag.
Biggs, J. (). Constructive alignment in university teaching. Herdsa Review of Higher
Education, , –.
The Role of Formative Assessments in Competency-based Online Teaching
Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (). Teaching for Quality Learning at University: What the Student
Does. McGraw Hill.
Bloom, B., Englehart, M., Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (). Taxonomy of Educa
tional Objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain.
Longmans, Green.
Bloom, B. S., Hastings, J. T., & Madaus, G. F. (). Handbook on formative and summative
Evaluation of Student Learning. McGraw-Hill.
Cowie, B. & Bell, B. (). Validity and formative assessment in the science classroom, invited
keynote paper to Symposium on Validity in Educational Assessment, June, Dunedin,
New Zealand.
Day, I. N. Z., van Blankenstein, F. M., Westenberg, P. M., & Admiraal, W. F. (). Explain
ing individual student success using continuous assessment types and student char
acteristics. Higher Education Research & Development. https://doi.org/./
..
Dubs, R. (a). Konstruktivismus. In F.-J. Kaiser & G. Pätzold (Eds.), Wörterbuch Berufs-
und Wirtschaftspädagogik (. ed.) (p. –). Julius Klinkhardt.
Dubs, R. (b). Selbstgesteuertes Lernen. In F.-J. Kaiser & G. Pätzold (Eds.), Wörterbuch
Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik (p. –). Julius Klinkhardt.
Dubs, R. (). Selbstgesteuertes Lernen – ein Beitrag für den Unterrichtsalltag. In
A. Gastager, T. Hascher & H. Schwetz (Eds.), Pädagogisches Handeln: Balancing zwi
schen Theorie und Praxis. Beiträge zur Wirksamkeitsforschung in pädagogisch-psychologi
schem Kontext (p. –). Verlag Empirische Pädagogik.
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing
critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance improvement
quarterly (), –. https://doi.org/./piq.
Gräsel, C., & Gniewosz, B. (). Überblick Lehr-Lernforschung. In H. Reinders, H. Dit
ton, C. Gräsel & B. Gniewosz (Eds.), Empirische Bildungsforschung. Gegenstandsbereiche
(p. –). Springer VS. https://doi.org/./----_
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research
(), –. https://doi.org/./
Higgins, R., Hartley, P., & Skelton, A. (). Getting the message across: the problem of
communicating assessment feedback. Teaching in Higher Education (), –.
https://doi.org/./
Hutter, A., & Walter-Laager, C. (). Der Umgang mit COVID- im Studienrecht der
Universität Graz, ZFHE , –. https://doi.org/./zfhr
Ivanic, R., Clark, R., & Rimmershaw, R. (). What am I supposed to make of this? The
messages conveyed to students by tutors’ written comments. In M. R. Lea & B. Stierer
(Eds.), Student writing in higher education: new contexts (p. –). Open University
Press.
Lachmayer, K. (). Ziele des rechtswissenschaftlichen Studiums und Rechtsdidaktik.
Zeitschrift für Hochschulrecht 4, –. https://doi.org/./s---z
Karin Sonnleitner, Dominik Rueis
Leenknecht, M., Wijnia, L., Köhlen, M., Fryer, L., Rikers, R., & Loyens, S. (). Formative
assessment as practice: the role of students’ motivation. Assessment and Evaluation in
Higher Education 46(), –. https://doi.org/./..
McGrath, J. E., Arrow, H., & Berdahl, J. L. (). The study of groups: past, present, and
future. Personality and Social Psychology Review 4(), –. https://doi.org/./
SPSPR_
Moss, C. M., & Brookhart, S. M. (). Advancing formative assessment in every classroom: a
guide for instructional leaders (. ed.). Virginia.
Nicol, D. J., & Macfarlane‐Dick, D. (). Formative assessment and self‐regulated learn
ing: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies in Higher Educa
tion 31(), –. https://doi.org/./
Onah, D. F. O., Pang, E. L. L., & Sinclair, J. E. (). Cognitive optimism of distinctive ini
tiatives to foster self-directed and self-regulated learning skills: A comparative analysis
of conventional and blended-learning in undergraduate studies. Education and Infor
mation Technologies 25, –. https://doi.org/./s---w
Pachler, N., Daly, C., Mor, Y., & Mellar, H. (). Formative e-assessment: Practitioner
cases. Computers and Education 54(), –. https://doi.org/./j.compedu.
..
Reinmann, G. (). Shift from Teaching to Learning und Constructive Alignment: Zwei hoch
schuldidaktische Prinzipien auf dem Prüfstand. Redemanuskript vom .. aus einer
Vortragsreihe zur Hochschuldidaktik an der Freien Universität Berlin.
Rezaei, A., & Lovorn, M. (). Reliability and validity of rubrics for assessment through
writing. Assessing Writing 15(), –. https://doi.org/./j.asw...
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (). Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Mo
tivation. Development, and Wellness. Guilford Press. https://doi.org/././
Saghafian, M., & O’Neill, D. K. (). A phenomenological study of teamwork in online
and face-to-face student teams. Higher Education 75, –. https://doi.org/./
s---
Schaper, N., & Hilkenmeier, F. (). Umsetzungshilfen für kompetenzorientiertes Prüfen,
Hochschulrektorenkonferenz – Zusatzgutachten. https://www.hrk-nexus.de/fileadmin/
redaktion/hrk-nexus/-Downloads/--Publikationen/Zusatzgutachten-Kompe
tenzorientiertes-Pruefen.pdf
Scheyvens, R., Grin, A. L., Jocoy, C. L., Liu, Y., & Bradford, M. (). Experimenting with
Active Learning in Geography: Dispelling the Myths that Perpetuate Resistance. Jour
nal of Geography in Higher Education 32(), –. https://doi.org/./
Shuell, T. J. (). Cognitive conceptions of learning. Review of Educational Research 56,
–. https://doi.org/./
Skinner, E. A., & Belmont, M. J. (). Motivation in the Classroom: Reciprocal Eects of
Teacher Behavior and Student Engagement across the School Year. Journal of Educa
tional Psychology 85(), –. https://doi.org/./-...
The Role of Formative Assessments in Competency-based Online Teaching
Smith, C. (). [Infographic on Constructive alignment]. The University of Queensland
Australia. https://medicine.uq.edu.au/faculty-medicine-intranet/md-program-sta-
development/constructive-alignment
Taras, M. (). Assessment – Summative and formative – Some theoretical reflections.
British Journal of Educational Studies 53, –. https://doi.org/./j.-
...x
Torrance, H. (). Assessment as learning? How to use of explicit learning objectives,
assessment criteria and feedback in post-secondary education and training can come
to dominate learning. Assessment in Education 14(), –. https://doi.org/./
Tyler, R. W. (). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. University of Chicago
Press.
Wildt, J., & Wildt, B. (). Lernprozessorientiertes Prüfen im „Constructive Alignment“.
In B. Berendt, H.-P. Voss & J. Wildt (Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre, Teil H:
Prüfungen und Leistungskontrollen. Weiterentwicklung des Prüfungssystems in der Konse
quenz des Bologna-Prozesses (p. –). Raabe.
Wollenschläger, M., Hattie, J., Machts, N., Möller, J., & Harms, U. (). What makes
rubrics eective in teacher-feedback? Transparency of learning goals is not enough.
Contemporary Educational Psychology 44–45, –. https://doi.org/./j.cedpsych.
..
Wylie, E. C., & Lyon, C. J. (). The Fidelity of Formative Assessment Implementation:
Issues of Breadth and Quality. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice
22(), –. https://doi.org/./X..
Zumbach, J., & Moser, S., (). Problembasiertes Lernen: Ein Fall für die Rechtsdidaktik?
In: J. Brockmann, J.-H. Dietrich & A. Pilniok (Eds.), Methoden des Lernens in der Rechts-
wissenschaft (p. –). Bd. . Nomos. https://doi.org/./-
Karin Sonnleitner, Dominik Rueis
Multicultural and Multilingual Learning
Environments: Challenges and Advantages
N B, A H M
Introduction
The foundations of the cognitive theory of learning are derived from the cognitive
frameworks of cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics. Research in the field of
cognitive psychology attempts to answer, among other things, the question of how cog
nitive abilities affect successful language learning and language acquisition. In particu
lar, the cognitive theory of learning recognizes learning strategies as one of the signifi
cant cognitive processes critical for foreign language acquisition. The cognitive theory
of learning defines L (language ) acquisition as a complex cognitive skill. This is
based on the observation that learning a foreign language is very similar to learning
other cognitive skills. Furthermore, McLaughlin () points out that learning a for
eign language includes internal ideas that are based on the language system that regu
lates and governs performance, and at the same time includes ways of selecting ade
quate grammatical rules, as well as vocabulary, which results in the restructuring of
knowledge. Learning a foreign language represents a complex skill that cognitive psy
chologist Anderson () defined as the ability to perform various mental operations.
He establishes a conceptual dichotomy and explains the distinction between declara
tive and procedural knowledge, and it was precisely the distinction between these two
forms of knowledge in cognitive psychology that was transferred to the field of foreign
language acquisition and especially to the field of learning strategies (Faerch & Kasper,
; Ellis, ; OʼMalley & Chamot, ). Declarative knowledge is defined as a spe
cial type of information in long-term memory that consists of knowledge of facts and
rules about things we know, whereas procedural knowledge consists of what we know
how to do. Declarative knowledge is acquired suddenly by receiving a message,
whereas procedural knowledge is acquired gradually by performing the skill. Declara
tive knowledge does not necessarily have to be communicated verbally, and it can in
clude a time series such as remembering the order of events or visual memory. On the
other hand, the term “cognitive skill”, as used by Anderson (), refers to the ability
to perform various mental operations. Our ability to understand and generate lan
guage, or our ability to apply a certain rule to solve a problem, is an example of proce
dural knowledge. In other words, Anderson points out that declarative knowledge is
static, whereas procedural knowledge is dynamic.
In accordance with Andersonʼs model, known as the Adaptive Control of Thought
Model – ECT Model (Ellis, ), language acquisition is a three-stage process that in
cludes cognitive, associative, and autonomous stages, during which declarative knowl
edge (i. e., information stored as facts) becomes proceduralized through practice. It is
transformed through practice into procedural knowledge that enables simple and effec
tive language production. The process of acquiring new language knowledge is diffe
rent from the process of gaining control over language knowledge, so new knowledge
can be categorized as declarative while automatic knowledge is procedural. Progression
from declarative to procedural knowledge is achieved through the development of con
trol, and therefore numerous errors in learners’ language production can be attributed
to the lack of procedural, not declarative, knowledge. OʼMalley and Chamot ()
claim that procedural knowledge refers to the executive function of a complex cognitive
skill and includes activities such as problem solving, language comprehension and pro
duction, and the use of strategies. OʼMalley and Chamot emphasize that in this theory,
similarly to some other cognitive theories of L acquisition, learning strategies can be
described as complex cognitive skills. They are used consciously in the initial stages of
learning, but can become proceduralized by practice, i. e., by moving through the cog
nitive, associative, and autonomous stages of learning.
Although Anderson () does not distinguish between learning strategies and
other cognitive processes, his theoretical analysis of cognition includes a number of
cognitive and metacognitive strategies. For example, imagery is a cognitive process that
fosters storing information in memory. Images can also be helpful when recalling ver
bal materials, and relating verbal information to images, in turn, can be helpful when
learning vocabulary. Another cognitive process that plays an important role in remem
bering meaningful materials is elaboration. It is also the foundation for the develop
ment of transfer and deductive strategies that enable guessing from context.
However, OʼMalley and Chamot () point out certain limitations of the applica
tion of Andersonʼs theory to viewing language acquisition as a complex cognitive skill,
but at the same time emphasize the advantages of identifying mental processes that
can be presented to learners as ways to facilitate their own learning.
Multicultural and multilingual learning environments
Today, more and more countries are becoming increasingly culturally diverse. Over .
million students in higher education already study abroad (UNESCO, ), and it is
assumed that more than eight million students will study abroad by . However,
this mobility continues to develop (Egron-Polak & Hudson, ). This development
affects educational institutions with ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse stu
dent populations. A diploma obtained at international educational institutions is espe
cially valued, and more and more employers need graduates with good foreign lan
guage and decision-making skills (Van Mol, ). In recent years, multicultural
educators have therefore made additional efforts to tailor their courses and learning
outcomes to accommodate student populations from diverse cultural and linguistic
backgrounds (Watkins, ). The question is how teachers can create such a multilin
gual environment with relatively few resources available. Since bilingual children de
Multicultural and Multilingual Learning Environments: Challenges and Advantages
velop both language systems simultaneously (Cummins, ) and their language and
culture are integrated in the learning environment (Cummins & Early, ), one of the
guidelines would be to encourage bilingual students to share and communicate their
experiences in both languages in the classroom. In turn, monolingual students will
gain a better insight into another culture and thus acquire greater competence in the
new language. On the European continent, international programs are usually con
ducted in English, but there are also examples of programs taught in other languages,
such as French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish (Wächter & Mai
worm, ).
Moreover, it is obvious that in the countries where those languages are one of the
official or national languages, many mobile students choose precisely some of the
aforementioned languages with the aim of developing a particular language compe
tence. Therefore, it makes sense to talk about the importance of acquiring different
foreign languages in the European context. Nowadays, there is an increasing migration
of students and academic staff to parts of the world where English is spoken, and many
teachers tend to go to countries where English is used in higher education.
Considering the current economic, social, and cultural trends in Europe—includ
ing current trends in education—multilingualism is becoming an essential feature of
European identity (Jessner, ). In this context, Jessner () emphasizes the im
portance of learning strategies as a crucial aspect of multilingual development and
points out that metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness play a significant role in
the development of learning strategies in multilingual speakers. Jessner also argues
that multilingual speakers use different strategies in contrast to monolingual speakers,
that strategies represent only a form of mental activity that takes place at a specific level
in the process of foreign language learning, and that they are not necessarily problem-
oriented and consciously used (Jessner, ).
What are language learning strategies?
Language learning strategies have been the subject of interest in the scientific research
discipline studying the process of second language acquisition for several decades. Re
search on foreign language strategies began back in the nineteen-seventies (Rubin,
; Savignon, ; Stern, ), while during the eighties and nineties, learning
strategies posed one of the most intriguing areas of study in foreign language learning
(MacIntyre, ). A significant contribution to the study of learning strategies was
made by Oxford (), who defined learning strategies as specific actions, behaviors,
steps, or techniques taken by the learner to make learning easier, more enjoyable, more
self-directed, more efficient, and more transferable to new situations. Oxford ()
points out that strategies facilitate the internalization, storage, invocation, or use of a
new language, and states that strategies are mechanisms for self-directed action, which
are indispensable for developing communicative competence.
Nikolina Božinović, Ana Havelka Meštrović
Ellis (), however, states that strategies are related to some kind of mental activ
ity or behavior that can occur in a particular phase of the learning and communication
process. Cohen () emphasizes that these are operations selected by the learner
partly consciously in order to enhance L learning through storage, recall, and aplica
tion of information about the language. OʼMalley and Chamot () believe that these
are special ways of information processing that can enhance comprehension, learning,
and storing of information more effective. In this framework, language learning strat
egies are complex cognitive skills that can be learnt or taught. Some definitions are very
general, while others are quite specific. Learning strategies can be seen as mental pro
cesses over which students have conscious control, being able to choose them when
performing tasks (OʼMalley & Chamot, ; Dörney, ; Oxford, ). Students
actively participate in the learning process, consciously or unconsciously using diffe
rent mental strategies to organise their language system and improve their competence
in the target language. The main research foci pointed out by researchers dealing with
language learning strategies are related to the role of strategies in language acquisition
or the connection of strategies to other individual characteristics of learners, such as
learning style, learnersʼ proficiency level (Green & Oxford, ; Lan & Oxford, ),
motivation (Oxford & Nyikos, ; Braten & Olaussen, ; Mihaljević Djigunović,
, ; Chang, ; Dörnyei, ), gender (Dreyer & Oxford, ; Green & Ox
ford, ; Ehrman & Oxford, ; Lan & Oxford, , Lee & Oh, ; Oxford &
Nyikos, ; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, ; Kaylani, ; Vandergrift, ;
Liu, ), attitude toward learning, foreign language anxiety (Mihaljević Djigunović,
), cultural background (Griffiths & Parr, ; Dickinson, ; Parry, ; Polit
zer & McGroarty, ; Tyacke & Mendelsohn, ), and some other factors. Strat
egies can be declarative and conscious at the beginning of their application, and they
subconsciously transform into automatised, unconscious behaviors.
Strategies cannot be characterized as either good or bad but as potentially useful
(Cohen, ). They are resources that learners can use when solving language learn
ing tasks. The learners employ strategies intentionally with the goal of making learning
more effective. They may influence their motivational and affective states or the way
they select, acquire, organize, or integrate new knowledge (Weinstein & Mayer, ).
. Features of language learning strategies
It is argued that the best approach to defining the concept of language learning
strategies is to list their main features. Oxford () lists basic characteristics of
language learning strategies, emphasising that strategies are oriented toward the devel
opment of communicative language competence and include interaction between
learners:
() Strategies are specific actions or techniques used by learners rather than general
approaches to learning, as suggested by Stern ().
() Some strategies are observable and some are not; they involve both physical and
mental activities.
Multicultural and Multilingual Learning Environments: Challenges and Advantages
() Strategies are problem-oriented, i. e., oriented towards a specific language task.
They are ecient and productive in problem-solving (Bialystok, ).
() Strategies contribute to learning, both directly and indirectly.
() The issue of consciousness and learning strategies is still controversial. Strat
egies are often used deliberately and consciously, but their use can become auto
matic, i. e., subconscious. It can be concluded that language learning strategies
are conscious, potentially conscious, or subconscious, depending on individual
learners and the task in which they are engaged.
() The use of language learning strategies is motivated by the learnersʼ desire to
learn, but other factors, such as aective ones, should also be taken into account.
() Strategies can be changed, i. e., the existing ones can be adapted, new ones
learned and acquired, and unsuccessful ones abandoned.
() Strategies are oriented towards the broad goal of developing communicative
competence.
() Strategies enable learners to self-regulate their own learning and become auton
omous and eective outside the classroom.
() Strategies expand the role of teachers in such a way that the traditional role of
the teacher in the educational process changes. The teacher now assumes the
role of a person who facilitates the learning process by helping, advising, diag
nosing, coordinating the learning process, and participating in communication.
() In addition to the cognitive aspect, language learning strategies also involve met
acognitive, social, and aective aspects.
() The choice of language learning strategies is influenced by a number of factors,
such as the teachersʼ expectations, the learnersʼ proficiency levels, age, sex, na
tionality, learning style, previous experience in learning, education, motivation,
self-ecacy, as well as personal beliefs and assumptions about language learn
ing.
One of the critical features of learning strategies emphasised by Pavičić Takač () is
that language learning strategies are systematic. Learners do not incidentally discover a
learning strategy; they use it systematically based on their knowledge (Bialystok, ).
The question of the relationship between strategy and awareness is controversial. Ac
cording to Cohen (), awareness makes a critical difference between strategies, and
processes that are not strategic. Therefore, only conscious processes are included in
learning strategies and the element of choice is an essential feature, as learners con
sciously choose the strategies that suit them best and use them intentionally to make
learning more efficient. Pavičić Takač () further states that the use of strategies is
quite flexible so that existing ones can be adapted, new ones can be adopted or learned,
and ineffective ones can be rejected. Naiman et al. () emphasize the concept of
“cognitive flexibility,” which is a studentʼs ability to choose those strategies that have
proven successful. In addition to the fact that learning strategies represent conscious
actions, several authors have suggested that strategies can be taught (Chamot, ;
Green & Oxford, ; Lee & Oxford, ). Namely, students may become aware of the
Nikolina Božinović, Ana Havelka Meštrović
use of their strategies through strategic training, and it should be taken into account
that more successful students possess a higher degree of metacognitive awareness and
use a more significant number of metacognitive strategies that represent higher-order
strategies, which comprise analysis, monitoring, evaluation, planning, and organizing
oneʼs own learning process (Dörney, ). The next section provides a more detailed
description of metacognitive strategies that play a significant role in the process of for
eign language learning.
. The importance of metacognitive strategies in the process of foreign
language learning
Research on learning strategies during the s contributed to a deeper understand
ing of the concept of language learning strategies by recognizing metacognitive knowl
edge and metacognitive learning strategies. Metacognitive strategies, according to
Wenden (), contain the aspect of the learnersʼ awareness of their own strategy use,
i. e., the learners themselves oversee, direct, and regulate the learning process. These
kinds of strategies involve thinking about the learning process, planning, monitoring,
and evaluating learning. Cohen and Dörney () define them as processes that learn
ers consciously use to monitor their own learning. They involve planning, setting goals,
thinking about the learning process, monitoring performance, and evaluating the
learning process. Metacognitive strategies are based on knowledge about language
learning, i. e., metacognitive knowledge. Wenden () emphasizes the importance of
metacognitive knowledge and the role of metacognition in learning a foreign language
and explains the difference between metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive strat
egies. Metacognition integrates knowledge about oneʼs competencies and cognitive
functioning, and it occupies a central place in long-term memory. Metacognition refers
to the ability to monitor oneʼs cognitive processes and the ability to regulate them in
order to study their effectiveness. Metacognitive knowledge includes facts about the
cognitive processes that students adopt and apply when they intend to acquire skills in
different circumstances. Studentsʼ metacognitive knowledge includes their beliefs, in
sights, and concepts about language and the language learning process. The learning
process thus becomes an integral part of the learning content, and such a process re
quires a new, strategic distribution of power in the classroom. Teachers and students
play a crucial role in raising awareness of their views on learning strategies, openly
discussing difficulties in learning, and the opportunities available to them. Strategically
oriented learning and teaching strive for students to take responsibility for their learn
ing and gain autonomy in learning, guided by their learning process.
Wenden () lists three types of metacognitive knowledge: person knowledge,
task knowledge, and strategic knowledge. Person knowledge is general knowledge that
learners have about learning or themselves as learners, which includes cognitive and
affective factors that facilitate learning. Task knowledge refers to what learners need to
know about the procedures involved in the task in order to complete it successfully.
Wenden lists the variables by which students differ and which affect the level of ulti
mate language attainment in the acquisition of a foreign language. These are individ
ual differences among students, such as age, language aptitude, intelligence, motiva
Multicultural and Multilingual Learning Environments: Challenges and Advantages
tion, personality, sociocultural background, as well as cognitive and learning styles.
Strategic knowledge is studentsʼ stored knowledge about strategies, which Wenden di
vides into two groups: The first group represents knowledge about which strategies
work best, and the second group consists of knowledge about general approaches to
language learning that can guide learnersʼ selection of strategies. Since metacognitive
strategies encompass strategic knowledge, the concept of strategic competence has
been expanded to represent a group of metacognitive strategies that play a crucial role
in successful language learning.
The most widely accepted classification of learning strategies was offered by
OʼMalley and Chamot (), and it is similar to the categorization proposed by Oxford
(). The taxonomy of learning strategies proposed by Oxford () comprises six
categories of learning strategies, subdividing them into direct and indirect strategies.
Direct strategies involve direct learning and require mental processing of the language,
while indirect strategies support learning indirectly and play an important role in the
language learning process. OʼMalley and Chamot () distinguish between cogni
tive, metacognitive, and socio-affective strategies. Cognitive strategies concern mental
steps or actions that are employed in learning or problem solving, and they require
direct analysis, transformation, or direct manipulation of learning materials. They in
clude language processing in the human mind and represent mental processes directly
concerned with the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in order to
learn. Cognitive strategies include a specific manipulation or transformation of the ma
terial that is to be learned, i. e., language input such as repetition of material, summar-
izing information, using mnemonics, etc. (Dörnyei, ). They help students under
stand the language material they are studying and include studentsʼ interaction with
the learning content as well as the use of specific techniques in solving the language
task. Unlike cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies are higher-order strategies
with executive functions. They comprise analysis, monitoring, evaluation, planning,
and organizing oneʼs learning process. The use of metacognitive strategies enables lan
guage transfer and greater autonomy in learning a foreign language. OʼMalley and
Chamot () point out that learners who do not have a metacognitive approach or do
not know how to apply it remain without a real goal and direction, without the ability to
plan their learning, monitor their own progress in learning, and their achievements,
and future goals of learning. In addition to cognitive and metacognitive strategies,
OʼMalley and Chamot () point out that socio-affective strategies include interaction
with other learners, the teacher, or speakers of the L. These strategies put learners in
an environment where they can practice without affecting the learning process directly.
Jessner () points out that metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness play a
significant role in developing learning strategies in multilingual speakers. Multilingual
speakers use different strategies than monolingual speakers (McLaughlin, ; Jess
ner, ). Pavičić Takač () emphasizes that there are so-called main, i. e., uni-
versal strategies used by students of all languages, and specific strategies whose use
depends on the specific language. Therefore, in addition to universal strategies, multi
lingual speakers use a wide range of specific learning strategies that they transfer when
Nikolina Božinović, Ana Havelka Meštrović
learning different foreign languages. Meißner () developed a multilingual process
ing model that is based on the assumption that strategies are mutually upgraded and
developed. For example, if a student is learning Spanish as a foreign language, it will be
easier for him to master the language if he has already developed receptive skills in
other Romance languages. Following this model, students rely on their knowledge of
the previous language, using it as their starting point for learning a new language. Škil
jan () points out that in typologically similar languages, there are more similarities
regarding structural expressions.
Foreign language learning strategies represent a significant individual character-
istic of learners. Numerous foreign language researchers (Ellis, ; Jessner, ;
Cohen, ; OʼMalley & Chamot, ; Chamot, ; Pawlak, ) have pointed out
the importance of explicit strategy instruction and the development of individual strat
egy systems. Explicit instruction includes the development of studentsʼ awareness of
their strategies, identifying them, and providing opportunities for practice and self-
evaluation. Systematic, explicit strategy instruction should be offered to students from
the very beginning of language learning, and it should be integrated into the general
learning strategy instruction. Finally, the teacherʼs task is to guide students toward the
use of efficient learning strategies, thereby enabling each student to be individually
responsible for selecting and implementing a particular strategy. This will influence
the development of positive attitudes towards language learning and encourage stu
dents to be autonomous and self-directed in the learning process.
Conclusion
Considering the linguistic diversity and complexity of multilingual education, multilin
gualism is becoming an essential feature of the linguistic and cultural identity of every
nation. Jessner () emphasizes the importance of learning strategies as a crucial
aspect of multilingual development. Her research shows that the number of strategies
used increases in line with the linguistic and cognitive development of students in con
tact with different languages. In other research, Jessner () points out the impor
tance of developing multilingual competence in students. She further emphasizes the
need to design appropriate teaching materials aimed at raising studentsʼ language
awareness related to the development of multilingual ability.
Multicompetence approaches to the development of teaching materials have to
consider the need for common grammatical terminology as one of the prerequisites for
multilingual learning. As pointed out by Jessner (), a great deal of multilingual
learning happens through comparison and the promotion of metalinguistic awareness.
A better awareness of language learning strategies can be built on the constructive
potential of comparing languages. Ideally, the development of multiliteracies is an inte
gral part of multilingual education (Cummins, ). If this interpretation is applied to
a multilingual learning environment, explicit strategy instruction has to be imple
mented to achieve a particular level of success in foreign language learning (Jessner,
).
Multicultural and Multilingual Learning Environments: Challenges and Advantages
References
Anderson, J. R. (). Cognitive Psychology and its Implications. Freeman.
Anderson, J. R. (). Learning and Memory: An Integrated Approach. Wiley.
Bialystok, E. (). Communication strategies in second language acquisition. Blackwell.
Braten, J., & Olaussen, B. S. (). The Relationship between Motivational Beliefs and
Learning Strategy Use among Norwegian College Students. Contemporary Educational
Psychology, 23(), –. https://doi.org/./ceps..
Chang, H. H. (). The Relationship Between Extrinsic/Intrinsic Motivation and Language
Learning Strategies Among College Students of English in Taiwan. Master Thesis, Ming
Chuan University, College of Applied Languages.
Chamot, A. U. (). Teaching learning strategies to language students. (Report No. EDO-
FL--). Washington, D. C.: ERIC Clearinghouse on Language and Linguistics
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED).
Chamot, A. U. (). Issues in Language Learning Strategy Research and Teaching. Elec
tronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 1(), –.
Cohen, A. D. (). Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language. Longman.
Cohen, A. D., & Dörnyei, Z. (). Focus on the Language Learner: Motivation, Styles and
Strategies. In N. Schmitt (Ed.), An Introduction to Applied Linguistics (pp. –).
Edward Arnold.
Cummins, J. (). The Influence of Bilingualism on Cognitive Growth: A Synthesis of
Research Findings and Explanatory Hypotheses. Working Papers on Bilingualism, 9,
–.
Cummins, J. (). Identity texts: The imaginative construction of self through multiliter
acy pedagogy. In O. García, T. Skuttnab‐Kangas & M. Torres‐Guzmán (Eds.), Imagin
ing multilingual schools: Languages in education and globalization. Multilingual Matters.
https://doi.org/./-
Cummins, J., & Early, E. (). Identity Texts: The Collaborative Creation of Power in Multi
lingual Schools. Trentham Books.
Dickinson, L. (). Culture, autonomy and common sense: Proceedings of the Interna
tional Conference Autonomy 2000: The Development of Learning Independence in Lan
guage Learning. King Mongkutʼs Institute of Technology Thonburi.
Dörnyei, Z. (). The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Dierences in Second
Language Acquisition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Dörnyei, Z. (). Individual dierences in second language acquisition. AILA Review ,
–. https://doi.org/./aila..dor
Dreyer, C. R., & Oxford, R. L. (). Learning Strategies and Other Predictors of ESL Profi-
ciency Among Afrikaans Speakers in South Africa. In R. Oxford (Ed.), Language Learn
ing Strategies Around the World: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, – (Technical Report ).
University of Hawaiʼi, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.
Egron-Polak, E., & Hudson, R. (). Internationalisation of Higher Education: Growing ex
pectations, fundamental values. IAU 4th Global Survey. Paris: International Association
of Universities.
Nikolina Božinović, Ana Havelka Meštrović
Ehrman, M., & Oxford, R. (). Eects on Sex Dierences, Career Choice, and Psycho
logical Type on Adult Language Learning Strategies. The Modern Language Journal,
73(), –. https://doi.org/./j.-..tb.x
Ellis, R. (). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Ellis, R. (). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R. (). Current Issues in the Teaching of Grammar: An SLA Perspective. TESOL
Quarterly, 40(), –. https://doi.org/./
Faerch, C., & Kasper, G. (). Plans and Strategies in foreign language communication.
In C. Faerch, & G. Kasper (Eds.), Strategies in interlanguage communication (pp. –).
Longman.
Green, J. M., & Oxford, R. L. (). A closer look at learning strategies, L proficiency, and
gender. TESOL Quarterly, 29, –. https://doi.org/./
Griths, C., & Parr, J. M. (). Language learning strategies, nationality, independence
and proficiency, Independence, 28, –.
Jessner, U. (). Teaching third languages: Findings, trends and challenges. Language
Teaching, 41(), –. https://doi.org/./S
Jessner, U. (). Multicompetence Approaches to Language Proficiency Development in
Multilingual Education. In O. García, A. Lin & S. May (Eds.), Bilingual and Multilin
gual Education (Encyclopedia of Language and Education). Springer. https://doi.org/
./----_.
Kaylani, C. (). The Influence of Gender and Motivation on EFL Strategy Use in Jordan.
In R. Oxford (Ed.), Language Learning Strategies Around the World: Cross-Cultural Per
spectives (pp. –) (Technical Report No. ). University of Hawai’i, Second Language
Teaching and Curriculum Center.
Lan, R., & Oxford, R. L. (). Language learning strategy profiles of elementary school
students in Taiwan. IRAL, 41, –. https://doi.org/./iral..
Lee, K. R., & Oxford, R. L. (). Understanding EFL Learner's Strategy Use and Strategy
Awareness. Asian EFL Journal, 10(), –.
Lee, H., & Oh, J. (). The relationship between attitudes and proficiency in learning
English. English Teaching, 55(), –.
Liu, D. (). EFL Proficiency, Gender and Language Learning Strategy Use Among a
Group of Chinese Technological Institute English Majors, ARECLS E-Journal, , A.
MacIntyre, P. D. (). Toward a social psychological model of strategy use. Foreign Lan
guage Annals, 27, –. https://doi.org/./j.-..tb.x
McLaughlin, B. (). Theories of Second Language Learning. Edward Arnold.
McLaughlin, B. (). Restructuring. Applied Linguistics, 11, –. https://doi.org/
./applin/..
Meißner, F. J. (). Transfer und Transferieren: Anleitungen zum Intercomprehension
sunterricht. In H. G. Klein & D. Rutke (Eds.), Neuere Forschungen zur Europäischen
Interkomprehension (pp. –). Shaker Verlag.
Mihaljević Djigunović, J. (). Kako motivirani učenici uče strani jezik. Strani jezici, 3–4,
–.
Multicultural and Multilingual Learning Environments: Challenges and Advantages
Mihaljević Djigunović, J. (). Uloga straha od jezika u učenju stranog jezika. Strani
jezici, 1–2, –.
Mihaljević Djigunović, J. (). Are language learning strategies motivation–specific? Or
bis Linguarum, 18, –.
Naiman, N., Fröhlich, M., Stern, H. H., & Todesco, A. (). The Good Language Learner.
Modern Language Center, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
OʼMalley, J. M., & Chamot, A. U. (). Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition.
Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/./CBO
Oxford, R. L. (). Language Learning Strategies. What Every Teacher Should Know. Boston:
Heinle and Heinle Publishers
Oxford, R. L. (). Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies. Routledge.
https://doi.org/./
Oxford, R. L., & Nyikos, M. (). Variables aecting choice of language learning strat
egies by university students. Modern Language Journal, 73(), –. https://
doi.org/./j.-..tb.x
Parry, K. (). The social construction of reading strategies: New directions for research.
Journal for Research in Reading, 16(), –. https://doi.org/./j.-.
.tb.x
Pavičić Takač, V. (). Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Foreign Language Acquisition.
Multilingual Matters Ltd. https://doi.org/./
Pawlak, M. (). Advanced learnerʼs use of strategies for learning grammar: A diary
study. In M. Pawlak (Ed.), Investigating English Language Learning and Teaching
(pp. –). Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts in Kalisz.
Politzer, R. L., & McGroarty, M. (). An exploratory study of learning behaviors and their
relationship to gains in linguistic and communicative competence. TESOL Quarterly
19(), –. https://doi.org/./
Rubin, J. (). What the good language learner can teach us. TESOL Quarterly, 9(),
–. https://doi.org/./
Savignon, S. (). Communicative Competence: An Experiment in Foreign Language teach
ing. The Center for Curriculum Development.
Stern, H. H. (). What can we learn from the good language learner? Canadian Modern
Language Review, 31, –. https://doi.org/./cmlr...
Stern, H. H. (). Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching. Oxford University Press.
Škiljan, D. (). Pogled u lingvistiku. Školska knjiga.
Tyacke, M., & Mendelsohn, D. (). Student needs: Cognitive as well as communicative.
TESL Canada Journal, 1, –. https://doi.org/./tesl.vi.
UNESCO (). A Guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education. Digital Library,
ISBN: ----. https://www.inclusive-education-in-action.org/resources/
guide-ensuring-inclusion-and-equity-education
van Mol, C. (). Improving web survey eciency: the impact of an extra reminder and
reminder content on web survey response. International Journal of Social Research
Methodology, 20(), –. https://doi.org/./...
Nikolina Božinović, Ana Havelka Meštrović
Vandergrift, L. (). The comprehension strategies of second language (French) Listen
ers: A descriptive study. Foreign Language Annals, 29(), –. https://doi.org/
./j.-..tb.x
Wächter, B. & Maiworm, F. (). English-taught Programmes in European Higher Edu
cation: The State of Play in . Lemmens.
Watkins, M., Lean, G., & Noble, G. (). Multicultural education: The state of play from
an Australian perspective. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(), –. https://doi.org/
./..
Weinstein, C. E., & Mayer, R. E. (). The teaching of learning strategies. In M. C. Witt-
rock (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Teaching (pp. –). Macmillan.
Wenden, A. (). Learner Strategies for Learner Autonomy. Prentice Hall.
Zimmerman, B. J., & Martinez-Pons, M. (). Student dierences in self-regulated learn
ing: Relating grade, sex, and giftedness to self-ecacy and strategy use. Journal of Edu
cational Psychology, 82(), –. https://doi.org/./-...
Multicultural and Multilingual Learning Environments: Challenges and Advantages
Training Global Citizens
Respect, Reect, Revise:
Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a
Globalized Undergraduate Classroom
L B, J M
Introduction
Multicultural counseling developed as a research, training, and applied specialty within
the fields of psychological counseling and counseling psychology in the U. S. during
the past years. It problematized the approaches to psychology and psychotherapy
dominant in the first half of the th century on the grounds that, although developed
from a narrow set of values, worldviews, and norms (White European, Christian, mid
dle class, male, and heterosexual), they were nonetheless regarded and utilized as uni
versally applicable. As Pedersen () explained, multiculturalism challenged the pri
oritization of the search for universal explanations of human behavior (i. e., laws and
rules parallel to those in natural sciences) and brought cultural differences into focus as
equally important in understanding individuals, families, and groups. Furthermore,
multicultural counseling stresses the need to incorporate broad socio-political forces
like discrimination, racism, power, oppression, privilege, and social (in-)justice in un
derstanding and treating the psychological and social functioning of individuals, fami
lies, and social groups, as these forces have direct and indirect consequences for their
physical and psychological well-being and access to resources (Buhin, a).
Multicultural counseling originally focused more narrowly on issues of race and
ethnicity, then expanded to include gender, sexual orientation, social class, immigra
tion, disability, and other social identities. Largely conceptualized as discrete or sepa
rate aspects of a person, these social identities were approached as requiring unique
and distinct (domain-specific) sets of competencies for effective counseling and psy
chotherapeutic work. While the aspect of domain-specific competencies remains rele
vant, multicultural counseling now increasingly embraces the concept of intersection
ality (Clauss-Ehlers et al., ; Crenshaw, ), which posits that the different social
identities of an individual (e. g., gender, race, socio-economic class, etc.) interact with
each other to create lived realities more complex than can be captured and understood
by considering an individual’s single social identity. For example, the experience of a
poor, immigrant, single mother will be a complex simultaneous interaction of poverty
and xenophobia and sexism rather than just immigrant status. In other words, as Cren
shaw () astutely argued, the “intersectional experience is greater than the sum”
(p. ) of discrete social identities. This complexity makes multicultural counseling
and resulting multicultural competencies inherently multidisciplinary and multi-
dimensional.
The goal of multicultural counseling training is the development of multicultural
counseling competencies or a set of specific skills that enable future counselors and
therapists to work effectively with clients whose cultural identities differ from their
own (Estrada, et al., ). Buhin (b) defined multicultural competencies as a set
of skills for mental health professionals that include knowledge about various cultural
groups existing in a society, theories of development of varied types of social identities,
negative effects of oppression and inadequate access to psychological services on psy
chosocial well-being of disenfranchised social groups, and an adequate understanding
of a variety of culturally appropriate intervention strategies ranging from assessment
and psychotherapy to advocacy.
This chapter aims to briefly introduce multicultural counseling and competencies
and make a case for including courses focused on the development of multicultural
competencies in undergraduate education and in all areas of study (i. e., not only psy
chology and teacher education). Finally, we present a model course for teaching under
graduate students multicultural competencies in a highly globalized higher education
setting. To accomplish this goal, we use as a case study a course delivered in the psy
chology program at Touro University Berlin (a campus of Touro University New York,
USA).
Benets of Teaching Multicultural Competencies to
Undergraduate Students
In the United States, multicultural counseling classes typically take place at the post-
bachelor level of education in psychology and counseling. As master and/or doctorate
degrees are required for the independent practice of counseling or psychotherapy, this
gradual building up of professional knowledge and skills might make sense from a
purely clinical or counseling perspective. Multicultural competencies appear to be sim
ilarly neglected in the psychology curriculum across Europe (Buhin-Krenek, ). We
argue that the complete lack of attention to the development of multicultural compe
tencies at the bachelor level of education — both within and outside psychology curric
ula — is shortsighted as most university students will complete their academic career
at the bachelor level and enter a multicultural job market. Therefore, undergraduate
education is an excellent time to intervene in the development of multicultural compe
tencies and reach the broadest audience of learners. Understanding how to navigate
interactions with a diverse array of individuals has beneficial consequences, such as
perspective-taking and communication skills that propel us beyond our personal hori
zons, or an awareness of strengths and needs in vocational settings as well as in our
daily lives (Meeussen, et al., ; Nguyen, ; Schwarzenthal et al., ). Creating a
culture-focused undergraduate learning environment prompts students to start devel
Respect, Reect, Revise: Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a Globalized Classroom
oping their multicultural competencies, which prepare them for the diverse workplace
or further studies.
In the workplace, multicultural experience enriches teamwork processes, sparks
creativity, and improves work performance (Nguyen, ). Cultural diversity in a team
is a potent incubator for innovation, and individuals who are sensitive to a variety of
communication styles and worldviews are better able to cooperate with an international
workforce (Debesay, et al., ). Various aspects of multicultural competencies have
also been linked to job satisfaction among professionals working abroad (expatriates).
For example, Peltokorpi and Froese () have found cultural empathy, emotional sta
bility in stressful situations (like those that can arise in multicultural encounters), and
the ability to establish relationships (social initiative) to contribute to the job satisfac
tion of expatriates. Understanding our own values in relation to those of others can
provide the necessary impetus for effectively communicating our needs, thereby help
ing us feel seen, heard, and understood, which will heighten overall employee satisfac
tion. It follows that happy employees are productive employees, and when job satisfac
tion and performance are high, individuals tend to stick around (Bregenzer et al.,
), decreasing the organizational burdens due to staff turnover.
Even within the academic world, teaching multicultural competence is not for
naught. Learnings from one domain typically transfer to other areas. Instilling students
with a sensitivity for diverse mindsets allows them to engage with their academic con
tent through a critical lens and helps them question biases in their own work as well as
in new content they encounter. Culturally humble individuals—that is, those who are
aware of their own biases and limitations—make for intellectually humble individuals;
“knowing that I may not know, but wanting to learn“ is a foundational virtue for sound
scientific work as well as personal growth. Research has shown that a curriculum that
is infused with multiculturalism and multicultural competencies contributes to stu
dents with higher multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills as compared to those
students who took only a single multicultural class (Dameron et al., ). García-
Álvarez and colleagues () found the following skills to be among the five most fre
quently named transversal — or soft — skills cited in research on university graduates’
employability: (a) socio-relational skills; (b) “fundamental skills for responding to situa
tions and contexts that require compromise, agreement, and understanding in global
environments“ (p. ); and (c) skills related to socially responsible behavior “in the face
of the discrimination and social injustice that characterizes a competitive individualis
tic society“ (p. ). Both relational skills and skills related to socially responsible behav
ior are part of the multicultural competency behavioral repertoire. We therefore argue
that multicultural competencies should be seen as an essential component of an array
of skills acquired by students during their undergraduate studies, and recognized as a
prerequisite for entry into the global job market. In other words, a multicultural
approach to higher education is not just ideologically desirable, but also financially
worthwhile.
Larisa Buhin, Jules Moskovits
Context of the Class
. Institutional Context
Touro University Berlin (a campus of Touro University New York, USA) is a unique
institution in the German higher education landscape: it is international, private, and
Jewish. Its mission includes the creation of a diverse and inclusive academic environ
ment in which learners acquire key academic subject knowledge as well as competen
cies for communication and work in multicultural, global settings. Since its inception
in , Touro Berlin has attracted an extremely high percentage of international stu
dents. In the past five years, the percentage of students with international backgrounds
enrolled at Touro Berlin has consistently been upward of %. Furthermore, Touro
Berlin attracts students of all religious affiliations. This uncommonly diverse student
body simultaneously presents opportunities for co-constructed and culturally respon
sive teaching as well as curricular, pedagogical, and academic background challenges.
In other words, our classes assert the need to attend to cultural difference regardless of
the course content, and our institutional Jewish identity, the institution’s geographic
location in Berlin, and the very present history of the Holocaust add unique layers of
complexity to the teaching encounters.
A further challenge in teaching such a diverse group of students is the variety of
academic backgrounds as well as the different cultural discourses around culture, di
versity, social (in)justice, and discrimination in which the students have been social
ized and which are most likely unknown to the instructors. The authors’ own teaching
and learning experiences in this environment have overwhelmingly shown increased
openness to and engaged curiosity about cultural difference among students. These
predispositions, however, are no guarantee for avoidance of interpersonal or intercul
tural miscommunication and/or conflict.
. Geopolitical Context
The Black Lives Matter movement had been gaining prominence in media outlets
since , and with the killing of George Floyd by the police in the United States in
May of , the global public support for the movement exploded. The brutality and
visibility of this killing, most recent in a long series of killings of Black people by the
police in the US, also led to more prominent discourse on racism in Europe. The op
portunity to openly discuss racism in its different forms simultaneously posed a chal
lenge as to how to address it outside of the US. Racism is difficult to discuss in many
Western European countries for various reasons (Rastas, ), and it is often por
trayed as an “American problem.” Germany has an especially complicated relationship
with racism because “Rasse”, the German translation of the term “race”, originally
meant what in English would be described by the word “breed” and was used during
the Nazi era as a derogatory term to dehumanize all people who were not “pure” or
Aryan Germans, and particularly Jews. Since the end of WWII, many European states,
and Germany especially, have attempted to distance themselves from the word “race”
because of these Nazi connotations and connections. In the process, Germany along
Respect, Reect, Revise: Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a Globalized Classroom
with other European nations, seems to have somewhat lost a way to discuss the prob
lem of racism.
In her teaching at Touro Berlin, Larisa Buhin, the first author of this chapter, has
had several students report that there is no equivalent term for “race” in their native
languages (although the term racism exists). At the same time, Touro Berlin is a very
diverse institution of higher education with students who belong to various visible so
cially constructed racial groups and who have themselves experienced race-based dis
crimination and violence. Furthermore, with a geographically diverse student body
studying in the EU at a German-U.S. institution, we needed to find both appropriate
content and processes for teaching a class on multicultural competencies in a way that
was not overly U. S.-centric (Gay, ).
Pedagogical Foundations of the Course
The course, Multicultural Counseling, which serves as a case study for this chapter, was
added to the undergraduate psychology curriculum at Touro Berlin as an advanced
topic course in . The course presented here was delivered as an intensive two-week
course with daily sessions of , hrs. It has also been delivered as a -week, semes
ter-long course. Psychology students who were in their rd or th year of study enrolled
in the course. The course is based on the ideals of liberation pedagogy (Freire,
/), culturally responsive teaching (Gay, , ), and cultural pluralism
(Schachner, ). As such, its foundational values were:
• cultural diversity as a social, personal, and professional value;
• the development of critical consciousness (Freire, /) as a prerequisite for
the development of a multicultural worldview and competencies;
• centering the knowledge and needs of culturally diverse students (Gay, );
• perspective-taking (Gay, ); and
• adoption of cultural humility (Hook et al., ) as a way of being.
The aims of the course were to teach the theory of multicultural counseling, to expose
students to a conceptualization of psychological health, illness, and intervention in con
nection with broad social, political, and economic forces, and to foster an atmosphere
conducive to cultivating a sustainable sense of cultural humility.
In his writings and work, Paulo Freire championed education as a way of bringing
about social change and liberation. Freire (/) advocated for an engaged, critical
approach to learning and teaching as well as a praxis that consisted of action and reflec
tion leading to critical awareness-raising (a less-than-sufficient translation of Freire’s
term “conscientization”), as prerequisites for the liberation of the oppressed in all
global societies. This liberation would lead to a change of unbalanced power distribu
tions and to a greater ability of individuals to participate in their societies equally and
freely. While Freire primarily addressed the needs of the oppressed in his writings, he
recognized that both the oppressed and the oppressors are damaged and dehumanized
Larisa Buhin, Jules Moskovits
through oppression. Therefore, liberation pedagogy would have long-term benefits for
both groups. Individuals’ lived experiences are centralized in Freire’s approach and
great value is placed on the critical examination of the sources of knowledge. At the
same time, Freire criticized a hierarchical relationship between instructor and students
in which the instructor is seen as possessing the knowledge and the students are seen as
receiving the knowledge. Liberation pedagogy is based on an egalitarian relationship
which is the foundation of the process of co-constructing knowledge and supporting
the process of reflection and action. In a classroom built on ideas of liberation peda
gogy, the instructor and the students determine learning goals together and learn from
each other through meaningful dialogue.
Culturally responsive teaching espouses goals partially similar to liberation peda
gogy in that it aims to be empowering, transformative, and emancipatory (Gay, ).
Culturally responsive pedagogy is “a student-centered approach to teaching that in
cludes cultural references and recognizes the importance of students’ cultural back
grounds and experiences” (Wisdom et al., , p. ). Gay () writes that culturally
responsive teaching validates and affirms students’ heritage, incorporates a variety of
pedagogical approaches to support students’ academic strengths, uses examples mean
ingful to students’ lived experiences to illustrate theoretical concepts and make them
more approachable, and integrates “multicultural information, resources, and materi
als” (p. ).
According to Schachner (), cultural pluralism is a more recent development
in approaching cultural diversity in social psychology and education. Schachner ()
treats the terms “cultural pluralism” and “multiculturalism” as synonymous (p. ). Cul
tural pluralism criticizes cultural equality and inclusion for promoting color-blindness
by overemphasizing commonalities and human universals, and instead strives to ac
knowledge and value group differences in the classroom as a learning resource. Conse
quently, we feel that there is a good fit between culturally responsive teaching, cultural
pluralism, and multicultural competencies.
Hook and colleagues () define the idea of cultural humility within multicul
tural counseling as “a virtue or a disposition” (p. ) rather than a set of distinct skills a
multiculturally competent mental health professional would possess. We find that this
conceptualization of cultural humility as a way of being fits the academic developmen
tal goals of undergraduate students well because it releases them from the burden of
memorizing a quantifiable amount of knowledge. At the same time, this burden is re
placed by a challenge “to overcome the natural tendency to view one’s own beliefs, val
ues, and worldview as superior” (Hook et al., , p. ) and to instead assume the
position of a curious and engaged observer, comfortable in a perpetual state of relative
ambiguity and open to the worldviews, beliefs, and values of others.
Respect, Reect, Revise: Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a Globalized Classroom
How to Teach Multicultural Competencies to
Undergraduate Students
. Pedagogical Foci
We considered the following realities and restrictions while designing the course:
a) This was an undergraduate-level course;
b) The geopolitical setting was the EU, but the students attending the course were
from Europe, Asia, and Africa;
c) not all students planned to pursue an advanced degree in clinical or counseling
fields, such as psychology, psychotherapy, or social work; and
d) the course was to meet entirely online (in real time) with severely limited oppor
tunities for social interaction and experiential learning because due to COVID-
pandemic restrictions, all museums, cultural institutions, houses of worship, cof
fee shops, restaurants, etc. were closed.
We based the course and the learning outcomes on the model of Multicultural and
Social Justice Counseling Competencies proposed by Ratts et al. (), which include
knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, skills, and actions, as well as concepts of privilege and
marginalization, thereby drawing on literature in the areas of social justice and inter
sectionality. We used the broad meaning of multicultural counseling as a philosophy or
worldview that is applicable in any professional and personal interaction as the starting
point in designing the class. This broad definition includes race, ethnicity, gender iden
tity, sexual orientation, social class, immigration status, national origin, disability, and
religious affiliation (Buhin, a). As society’s thinking about social identity contin
ues to evolve, the definition can be expected to evolve as well.
We additionally conceptualized multicultural counseling competencies as global
and domain-specific. Global competencies encompass the knowledge, awareness, atti
tudes, and skills that are fundamental and applicable in any multicultural setting
(counseling, business, education, health, etc.). They include understanding one’s own
worldview, cultural humility, tolerance for ambiguity, social justice, and intersectional
ity. Domain-specific skills and actions are developed within specific settings, e. g.,
through working with students with disabilities, transgender clients, immigrants, or
refugees.
As this was an introductory course, we focused on dimensions of awareness, atti
tudes, and knowledge. We selected foundational readings in multicultural counseling,
oppression and social justice and their effect on psychological well-being, and centered
the class learning process on identity exploration, personal growth, and as much expe
riential learning as was possible during a pandemic lockdown. Larisa Buhin, the first
author, was very fortunate to have an advanced student (Jules Moskovits, the chapter’s
co-author) conducting their internship with her and interested in co-teaching the class.
After setting the pedagogical framework, we collaboratively developed the course con
tent and involved the students in finalizing it as soon as the course began. Our peda
gogical and curricular decisions were matched to the professional developmental stage
Larisa Buhin, Jules Moskovits
of the participants in the class, relying more on lived experiences, and self-reflection
sparked by readings and conversations than on actual counseling experiences, which
undergraduate students are unlikely to have, anyway. We found support for our deci
sion in the literature. Pedersen () wrote:
The foundation of competence is cultural self-awareness of his or her biases, stereotypes
and beliefs by each counseling professional. Increased awareness requires challenging our
assumptions about ourselves and about other groups and worldviews to discover those
basic underlying assumptions which we each assume to be so obviously true that no proof
or evidence is required. (p. )
. Learning Outcomes
We set the following learning outcomes for the course:
a) explaining theories of multicultural counseling, theories of identity development,
and social justice;
b) demonstrating an understanding of the ways in which individual identities,
worldviews, values, and biases are shaped by multiple cultural influences;
c) identifying and explaining the intersectionalities of one’s own and others’ cul
tural identities;
d) discussing current theories and research related to the impact of culture on our
daily ecologies in local and global contexts;
e) engaging in intercultural contact with increased sensitivity and competence;
f) critically evaluating psychologists’ and counselors’ role in eliminating biases,
prejudices, and processes of intentional and unintentional oppression and dis
crimination;
g) committing to engage in life-long development of cultural self-awareness.
These learning outcomes represent the mixed focus on acquisition of knowledge and
personal reflection and growth consistent with the Ratts et al. () model of Multicul
tural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies described above. They also indicate
the type of teaching that is required in a class such as this: a combination of lecture-
based transmission of knowledge, promotion of intrapersonal reflection, group dia
logue, experiential learning, and feedback. While this pedagogical list may seem daunt
ing, the key strength and distinctive feature of teaching with a liberation pedagogy
stance is that the responsibility for all of these processes is shared between students
and instructors.
. Teaching Strategies
Not every teaching strategy we used — not even the majority of them — is unique to
liberation pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, or the teaching of multicultural
competencies. Similar approaches can be found in feminist critical pedagogy (i. e.,
Dhala & Johnson, ). We will briefly highlight a few that may be less familiar to
instructors who primarily teach lecture-based classes, and we will describe adaptations
Respect, Reect, Revise: Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a Globalized Classroom
that can easily be made to the more “traditional” Confucian-style teaching. Appendix
links learning outcomes with teaching strategies and learning assignments.
.. Co-Construction of Learning Goals and Assessments
Once we conceptualized multicultural competencies as global and domain-specific, we
constructed a basic syllabus and received students’ input on additional topics they were
interested in. The students enrolled in the course had selected “sexual and gender iden
tity” and “Muslim and Arab persons” as their topics due to students’ self-professed in
terests and high levels of Islamophobia in the EU and the US.
We then proceeded to have a conversation about how the students wanted to be
assessed on their learning process. We created a few assessment options that had the
potential to capture different student strengths, such as written or oral expression, crea
tivity, and analytical reasoning. In addition, the students were in charge of creating
appropriate grading rubrics which the instructor was to use in evaluating their work.
The students indicated how the different aspects of an assignment should be evaluated:
for example, should creativity of an assignment carry equal weight as the content pre
sented and what should be the distribution of total points across different aspects.
These strategies contribute to greater investment and participation of students (Damia
nakis et al., ).
.. Selection of Culturally Responsive Literature
A critical question posed through liberation pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching,
and multicultural counseling is the source of knowledge. Much of the fundamental
psychological literature is written by researchers and practitioners of similar cultural
backgrounds, the so-called WEIRD — Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and
Democratic (Pollet & Saxton, ) — and based on research conducted with partici
pants of similar backgrounds (Henrich, et al., ). In , Arnett conducted a review
of top journals between the years and , representing a range of foci of psy
chology — developmental, personality, abnormal, family, health, social, and educa
tional — to determine the level of diversity represented in contemporary U. S. psychol
ogy. Arnett discovered an overrepresentation of first authors being based in US
universities ( %) and a gross underrepresentation of the world outside of the United
States and Europe: % of all findings covered by the review were from Asia, another
% from Israel specifically, and none from South America, Africa, Oceania, and the
Middle East. Arnett’s additional analysis of the global representation of the samples
included in studies published by the journals revealed an equally devastating picture:
% of the samples were from the U. S. and % from Europe, while only “ % were in
Asia, % were in Latin America, and less than % were in Africa or the Middle East.
One percent were Israeli“ (p. ). By contrast, North America and Europe make up
about % of the world’s population, while Asia and Africa combined account for about
% (Population Reference Bureau, ).
The problem with this bias in the production of science is, as Henrich and col
leagues () so eloquently put it:
Larisa Buhin, Jules Moskovits
The sample of contemporary Western undergraduates that so overwhelms our database is
not just an extraordinarily restricted sample of humanity; it is frequently a distinct outlier
vis-a-vis other global samples. It may represent the worst population on which to base our
understanding of Homo sapiens. (p. )
We use this information twofold in the teaching of multicultural counseling. First, we
introduce these findings and conclusions to the students to raise awareness and criti
cally examine the sources of foundational knowledge in psychology as Freire
(/) advocated. Second, we use this information to motivate the entire learning
community (students and instructors alike) to search for more inclusive and represen
tative literature, to bring in their own life experiences (Gay, ), as well as explana
tions of psychological phenomena offered by their own cultures as a way of providing
cognitive complexity. Aral and colleagues () describe the process of “heritage and
intercultural learning” (p. ) in which all students contribute knowledge of their tra
ditions and customs, and the entire classroom has the opportunity to learn something
new, particularly when it comes to underrepresented perspectives. This type of learn
ing exchange meets several teaching and learning goals: reflecting on similarities and
differences regarding the participants’ cultural backgrounds; observing and examining
one’s own emotional and cognitive reactions to the learning, including any prejudices
or other negative reactions that may be brought up; and practicing cultural humility.
.. Creating a Safe Space — Boundaries, Modeling and Feedback
For many students, this course is the first opportunity to put into words the cultural
ways of life that are so commonplace to them that they do not even notice them. It is
often their first time to speak publicly about their own negative experiences of cultural
difference or “not belonging”, about having been ostracized, ridiculed, shamed or in
other ways made to feel as cultural outsiders. Simultaneously, this is an opportunity for
other students to practice the basic counseling skills of active listening, non-judging,
and empathy.
Creating and protecting the type of a safe learning space where vulnerability is
invited and honored requires the instructor to set clear boundaries. This includes dis
cussions of personal boundaries, clarification of self-determination and agency, the in
structor’s equal participation in the learning process, and a vigilant observation of
classroom processes. In our class, the last point was greatly assisted by the fact that two
of us co-taught. This way, we could share the responsibility for these numerous, paral
lel tasks. We were also guided by values embedded in transformational learning: build
ing rapport, caring for each other, showing mutual respect, humility, and supporting
students in taking learning risks (Calderwood & Rizzo, ).
In order to create the kind of learning environment in which students could feel
comfortable sharing positive and negative reactions and experiences, we started the
course by reviewing the desired learning outcomes and plans for assessing them as a
way of ensuring the students knew what to expect. We see this as a process similar to
informed consent in research, therapy, or counseling. Then, we proceeded to talk about
expectations for class involvement, privacy, and confidentiality. We had a conversation
Respect, Reect, Revise: Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a Globalized Classroom
with the students about their comfort zones, difficult topics, and about possible ways of
being challenged and challenging others. Before they shared intimate information
about themselves, we encouraged students to consider what it would feel like to have
relative strangers know these things about them. We offered the alternative of sharing
something within the journal assignment, which was read only by the instructor. This
process conversation or talking about talking is crucial for preparing a positive and
growth-promoting learning environment.
We also talked about maintaining the confidentiality of what was shared within
the classroom. Here, we explained that recording the class in any way was not permit
ted and emphasized that while it is not appropriate to identify course participants and
what they may have said in class to others, it is appropriate to discuss the topics brought
up in class. For example, it would be acceptable to say, “Today, we had a very interest
ing conversation in class about gender and what role it plays in people’s identities.”
However, it would not be acceptable to say “I was so surprised when Student X came
out as transgender today. Did you know that?” We find that especially undergraduate
students appreciate these kinds of concrete examples for sharing their own learning in
the class without inappropriately sharing stories that do not belong to them.
.. Addressing Linguistic Dierences and Talking About Uncomfortable Topics
As we briefly mentioned before, some of the students in our class came from cultures
where the topic of racism is considered a social taboo, whose languages do not include
adequate vocabulary to address the social construction of race and/or the problem of
racism, and who never before had an opportunity to discuss such difficult topics in
class. The linguistic challenge regarding adequate terminology around racism and so
cially constructed ideas of race presents a good opportunity for discussing both con
cepts. We invited students to think about which racial and ethnic groups in their home
countries were targets of prejudice and oppression. This sometimes required asking
students what groups of people were seen as “acceptable” subjects of jokes in their cul
tures, or which groups of people were considered less desirable as workers or romantic
partners. Students who have not had a chance to discuss racism openly may struggle
with direct recognition of racism, but we found that these questions about sanctioned
cultural practices inevitably resulted in emerging recognition of race- or ethnicity-based
oppression and helped the students become aware of common mechanisms and tools
of racism applied in different contexts.
In sharing their cultural experiences with each other, students were also exposed
to different cultural practices, norms, and values. Discussing these varied norms and
values gave the students an opportunity to practice cultural humility. Additionally, in
order to bring both race and racism closer to students’ lived experiences, we used a lot
of locally based media sources (i. e., newspaper articles) and polls (i. e., the Pew Global
Attitudes Survey, ) to demonstrate how racism extends beyond White and Black
U. S. Americans, as it is sometimes perceived outside of the U. S. We applied theories
and concepts learned from textbooks and scientific articles to analyze what we read in
Larisa Buhin, Jules Moskovits
daily newspapers and thereby met three of our goals: locally relevant texts, culturally
responsive teaching, and applied learning.
.. Case Study Presentations
Each student chose a multicultural counseling case study from a collection of cases
described by multicultural counseling experts and assembled in a textbook (Sue et al.,
) on a topic or population of interest to them, thereby adding further domain-spe
cific dimensions. They then prepared case presentations which had to include a sum
mary of the case, a summary of clinical interventions along with explanations of how
they represented multicultural counseling competencies, and their own thoughts. Stu
dents were asked to reflect upon the approach presented in the book, their individual
learning insights, what they would have done differently, and what areas for their own
growth they identified for more effective work with a similar client. Finally, each stu
dent created two questions for prompting a discussion with the rest of the class. Other
students then offered feedback to the presenting student. The case study assignment
gave students another opportunity to individualize their learning and work on their
domain-specific multicultural competencies.
Because the cases in the textbook are described by experts in their respective
fields, students receive realistic and structured representations of clinical situations.
This practice appears to be a good learning step prior to actual job experience (Clauss-
Ehlers et al., ). As our class at Touro Berlin was offered exclusively to rd- and th-
year psychology students, they had the prerequisite knowledge of clinical psychology
and abnormal psychology on which they could build. In situations where the class is
offered to students outside of psychology, a mix of case studies from industrial/organi
zational psychology, political science, coaching, sociology, medicine, and other aca
demic fields would be more appropriate.
.. My Cultural Identity Presentation
This assignment was a personal presentation that integrated theoretical concepts. Stu
dents were asked to address as many of their own social identities as they felt comforta
ble sharing, and to reflect on personal experiences related to cultural, racial, and ethnic
identity, as well as the personal or community impact of mechanisms of privilege, prej
udice, and oppression on their lives along with the description of cultural norms, val
ues, and worldviews during their presentations. We, the instructors, completed this
assignment, too, presenting our own cultural identities consistent with the ideals of
liberation pedagogy (Freire, /). To make the assignment multidimensional,
experiential, as well as fun, we typically invite students to share food that represents
their culture. Due to COVID- restrictions and the online nature of the course we
shared recipes and pictures of favorite or typical foods and cultural resources available
in Berlin instead, e. g., places of worship, galleries, cultural clubs, grocery stores, and
restaurants.
Respect, Reect, Revise: Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a Globalized Classroom
.. Journaling
The Internal Journey Diary assignment started with students taking an Implicit Atti
tudes Test and reflecting on their results. We used the tests available through Project
Implicit of Harvard University (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/). The students
were instructed not to include their test results but rather discuss what they learned
about themselves and the biases they may hold. Other instructions for the content of
the diary stated that the entries should pertain to students’ own racial and cultural self-
explorations and consciousness-raising. We provided some structure for the diary in
listing possible questions that students could answer. Those questions included discus
sing one’s emotional reactions to a course reading or a current global event, a consider
ation of how those reactions might help or hinder a multicultural encounter, areas for
growth identified through the reading, or one’s own reactions that might lead to im
proved effectiveness in multicultural interactions. This type of critical self-reflection
activity is part of a transformative pedagogy approach (Cranton, ). In alignment
with the tenets of culturally responsive teaching (Gay, ), we left the format of the
diary entries open to interpretation. Students could submit essays, poems, photo-col
lages, drawings, paintings, visual or audio recordings, or other formats they felt best
captured their internal journey of learning.
Concluding Remarks
The undergraduate psychology course described here was used as a model to encour
age instructors and leadership across academic disciplines to consider the additional
educational value they could offer to their students—both academically and professio
nally—by including such courses in their undergraduate curricula. We argue that mul
ticultural competencies are needed for practically every human interaction in today’s
globalized work environment. Future librarians, historians, managers, engineers, or
teachers will all work in diverse settings, where solid knowledge exclusively of their
field of study will be insufficient for effective job performance.
. Successes and Challenges
In our course at Touro Berlin, students and instructors successfully built a classroom
environment that was warm and supportive yet challenging. The level of interaction
and engagement was high, even though the class met exclusively online. Students ex
pressed their appreciation for the course, stated that it challenged them to think about
their sociocultural environment, and acquired a good deal of knowledge. Students
found their own ways of challenging each other to consider different perspectives or to
imagine how a comment could be insensitive and hurtful to others. Although the stu
dents as a group did not have any significant counseling experience, all participants—
both students and co-instructors—made themselves vulnerable by sharing personal
experiences and reactions to the course materials. This gave each of them a direct expe
rience of “a different lived reality” on which they could then reflect, creating the possi
Larisa Buhin, Jules Moskovits
bility for personal growth based in accordance with the goals of liberation (Freire,
/), transformation (Cranton, ), and critical feminist pedagogy (Dhala &
Johnson, ).
The course presented here was designed as an intensive two-week course with
daily sessions of . hrs. Among the advantages of this format is that the extended peri
ods of shared time allowed the class to become familiar and comfortable with one an
other, and to engage in connected, ongoing dialogue. At the same time, the daily ses
sions allowed for very limited reflection time in between classes. The schedule also
made it challenging for the students to keep up with the readings, a fact that we antici
pated and incorporated into the class design by giving students extended breaks during
which they could review their reading notes. The course has also been offered as a se
mester-long ( weeks) course, which allows different opportunities for experiential
learning and reflection. For example, students have more time to think about their
readings and prepare for an in-class discussion or to combine an assigned readings
with a visit to a cultural center between classes.
Given the opportunity, an extremely diverse group of students will naturally con
tribute to a lively discussion around topics of multiculturalism and diversity. An in
structor working with a less diverse class must pay very close attention to portraying a
multitude of cultures and identities throughout the sessions without falling into the
traps of essentialism, tokenism, or stereotyping. This might be done by means of guest
lectures, excursions, videos, or other supporting material. Similarly, whereas a small
number of students is advantageous in creating a connected learning team, it usually
comes at the price of a smaller number of different perspectives present in class. With
limited representation of diverse identities, there is always a risk of students being put
in the role of “ambassador and spokesperson” for an entire group of people or, con
versely, being dismissed and discounted as “only one perspective”. We encourage in
structors to be vigilant about these disruptive processes and use them as learning op
portunities by engaging students in dialogue about representation and resistance, for
example. One way of accomplishing this could be by commenting on such interactions
when they happen in the classroom and facilitating a conversation about them while
drawing attention to the parallel process that members of marginalized identities often
experience in professional or social interactions.
Compared to students socialized in the questioning style of the Socratic method, a
highly interactive approach to teaching as is presented in this article places students
who are more comfortable in a Confucian-style or lecture-based classroom at a disad
vantage (Tweed & Lehman, ). This can be counteracted by spending sufficient
time at the beginning of the course on explaining the nature of the course and the ex
pectations for participation, as well as building a framework for discussion with the
students in which they feel safe to disclose their thoughts and reactions. Additionally,
grading components that are primarily individual, introspective, and written, thereby
not requiring spontaneous in-group disclosure, can create a way for all students to par
ticipate in a way that suits them best.
Respect, Reect, Revise: Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a Globalized Classroom
. Final Thoughts
Ultimately, we believe that society at large benefits when institutions of higher educa
tion shape students who are both intellectually and culturally competent. There is no
excuse not to expand our undergraduate curricula by including multicultural compe
tencies in today’s internationalized higher education. In fact, any nation that wishes to
internationalize its higher education and any institution that wishes to internationalize
its student body should consider multicultural competencies in both formal/explicit
and hidden/implicit curricula as essential to meeting that goal.
In developing their multicultural competencies, a person moves from increased
awareness to knowledge acquisition and, finally, skill development (Sue et al., ).
The process is circular rather than linear as each newly acquired fact or attempted inter
vention ideally triggers critical self-reflection and further increased awareness that
spurs more knowledge-seeking. Therefore, it is more accurate to speak about the pro
cess of life-long development of multicultural competencies rather than the acquisition
or state of achieved multicultural competence. An undergraduate course like the one
presented here can start students on a life-long learning process and provide them with
sufficient tools to support continued discovery of self and others.
References
Aral, T., Schachner, M. K., Juang, L., & Schwarzenthal, M. (). Cultural diversity ap
proaches in schools and adolescents’ willingness to support refugee youth. British
Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(), –. https://doi.org/./bjep.
Arnett, J. J. (). The neglected %: Why American psychology needs to become less
American. American Psychologist, 63(), –. https://doi.org/./-X.
..
Bregenzer, A., Milfelner, B., Šarotar Žižek, S., & Jiménez, P. (). Health-promoting
leadership and leaders’ listening skills have an impact on the employees’ job satisfac
tion and turnover intention. International Journal of Business Communication, 00, –.
https://doi.org/./
Buhin, L. (a). Multicultural counseling. In Y. Jackson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Multicul
tural Psychology (pp. –). Sage Publications.
Buhin, L. (b). Multicultural counseling competencies. In Y. Jackson (Ed.), Encyclopedia
of Multicultural Psychology (pp. –). Sage Publications.
Buhin-Krenek, L. (, July). Internationalizing undergraduate psychology curriculum and
teaching. In A. Mittelstädt Bridging cultures: Cultural diversity in a globalized world.
Paper presented at the conference of the International Association for Cross-cultural
Psychology, San José, Costa Rica.
Calderwood, K. A., & Rizzo, L. N. (). Co-creating a transformative learning environ
ment through the student-supervisor relationship: Results of a social work field place
ment duo-ethnography. Journal of Transformative Education, 21(1), .
https://doi.org/./
Larisa Buhin, Jules Moskovits
Clauss-Ehlers, C. S., Chiriboga, D. A., Hunter, S. J., Roysircar, G., & Tummala-Narra, P.
(). APA Multicultural Guidelines executive summary: Ecological approach to con
text, identity, and intersectionality. American Psychologist, 74(), –. https://
doi.org/./amp
Cranton, P. (). Teaching for transformation. New Directions for Adult and Continuing
Education, 2002(), –. https://doi.org/./ace.
Crenshaw, K. (). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist
critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. The
University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1998(1), –.
Dameron, M. L., Camp, A., Friedmann, B., & Parikh‐Foxx, S. (). Multicultural educa
tion and perceived multicultural competency of school counselors. Journal of Multicul
tural Counseling and Development, 48(), –. https://doi.org/./jmcd.
Damianakis, T., Barrett, B., Archer-Kuhn, B., Samson, P., Matin, S., & Ahern, C. ().
Teaching for transformation: Master of social work students identify teaching ap
proaches that made a dierence. Journal of Transformative Education, –. https://
doi.org/./
Debesay, J., Arora, S., & Fougner, M. (). Organisational culture and ethnic diversity in
nursing homes: A qualitative study of healthcare workers’ and ward nurses’ experi
ences. BMC Health Services Research, 22(), –. https://doi.org/./s-
--y
Dhala, M., & Johnson, S. (). Taking bell hooks on Zoom: Embodying feminist peda
gogy in a graduate theological classroom. Teaching Theology & Religion, 24(), –.
https://doi.org/./teth.
Estrada, A. U., Durlak, J. A., & Juarez, S. C. (). Developing multicultural counseling
competencies in undergraduate students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and De
velopment, 30, –. https://doi.org/./j.-..tb.x
Freire, P. (). Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition. The Continuum Inter
national Publishing Group Inc. (Original work published ).
García-Álvarez, J., Vázquez-Rodríguez, A., Quiroga-Carrillo, A., & Caamaño, D. P. ().
Transversal Competencies for Employability in University Graduates: A Systematic
Review from the Employers’ Perspective. Education Sciences, 12(), –. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.rit.edu/./educsci
Gay, G. (). Power pedagogy through cultural responsiveness. In Culturally Responsive
Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice. Teachers College Press.
Gay, G. (). The what, why, and how of culturally responsive teaching: International
mandates, challenges, and opportunities. Multicultural Education Review, 7(),
–. https://doi.org/./X..
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (). The weirdest people in the world? Behav
ioral and Brain Sciences, 33(), –. https://doi.org/./sxx
Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., Owen, J., Worthington, Jr., E. L., & Utsey, S. O. (). Cultural
humility: Measuring openness to culturally diverse clients. Journal of Counseling Psy
chology, 60(), –. https://doi.org/./a
Respect, Reect, Revise: Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a Globalized Classroom
Killick, D. (). The role of the hidden curriculum: Institutional messages of inclusivity.
Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 4(), –. https://doi.org/
./jpaap.vi.
Leask, B. (). Using Formal and Informal Curricula to Improve Interactions Between
Home and International Students. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(),
–. https://doi.org/./
Meeussen, L., Otten, S., & Phalet, K. (). Managing diversity: How leaders’ multicultur
alism and colorblindness aect work group functioning. Group Processes & Intergroup
Relations, 17(), –. https://doi.org/./
Nguyen, T. (). “Working Together with Dierence” in an Australian Multicultural
Workplace. International Journal of Sociology, 49(), –. ./..
Orón Semper, J. V., & Blasco, M. (). Revealing the hidden curriculum in higher educa
tion. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 37, –. https://doi.org/./s-
--
Pedersen, P. B. (). Multiculturalism and the paradigm shift in counselling: Controver
sies and alternative futures. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 35(), –.
Peltokorpi, V., & Froese, F. (). Expatriate personality and cultural fit: The moderating
role of host country context on job satisfaction. International Business Review, 23(),
–. https://doi.org/./j.ibusrev...
Pollet, T. V., & Saxton, T. K. (). How diverse are the samples used in the journals ‘Evolu
tion & Human Behavior’ and ‘Evolutionary Psychology’? Evolutionary Psychological
Science, 5, –. https://doi.org/./s---
Population Reference Bureau. (, October ). Distribution of the global population
, by continent [Chart]. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics//distri
bution-of-the-world-population-by-continent/
Rastas, A. (). The emergence of race as a social category in Northern Europe. In P.
Essed, K. Farquharson, E. J. White, & K. Pillay (Eds.), Relating Worlds of Racism: De-
humanization, Belonging and the Normativity of Whiteness (pp. –). Macmillan.
https://doi.org/./----
Ratts, M., Sing, A., Nassar-McMillan, S., Butler, S. K., & McCullough, J. R. (). Multicul
tural and social justice counseling competencies: Guidelines for the counseling pro
fession. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 44, –. https://doi.
org/./jmcd.
Schachner, M. K. (). From equality and inclusion to cultural pluralism – Evolution and
eects of cultural diversity perspectives in schools. European Journal of Developmental
Psychology, 16(), –. https://doi.org/./..
Schwarzenthal, M., Schachner, M. K., Juang, L. P., & van de Vijver, Fons J. R. (). Reap
ing the benefits of cultural diversity: Classroom cultural diversity climate and stu
dents’ intercultural competence. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50(), –.
https://doi.org/./ejsp.
Larisa Buhin, Jules Moskovits
Sue, D. W., Carter, R. T., Casas, J. M., Fouad, N. A., Ivey, A. E., Jensen, M., LaFromboise, T.,
Manese, J. E., Ponterotto, J. G., & Vasquez-Nutall, E. (). Multicultural counseling
competencies: Individual and organizational development. Sage Publications.
Sue, D. W., Gallardo, M. E., & Neville, H. A. (Eds.) (). Case Studies in Multicultural
Counseling and Therapy. Wiley.
Tweed, R. G., & Lehman, D. R. (). Learning considered within a cultural context: Con
fucian and Socratic approaches. American Psychologist, 57(), –. https://doi.org/
.//-x...
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (). Rethinking edu
cation: Towards a global common good? UNESCO Publishing.
Wisdom, S., Leavitt, L., & Bice, C. (Eds.) (). Handbook of Research on Social Inequality
and Education. IGI Global.
Appendix
Learning Outcomes and Corresponding Teaching Strategies
and Assignments
Learning Outcomes Teaching Strategies and Assignments
Explain theories of multicultural counseling, theo
ries of identity development, and social justice.
Case study presentations
Cultural identity presentation
Journaling
Lectures including student-led lectures
Research summaries
Discussions
Demonstrate an understanding of the ways in which
individual identities, worldviews, values, and biases
are shaped by multiple cultural inuences.
Maintaining a safe space
Case study presentations
Journaling
Research summaries
Discussions
Identify and explain the intersectionalities of one’s
own and others’ cultural identities.
Case study presentations
Journaling
Research summaries
Discussions
Discuss current theories and research related to the
impact of culture on our daily ecologies in local and
global contexts.
Case study presentations
Journaling
Lectures including student-led lectures
Research summaries
Discussions
Respect, Reect, Revise: Teaching Multicultural Competencies in a Globalized Classroom
Learning Outcomes Teaching Strategies and Assignments
Engage in intercultural contact with increased sensi
tivity and competence.
Maintaining a safe space
Case study presentations
Discussions
Critically evaluate psychologists’ role in eliminating
biases, prejudices, and processes of intentional and
unintentional oppression and discrimination.
Case study presentations
Journaling
Research summaries
Discussions
Engage in life-long development of cultural self-
awareness.
Co-construction of learning goals and assessments
Journaling
Discussions
Larisa Buhin, Jules Moskovits
Language Education as an Antecedent of
Management Careers: Findings from a Long-
Term Career Panel in Germany
H L, R L
Introduction
Business researchers increasingly acknowledge the importance of second and third
language acquisition for management careers. While research focusing on the connec
tion between language and management was scarce even twenty years ago, the last de
cades have seen a surge of interest in language-related topics (for summaries of the
main debates, see Karhunen et al. ; Tenzer et al., ). Initially, the main interest
was in cross-cultural management and international managers moving to foreign sub
sidiaries of multinational conglomerates where they need to connect with local staff or
customer bases (e. g., Caligiuri, ; Coulson-Thomas, ). But in the past few
years, there has been a growing awareness that multi-lingual staff has become a com
mon feature even in numerous small and medium-sized companies across the world
(Angouri & Piekkari, ). Furthermore, a native speaker who never left their home
country can nevertheless become a “linguistic expat” (Neeley, , p. ) in a work en
vironment with a dominant non-native language. This often takes place in the context
of corporate language mandates in large multinational corporations, particularly in the
form of an official mandate for English as the lingua franca of business (Komori-Glatz,
; Neeley & Dumas, ).
But multilingual challenges are not limited to large companies. In export-oriented
economies, even small and medium-sized firms are often confronted with different
language requirements—in their sales and service operations, for example (Crick,
). Additionally, individual employees increasingly have careers involving numer
ous changes between organizations, making language proficiency an asset to develop
and maintain for better job mobility throughout life (Pudelko & Tenzer, ). Accord
ingly, it is established in the literature that “the use of multiple languages [is] not lim
ited to expatriates, but [has] become a defining feature of workplaces today ... and the
significance of language skills in steering and shaping careers in st century organiza
tions [has] increased” (Itani et al., , pp. –).
Surprisingly little can be found on the implications of these new realities for the
important field of career planning (Gould, ). What choices should a proactive stu
Prof. Dr. Holger Luedeke, Touro University Berlin, A Campus of Touro University New York, USA, Department of Manage-
ment, Am Rupenhorn , Berlin, e-mail: hluedeke@berlin.touro.edu – Prof. Dr. Reinar Luedeke (em.), Universität
Passau, Lehrstuhl für Volkswirtschaftslehre mit Schwerpunkt Finanzwissenschaft, e-mail: reinar.luedeke@gmx.de
dent make when trying to anticipate the challenges of a career in specialized business
functions or general management? Should language education become a significant
part of undergraduate and graduate business electives, or is language proficiency a skill
better acquired in a career’s later phases? What are the chances and risks of an early
investment of time and resources in acquiring a foreign business language? This study
focuses on the potential advantages of academic foreign business language acquisition
in the career preparation phase of students in business and economics.
We argue and show empirically that early decisions concerning foreign language
specialization can have positive long-term effects on graduates’ careers. These positive
effects exist within clear limits, however, as there are potential drawbacks, too. On the
one hand, investment in language acquisition suffers from the unavoidable trade-off
between specificity and flexibility. Specific languages may even generate lock-in situa
tions in which language proficiency leads to being stuck in particular job functions,
e. g., in specialized communication or translation jobs or in a small number of organi
zational divisions that value a particular language. On the other hand, academic invest
ment in the most flexible language, English, is not automatically the superior option.
Since many organizations take fluent English for granted, proficiency does not offer a
competitive career advantage, particularly in more senior positions. Our long-term
findings show that the flexibility gained through an academic focus on English offers
the strongest advantages in the first years of a graduate’s career. After ten years, the
results on subjective and objective career success are mixed. In the long run, an initial
focus on learning business English has no additional positive impact on reaching se
nior management positions, at least not beyond the impact of language learning in
general.
The article is structured as follows: First, we will look the into theory of language
and careers and develop some propositions regarding the effectiveness of learning
business languages during the study of business and economics. Next, we introduce a
long-term career database that was originally created by the second author and contin
ued by the first author of this article. By following former graduates of business and
economics through nearly years of their respective careers, it is possible to test the
short-term and long-term effects of early language specialization. In a third step, we
present and interpret the empirical results, followed by a general discussion and an
outlook on the limitations of our research as well as further theoretical questions.
Theoretical Background
. Academic foreign language learning and subsequent career success
Command of multiple languages has become a key career skill (Bloch, ; Itani et al.,
), due to the increasingly common organizational reality of “[g]lobal expansion of
company activities, recruitment of an increasingly diverse workforce and access to new
A lock-in eect occurs when a transaction partner is stuck in a (potentially suboptimal) business or contractual situation
due to a specic investment that resulted in high costs of change (Williamson, ).
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers
markets” (Angouri & Piekkari, , p. ). That does not mean, however, that there is
no alternative to learning foreign languages early, i. e., during the (often academic) ca
reer preparation phase of upwardly mobile jobs. After graduates take a job, the human
resources departments of many large companies provide them with language training,
encourage them to persistently improve their foreign language skills, and offer exten
sive corporate language training to prepare them for international assignments (Neeley
& Kaplan, ; Piekkari & Westney, ).
The literature offers three arguments for why language specialization during aca
demic studies may still be an advantage: Firstly, many firms, particularly those with
international operations, practice language-sensitive recruiting, which means that only
applicants with sufficient language skills have a chance to enter promising career
tracks that will eventually lead to business travels, international customers and suppli
ers, or assignments abroad (Peltokorpi, ; Peltokorpi & Vaara, ). Language-sen
sitive recruiting is “the easiest and cheapest way to approach the language problem”
(Lester, , p. ), which makes language proficiency that has been acquired before
applying for a job very beneficial.
Secondly, the decision to learn foreign languages before it is a mandatory job re
quirement has a signaling function (Akerlof, ), distinguishing the truly motivated
and interested language learners from the rest. Personal initiative in language learning
serves as a quality signal, as it is assumed that those who are interested in mastering
several languages have hidden qualities such as cultural empathy and open-minded
ness (Hedlund, , p. ; Piekkari & Westney, ) or above-average levels of creativ
ity (Kharkhurin, ). Thirdly, high-level fluency is linked to status effects. Language
proficiency contributes to ascribed status, i. e., the respect and deference employees
enjoy due to ascribed durable characteristics (for a description of the link between sta
tus and language proficiency, see Neeley, ). In Europe, fluency in foreign lan
guages, especially English, serves as a status symbol that distinguishes “international
orientation” from “provincial orientation” (Prieur & Savage, ; see also Lueg & Lueg,
). Neeley has shown in her research that senior executives who lack proficiency in
languages essential for corporate communication may suffer a loss of status despite
their high levels of hierarchical formal authority and technical expertise (Neeley, ;
Neeley & Dumas, ). Switching confidently between languages in oral communica
tion is also considered part of a leader’s habitus, which is defined as distinguishing
behavior based on a “feel for the game … embodied and turned into a second nature”
(Bourdieu, , p. ). To fully create status effects, foreign language use must appear
natural and effortless; it should look neither bookish nor learned (Bourdieu, ). That
means that early language acquisition may create competitive advantages, as employ
ees are already able to demonstrate high language proficiency when they enter the
competitive arena of their corporate careers.
The three above-mentioned arguments (selective recruiting, signaling function,
and status effects) explain an early career advantage of language learning. We assume
that the challenges of multilingual environments stay relevant or become even more
pressing when careers develop into senior management roles. In export-oriented
Holger Luedeke, Reinar Luedeke
economies, higher levels of responsibility are unavoidably linked to greater involve
ment with international customers and foreign subsidiaries. Hartmann () has cal
culated that % of the CEOs in Germany’s largest corporations were promoted to the
highest position only after they proved themselves in career phases abroad (p. ). In
managerial jobs, the tasks of communication, coordination, and decision-making have
high priority (Mintzberg, ). International business research has demonstrated that
in many industries and types of organizations, some of the main communication and
coordination tasks of senior management profit from higher language proficiency
(e. g., Angouri & Piekkari, ; Piekkari & Westney, ; Pudelko et al., ). Deci
sion-making in multilingual firms improves when managers are not forced to focus on
barely understood foreign languages because having to focus on intelligibility when
business decisions should be at the forefront creates unnecessary distraction (Tenzer
et al., ).
Overall, academic language acquisition as an investment in human capital
(Becker, ) can therefore be expected to show positive effects during business grad
uates’ career development, which leads to our first proposition:
Proposition 1: Foreign business language education is associated with career success.
. Flexibility and Specicity in Language Acquisition
Education and training as investments in human capital can result either in general
skills that are easily transferable between workplaces or in firm-specific skills that
create high value under current employment conditions but are harder to apply if em
ployees move to other firms (Becker, ). For employees, the problem with firm-spe
cific skills is that they decrease their external job mobility, as switching to other firms
leads to a loss of value in some part of their own human capital. This causes employees
to avoid firm-specific investments, especially since they often expect not to get ade
quately compensated for their loss of flexibility (Coff & Raffiee, ; Wang & Barney,
). In an era of the “boundaryless career” (Sullivan & Arthur, ), with increasing
job mobility and less reliance on long-term employment, language acquisition is per
ceived as a human capital investment in general skills, increasing the capacity to switch
smoothly between a larger number of employers (Itani et al., ; Pudelko et al., ).
In this logic, the number of potential employers grows with every additional language
learned. However, this only fully applies if the employee is willing to move geographi
cally, thereby switching between different language areas. If geographical mobility is
low and/or counteracted by strong preferences for certain locations, the language ad
vantage of higher flexibility may not hold. Decreased mobility is a typical development
with growing age in later career stages (Groot & Verberne, ; Veiga, ), and
strong location preferences can be observed even among highly mobile top managers
(Yonker, ). For employees who are less mobile, specializing in a less common lan
Since we have established broad theoretical mechanisms that we test in several phases of the career cycle, we develop
general propositions. Detailed hypotheses on the dierential impact of language education, e. g., the eect on perceived
managerial discretion compared to the eect on perceived potential for promotion, have not been developed yet.
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers
guage may limit their employment opportunities. To maintain full flexibility, one solu
tion is to specialize in business English. English is the lingua franca of business all
around the world, and it is used in most internationally operating firms—even those
located in countries with other national languages (Gerritsen & Nickerson, ; Jen
kins et al., ). This turns a specialization in business English into the most general
human capital investment of all language specializations.
Proficiency in business English also has disadvantages, which are linked to its
general applicability: Due to its obvious utility value, there is a large labor pool of em
ployees able to fluently communicate in English. Accordingly, this competency is un
likely to generate a rare competitive career advantage. Furthermore, excellence in busi
ness English may not be rewarded. To be more inclusive and to encourage participa
tion from employees, many firms stress that English as a corporate language does not
have to be spoken at an advanced level. The CEO of the large international corporation
ABB even publicly described the chosen corporate language as “bad English” (Tenzer &
Pudelko, , p. ). In interviews with top managers from Germany, Ehrenreich
() was informed by some CEOs that “[a] manager must speak English, it’s not a
matter of how well or badly, he must simply speak … [and native speaker proficiency in
English is] unrealistic [and] unnecessary from a cost-benefit point of view” (p. ). It is
therefore possible that the general applicability of business English reduces the career
value of proficiency in other foreign languages.
Since theory in this largely unexplored field hints at contradictory effects of ad
vanced business English, we suggest two competing propositions:
Proposition 2a: Early foreign business language acquisition is more effective for ca
reer success when focused on business English.
Proposition 2b: Early foreign business language acquisition is less effective for ca
reer success when focused on business English.
The Study
The panel data that we use to test our proposition is the result of a long-term research
project that the second author initiated at the University of Passau, Germany.
. Sample characteristics: A unique longitudinal career panel
a) The main panel project (1989–2003)
The initial panel research had an economic focus on the financial returns of tertiary
education and was undertaken together with the late Gerhard Kleinhenz, former direc
tor of the Research Institute of the German National Labor Agency (Institut für Arbeits
markt- und Berufsforschung). The research took fifteen years and followed four co
horts of management and economics graduates at Passau University through their
early career development from to (for a description, see Lüdeke & Allinger,
Holger Luedeke, Reinar Luedeke
; Lüdeke et al., ). As part of a special data collection of German university re
cords in business and management programs (Sonderauswertung), characteristics of
the cluster sample (like the average age of graduates, average grades, and duration of
studies) were checked for deviations from the overall population of German university
students in the respective fields (Lüdeke & Beckmann, ): The authors did not find
anything pointing to a lack of statistical representativeness.
The structure of the career panel survey resembles that of the German Socio-Eco
nomic Panel (Goebel et al., ): A regular set of questions covers annual changes in
income, work hours, job changes, and other details of the work situation. This is com
plemented by one-time in-depth explorations of relevant topics. The career panel sur
vey’s main indicators were annual income, job situation, and subjective job satisfac
tion. The focus of the in-depth explorations was on the transition into the first job, the
importance of language education, job mobility, the meaning of further on-the-job
training and additional academic studies after graduation, and finally, a self-report on
acquired knowledge as well as management and leadership skills, in particular the con
tribution of academic studies to the proficiency level reached. The surveys were sent by
mail in (bi-)annual waves. Overall, the cohorts participated in six to eight survey waves.
Probably due to the graduates’ emotional attachment to their alma mater and the per
sonal involvement of some of their former professors in data collection, the panel en
joyed extraordinary levels of support. Even after ten years, more than % of all sur
veyed graduates responded, whereas half of this response rate is considered “unusually
high” in comparable German research (Allinger, , pp. –). The panel started
with participants, led to a database with more than , person-years of data on
many relevant job characteristics, and resulted in several publications (e. g., Lüdeke &
Allinger, ; Lüdeke & Allinger, ; Lüdeke & Beckmann, ).
b) Updates on the transition into senior management positions (2008/2012/2016/2021)
In , after years, the initial panel was completed. While the data had facilitated
several research projects, the time and resources necessary to keep track of more than
highly mobile graduates proved to be demanding. Continuous updating of the ad
dress lists, tracking of name changes, sending mail surveys and follow-up letters, in
putting the regularly incoming answers, maintaining and updating separate databases
under strict data privacy conditions—all of this was costly and required considerable
administrative resources. Nevertheless, the idea of overcoming the typical short-term
scope of career databases led to a continuation of the panel project under the direction
of the first author, and on a level that promised a substantial reduction in workload
while maintaining the longitudinal outlook. The career panel was narrowed down to
one aspect (transition into senior management functions), research switched to exter
nal databases, and panel survey waves got restricted to selected cut-off years in the sec
ond and third decade of the graduates’ careers (, , and ). In /, we
will finish the research project with a last management career exploration of the third
and fourth panel cohorts, having collected nearly years of career data on all four
cohorts of the panel.
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers
Transition into senior management functions is tracked through external man
agement databases: the Hoppenstedt (later: Dun and Bradstreet) Management Direc
tory/Managerdatenbank, the Firmenwissen/Creditreform database, and the Money
house/Companyhouse registry. Since our main databases do not systematically track
international careers outside of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, we also searched
global business-related social networks and registries (LinkedIn, Xing, and Zoom In
formation/Zoom Info). A search for career data based on names, year of graduation,
date of birth, and the last known place of residence led to the identification of the ca
reers of panelists ( %). For panelists who were registered only in our searched
management databases in later waves, we also retrospectively updated the career data of
former cut-off years. To make sure that we had not overlooked management careers due
to name changes, we searched the remaining panelists on the search engine Google.
Finding them online but not in the management databases led to a coding of (= not
following a managerial career track). For the panelists identified in business databases,
we recorded the number of employees and sales of the organization where they
worked, as well as their official job title and business function.
. Variables and Methods
Independent Variables
Academic Language Education and English Part of Education
The University of Passau pioneered the idea of combined language and management
studies in Germany, being one of the first universities to offer a business degree with
training and/or exam options in a variety of business language specializations. The lan
guage choices available here today include not only the most common languages like
Spanish, French, and English, but also a number of less common language specializa
tions like Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Italian, or Portuguese. The career panel took this
pedagogical approach into account by regularly surveying graduates on the learned lan
guages’ importance and practical usefulness in their work lives. Three years after grad
uation, respondents were asked to indicate a) which foreign languages they spoke at the
end of their studies, b) which language specializations they had chosen, and c) which
level of specialization they had pursued, as language studies could be chosen on three
levels with advancing expertise and duration. The variable Academic Language Educa
tion ranged from (= no academic education in this language) to (= highest level of
academic education in this language). English Part of Education is an indicator variable
(with = academic education in business English).
Dependent Variables
Due to the long-term orientation of the panel data, we could track indicators for objec
tive and subjective career success in different career phases.
Holger Luedeke, Reinar Luedeke
Job Interview and Job Oers
In the first year after graduation, respondents were asked about several possible contri
buting factors that helped them get invitations for job interviews, as well as reasons
why they received their first job offer. Receiving invitations is the first success measure
in a multi-stage hiring process (Obukhova & Lan, ). The dummy variable Job Inter
view indicates whether a respondent reported that foreign language proficiency contrib
uted to getting job interviews. The dummy variable Job Offer indicates that a respon
dent named foreign language proficiency as a reason for getting their first job.
Managerial Discretion and Potential for Promotion
At the end of the first decade after graduation (in panel years –, depending on the
cohort), respondents were asked for a number of subjective evaluations of their career
situation and career success, to be answered on a scale from (= completely true) to
(= not true at all). We used reversed scores for our independent variables, with as
the maximum value to allow for a more intuitive interpretation since higher values in
this system mean stronger agreement. Managerial Discretion is a respondent’s evalua
tion of the extent to which the current job position offers opportunities to assume re
sponsibility for leadership and coordination tasks. Potential for Promotion is the respon
dents’ evaluation of the extent to which their current job position offers potential for
further promotion into higher ranks.
Usefulness of Language
At the end of the first decade after graduation (in panel years –, depending on the
cohort), respondents were asked to evaluate the perceived usefulness of academic lan
guage education for their subsequent career on a -level scale, with = not very useful,
= useful, and = very useful.
Income
At the end of the first decade, we used the last three self-reported annual income values
to calculate the average income of a graduate. Income is calculated as the mean of the
natural logarithm for each of the three income values (recorded in Deutsche Mark in
thousands).
Senior Executive and Top Management
From the career panel in the second and third career decades, we created indicator vari
ables that show whether a graduate worked in a senior management position. To iden
tify the positions, we used the measurement levels offered by the business databases.
Top management is a dummy variable indicating that a panelist is assigned the function
of top manager (chief executive title) or vice-president with budget control, reporting
directly to the CEO. Additionally, the person must be in charge of a large organization
with either more than employees or more than million euros in annual sales.
Senior Executive is a dummy variable indicating that a panelist is either assigned a top
management position or a middle management position. We identified a panelist as a
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers
middle manager if the person met the following definition: Position is Director or Head
of Department in large corporations (> employees or > million Euros in annual
sales), or alternatively CEO, CFO (including authorized officers, the so-called “Einzel
prokuristen”), COO, CIO, or another top executive in medium-sized corporations
(– employees or – million euros in annual sales).
Controls
We controlled for additional influences known to have an impact on objective and sub
jective career success. Male is an indicator variable for gender, with = respondent is
male. Age at Graduation measures age differences between respondents. Due to the
strong correlation of a respondent’s age with the additional control variables Years since
graduation (ranging from to ) and Year of Wave (the year in which the dependent
variable was assessed, ranging from to ), we measured the age at the time of
graduation as an invariant value. As students from different cohorts were surveyed in
different years and different phases of their post-graduate career, we added Years since
graduation and Year of Wave as a control to every model. Due to space limitations, the
coefficients of these adjustments are not reported in our final Models –. Length of
Studies is a count variable for the number of semesters it took the graduate to complete
their studies.
In year t = after graduation, respondents were asked to indicate what sort of in
ternational experience they had gained before graduation and how long they stayed in
which country. Corporate Stays Abroad is a dummy variable indicating that a language
spoken by a respondent was matched by an internship or student job abroad, which led
to at least one month spent in the respective language zone (the average length of a
work experience abroad was half a year). Local student is an indicator variable, with
= student lived not more than kilometers from the university before studying. Lo
cal students are known to differ from other students in some career-relevant respects
(Konrad et al., ). Marketing Specialization and Finance Specialization is also an indi
cator variable, with = respondent specialized in Marketing (Finance) in the diploma
subject choices. Marketing and Finance specialists often differ in their early career
paths from others (Mintzberg, ). Control variables on specialization and local ori
gin were calculated from university administration data. Due to the use of variables
from different panel waves and cohorts, each model’s sample size differs. Therefore,
the sample size is reported for every model in addition to the model fit.
Estimation
We tested our propositions on eight different measures of objective and subjective ca
reer success in different career phases. To ensure ease of comparison and interpreta
tion of the results, we used linear regression models with robust standard errors for
interval- and ratio-scaled dependent variables and linear probability models with robust
standard errors for indicator variables (for advantages and limits of this procedure, see,
e. g., Obukhova & Lan, ). As a robustness check, we additionally tested the Models
, , , and with logit regression models, and model as an ordered logit regression
model (Winship & Mare, ). The results were essentially unchanged. In Models to
Holger Luedeke, Reinar Luedeke
, the data has a multilevel structure: at the lowest level, it consists of foreign languages
spoken by a graduate, nested in graduates. Therefore, all regression models used stan
dard errors clustered by persons. Since we were not interested in random between-
person effects, we preferred clustered standard errors over multilevel regression mod
els. In research contexts like ours, clustered standard errors are advantageous to deal
with nested data structures, as they rely on fewer statistical assumptions than the
multi-level alternatives (McNeish et al., ). In Models and , we estimated a two-
step regression to reflect that the graduates were (self-)selected into managerial career
paths first, and then some of the managers made progress into senior management
ranks. The sample consists of n = , person-years.
To estimate in a first step who made it onto the managerial career track, a logit
regression was run to predict who would be on the managerial career track after ten
years. The value was not only assigned to the future senior executives, but also to
every graduate who had self-reported at least one year with managerial responsibility
(“Geschäftsführung”) within the first ten years, and to everyone who indicated in the
last career survey of the first decade that their managerial discretion or promotion
potential was high ( on a scale from to ). The results can be found in the lower part
of Table . Although the results for selection into the managerial career track should be
essentially identical for Models and , they are estimated separately and simultane
ously with the estimation of the subsequent senior management careers. Due to this,
slight differences can appear that are statistically insignificant and become visible
mainly in the second decimal place. We left both results in the table, although it would
have been possible (but less accurate) to only illustrate one of the two estimation results
in the lower part of Table .
With regard to the % of graduates who were identified as being on a managerial
career track, we estimated, in a second step, who would fill senior management ranks
in the second and third decade after graduation, i. e., in the years , , or .
One alternative possibility to our approach would have been to run a regression only on
those % of the overall sample that were still on the career track for further promo
tion, to see how they develop further. The problem is that estimates focusing only on
this smaller group will be biased if there are any unobserved factors that influence both
whether someone is on a managerial career track after ten years and whether someone
is actually promoted into senior management later on. In our context, several possible
and unmeasured impact factors come to mind that could influence the move into man
agement and senior management positions: the graduates’ ambition, their interest in
work-life balance, their soft skills, etc. To adjust for possible estimation biases, we have
implemented an extended linear regression model with two-stage selection. The upper
part of the table, which is the most relevant one for our hypotheses, can be interpreted
as the effects of the independent variables for everyone in the sample, as if the whole
sample population was on a managerial career track (Statacorp. ). Due to missing
The extended regression model uses the results of both the rst step (lower part) and second step (upper part) regression
by allowing for correlated error terms between the two regression models. This way, the second-step regression in the
upper part of the table is essentially a regression run on those on a managerial career track but includes the rest of the
sample through the adjustment of coecients by accounting for the correlated error terms (Statacorp. ).
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers
values, the sample sizes for the eight statistical models differ; they are indicated at the
bottom of the statistical tables. For all estimations, we used the software Stata and the
procedures regress and eregress.
. Results
Our first proposition assumed a positive association between academic language learn
ing and subsequent career success. The model results point to a positive relationship
that varies over time (see Table ).
Table : Language Education and Career Progress, Panel Data on the First Decade After Graduation
(–; cohorts, waves of (bi-)annual mail surveys)
EARLY TRANSITION
INTO JOB END OF FIRST DECADE
Job Interviews
(Year )
Job Oers
(Year )
Usefulness
of Lang. Edu.
(Years –)
Income
Eect
(Years –)
Managerial
Discretion
(–)
Potential for
Promotion
(–)
Acad.Language Educ.(P) .** .** .** . –.* –.
(.) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.)
English Part of Acad. .** .** –.* –. .+ –.
Educ.(P) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.)
Male –. –. –.+ .** .* .*
(.) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.)
Age at Graduation –. –.+ –. –.** –. –.
(.) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.)
Length of Studies . –. –. –.* –. –.+
(.) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.)
Local Students –.* . . –. . –.*
(.) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.)
Corp.Stays Abroad .* .* . .+ .+ .*
(.) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.)
Marketing Spec. –. –. . –.+ –. –.
(.) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.)
Finance Spec. –. –. –. –. –. .
(.) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.)
Intercept .+ .+ .** .** .* .*
(.) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.)
Dummy Variables for dierent cohorts and dierent survey years included in all models
Sample Size n = n = n = n = n = n =
Model Fit (RMSE) , , , , , ,
Linear Regression Models with robust standard errors, ** p < ., * p < . + p < .
Holger Luedeke, Reinar Luedeke
The association between academic language learning and career success is unequivo
cally positive in the first years after graduation. Academic language education increases
invitations to job interviews (+., p < . in Model ) and leads to more job offers
(+., p < . in Model ) due to language proficiency. Even at the end of the first
decade, the most committed language learners tended to confirm more than others
that academic language education was useful in careers (+., p < . in Model ).
However, this perceived usefulness is not reflected in objective results like significant
income gains (+., n. s. in Model ). Instead, academic language learners lag signifi
cantly behind in perceived managerial responsibility (–., p < . in Model ) and do
not have a higher self-evaluated promotion potential (–., n. s. in Model ) in their
jobs. The negative impact is replicated in Models and : academic language education
contributes negatively to the chance of being on a managerial career track (–.,
p < . in Models and ).
Table : Senior Management Careers in The Second and Third Decade After Graduation (–, Waves,
, , )
Senior Executive ( %) Top Management ( %)
Model Model
Acad.Language Educ.(P) . .**
(.) (.)
English Part of Acad. –.** –.
Educ. (P) (.) (.)
# Years since graduation . .
(.) (.)
Year of Wave –. –.
(.) (.)
Male .** .**
(.) (.)
Selection into Managerial Career Track End of First Decade ( %)
Acad.Language Educ. –.** –.**
(.) (.)
English Part of Acad. Educ. –. –.
(.) (.)
Corp.Stays Abroad .** .**
(.) (.)
Male .** .**
(.) (.)
Age at Graduation . .
(.) (.)
Length of Studies –.** –.**
(.) (.)
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers
(Continuing table2)
Senior Executive ( %) Top Management ( %)
Model Model
Local Student . .
(.) (.)
Marketing Spec. –.** –.**
(.) (.)
Finance Spec. –. –.
(.) (.)
Career Timeout in First Decade –.** –.**
(.) (.)
Sample Size n = n =
Model Fit (Wald Chi Square) .** .**
Extended Linear Regression Model with two stage selection and robust S. E., ** p < ., * p < . + p < .
Interestingly enough, regarding the most prestigious and influential positions in top
management ranks, language education once again has a positive impact (+.,
p < . in Model ). Conditional on making it onto the managerial career track (which
appears to be less likely to happen for academic language learners), language education
does help in rising to the highest ranks. This result applies to the overall population and
is already adjusted for the pre-selection effect of language education, which makes it
harder to get onto the managerial career track in the first place. The marginal effect
calculation (implemented with margins in Stata) shows that, with all else being equal, if
all the participants in our sample had increased their academic language education by
one standard deviation (+.), % more top managers could be expected in the sam
ple after some decades (marginal effect = ., %CI [.; .]).
Our second proposition stated that learning a commonly spoken language like
English leads to more flexibility and, thus, to higher subsequent career success. Busi
ness English is well received by employers during the transition into an employee’s
first job (+., p < . in job interviews/Model ; +., p < . in job offers/Model
). At the end of the decade, there is no longer a visible effect of English specialization
on income (–., n. s. in Model ), and a subsequent strong negative effect on manag
ers’ upward mobility into senior management positions (–.,p < . in Model ).
This negative effect is driven by middle management positions linked to small and me
dium sized firms, and by functions like controlling or financial supervision. Only for
top management positions, there is no negative impact of early specialization in Eng
lish (–., n. s. in Model ) that would go above and beyond the general positive effect
of language specialization independent of the language acquired.
At the same time, academic English learners have an above-average perception of the managerial discretion achieved, but
that does not seem to aect the transition into managerial career tracks.
Holger Luedeke, Reinar Luedeke
Discussion
It has been established in research that the rise of global careers with high job mobility
makes it necessary for employees to take responsibility for their own development of
knowledge, skills, and abilities (Sullivan & Arthur, ). But little is known about what
that means in particular for foreign language learning. What impact on subsequent job
performance does career planning in the form of business language acquisition in
higher education have? Research on the importance of language proficiency for job
performance is either purely conceptual (Bloch, ; Piekkari, ) or cross-sectional
in its empirical design (Itani et al., ; Latukha et al., ). The important dimension
of time inherent in early language learning and later career returns has not been ex
plored much. However, research on sustainable careers shows that career trajectories
should be analyzed from a long-term perspective (De Vos et al., ). What constitutes
an advantage in the short run can turn into a disadvantage in other career phases (De
Vos et al., , p. ). Additionally, career trajectories are sometimes defined by cumu
lative advantage, such that “small advantages or disadvantages at an early stage of a
process grow larger over time” (DiPrete & Eirich, , p. ). To make sure that
evolving dynamics of this kind are not overlooked, longitudinal research is necessary.
We use a unique and proprietary database with data on the career evolution of
former German business graduates over three decades to explore the advantages and
limits of academic business language learning. First, we have discovered and acknowl
edged a dynamic relationship between academic language education and objective as
well as subjective career success. Academic language specialization contributes to early
success—such as quickly finding a first job—and even more than two decades after
graduation, the advantages of early language learning are still apparent in the way that
our panel respondents are more likely to gain and maintain top management posi
tions. However, in the long phase between initial job success and senior management
ranks, academic language specialization seems to lead to career paths that keep average
panelists stuck in positions where their language proficiency proves useful, but which
also tend to come with below-average managerial responsibility. Even among those
who make it onto managerial career tracks in later career phases, academic language
specialization only plays a role in the highest senior ranks of top management. This
could be cautiously interpreted as evidence that the relationship between managerial
discretion and the career advantage of academic language learning might follow a U-
form: On the lowest levels of managerial discretion, such as entry-level positions or
functional jobs with strong language requirements (e. g., export or service), advanced
second language proficiency offers a competitive advantage. In the highest senior posi
tions, where international representation and a distinguished leadership habitus make
advanced second and third language proficiency attractive again, academic language
training can be a career advantage as well. In midcareer phases, however, the potential
advantage of early language specialization offers the smallest positive contribution or
may even contribute to lock-ins that keep employees in positions with little upward
mobility. Furthermore, other skills may be valued more in middle management posi
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers
tions, in small and medium-sized firms, and in finance and controlling functions. Sim
ilar curvilinear patterns have also been found for other assets (like social capital), which
are considered relevant for upward mobility (McDonald & Mair, ).
Additionally, our study theorized on the potential problem of learning less com
mon languages as an aspect of career preparation, which may lead to limited job mobil
ity. We found that a supposed solution to this problem—the most flexible language
specialization (business English as a lingua franca)—led to mixed career results. It
seems that learning English as a part of higher education offers advantages in the early
stages of a career but loses its importance in later years. On the one hand, graduates
who had made English part of their studies were well-regarded by potential employers
in their early careers. In later decades, though, this led to disadvantages for employees
on a managerial career track trying to move up to middle management positions. To
add a speculative thought, improving one’s English on the job may be regarded as a
mandatory prerequisite for everyone aspiring to senior positions, so that advanced Eng
lish skills offer no additional career advantage in this phase. While English proficiency
gained in academic business programs has no influence on upward mobility into top
management positions, it constrains middle management careers. This could be due to
the strong reliance on technical skills in fields like finance, accounting, or controlling,
which are linked to our set of middle management positions. A preference for func
tional expertise might make an English language specialization look like a missed op
portunity to advance technical skills in other electives. However, for those moving up to
the most senior positions with more representative tasks, advanced language skills
(whether English or other languages) pay off again.
Limitations and outlook
Our research followed the call for “greater attention to potential new data sources”
(Tenzer et al., , p. ) linking the topics of language and management. While we
gained several new insights, we also had to acknowledge the limits of many career data
bases. For example, we do not know the main causal logic of some developments: Why
does learning English in university have a potentially negative impact on middle man
agement ranks? Is it because English as a lingua franca can be learned on the job by
everyone as a byproduct of working in an internationally diverse environment, making
academic investments wasteful? Or is it due to the fact that employers neither expect
nor want their employees to speak excellent business English because this might scare
away less proficient employees and contradict the inclusive idea of English as a corpo
rate language (Ehrenreich, )? Qualitative interviews with employees in their mid-
and late-career years could help to differentiate between competing causal claims that
might play a role in the career tendencies we have documented.
Additionally, it would be helpful to learn more about the agency behind career
moves. Are the career outcomes that we observed solely the results of competitive pro
cesses between employees who use their qualifications to improve their position on the
Holger Luedeke, Reinar Luedeke
labor market, or do they partially reflect different levels of ambition and career focus?
While we included some controls (e. g., the timeout in the first ten years as a control for
varying work-life balance or the length of studies), future research would benefit from
more insight into the connection between language choices and career ambition.
Another promising research subject is the interplay of language training and work
experience in assignments abroad. Our research controlled for corporate stays abroad
in order to separate the effects of language training from other types of experience with
foreign languages. However, it is possible that the two aspects are mutually reinforcing
over time. Language training may increase the willingness to take assignments abroad,
while international experience could make language training more promising and
more effective. How exactly such a moderating relationship evolves over time could be
of high practical relevance for career research.
While our unique longitudinal setting allowed us to observe long-term develop
ments, it also led to further research questions as mixed results and unexpectedly com
plex relationships emerged. Such results are a good reminder of the importance of lon
gitudinal data. Too many alumni surveys are either cross-sectional or cover only a few
years after graduation, barring insights into the influence of job experience on attitude
changes. The full impact of academic qualifications may only become visible with
growing job responsibilities. Furthermore, top management research on academic in
fluences in later career stages (e. g., Crossland et al., ) has a survivor bias that only
investigates the consequences of early qualifications among subsequently successful
managers. For example, only asking the top managers in our sample after twenty years
about the impact of academic language learning would most likely have led to an un
equivocally positive evaluation that masks the underlying complexities and ignores the
equally successful language learners who did not make it into the senior management
sample. Additionally, selective insights from top management about their early aca
demic paths would constitute a memory of past events, adding to the likelihood of
biased results (Pierret, ).
Only in our longitudinal setting can we detect the possibility of an early lock-in
into language-sensitive functions and organizational responsibilities that leads to an
ideal person-job fit and early success but also inhibits subsequent job mobility—a con
straint also observed in other fields of career research (Sirén et al., ). Longitudinal
research that patiently follows managers through different phases of their careers has
the best chance to generate unbiased results. Unfortunately, due to the immense re
source and time investment, such databases are exceedingly rare. Developing and uti
lizing additional longitudinal data will contribute to a more balanced understanding of
career transitions.
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers
References
Akerlof, G. A. (). The market for „lemons“: Quality uncertainty and the market mecha
nism. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84(), –. https://doi.org/./
Allinger, H. J. (). Geschlechtsspezifische Einkommensdierenzierung und -diskriminierung:
Theoretische und empirische Untersuchungen über den Einfluß von Präferenzen, Produkti
vität und Diskriminierung auf das weibliche Arbeitseinkommen. Institut für Arbeits
markt- und Berufsforschung der Bundesanstalt für Arbeit.
Angouri, J., & Piekkari, R. . Organising multilingually: Setting an agenda for studying
language at work. European Journal of International Management, 12(–), –. https://
doi.org/./EJIM..
Becker, G. S. (). Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Refer
ence to Education. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/./chicago/
..
Bloch, B. (). Career enhancement through foreign language skills. International Jour
nal of Career Management, 7(), –. https://doi.org/./
Bourdieu, P. (). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Harvard Univer
sity Press.
Caligiuri, P. (). Developing global leaders. Human Resource Management Review, 16(),
–. https://doi.org/./j.hrmr...
Co, R., & Raee, J. (). Towards a theory of perceived firm-specific human capital. The
Academy of Management Perspectives, 29(), –. https://doi.org/./amp.
.
Coulson-Thomas, C. (). Creating the Global Company: Successful Internationalization.
McGraw-Hill.
Crick, D. (). An investigation into SMEs’ use of languages in their export operations.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 5(), –.
Crossland, C., Zyung, J., Hiller, N., & Hambrick, D. (). CEO career variety: Eects on
firm-level strategic and social novelty. Academy of Management Journal, 57(), –.
https://doi.org/./amj..
de Vos, A., van der Heijden, B., & Akkermans, J. (=. Sustainable careers: Towards a
conceptual model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 117, –. https://doi.org/./
j.jvb...
DiPrete, T. A., & Eirich, G. M. (). Cumulative advantage as a mechanism for inequality:
A review of theoretical and empirical developments. Annual Review of Sociology, 32,
–. https://doi.org/./annurev.soc...
Ehrenreich, S. (). English as a business lingua franca in a german multinational corpo
ration-Meeting the challenge. Journal of Business Communication, 47(), –.
https://doi.org/./
Gerritsen, M., & Nickerson, C. (). BELF: Business English As a Lingua Franca. Edin
burgh University Press. https://doi.org/./-
Holger Luedeke, Reinar Luedeke
Goebel, J., Grabka, M. M., Liebig, S., Kroh, M., Richter, D., Schröder, C., & Schupp, J.
(). The German socio-economic panel (SOEP). Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie
und Statistik, 239(), –. https://doi.org/./jbnst--
Gould, S. (). Characteristics of career planners in upwardly mobile occupations. Acad
emy of Management Journal, 22(), –. https://doi.org/./
Groot, W., & Verberne, M. (). Aging, job mobility, and compensation. Oxford Economic
Papers, 49(), –. https://doi.org/./oxfordjournals.oep.a
Hartmann, M. (). Die globale Wirtschaftselite: Eine Legende. Campus Verlag.
Hedlund, G. (). The hypermodern MNC: A heterarchy? Human Resource Management,
25(), –. https://doi.org/./hrm.
Itani, S., Järlström, M., & Piekkari, R. (). The meaning of language skills for career
mobility in the new career landscape. Journal of World Business, 50(), –.
https://doi.org/./j.jwb...
Jenkins, J., Baker, W., & Dewey, M. (). The Routledge Handbook of English As a Lingua
Franca. Routledge. https://doi.org/./
Karhunen, P., Kankaanranta, A., Louhiala‐Salminen, L., & Piekkari, R. (). Let’s talk
about language: A review of language‐sensitive research in international manage
ment. Journal of Management Studies, 55(), –. https://doi.org/./
joms.
Kharkhurin, A. V. (). Bilingualism and Creativity, In W. E. Wright, S. Boun & O. Garcia
(Eds.), The Handbook of Bilingual and Multilingual Education (pp. –). Wiley.
https://doi.org/./.ch
Komori-Glatz, M. (). Conceptualising English as a business lingua franca. European
Journal of International Management, 12(–), –. https://doi.org/./
EJIM..
Konrad, K. A., Künemund, H., Lommerud, K. E., & Robledo, J. R. (). Geography of the
family. American Economic Review, 92(), –. https://doi.org/./
Latukha, M., Doleeva, A., Järlström, M., Jokinen, T., & Piekkari, R. (). Does corporate
language influence career mobility? Evidence from MNCs in Russia. European Man
agement Journal, 34(), –. https://doi.org/./j.emj...
Lester, T. (). Pulling down the language barrier. International Management, 49(), –.
Lüdeke, H., & Allinger, H. (). Zeig mir deine Freunde und ich sag dir, wer du bist – Ein
empirischer Test zur Berücksichtigung der Akteursheterogenität in der Sozialkapital
forschung. Schmalenbachs Zeitschrift für betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung, 69(), –.
https://doi.org/./s---y
Lüdeke, R., & Allinger, H. J. (). Erfolgsfaktor Bildung: Theoretische und empirische
Untersuchungen über den Einfluss universitärer Bildung auf das Erwerbseinkom
men. In H. Wildemann (Ed.), Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung (pp. –).
TCW.
Lüdeke, R., & Beckmann, K. (). Die Passauer Absolventenstudie ʻWirtschaftswissen
schaftenʼ: Leistungsindikatoren (Noten), Einkommensniveaus, Einkommensprofile
und Einkommensbarwerte. In R. K. v. Weizsäcker (Ed.), Bildung und Beschäftigung
(pp. –). Duncker & Humblot.
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers
Lüdeke, R., Kleinhenz, G., & Becker, A. (). Berufsverlauf Passauer Diplomkaufleute
und -volkswirte. Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Studium, 6, –.
Lueg, K., & Lueg, R. (). Why do students choose english as a medium of instruction? A
bourdieusian perspective on the study strategies of non-native english speakers. Acad
emy of Management Learning & Education, 14(), –. https://doi.org/./amle.
.
McDonald, S., & Mair, C. (). Social capital across the life course: Age and gendered
patterns of network resources. Sociological Forum, 25(), –. https://doi.org/
./j.-...x
McNeish, D., Stapleton, L., & Silverman, R. (). On the unnecessary ubiquity of hier
archical linear modeling. Psychological Methods, 22(), –. https://doi.org/
./met
Mintzberg, H. (). Mintzberg on Management. Free Press.
Mintzberg, H. (). Managers not MBAs: A Hard Look At the Soft Practice of Managing and
Management Development. Berrett-Koehler.
Neeley, T. (). The Language of Global Success. Princeton University Press. https://
doi.org/./
Neeley, T., & Kaplan, R. S. (). Whatʼs your language strategy? Harvard Business Review,
92(), –.
Neeley, T. B. (). Language matters: Status loss and achieved status distinctions in global
organizations. Organization Science, 24(), –. https://doi.org/./orsc..
Neeley, T. B., & Dumas, T. L. (). Unearned status gain: Evidence from a global language
mandate. Academy of Management Journal, 59(), –. https://doi.org/./amj.
.
Obukhova, E., & Lan, G. (). Do job seekers benefit from contacts? A direct test with
contemporaneous searches. Management Science, 59(10), –. https://doi.org/
./mnsc..
Peltokorpi, V. (). Absorptive capacity in foreign subsidiaries: The eects of language-
sensitive recruitment, language training, and interunit knowledge transfer. Interna
tional Business Review, 26(), –. https://doi.org/./j.ibusrev...
Peltokorpi, V., & Vaara, E. (). Language policies and practices in wholly owned foreign
subsidiaries: A recontextualization perspective. Language in International Business,
–. Springer. https://doi.org/./jibs..
Piekkari, R. (). Language and careers in multinational corporations. In S. Tietze (Ed.),
International Management and Language (pp. –). Routledge. https://doi.org/
./
Piekkari, R., & Westney, D. E. (). Language as a meeting ground for research on the
MNC and organization theory. Multinational Corporations and Organization Theory:
Post Millennium Perspectives, –. Emerald. https://doi.org/./S-
X
Holger Luedeke, Reinar Luedeke
Pierret, C. R. (). Event history data and survey recall: An analysis of the National Longi
tudinal Survey of Youth recall experiment. Journal of Human Resources 36(),
–. https://doi.org/./
Prieur, A., & Savage, M. (). Updating cultural capital theory: A discussion based on
studies in Denmark and in Britain. Poetics, 39(), –. https://doi.org/./
j.poetic...
Pudelko, M., & Tenzer, H. (). Boundaryless careers or career boundaries? The impact
of language barriers on academic careers in international business schools. Academy
of Management Learning & Education, 18(), –. https://doi.org/./amle.
.
Pudelko, M., Tenzer, H., & Harzing, A.-W. (). Cross-Cultural Management and Lan
guage Studies within International Business Research: Past and Present Paradigms
and Suggestions for Future Research. In N. Holden, S. Michailova & S. Tietze
(Eds.),The Routledge Companion to Cross Cultural Management (pp. –). Routledge.
https://doi.org/./-
Sirén, C., Thorgren, S., & Järlström, M. (). Self-directed career management and mo
bility: the risk of lock-in eects from person-job fit. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 32(), –. https://doi.org/./..
StataCorp. . Stata: Release 17. Statistical Software. Extended Regression Models Reference
Manual. StataCorp LLC.
Sullivan, S. E., & Arthur, M. B. (). The evolution of the boundaryless career concept:
Examining physical and psychological mobility. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69(),
–. https://doi.org/./j.jvb...
Tenzer, H., & Pudelko, M. (). The influence of language dierences on power dynam
ics in multinational teams. Journal of World Business, 52(), –. https://doi.org/
./j.jwb...
Tenzer, H., Terjesen, S., & Harzing, A.-W. (). Language in international business:
A review and agenda for future research. Management International Review, 57(),
–. https://doi.org/./s---x
Veiga, J. F. (). Mobility influences during managerial career stages. Academy of Man
agement Journal, 26(), –. https://doi.org/./
Wang, H. C., & Barney, J. B. (). Employee incentives to make firm-specific invest
ments: Implications for resource-based theories of corporate diversification. Academy
of Management Review, 31(), –. https://doi.org/./amr..
Williamson, O. (). The economics of organization: The transaction cost approach.
American Journal of Sociology, 87(), –. https://doi.org/./
Winship, C., & Mare, R. D. (). Regression models with ordinal variables. American So
ciological Review, 49(), –. https://doi.org/./
Yonker, S. E. (). Geography and the market for CEOs. Management Science, 63(),
–.https://doi.org/./mnsc..
Language Education as an Antecedent of Management Careers
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin
P T-A
Psychoanalysis and academia
The relationship between the psychoanalytic and the academic world, in particular the
world of academic psychology and psychiatry, is not the most harmonious one, to say
the least. There may have been better times, but nowadays mutual disdain and exclu
sion are the rule, not the exception. Their “thought styles” (Fleck, ) seem to be too
different to value each other’s possible contributions. Even though there may be excep
tions in the Romanic countries, this diagnosis is certainly true for the two academic
cultures Touro University Berlin (a campus of Touro University New York, Touro Ber
lin in further text) rests upon, the North American and the Central European one. Yet
there is an audible psychoanalytic voice contributing to the psychology program at the
college, and it is the goal of this article to elucidate the cause and purpose that justify its
presence, and to demonstrate some of its modus operandi in the classroom.
. Historical roots of a conict
It was probably for financial reasons that the talented and ambitious young scientist
Sigmund Freud submitted his letter of resignation to the University of Vienna and
opened his private practice during the Easter holidays of . A year prior, he had
completed his habilitation at the university and qualified for the title of an unscheduled
professor, which, after an unusually long waiting period, he finally received in
(Alt, ; Gay, , p. and p. ; Lackinger & Döring, , p. ; Schröter, b,
p. ). The exact cause for this delay is unknown, but anti-Semitism most likely played
a role. To maintain his venia legendi (license to lecture), he had to continue lecturing at
the university, which he did with great discipline, first on topics from the familiar field
of neuropathology, then on psychoanalysis proper. His “Introductory Lectures on Psy
cho-Analysis” from –, given to a lay audience during the World War, marked
the beginning of a psychoanalytic discourse in academia and still serve as a point of
reference for psychoanalytic education (Freud, –).
Still, he never conquered the academy, nor did he convince contemporary psychia
trists of his ideas. Freud felt that the university—he primarily thought of the medical
school—needed psychoanalysis more than vice versa. He therefore suggested a two-
step model with an introductory class for all medical students, which should be open to
a lay audience, and an advanced class as part of psychiatric training, like, to the best of
his knowledge, many American universities had already implemented (Schröter,
a). The problem was that this had to be done on his terms. When it turned out that
universities were rather unwilling to grant psychoanalysis recognition as an indepen
dent academic discipline or the privilege of an exclusively psychoanalytic professor
ship, Freud was unwilling to compromise (Schröter, b). He abhorred the idea that
psychoanalysis could be “swallowed by medicine” and “finally deposited in the textbook
of psychiatry, chapter on therapy” (Freud, , p. ). Instead, he and his successors
fostered the development of a psychoanalytic culture of its own, with the characteristics
of a “scientific thought collective”, as Fleck (, pp. – and pp. –) described
it: journals, conferences, training schemes, titles, and initiation rites. To this day, psy
choanalytic associations and their corresponding institutes form the core of this struc
ture. And yet, Freud dreamed of more. He imagined a psychoanalytic university
(Freud, , p. ), a project that was realized just recently, in in Vienna and, in
a more consistent way, in in Berlin, where two universities with an explicitly psy
choanalytic denomination were inaugurated. The profile of Touro Berlin shares a num
ber of commonalities with them.
. Institutions: between segregation and collaboration
What is the broader contemporary context of the attempt to integrate psychoanalysis
into the psychology curriculum at Touro Berlin? Which institutional obstacles or even
forms of liaison between academia and psychoanalysis exist? We will see how psycho
analysts struggled to develop their educational concepts and how academia played
changing roles in this.
The groundbreaking model for psychoanalytic training was developed in Berlin by
Max Eitingon in the s, when access to academia seemed out of reach for the
emerging discipline (Schröter, ). The Eitingon model for psychoanalytic training
institutes and affiliated outpatient clinics rests on the three pillars of thorough training
analysis, theoretical seminars, and supervised practica. All three are concentrated in
training institutes whose structures imitate those of a university. The Eitingon model
continues to dominate psychoanalytical education worldwide—including the US and
Germany—and bears a fair amount of responsibility for the seclusion of a psychoana
lytic world parallel to academic structures. It has been challenged for its excessive con
centration of power in the hands of a small number of training analysts (Bohleber,
) and after a lengthy controversy, the International Psychoanalytical Association
(IPA) has formally accepted two more models, both of which are named after their
country of origin (International Psychoanalytical Association, ). The French model
tries to conceptualize the entire psychoanalytic learning process according to the prin
ciples of psychoanalytic experience and considers the Eitingon model as being too simi
lar to academic teaching. The Uruguayan model, designed with a similar anti-authori
tarian impetus, uses a different approach. It integrates the training and particularly the
theoretical element into the curriculum at the Instituto Universitario de Postgrado en
Psicoanálisis (IUPP), which offers a master’s degree in psychoanalysis (Bohleber, ;
Instituto Universitario de Postgrado en Psicoanálisis, ). Both these two new mod
els and the original Eitington model have in common that they focus on the candidate’s
personal analytical experience and aim to create an analytical identity beyond the mere
acquisition of technical competencies.
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin
In spite of its international diversification, most proponents of psychoanalysis
share a view on epistemology that challenges academic psychology’s emphasis on
quantifiable data and stands in opposition to its dominant comprehension of empiri
cism and reproducibility. Psychoanalytic methodology relies heavily on single-case
studies and theoretical deductions, granting space not only to the subjectivity of the
observed (generally a client), but also that of the observer (generally a clinician) and the
feelings of countertransference he or she experiences. In Germany, this has led to a
complex and widely ramified debate on the question of whether psychoanalysis should
be better understood as belonging to the realm of the so-called “Geisteswissenschaf
ten”, a term which can only be poorly translated as “humanities”.
Today, psychoanalysis claims a status beyond the traditional duality of hermeneu
tics versus the natural sciences and casts doubt on psychology’s submission to a one-
sided paradigm (Gödde, ; Warsitz & Küchenhoff, ). The psychoanalyst and
anthropologist George Devereux () even went so far as to accuse the behavioral
sciences of using scientific methods of objectification as a tool to ward off their neu
rotic anxiety.
All this doesn’t make things easy on the academic side. The German part of the
story is quickly told. Although statutory health plans equally cover psychodynamic, psy
choanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, and systemic psychotherapy for their members, who
make up about percent of the German population, out of the professorships
for Clinical Psychology at state universities are occupied by the cognitive-behavioral
camp, one by a psychoanalyst, and none by a systemic expert (Bühring, ). Interest
ingly, this disastrous situation is somewhat counterbalanced by the strong presence of
psychoanalysts at private universities, which follow the demands of the market. The
activities of the students’ initiative IDPAU (Interessensgemeinschaft der Psychoana
lyse an Universitäten) to restore the presence of psychoanalytical research at German
universities speak a similar language. Yet candidates for psychodynamic or psychoana
lytical training, although interested in the field, typically start from scratch in the train
ing institutes.
The situation in the US needs to be differentiated more. In , leading represen
tatives of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) diagnosed “that psycho
analysis is in danger of disappearing from undergraduate education” (Gourguechon &
Hansell, , p. ), implemented a Task Force on Undergraduate Education (TFUE),
and launched the “, Minds Project” (Gourguechon, ) to solve this crisis. In
this context, a quantitative study researching the course offerings of the top colleges
An interesting historical perspective claims that psychology, as an independent discipline, has a dual origin in the late th
century: one in Leipzig with Wilhelm Wundt, who proposed it as an empirical or nomothetic science derived from positi
vism, modeled after the natural sciences, and aiming at general laws of human behavior; and another in Vienna with
Sigmund Freud, who derived his idiographic approach from clinical practice and emphasized an in-depth study of the
individual (Bornstein, , p. ).
It should be noted that while the German research landscape traditionally has a strong inclination toward non-university
institutions, these often operate in close collaboration with universities. In this line, the Sigmund-Freud-Institut in Frank
furt has served as an inuential center of psychoanalytic research for over years (Leuzinger-Bohleber, ). On an
international scale, an outstanding psychoanalytic research center worth mentioning is the Sigmund Freud Center at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as Freud himself was a founding member of its board of trustees (Alt, ; Schröter,
b). In the US, the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research plays a prominent role.
Peter Theiss-Abendroth
and universities for psychoanalytic content came to the surprising conclusion that “six
times more courses featuring psychoanalytic ideas are available outside psychology
departments than in them” (Redmond & Shulman, , p. ) and that the courses
located in the humanities departments took little notice of psychoanalytic authors other
than Freud and perhaps Lacan (Redmond & Shulman, , p. ). A qualitative look
into the reality of undergraduate teaching adds more incongruities to the list (Yalof,
): Psychoanalytical ideas, if taught at all, are being misperceived and misrepre-
sented, or they are adopted by cognitive psychology and relabeled without mention of
the original psychoanalytic concept, while contemporary psychoanalytical findings
tend to go ignored. Or, in the words of another researcher, “whereas psychoanalytic
concepts remain strong, psychoanalysis as a discipline has become ʻdisconnectedʼ from
contemporary scientific and clinical psychology” (Bornstein, , p. ).
There is little evidence of the APsaA initiative’s success, and the blame for this
does not only lie with the academic side. A large number of traditional psychoanalysts
still feel the same reserve as Freud. Any immersion in the world of nomothetic sci
ences brings about the risk of betraying what is most characteristic of psychoanalysis:
the concern with the in-depth investigation into the unique mental structures and dy
namics of an individual and his or her relevant relations (Bruns & Loetz, ). Yet
many psychoanalysts on both sides of the Atlantic continue to claim that they have
something valuable to contribute to the academic community. One of the possible con
tributions addresses the learning process itself. Jed Yalof summarizes some of the in
terpretive tools that psychoanalysts can bring to teaching in higher education:
Such concepts as the holding environment, transference, countertransference, the treat
ment framework, and a psychoanalytic appreciation of administrative-systemic organiza
tionally driven pressures and dynamics that result in projective identifications and projec
tive counter-identifications can each help the psychoanalytic-academic make sense of the
many conflicts and experiences that shape daily work. (Yalof, , p. )
These tools can be helpful regarding students’ problems with procrastination, organi
zational disputes—and particularly in such a diverse environment as Touro Berlin,
where cultural stereotypes, projections, role expectations, and procedures need to be
reassessed and negotiated every day.
. Scientic attempts at rapprochement
A relevant number of American and German academic psychoanalysts has long left the
self-inflicted position of isolation and produced an impressive bulk of empirical re
search findings providing evidence for the efficacy and effectiveness of psychoanalytic
psychotherapy (American Psychoanalytic Association, ). These studies have been
crucial for its continuing inclusion in the mental health care system in Germany and
were in part financed by the psychoanalytical societies, not by academic institutions
themselves. Since the complexity of the field can only be touched upon superficially in
this article, a few words on the specific challenges psychoanalytic therapy research had
to overcome must suffice. Typical outcome research works with highly selected patient
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin
populations and demonstrates quantifiable reduction of symptoms at the end of ther
apy, thereby following the model of randomized controlled trials in pharmacology. In
contrast, psychoanalysts aim to demonstrate that their method of therapy plays to its
strengths in naturalistic settings—working with unselected patients who have a high
degree of comorbidity—and that the effects are more long-lasting than those of shorter
therapies (Leuzinger-Bohleber et al., ; Sandell, ).
In psychoanalysis, therapeutic goals beyond mere symptom reduction can,
broadly speaking, be defined in terms of ego strength. To operationalize the contempo
rary version of this originally Freudian idea, two highly sophisticated diagnostic tools
have been developed. Both of these already appeared in the second edition of the Psy
chodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-), which was primarily an Italian-American at
tempt at integrating developmental perspectives with the standard diagnostic manuals
DSM and ICD (Lingiardi & Mc Williams, ; ), and in the Operationalized
Psychodynamic Diagnosis OPD-, which was authored by a group of German psycho
analytic academics and is also available in a number of foreign languages such as Eng
lish, Spanish, or Chinese (OPD Task Force, ). There is overwhelming evidence that
psychodynamic treatments work, that patients continue to show improvement after
therapies have ended, and that the treatments’ success is due to specifically psycho-
dynamic factors. As a result, psychodynamic treatments continue to be covered by the
German health insurance system (Leichsenring & Steinert, ; Leichsenring & Klein,
; Theiss-Abendroth, ).
Psychoanalysts have not only succeeded in illustrating that their therapies work
but also in gaining increasing insight into the process of therapy itself (Ablon et al.,
; Mc Carthy et al., ): Which intervention works how and why? What exactly
characterizes and contributes to a fruitful therapeutic alliance? In this realm of process
research, conversation analysis, with its sensitivity to scenic understanding and linguis
tics, promises to be a particularly valuable method to bridge the gap between psycho
analysis and empirical research and, at the same time, stay true to a genuinely psycho
analytical approach (Buchholz, ; Buchholz & Kächel, ).
Beyond research on psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, with its profound understand
ing of early childhood development, has greatly contributed to developmental research
(Luyten et al., ). Although Freud made childhood development the center of his
theory, he relied only cursorily on direct observation. Instead, he would rather deduce
his hypotheses from clinical practice with adult patients and reconstruct the past, ad
mittedly with a certain amount of success, like opening the professional world’s eyes to
the relevance of experiences such as childhood trauma (Theiss-Abendroth ,
p. ). Yet the speculative nature of his approach has given rise to criticism and led to
the formation of a strictly behavioral school of baby watchers with a focus on cognitive
development. In an attempt to merge both perspectives, the inward and the outward,
and to gain a more complete picture of the baby’s or the toddler’s emotional, relational,
and cognitive development, psychoanalysts have significantly contributed, some of
them in ways that outgrew psychoanalysis proper. Attachment theory, mentalization
theory, or Daniel Stern’s insights into the developing self have changed our view of
Peter Theiss-Abendroth
everyone’s inheritance from preverbal infancy on and given way to new treatment ap
proaches (Debbané, ; Dornes, ; Dornes, ).
Finally, psychoanalysis’ revitalized alliance with the neurosciences deserves a
mention in this context. Freud was, at the core of his self-image, a neuropathologist
and repeatedly expressed his hope that neuroscientific findings would in the future
validate his psychological assumptions, which he always considered to be of a hypothet
ical nature. For decades, there seemed to be little evidence for his expectations. Re
cently, though, with the explosion of insight into cerebral functioning through modern
neuroimaging techniques, this has changed. Neuroscientists increasingly emphasize
the subjective aspect of mental processes, and many of them turn to psychoanalysis to
find answers for their study of subjectivity, including its intentionality—answers com
putational neurosciences or neuroinformatics cannot provide (Solms, ). This has
led to the development of the new field of neuropsychoanalysis, an emerging area of
research that was heralded by Nobel-prize winning Eric Kandel early in the new cen
tury and has become internationally established (Kandel, ; Neuropsychoanalysis
Association, ).
This array of promising research areas—outcome research, process research, de
velopmental research, and neuropsychoanalysis—far from being complete, can only
give a rough overview of what contemporary psychoanalysis has to contribute to the
world of empirically minded academic psychology. This should make clear that any
exclusion of psychoanalysis from the university would mean a form of intellectual self-
amputation for the academy.
Psychoanalytic contributions at Touro Berlin
So given that psychoanalysis has plenty to offer—its rich intellectual tradition plus a
broad spectrum of responses to contemporary challenges—how can this play out in the
concrete situation of Touro Berlin, with its international academic community and its
very specific heritage as a Jewish institution of higher education in the capital of Ger
many? The following chapter will try to provide a number of answers, beginning with
the most tangible aspect of the integration of psychoanalytic content in the undergrad
uate curriculum and the concrete contributions psychoanalysis can make to clinical
psychology. The subsequent paragraphs proceed to the sociocultural questions of mi
gration and racism and aim to demonstrate how a specifically psychoanalytical perspec
tive can complement traditional social psychology on some core questions, such as the
intrapsychic origin of racism and the inner transitional processes that come along with
migration. Finally, central aspects of psychoanalytical psychotraumatology are dis
cussed, some of which have their place in the MA program on Holocaust Communica
tion and Tolerance.
At the same time, this chapter tries to point out not only what psychoanalysts
think about these issues but also how they think, how the reflexive nature of psychoana
lytic deliberations tends to turn back to the interlocutor, a characteristic that makes
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin
them incompatible with the preferences of a streamlined academic discourse but—in
the opinion of the author—also indispensable for the academy.
. The undergraduate curriculum for psychology
The way psychoanalysis is embedded in the psychology curriculum can be understood
by distinguishing between three different types of classes. In introductory classes, stu
dents first get acquainted with some basic concepts of psychoanalysis. In clinical
classes, they can test the applicability of psychoanalytic ideas to both the etiology of
mental disorders and the clinical situation alongside the other main schools of psycho
therapy. A third, elective course is dedicated solely to psychoanalysis in all its many
facets. While the first two types of classes are probably taught in most American and
some German university departments of psychology, the latter is rare in these coun
tries, although common in most Latin American or French institutions of higher edu
cation (Massimi, ; Ruhs, ).
But what does an introductory class on psychoanalysis look like when the core
element of psychoanalytic training, self-reflection or self-experience, is impracticable
due to the inherent power dynamics in academia? It has to be mainly theoretical, pro
viding a more profound introduction to the core ideas of psychoanalysis, to its five or
six different schools of thought (two of them founded by Freud himself, plus a British,
a French, and two American schools, each with its own controversies and overlaps),
and to some examples of psychoanalytic investigation into contemporary social issues.
The class offers the chance to finally read some of Freud’s works after having heard so
many half-truths about him, to become familiar with the basics of contemporary psy
choanalytical research (as described in the previous chapter), and to put psychoanalyti
cal ideas to work in an area of the student’s choice. A popular example of this applica
tion would be the interpretation of a piece of art—a task for which, in my experience,
students tend to prefer movies over novels. A very intriguing aspect of this class is the
psychoanalytic comprehension of migration and cultural diversity, including such
problematic aspects as anti-Semitism and xenophobia. However, before applying psy
choanalysis as an interpretive tool to these sociocultural phenomena, the globalized
trajectory of psychoanalysis itself deserves a closer look.
The dual situation of two overlapping psychology programs, one accredited in the US and the other in Germany, leads to
the fact that—due to the dierent terminology used by these two academic systems—a “class” can also be a “module”.
Even in the limited format of classes on abnormal or clinical psychology, there is no reason to underestimate the critical
potential of psychoanalysis, which may oer alternative views on traditional nosology. The diagnostic catalogs in use, such
as the ICD or DSM, are constructivist by denition and supposedly atheoretical. In fact, their construction is often dictated
by concealed and unreected inuences, one of which certainly stems from the commercial interests of the pharmaceuti
cal industry. The attention decit and hyperactivity disorder ADHD, for example, has made a remarkable career since its
discrete beginnings as hyperkinetic syndrome, a career that has gone parallel to the development of the corresponding
medication. Once a rarity, ADHD has become a global pandemic with a seemingly simple cure. Together with researchers
specializing in cultural studies, a group of German psychoanalysts has deconstructed this diagnostic entity and proposed
an alternative concept based on notions of precarious infantile masculinity, media consumption, and the idea of “motility
defense” against anxieties. A bachelor’s thesis in psychology written by a student at Touro University Berlin, a campus of
Touro University New York, has elaborated on this approach (Ernst, ).
Interestingly, the new German Approbationsordnung (medical licensing regulation) for psychotherapy calls for the inte
gration of an element of self-reection into the academic program, paying special attention to the requirement to avoid
any “relation of dependence” with the person grading this module (PsychThAppro, , § ).
Peter Theiss-Abendroth
. Psychoanalysis, Jewishness, and globalization
When speaking of psychoanalytic contributions in a globalized and diverse context, the
international diversity of contemporary psychoanalytic doctrine itself also needs to be
addressed. For better comprehension, it is helpful to assume a historical perspective,
which includes the origins of psychoanalysis in Jewish intellectuality. After all, its cul
tural roots lie in the circles of late-th-century Viennese secular Jewish academics—
not necessarily physicians—and the first members of the Freudian school were Jews
as well. Initially, it was the project of a Jewish elite and arguably carried by Jewish ethi
cal and humanitarian engagement, which has caused historians of psychoanalysis to
speak of the “interpenetration of the Jewish redemptive vision with the psychoanalytic
movement's redemptive hope for the eradication of neurosis” (Klein, , p. ; see
also Brunner, ; Frosh, ). Freud, fearing marginalization, struggled hard to
build bridges to the non-Jewish public. Nevertheless, the Nazis stigmatized psycho
analysis as a “Jewish science”, burned Freud’s books, and persecuted Jewish psycho
analysts. Stripped of their presumed Jewish destructiveness and fused with an imagi
nary Aryan psychology, a few psychoanalytic ideas somehow managed to survive in
Nazi Germany, which valued their therapeutic effectiveness in clinical practice. There
fore, it comes as no surprise that psychoanalysis suffered severe distortions in Ger
man-speaking Central Europe and had to rediscover much of its legacy through an in
tellectual re-import of concepts after the war. However, psychoanalysis’ fate in the
recipient countries of Jewish refugees proved complicated, too. In North America,
where physicians, much to Freud’s dismay, monopolized access to psychoanalytic
training for a long period of time, a medicalized variant flourished, ignorant of much of
the cultural criticism the late Freud had emphasized so much, and again purified from
the critical potential psychoanalytic cultural theory has to offer (Horn, ; Plänkers &
Federn, , pp. –; Saller, ). In other countries, the reception was tainted
by faulty translations of Freud’s texts, all too often based on the questionable English
Standard Edition by James Strachey and not on the German original.
Therefore, overall, an optimistic view sees contemporary pluralism of psychoanal
ysis as a result of creative appropriations in other languages and intellectual traditions,
whereas the pessimistic interpretation speaks of a fragmented and shattered landscape
of psychoanalytic thought. How can a science that has been diversified almost to
a breaking point contribute to a better understanding of the issue in a college with a
highly diverse community?
. Migration and cross-cultural psychotherapy
When Argentinian psychoanalysts León and Rebeca Grinberg were forced into Spanish
exile by the military dictatorship ruling their home country in the s, they not only
had to cope with the new situation but, as genuine psychoanalysts, also reflected on
their own coping process. It seems fair to assume that their specific sensitivity to this
Another hypothesis blames the atmosphere of political paranoia during the Cold War, especially during the McCarthy era,
when psychoanalysis was received by larger parts of academia, for a certain sterility of the American version of psychoanal
ysis.
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin
topic stemmed from their cultural roots as descendants of Jewish immigrants to Bue
nos Aires. Their reflective work yielded a seminal book on migration and exile, which
gave the starting shot to psychoanalytic investigations into the inner processes of mi
gration (Grinberg & Grinberg, ). In the tradition of British object relations theory,
the Grinbergs analyzed the fears and anxieties of the migrant mostly along the lines of
such classical concepts as traumatic loss, regression, or defense mechanisms, among
which projection plays a prominent role. In this context, they also made use of the no
tion of a transitional or potential space, as defined by the English psychoanalyst and
pediatrician Donald Winnicott, to designate an infantile stage of development. Accord
ing to Winnicott, this stage begins at about one year of age, precedes the regular sub
ject-object division, and refers to a world of “subjective objects” or transitional objects,
which—like a corner of cloth, a teddy bear, or the blanket a child resorts to when look
ing for comfort—are full of subjective meaning (Winnicott, ). Winnicott linked
this phenomenon and the mental space “between me and not-me”, which is created by
the use of such transitional objects, to imagination, playfulness, and finally, in adult
hood, to creativity, artistry, and the creation of a cultural world. This notion of a transi
tional space has become one of the most fruitful contributions to psychoanalytical
thought since Freud.
The Grinbergs, in turn, applied this concept to the migrant’s situation, under
standing it as a transitional space between what used to be “me” (inside, country of
origin, place of belonging) and “not-me” (outside, country of destination, place of
strangeness) (Grinberg & Grinberg, ). The migrant desperately needs such a tran
sitional space to maintain a sense of continuity and identity. Recently, this adaptation
of Winnicott’s term has given the impetus to conceptualize cross-cultural psychother
apy as an endeavor in a corresponding transitional space and to define the clinician’s
task to establish such a third space where the traditional “Landkarten der Bedeutung”
—the “roadmaps of meaning”—lose their validity (Özbek & Wohlfahrt, , p. ). In
such a space, meaning constantly needs to be re-created by both participants of the
therapeutic couple, the client and the therapist, with insecurities on either side.
This coincides with another conceptualization of a third space, this one stemming
from the critical theorist Homi Bhabha and his psychoanalytically informed work in
the field of postcolonial studies. In his well-known “Location of Culture” (Bhabha,
), he deconstructs an essentialist perspective of cultural identity, basing his consid
erations instead on fluid concepts of cultural practices, characterized by qualities like
hybridity, ambivalence, and mimicry. Put simply, according to Bhabha, culture is not
what one has or is, but rather the everyday actions and procedures whose meanings are
constantly renegotiated.
Jointly, psychoanalysis and cultural studies contribute to the metaphor of a third
space that serves as a useful framework to create a better understanding of the process
of cross-cultural counseling and therapy (Nadig, ). Even notions of tentative as
signment of meaning, playfulness, and creativity can enter this otherwise burdened
field and give it a sense of lightness (Theiss-Abendroth, ). After all, as Winnicott
once famously stated, “psychotherapy takes place in the overlap of two areas of playing,
Peter Theiss-Abendroth
that of the patient and that of the therapist. Psychotherapy has to do with two people
playing together” (Winnicott, , p. ). Considering the concept of the third space, is
it then far-fetched to think of a small institution of higher education such as Touro
Berlin—an institution that formally belongs to two academic cultures, the American
and the German, while hosting students and academics from numerous countries, a
campus on which languages like native Russian or Hebrew can often be heard—as a
playful intercultural laboratory?
. The racial other and internal racism
Alongside such bright notions, psychoanalysis also has some less pleasant messages to
share, among them the concept of internal racism, currently one of the most interest
ing contributions to the psychological study of race and difference. It owes to London-
based Fahkry Davids (), himself a person of color, who, as a typical psychoanalyst,
uses his consultation room as an observational ground for his microanalysis of racism.
Relying on a wide range of clinical experience, he develops his theory of a ubiquitous
unconscious “defensive organization”, which establishes a categorical difference be
tween the self and the racial other, building on features like ethnic or class difference.
This racial (or social or cultural) other subsequently serves as a screen for paranoid
projections—a universal mechanism to fend off anxieties. In some individuals who use
what psychoanalysts call primitive defense mechanisms like splitting or primitive pro
jections, this inner structure turns into a malignant internal racist organization, arous
ing destructive impulses. Of course, this is applicable to the comprehension of anti-
Semitism, too.
Fahkry Davids shows how benevolent and paternalistic attitudes may serve to dis
guise such an internal racist organization, for instance, through the assumption that
the analyst was—due to the color of his or her skin—a deplorable member of a lower
social class. From a psychoanalytic perspective, this construction of the needy other
often helps to alleviate the individual’s feelings of inferiority and dependence and may
even motivate seemingly pro-social actions towards marginalized groups, as can be ob
served in some forms of philosemitism. An idealization of minorities frequently has its
roots in such a defensive operation, prevents a real encounter with the other, and is
prone to turn into sudden disappointment and devaluation (Bakhit in Davids, ,
p. ).
However, there is more to it than this often-hidden everyday racism based on un
conscious projections. In a chapter on “epidermalizing inferiority”, Davids describes
how people of color (“colonial subjects”) also internalize the notion of otherness and
perceive their skin as “dirty” and in need of a thorough bath (Davids, ). Another
section is dedicated to an analysis of institutional racism, even in psychotherapeutic
institutions, which can remain as unconscious as individual racism.
In general, psychoanalysis provides us with an uncomfortable insight into the
ubiquity of racism and helps us immunize ourselves against well-meant forms of it.
After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin
. Psychoanalysis of trauma in the postgraduate curriculum
Psychoanalysis has accumulated a treasure trove of findings to contribute to the discus
sion of psychological trauma. It was Sigmund Freud himself who, in the late th cen
tury, believed he had found the origin of all neuroses in trauma, with the memory of
trauma acting like a “foreign body” in the texture of an affected person’s mind and
infiltrating its surroundings (Freud, ). After Freud’s death, as mentioned before,
psychoanalysis itself turned into a traumatized science, both through the acts of vio
lence committed against its Jewish representatives and through direct distortions of
the doctrine that were aiming to create a purified version of it.
A class on the psychology of trauma in its various psychological, cultural, and his
torical aspects is part of the MA program on Holocaust Communication and Tolerance
offered by Touro Berlin. This course creates a space in which students can familiarize
themselves with some elements of psychoanalytical thought on trauma. This begins by
demonstrating how deeply rooted psychoanalytical thought is in German philosophy
and literature of the th century. The notion of the dynamic unconscious as a result of
repression is already apparent in Schopenhauer’s and Nietzsche’s writings, and it was
commonplace among many of their educated contemporaries as well. This includes
the idea of the internalization of violence, which Heinrich Heine’s famous poem “Ger
many. A Winter’s Tale” aptly depicts in Caput III (Heine, ):
They are still that wooden pedantic lot:
With stiff right angles, they pace,
And the same old arrogance
Remains frozen on their face.
And still, they strut about as stiff
As a candle, straight upright,
As if they’d swallowed the stick,
Formerly used to put them right.
Yes, the sticks have never quite disappeared:
Deep inside, old habits still exist:
Inside the new glove of humane ways,
There is still an iron fist.
The instrument of punishment, internalized as an “infiltrating foreign body”, in
Freud’s terms, has informed the notion of the traumatic introject, a concept of great
importance to the psychoanalytic comprehension of trauma sequelae (Hirsch, ,
pp. –). The system of violence ceases to remain exclusively external and instead
becomes part of a person’s inner world. This notion explains the often-observed identi
fication with the aggressor, which is another psychoanalytic term for the same phe
nomenon.
One of the most extraordinary psychoanalytic field studies gives ample evidence of
its relevance. It was initiated by Bruno Bettelheim and supported by Ernst Federn, two
Austrian psychoanalysts imprisoned in the concentration camps of Dachau and Bu
chenwald as “political Jews” (Bettelheim, ; Becker, ; Theiss-Abendroth, ).
Peter Theiss-Abendroth
During their spare time, they managed to interview a sample of several hundred fellow
inmates on their perception of and attitude towards their incarceration. Even though
the methodology of this study no longer meets today’s standards, the results are im
pressive. Bettelheim describes the regressive processes the prisoners underwent as
well as their gradual identification with the system of violence, including their imita
tion of the guards’ behavior, uniforms, and mannerisms. Many prisoners were ex
tremely apologetic of the violence they endured, justified the existence of concentration
camps, and just felt that in their case the police had committed an individual error. The
longer the detention lasted, the further this identification process progressed. Long-
term detainees went as far as to kill fellow inmates who were regarded as weak and
unsuited to the task of keeping the camp functioning. Another drastic example gives
testimony to this corruption of ethical and political values: When Bettelheim and
Federn asked over a hundred political prisoners whether they should report the condi
tions of life in the concentration camp to the international press if they should be lucky
enough to be released, only two interviewees answered that they would (Bettelheim,
, p. ). The rest felt that Nazi Germany should resolve this domestic problem
without foreign assistance.
The resistance to taking notice of the dimensions of German crimes against hu
manity was not limited to any one nationality. Bettelheim was liberated relatively
quickly and could immigrate to the United States, where he later made a career as a
child analyst. Upon his arrival, he wrote his manuscript from memory and then needed
a whole year to find a publisher—even the American public had difficulties looking
into the abyss of Nazi atrocities.
Psychoanalysis has contributed enormously to better comprehending the proces
ses of self-alienation under conditions of terror. It has alerted us to the child’s vulnera
bility to adverse conditions, and to the adult’s predisposition to returning to such infan
tile states of dependence under extreme stress. Ethical judgments made today need to
consider these deliberations.
Final psychoanalytic reections
It has become clear so far that psychoanalysis focuses on human subjectivity and re-
fuses to address the subject of its research with questionable notions of objectivity. In
stead, it stresses the reflexive nature of human reasoning and inquires into the position
of the respective speaker. Taking all this into consideration, what might it have to say
about the vantage point of an instructor or a student at Touro Berlin? What is the genius
loci of this institution? What implicit knowledge may its stakeholders share without
knowing that they do?
Any attempt to answer these questions must be incomplete and insufficient to the
point of incorrectness, yet psychoanalytical inquiry doesn’t cease to ask. What does it
mean, for example, to practice, teach, and study the freedom of speech and thought
behind iron bars installed to protect those inside from anti-Semitic assaults? How does
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin
the history of the building—erected in by a Jewish merchant who had to flee the
Nazis to Uruguay, subsequently inhabited by the imperial minister for church affairs,
an outspoken anti-Semite—play out, consciously or unconsciously, in the minds of
those who are part of the community of Touro Berlin today? Back then, in the s,
Herrmann Göring came for frequent visits, and there is evidence that Adolf Hitler was
present at least once (Nachama & Tuchel, , p. ). The traces of the uncanny can be
followed even further: From the classrooms situated at the rear of the main building,
the Stößensee, a sidearm of the Havel River, becomes visible. A brief glance at the map
shows that a good swimmer or just an average rower could use the waterway to move
easily from Touro Berlin to the House of the Wannsee Conference, where the Holo
caust was organized in . On the way down the river, our imaginary swimmer or
rower would also pass by the idyllic island of Schwanenwerder, where Joseph Göbbels
used to live and throw his pompous parties. With such a history of former residents
and visitors, and with such an infamous neighborhood, how can one be sure Touro
Berlin is not a haunted place?
Over a century ago, under the impression of World War I and the wounds it had
left, Freud wrote his essay “The Uncanny” (Freud, ). In it, he developed a range of
ideas, many of them relying on the etymology of the German word unheimlich for un
canny and its relationship to both heimlich (concealed, secret) and heimelig (homely).
From his perspective, the uncanny has much to do with the unthought known (Bollas,
). A hundred years later, Michael J. Feldman, professor of psychiatry at Columbia
University and member of the faculty of its psychoanalytic center, uses another term
to describe the uncanny in transgenerational trauma (Feldman, ). He speaks of
ghosts in the context of unmourned losses as a consequence of severe psychological
trauma. In a case study, he worked with a relational approach that has been developed
by North American psychoanalysis and took his own personal background, in particu
lar the way it is grounded in his father’s traumatic biography, into account. Feldman
began the analysis under the assumption that the transgenerational traumas of both
the analysand and the analyst seemed to coincide. Yet this belief turned out to be a
fallacy which led to a dead end until Feldman recognized the uniqueness and singular
ity of each story in connection with each history. Here, as so often, the analytical process
served to turn a ghost story into a tellable and distinctive story.
Nowadays, new stories are being told at Touro Berlin in many different dialects
and idioms. Psychoanalysis is among the narrators, convinced that it still has some
thing to share.
References
Ablon S., Smith-Hansen, L., & Levy, R. A. (). Psychoanalytic Process Research. In
G. O. Gabbard, B. E. Litowitz & P. Williams (Eds.), Textbook of Psychoanalysis. Second
Edition (pp. –). American Psychiatric Publishing.
Peter Theiss-Abendroth
Alt, P.-A. (). Sigmund Freud. Der Arzt der Moderne. Beck. https://doi.org/./
American Psychoanalytic Asssociation. (). CORE Research Bibliography. https://apsa.
org/research-bibliography (retrieved //)
Approbationsordnung für Psychotherapeutinnen und Psychotherapeuten (PsychThAp
prO) () https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/psychthappro/BJNR.html
(retrieved //)
Becker, D. (). Trauma und Traumatheorie: Bruno Bettelheim, Ernst Federn und Hans
Keilson. Psychoanalyse 18 (), –.
Bettelheim, B. ( []). Erziehung zum Überleben. Zur Psychologie der Extremsituation
(nd ed.). dtv.
Bhabha, H. (). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.
Bollas, C. (). The Shadow of the Object. Psychoanalysis of the Unthought Known. New
York: Columbia University Press.
Bornstein, R. F. (). Reconnecting Psychoanalysis to Mainstream Psychology. Psycho
analytic Psychology, 22 (), –. https://doi.org/./-...
Brunner, J. (). The (Ir)Relevance of Freud´s Jewish Identity to the Origins of Psycho
analysis. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, , –.
Bruns, G., & Loetz, S. (). Die Repräsentanz der Psychoanalyse an der Universität –
eine Unentschiedenheit der Psychoanalytiker. Psychoanalyse Texte zur Sozialforschung,
9(), –.
Buchholz, M. B. (). Szenisches Verstehen und Konversationsanalyse. Psyche – Z Psy
choanal, 73(), –. https://doi.org/./ps---
Buchholz, M. B. & Kächele, H. (). Conversation Analysis – A Powerful Tool for Psycho
analytic Practice and Psychotherapy Research. Language and Psychoanalysis, 2(), –.
https://doi.org/./landp..
Bühring, P. (). . Deutscher Psychotherapeutentag: „Unser Berufsstand ist jetzt deut
lich stärker aufgestellt.“ Ärzteblatt PP, 18, .
Davids, M. F. (). Internal Racism. A Psychoanalytic Approach to Race and Dierence. Red
Globe Press. [German: Davids, M. F. (). Innerer Rassismus. Eine psychoanalytische
Annäherung an race und Dierenz. Aus dem Englischen und mit einer Einführung von
Christiane Bakhit. Mit einem Nachwort von Veronika Grüneisen. Psychosozial-Verlag.]
https://doi.org/./
Debbane, M. (). Attachment and Mentalization in Contemporary Psychodynamic Psy
chotherapy. In: D. Kealy & J. S. Ogrodniczuk (Eds.), Contemporary Psychodynamic Psy
chotherapy. Evolving Clinical Practice (pp. –). Academic Press. https://doi.org/
./B----.-
Devereux, G. (). From Anxiety to Method in the Behavioral Sciences. Preface by Weston La
Barre. De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/./
Dornes, M. (). Der kompetente Säugling. Die präverbale Entwicklung des Menschen.
Fischer.
Dornes, M. (). Die emotionale Welt des Kindes. Fischer.
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin
Ernst, V. (). Inquiring about Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures of AD(H)D in Boys. A
Qualitative Interview Study. Unpublished BA-Thesis, Touro College Berlin.
Feldman, M. J. (). “Ghost Stories”. Transgenerationelles Trauma und das Bezeugen
durch Analytiker und Analysand. Psyche – Z Psychoanal, 73(), –. https://
doi.org/./ps---
Fleck, L. (, ). Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache. Einfüh
rung in die Lehre vom Denkstil und Denkkollektiv. Mit einer Einleitung herausgegeben von
Lothar Schäfer und Thomas Schnelle (th ed.). Suhrkamp.
Freud, S. (). Studien über Hysterie. GW (pp. -). Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer.
Freud, S. (–). Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse. GW . Frankfurt a. M.:
Fischer.
Freud, S. (). Das Unheimliche. GW . Fischer.
Freud, S. (). Die Frage der Laienanalyse. GW (pp. –). Fischer.
Freud, S. (). Nachwort zur „Frage der Laienanalyse“. GW (pp. –). Fischer.
Frosh, S. (). Psychoanalysis, Nazism and “Jewish science”. International Journal of Psy
choanalysis, 84(), –. https://doi.org/./KATV-FVE-H-QX
Gay, P. (). Freud. Eine Biographie für unsere Zeit. Fischer.
Gödde, G. (). Entwicklungslinien psychodynamischer Psychotherapie. Historische Orien
tierung, aktuelle Situationen und zukünftige Perspektiven. Psychosozial-Verlag. https://
doi.org/./
Gourguechon, P. (). Reaching Out to Undergraduates: The , Minds Project. The
American Psychoanalyst, 39(), –.
Gourguechon, P., & Hansell, J. (). Connecting Undergraduates with Psychoanalysis.
The American Psychoanalyst, 39(), .
Grinberg, L., & Grinberg, R. (). Psychoanalyse der Migration und des Exils. Mit einem
Geleitwort von Harald Leupold-Löwenthal (nd ed.). Klett-Cotta.
Heine, H. (). Germany. A Winterʼs Tale [Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen.] Translated by
Joseph Massaad. https://www.heinrich-heine.net/winter/winteregoodb.htm (retrieved
//)
Hirsch, M. (). Schuld und Schuldgefühl. Zur Psychoanalyse von Trauma und Introjekt
(th ed.). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Horn, K. (). Die Medizinalisierung sozialer Kontrolle und die Psychoanalyse. In
H. Bareuther, H.-J. Busch, D. Ohlmeier & T. Plänkers (Eds.), Forschen und Heilen.
Auf dem Weg zu einer psychoanalytischen Hochschule. Beiträge aus Anlaß des 25jährigen
Bestehens des Sigmund-Freud-Instituts (pp. –). Suhrkamp.
International Psychoanalytical Association (). The Three Training Models. www.ipa/
world/en/Training/models.aspx (retrieved //)
IUPP (). Homepage. https://apuruguay.org/instituto-universitario-de-postgrado/ (re
trieved on //)
Kandel, E. (). Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and the New Biology of Mind. American Psychi
atric Publishing.
Klein, D. B. (). Jewish Origins of the Psychoanalytic Movement. The University of Chicago
Press.
Peter Theiss-Abendroth
Lackinger, F., & Doering, S. (). Sigmund Freud und die Akademisierung der Psycho
analyse in Österreich. In F. Lackinger & H. Rössler-Schülein (Eds.), Psychoanalyse und
Universität. Zur Verbindung von akademischer Lehre und analytischer Praxis (pp. –).
Psychosozial-Verlag. https://doi.org/./-
Leichsenring, F., & Klein, S. (). Evidence for psychodynamic psychotherapy in specific
mental disorders: a systematic review. In M. Leuzinger-Bohleber, M. Solms &
S. E. Arnold (Eds.), Outcome Research and the Future of Psychoanalysis. Clinicians and
Researchers in Dialogue (pp. –). Routledge. https://doi.org/./
-
Leisenring, F., & Steinert, C. (). The ecacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy: an up-
to-date review. In D. Kealy & J. S. Ogrodniczuk (Eds.), Contemporary Psychodynamic
Psychotherapy. Evolving Clinical Practice (pp. –). Academic Press. https://doi.org/
./B----.-
Leuzinger-Bohleber, M. (). Psychoanalytische Bemerkungen zum Verhältnis von Psy
choanalyse und Universität in Deutschland. In F. Lackinger & H. Rössler-Schülein
(Eds.), Psychoanalyse und Universität. Zur Verbindung von akademischer Lehre und ana
lytischer Praxis (pp. –). Psychosozial-Verlag. https://doi.org/./
-
Leuzinger-Bohleber, M., Solms, M., & Arnold, S. E. (Eds.) (). Outcome Research and the
Future of Psychoanalysis. Clinicians and Researchers in Dialogue. Routledge. https://
doi.org/./
Lingiardi, V., & Mc Williams, N. (). The Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual – nd edi
tion (PDM-). World Psychiatry, 14(), –.
Lingiardi, V., & Mc Williams, N. (Eds.) (). Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual Second
Edition (PDM – 2). Guilford Press.
Luyten, P., Mayes, L. C., Target, M., & Fonagy P. (). Developmental Research. In
G. O. Gabbard, B. E. Litowitz & P. Williams (Eds.), Textbook of Psychoanalysis (nd ed.,
pp. –). American Psychiatric Publishing.
Massimi, M. (). Die Bedeutung der Psychoanalyse in der Geschichte der Psychologie
in Brasilien. In C. dos Santos-Stubbe, P. Theiss-Abendroth & H. Stubbe (Eds.), Psycho
analyse in Brasilien. Historische und aktuelle Erkundungen (pp. –) Psychosozial-
Verlag. https://doi.org/./-
Mc Carthy, K. S., Zilcha-Mano, S., & Barber, J. P. (). Process Research in Psycho-
dynamic Psychotherapy: Interventions and the Therapeutic Relationship. In D. Kealy
& J. S. Ogrodniczuk (Eds.), Contemporary Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. Evolving Clini
cal Practice (pp. –). Academic Press. https://doi.org/./
B----.-
Nachama, A., & Tuchel, J. (Eds.) (). Am Rupenhorn 5. Wohnsitz der Familie Lindemann,
NS-Ministerresidenz, Touro College Berlin. be.bra.
Nadig, M. (). Das Konzept des Raums als methodischer Rahmen für dynamische Pro
zesse. In E. Wohlfahrt & M. Zaumseil (Eds.), Transkulturelle Psychiatrie – Interkulturelle
Psychotherapie. Interdisziplinäre Theorie und Praxis (pp. –). Springer.
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin
Neuropsychoanalysis Association (NPSA) (). Homepage https://npsa-association.org/
(retrieved on //)
OPD Task Force (). Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis OPD-2: Manual of Diag
nosis and Treatment Planning. (English Edition). Hogrefe & Huber.
Özbek, T., & Wohlfahrt, E. (). Der transkulturelle Übergangsraum – ein Theorem und
seine Funktion in der transkulturellen Psychotherapie am ZIPP. In E. Wohlfahrt &
M. Zaumseil (Eds.), Transkulturelle Psychiatrie – Interkulturelle Psychotherapie. Interdis
ziplinäre Theorie und Praxis (pp. –). Springer. https://doi.org/./---
-_
Plänkers, T., & Federn, E. (). Vertreibung und Rückkehr. Interviews zur Geschichte Ernst
Federns und der Psychoanalyse. edition diskord.
Redmond, J., & Shulman, M. (). Access to Psychoanalytic Ideas in American Under
graduate Institutions. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association,56(),
–. https://doi.org/./
Ruhs, A. (). Zwischen Gästestatus und Mitgliedschaft. Die Psychoanalyse an Frankreichs
Universitäten. In F. Lackinger & H. Rössler-Schülein (Eds.), Psychoanalyse und Univer
sität. Zur Verbindung von akademischer Lehre und analytischer Praxis (pp. –). Psy
chosozial-Verlag. https://doi.org/./-
Saller, V. (). Freud in Amerika. Journal für Psychoanalyse, 56, –. https://doi.org/
./jfp..
Sandell, R. (). Research on Outcomes of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalysis-Derived
Psychotherapies. In G. O. Gabbard, B. E. Litowitz & P. Williams (Eds.), Textbook of
Psychoanalysis. (nd ed., pp. –). American Psychiatric Publishing.
Schröter, M. (a). Freuds Memorandum „Soll die Psychoanalyse an der Universität ge
lehrt werden?“ Bemerkungen zum Entstehungskontext und Abdruck des verscholle
nen Originals. In: F. Lackinger & H. Rössler-Schülein (Eds.), Psychoanalyse und Uni
versität. Zur Verbindung von akademischer Lehre und analytischer Praxis (pp. –).
Psychosozial-Verlag. https://doi.org/./-
Schröter, M. (b). „Der Analytiker […] kann die die Universität ohne Schaden entbeh
ren“ Freud, die frühen Freudianer und die Universitäten. In F. Lackinger & H. Röss
ler-Schülein (Eds.), Psychoanalyse und Universität. Zur Verbindung von akademischer
Lehre und analytischer Praxis (pp. –). Psychosozial-Verlag. https://doi.org/
./-
Schröter, M. (). Das alte Berliner Psychoanalytische Institut. Geschichte – Profil – Be
deutung. In L. M. Herrmanns, V. Bouville & C. Wagner (Eds.), Ein Jahrhundert psycho
analytische Ausbildung. Einblicke in internationale Entwicklungen (pp. –). Psychoso
zial-Verlag. https://doi.org/./-
Solms, M. (). Psychoanalyse und Naturwissenschaft. In F. Lackinger & H. Rössler-
Schülein (Eds.), Psychoanalyse und Universität. Zur Verbindung von akademischer Lehre
und analytischer Praxis (pp. –). Psychosozial-Verlag. https://doi.org/./
-
Theiss-Abendroth, P. (). Ernst Federn. Anmerkungen zu einem Überlebenden. Hentrich &
Hentrich.
Peter Theiss-Abendroth
Theiss-Abendroth, P. (). Miteinander spielen: Interkulturelle Psychotherapien mit
Brasilianern aus der Perspektive Winnicotts. In G. Gödde & S. Stehle (Eds.), Die
therapeutische Beziehung in der psychodynamischen Psychotherapie. Ein Handbuch
(pp. –). Psychosozial-Verlag. https://doi.org/./-
Theiss-Abendroth, P. (). Sigmund Freud über traumatisch verursachte Psychosen.
Psyche – Z Psychoanal, 75(), –. https://doi.org/./ps---
Theiss-Abendroth, P. (). Psychoanalyse an Hochschulen lehren und erforschen. In
G. Gödde, E. Püschel & S. Schneider (Eds.), Psychodynamisch handeln lernen. Grund-
linien Psychodynamischer Psychotherapie für Ausbildung und Praxis. Psychosozial.
https://doi.org/./-
Warsitz, R.-P., & Küchenho, J. (). Psychoanalyse als Erkenntnistheorie – psychoanalyti
sche Erkenntnisverfahren. Kohlhammer. https://doi.org/./----
Winnicott, D. W. ( []). Playing and Reality. London: Routledge.
Yalof, J. (). Teaching Psychoanalytic Concepts in the University Setting: Issues, Chal
lenges, and Promises. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 35, –. https://doi.org/./
..
Teaching Psychoanalysis at Touro Berlin
Valuation Projects: A Taste of Real Life in
Finance Education
I Č-J
Introduction
Valuation plays a key role in many areas of finance; it is widely used by financial man
agers in corporations, by analysts in mergers and acquisitions, and in portfolio man
agement. The valuation procedure as stipulated by finance textbooks is quite simple—
it is the present value of future cash flows. Students in a basic course on corporate
finance should be able to calculate this value based on given inputs like future cash
flows, level of risk, growth potential, etc. However, the true challenge faced by a finan
cial analyst in real life is how to estimate those input factors.
When I started to teach an advanced senior year course within the undergraduate
finance minor program, a great part of which is dedicated to valuation, I relied on vari
ous problem sets and case studies dealing with particular challenges in valuation from
different angles. I sincerely believed that my students were presented with more than
enough versatile examples to be able to do valuation tasks once they started working.
After two or three years, I had a conversation with one of my former students. He told
me that when he started to work, he never had any problems with finance foundations,
but that the greatest challenge for him was related to data. He said that he had been so
overwhelmed with all the information from the real financial statements and other
comprehensive reports that he hadn’t known where or how to start. It was understand
able why he felt that way—the data in the textbook examples, problem sets, and case
studies, caters to students. The financial statements given here are stylized and typi
cally contain only broad categories without many items that can be found in real finan
cial statements. While those problem sets and case studies mimic reality, they often
lack the complexity of real-world problems. That conversation triggered a decision to
introduce a semester-long valuation project where students would apply all of the fi
nancial tools and techniques learned in class to two publicly traded companies from the
same industry, a chosen company and its main competitor. Students are required to
form their own teams of five to six participants to work on this project. The valuation
project then serves as the basis for the report and oral presentation to be delivered in
the last week of classes. The report needs to be written from the perspective of a team of
analysts at a consulting company asked to provide a valuation analysis to a client who is
interested in investing in a chosen firm.
The valuation project is divided into several phases that closely follow the topics
covered in class: detailed analysis of financial statements using financial ratios, return
on invested capital (ROIC) trees, economic value added (EVA), long-term and short-
term financial planning, estimations of riskiness, growth potential, cash flows, and val
uation using different methods (discounted cash flow analysis and valuation using
multiples of comparable companies).
The decision to introduce a valuation project was also accompanied by a change in
my teaching approach. Although I have continued to use selected chapters from the
same textbooks—Brigham and Houston’s Fundamentals of Financial Management (th
ed.) and Damodaran’s Damodaran on Valuation: Security Analysis for Investment and
Corporate Finance (nd ed.)—in my lectures, I have departed substantially from the ex
amples and problem sets in the generic lecture notes. Instead, I started to use the latest
financial statements and annual reports for a company of my choice to demonstrate
how to approach the financial analysis. The analysis is done in Excel, and roughly %
of the class time is spent on developing spreadsheets.
When valuing a company, any analyst needs to make many assumptions and sub
jective decisions to be able to move forward with the valuation. This is a challenging
task, even for experienced analysts, as any bias that they might have will surely be re
flected in the end value. Being exposed to this process in the classroom and discussing
the rationales for the decisions made in the valuation process, in addition to using com
prehensive real-life financial statements rather than stylized textbook versions, gives
students an idea of how to proceed with the valuation project for the companies of their
choice at home.
The implementation of such an assignment is in line with the overall trend ob
served within AACSB-accredited programs that puts ever greater weight on experien
tial learning (AACSB, ). Experiential learning is simply learning by doing. Within
an experience-based learning framework, students actively participate in the learning
process by applying the knowledge gained in the classroom to a real-life problem. This
way, individuals become notably more responsible for their own learning and create a
more robust link between the learning experience and reality (Salas et al., ).
This article is organized as follows: first, it provides a brief review of the literature
on experiential learning, as this concept is at the core of the valuation project assign
ment described above. This review is followed by a more detailed overview of the valua
tion project’s requirements. Finally, the benefits and challenges of such an experiential
learning assignment are discussed.
Literature review
Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience, or “learning by do
ing”. One of the most prominent theories of experiential learning is Kolb’s () expe
riential learning theory (ELT). The roots of his theory lie in the work of prominent th
century scholars such as John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Jean Piaget, which has been
further developed by therapeutic psychology based on psychoanalysis (Carl Jung, Erik
Erikson) and humanistic psychology (Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow), as well as the
work of Paulo Freire, Ivan Illich, and others (Miettinen, ). Kolb argues that he does
Valuation Projects: A Taste of Real Life in Finance Education
not want to develop an alternative theory of learning “but rather to suggest through
experiential learning theory a holistic integrative perspective on learning that combines
experience, perception, cognition, and behavior” (Kolb, , p. as cited in Miettinen,
, p. ).
According to Kolb (, p. ), “[l]earning is the process whereby knowledge is
created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combi
nation of grasping and transforming experience.” He views the experiential learning
process as a cycle of four basic elements, including concrete experience (feeling), reflec
tive observation (watching), abstract conceptualization (thinking), and active experi
mentation (doing). In later works, Kolb and Kolb () also introduced the concept of
learning space and suggested that student learning styles may be a way to describe the
institutional learning environment experienced by students.
Experiential learning enables students to grasp the theoretical concepts while ap
plying them to practice, expanding their perspectives and promoting their personal de
velopment (Deeley, ; Takahashi & Saito, ). Similarly, experiential learning is
also refered to as
[a learning] process that takes place beyond the traditional classroom and that enhances
the personal and intellectual growth of the student. Such education can occur in a wide
variety of settings, but it usually takes on a “learn-by-doing” aspect that engages the stu
dent directly in the subject, work or service involved. (Northeastern University, , p. as
cited in Katula and Threnhauser, , p. )
“Learning by doing” or “learning by experiencing” is a major component of this method.
Burke () claims that by implementing experiential learning, instructors can
integrate innovative approaches like differentiation, constructivist theory, discovery
learning, inquiry-based learning, simulations, critical thinking, problem solving, tech
nology-based learning, and performance-based assessment into their teaching con
cepts. They all expose students to various experiences that consist of doing assigned
work in and out of the classroom, detecting the problem, researching, analyzing the
facts, discovering and synthesizing subject content to make decisions and solve prob
lems, reflecting, and learning from mistakes. This teaching approach provides, on the
one hand, more flexibility during the learning process, as students set their own pace
and are required to reflect on their learning progress, but on the other hand, it also
requires learners to be active participants rather than passive listeners.
In the process, students are often required to work in teams, which—in addition
to the cognitive aspect—enhances the social, emotional, and behavioral aspects of
learning. Voukelatou () finds that “through communication and interaction, learn
ers use their experiences, are encouraged, cultivate critical thinking, develop skills and
are led to self-awareness and emotional maturity” (p. ). The positive impact of experi
ential learning on critical thinking has also been documented by DeSimone and Buzza
(), Samba et al. (), Odom et al. (), Hamilton and Klebba (), and Coker
().
Iva Čondić-Jurkić
Experience-based learning not only enhances students’ competencies and under
standing of theoretical concepts but also their motivation by getting them involved in
learning by doing activities (Piercy, ; Hyams-Ssekasi & Caldwell, ), which ulti
mately leads to superior performance (Leal-Rodriguez & Albort-Morant, ; Valen
zuela et al., ; Chapman et al., ; Freeman et al., ; Cagle et al., ; Eckhaus
et al., ; Piercy, ).
Furthermore, the ELT approach is highly interdisciplinary. It has found its applica
tion value in various disciplines such as education, strategic management, information
systems, psychology, sociology, medicine, nursing, accounting, and law, among others
(Kolb et al., ).
The Valuation Project
The team project on which this article focuses is designed to apply the financial tools
and techniques that students learn in class to real-world examples. The team project
lasts the entire semester (i. e., for fourteen weeks) and requires students to form their
own teams of five to six participants. Each team must pick two publicly traded com-
panies from the same industry—a company chosen for valuation and its main compe-
titor. Different teams are not allowed to use the same companies, and the students
cannot use companies that have already been valued by other students in previous se
mesters either. The valuation serves as the basis for the written report and oral presen
tation to be delivered in the last week of classes. The report must be written from the
perspective of a team of analysts at a consulting company who have been asked to pro
vide a valuation analysis to a client who is interested in investing in their chosen firm.
The students are required to provide an analysis that contains the following ele
ments:
. Industry analysis
. Analysis of financial statements
. Discounted cash flow valuation. For this, the students must apply the dividend
discount model, the free cash flow to equity (FCFE) model, and/or the free cash
flow to firm (FCFF) model. Ideally, students would use all of these valuation mod
els, but if any of the models are not applicable, they can choose the model they
think is most appropriate for their respective company. Students are required to
complete an analysis of the key value drivers, for example, the growth rate as
sumption, the growth period assumption, or the net capital expenditure assump
tion, and to perform a sensitivity or scenario analysis to see how changing their
assumptions would influence the valuation results.
. Relative valuation. Students are required to choose a set of “comparable” compa
nies, choose a multiple or set of multiples that will be used in relative valuation,
and then evaluate companies relative to the chosen “comparables” using the mul
tiples method. The students are also required to run regression analyses to better
Valuation Projects: A Taste of Real Life in Finance Education
position the analyzed firms within their sectors (industries), i. e., to see if the
firms are undervalued, overvalued, or fairly priced.
. Conclusion on intrinsic value of chosen companies. The students must compare
and contrast the values obtained from the discounted cash flow with the results of
their relative valuation models and comment on the results. As a final step, they
need to make a final recommendation for their client.
. Industry analysis
Having chosen the companies that will be evaluated during the semester, students
should first perform the industry analysis. It is suggested that they use Porter’s ()
Five Forces Model to explain the competitive characteristics of a particular industry. Ac
cording to this framework, competitiveness depends on five basic forces: the threat of
new entrants, the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of buyers, the
threat of substitute products or services, and existing industry rivalries. The intercon
nectedness of these forces determines the profit potential of an industry and thus its
attractiveness. Without a thorough industry analysis, it will be hard to determine the
growth potential for a particular firm or create a risk profile, both of which are inputs
the students will need for their discounted cash flow analysis.
. Analysis of nancial statements: ratio analysis, ROIC tree, and EVA
In the next step, the students are required to analyze the financial health of their
chosen firms. For this, they first need to obtain the financial data for the previous three
years. It is suggested that they use the data from annual reports and/or -Ks, as well as
information from the notes that accompany financial statements, to put the numbers
into context. This is when students usually start to realize that analyzing the financial
statements of a real company is much more complex than it looks in the examples that
they know from basic finance textbooks. In the textbooks, financial statements are styl
ized and typically contain only broad categories that exclude many items that can be
found in real financial statements. For example, typical textbook balance sheets show
the main components of assets (cash, accounts receivable, inventory, PP&E, and non-
tangible assets), liabilities (accounts payable, accruals, short- and long-term debt), and
equity (paid-in capital, retained earnings, and treasury stock), but leave out other items
such as non-controlling interests, lease obligations, deferred income taxes, and deriva
tives. This is why, instead of using an example from the book, I use the most recent
financial statements of an actual company to show students how to navigate annual
reports and analyze financial statements. When faced with such a comprehensive and
detailed document, students are at first overwhelmed. However, as I present this task
as a sort of discovery challenge—to earn excess returns, the imaginary investors for
whom the students provide their analysis must have either better information (un
likely) or a better analysis than other investors—the students actually start enjoying the
process.
The process of financial analysis starts with the calculation of financial ratios and a
detailed analysis of profitability, liquidity, asset management, indebtedness, and mar
Iva Čondić-Jurkić
ket ratios. The students are required to analyze those ratios over time for each of their
two chosen firms (typically major competitors), to compare these two ratios, and to as
sess them in comparison with the industry average. Although comparing the ratios
with a benchmark might seem trivial, and for some ratios, rules of thumb have been
developed, the project requires students to dig deeper and provide more context behind
the numbers. For example, the current ratio measures a firm’s ability to pay off its cur
rent liabilities by liquidating its current assets. When assessing the liquidity position,
analysts perceive a current ratio of (indicating that the current assets are two times
higher than the current liabilities) to be acceptable. Although a high current ratio gen
erally indicates a very strong and safe liquidity position, it might also indicate that the
firm has too much old inventory that will have to be written off and/or too many old
accounts receivable that may turn into bad debts. Or it might indicate that the firm has
too much cash, receivables, and inventory relative to its sales, in which case these assets
are not being managed efficiently. Another example is the assessment of profitability
ratios, which measure profits in relation to sales, assets, or equity. Any profitability ra
tio that includes net income is subject to potential problems of comparability. Net in
come is influenced by financial leverage. If firms use different amounts of borrowing,
the firms with more debt therefore tend to have higher levels of profitability as well as
higher levels of risk compared to firms that do not use as much debt.
Additionally, not all financial ratios are equally important when analyzing diffe
rent industries. For example, while fixed asset turnover and inventory turnover ratios
are important for analyzing firms in the manufacturing industry, they would not be as
important for the analysis of a company in the service industry.
When analyzing the financial position of a firm, students are encouraged to look
deeply into the full set of ratios before forming a judgment on how well the firm is
performing. They also need to be aware that, although assessing a firm’s historical fi
nancial performance is pretty straightforward, different factors like accounting rules,
the choice of depreciation method, or management’s “window dressing” can cloud the
analyst’s judgement. Furthermore, traditional financial ratios do not tell the analyst
much when it comes to a firm’s ability to sustain its current performance and create
value in the future. Students are therefore instructed to explore more meaningful met
rics like return on invested capital (ROIC) and economic value added (EVA) that can be
related to long-term value creation. In order to create value, i. e., generate positive EVA,
a firm needs to do more than just have good accounting profitability. EVA differs sub
stantially from accounting profit because no charge for the use of shareholders’ capital
is reflected in the latter. So, students are required to investigate if the ROIC is greater
than the cost of that capital. They are required to dig deeper and see how a firm’s ROIC
compares with that of its peer company (i. e., its competitor) and the industry average,
how the firm’s ROIC behaves over time, how fast the company has grown (absolutely
and relative to its peers), and whether its growth has accelerated or slowed down over
time. The ROIC tree is a useful tool that allows the students to break down the informa
tion contained in the ROIC numbers and identify the major value drivers. As part of the
valuation project, students are required to develop their own ROIC trees and analyze
Valuation Projects: A Taste of Real Life in Finance Education
how different ratios are interconnected, how they feed into ROIC the number, and
which variables have the greatest impact on value creation.
. Discounted cash ow valuation
The valuation procedure as stipulated by finance textbooks is quite simple: the value is
determined as the present (or discounted) value of the future cash flows. It is important
to draw a distinction between cash flows to equity holders—after all, these cash flows
are associated with debt financing such as interest and principal payments, and new
debt issues—and cash flows to the firm that are ready for distribution to both debt hold
ers and equity holders in the firm.
Free cash flow to equity (FCFE) = Net income – (Capital expenditures – Depreciation)
– Change in NOWC
+ (New debt raised – Debt repayment)
The free cash flows to the firm are cash flows attributable to all claim holders in the
firm and can be calculated as:
Free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) = Operating income ( – Tax rate)
– (Capital expenditures – Depreciation)
– Change in NOWC
The intrinsic value of the firm is calculated as the present value of the estimated future
free cash flows to the firm, discounted at the weighted average cost of capital (WACC).
Additionally, in case of the estimated future cash flows being free cash flows to equity,
students must calculate the intrinsic value of equity by discounting FCFE using the
equity cost of capital.
The procedure mentioned above is pretty straightforward. In my experience, stu
dents find it easy to apply once they have all the inputs they need, such as the future
cash flows, the level of risk that is reflected in the cost of capital, the growth potential,
etc. However, the true challenge faced by a financial analyst in real life is how to esti
mate those input factors properly.
As indicated above, calculation of both FCFE and FCFF is based on accounting
earnings—operating income for FCFF and net income for FCFE. Although obtaining
these numbers from financial statements is a pretty easy task, when valuing firms, an
analyst needs to make certain choices and/or adjustments to the current year’s earn
ings before using them as a base for projections: () choose whether to use the most
recent or “trailing twelve months” data, in particular when analyzing young firms that
are changing rapidly over time; () correct the earnings for accounting misclassifi-
cations, the most common ones being treating R&D expenses as operating instead
of capital expenses, and operating lease expenses as operating instead of financial ex-
penses; and () adjust the earnings for any one-time or extraordinary items (Damo
daran, ).
Iva Čondić-Jurkić
Forecasting the expected future cash flows comes with further challenges. One of
them is related to determining the potential growth rate during the extraordinary
growth period. An accurate estimation of the growth rate depends on the quality of the
industry analysis and the analysis of the company’s competitive advantage. Another
challenge is related to the estimation of how long a company will be able to sustain its
extraordinary growth period. In order to estimate this, students will need to analyze
factors such as the size of the company (as smaller ones are more likely to experience
longer periods of high growth), the company’s ability to generate excess returns, its
competitive advantage, and its ability to sustain it over time, which will depend on mar
ket structure, barriers to entry, strategic decisions, etc.
Once they have decided what the expected length of the extraordinary growth pe
riod should be and which growth rate should be applied to this period, students need to
determine the terminal value. In theory, firms can stay in business forever, but analysts
cannot estimate cash flows infinitely, so analysts typically forecast the cash flows dur
ing the extraordinary growth period and determine the terminal value at the end of that
period. Although there are several methods that can be used to determine terminal
value, students are expected to assume that beyond its high growth period, a company
will forever continue to grow at a constant rate, and to determine the terminal value in
period t as TVt=Cash flowt + /(r-g). The choice of the discount rate r will depend on
whether estimated cash flows are dividends and FCFE or FCFF. In the former case, the
cost of equity will be used as a discount rate, while in the latter case, the discount rate
should be WACC. The stable growth rate g at which the firm will grow in perpetuity
should reflect the characteristics of a mature company: lower level of risk, greater finan
cial leverage, low or zero excess returns, and reinvestment ratios. Obviously, an esti
mate of each of these factors will certainly have a significant impact on the value. Never
theless, it is important to link the growth rate with the firm’s reinvestment rate as well
as the return on the capital reinvested in future growth opportunities.
In the next step, depending on how the company will make the transition from
high growth to stable growth, students need to decide on the optimal variation of the
discount cash flow model. They can use ) the Gordon growth model for mature firms
at a stage of steady growth; ) a two-stage model for firms that experience a high growth
rate in the initial phase that drops to a lower yet sustainable growth rate once the com
pany has reached a stable phase of growth; or ) a three-stage model for firms that expe
rience a high growth rate in the initial phase, followed by a gradual (linear) decline of
the growth rate in the second stage until they reach a third stage of low yet stable
growth that will be sustained in perpetuity.
Students in a basic course on corporate finance should be able to calculate the
value based on provided inputs like future cash flows, level of risk, and growth poten
tial. However, the true challenge faced by a financial analyst in real life is how to esti
mate those input factors. As students progress through the process described above,
they need to make assumptions every step of the way in order to move forward—just
like financial analysts in real life. Those assumptions and any biases that they might
have will be reflected in their value calculation.
Valuation Projects: A Taste of Real Life in Finance Education
. Relative valuation
When performing a discounted cash flow valuation, students are required to determine
the value of the company based on variables such as estimated future cash flows, the
company’s growth potential, and its risk profile. In relative valuation, they need to de
termine the value based on how similar companies are priced in the market. Their first
step in relative valuation would be to find a set of “comparable” companies. Since there
are no two firms that are exactly the same, students should find companies that are
most comparable in terms of their growth potential and risk profiles. Then, the stu
dents need to translate the value of each comparable company into a multiple of some
common firm characteristics, such as revenues, earnings, book value, or sector-specific
characteristics. This multiple is then applied to the firm characteristics of the assessed
company to determine its value. For example, if we want to determine the value of Pep
sico using the relative valuation method, we could use Coca Cola as a comparable com
pany, as we would assume that these two companies—from the same industry and at
similar stages of their life cycles—have similar risk and growth profiles. If Coca Cola’s
P/E ratio is , it suggests that the value of equity is times the multiple of the firm’s
earnings. Assuming that Pepsico and Coca Cola are similar, we would then multiply
Pepsico’s earnings by a multiple of to find its equity value. If students can find sev
eral comparable companies, they can determine the average of their multiples and
apply it to their firm’s characteristics to estimate a value.
The example above illustrates that multiples analysis is fairly easy to use, and
many students interested in finance are already familiar with it. However, I spend a
great deal of time in class emphasizing that multiples analysis can also be easily used
incorrectly, which can lead to erroneous conclusions if an analyst fails to pay attention to
certain details. Firstly, multiples need to be consistently defined, meaning that the
value in a multiple’s numerator and denominator needs to be consistent (Damodaran,
). For example, multiples like the P/E ratio or the Enterprise Value/Sales must be
consistently determined. In the case of the P/E ratio, the numerator is the price per
share, which is an equity value, and the denominator is the EPS, i. e., the earnings that
belong to equity holders. In the case of Enterprise Value/Sales, both the numerator and
the denominator are firm values. An example of an inconsistently defined multiple
would be P/Sales, where the numerator is an equity value and the denominator mea
sures revenues that belong to both equity and debt holders. In order to apply multiples
wisely, it is important to understand the cross-sectional determinants of each multiple
as well as the fundamental determinants that drive the multiple. If we fail to control for
fundamental variables like expected growth rate, risk, payout ratio, return on capital,
profit margins, etc., we might come to the wrong conclusions regarding a firm’s value.
For example, firms with higher growth rates should trade at a higher multiple, while
companies with low growth rates should trade at low multiples. So, if we do not control
for differences in growth rates between the observed companies, we might erroneously
conclude that low-growth companies are undervalued and high-growth companies are
overvalued (Damodaran, ).
Iva Čondić-Jurkić
In order to avoid such valuation bias and control for multiple differences across
the companies in the sector, students are required to run a regression analysis that
describes the relationship between a multiple and the fundamentals. This analysis al
lows them to better position their firms within their respective sectors (industries), i. e.,
to determine with greater accuracy if their firms are undervalued, overvalued, or fairly
priced.
. Oral presentation
Each team is required to submit a written valuation report of at least five pages, plus
supplementary tables and graphs. In the last week of classes, the students present their
findings. This is a great opportunity to practice several things at once. Firstly, the stu
dents must decide which parts of such an extensive analysis are most important and
need to be presented, and which parts should be explained in the written report. Sec
ondly, they must find a way to present numerical data that is professional and keeps the
audience interested. Thirdly, they hone the oral communication skills they will later
need for presentations in their professional lives.
Benets and challenges of the valuation project
Students’ reactions to the valuation project have been very positive. This has consis
tently been reflected in the course evaluations as well. Through this project, I have
learned that students enjoy working in teams on this type of assignment, which offers
them an opportunity to put theory into practice by connecting the knowledge gained in
the classroom and applying it to a real-world valuation task.
In my experience, the benefits of implementing such a valuation project are mani
fold, confirming the findings of Stohs () and Bredthauer (). Firstly, assign
ments from the domain of experiential learning enhance the learning experience. The
project is demanding, and I noticed that it leads students to develop problem-solving
and critical thinking skills that would be harder to develop through more traditional
methods of teaching. Furthermore, since the students themselves choose which firms
they want to evaluate, they show a greater level of motivation and enthusiasm through
out the entire process. They typically choose companies in which they have an intrinsic
interest. Whatever the reasoning behind their choice may be, intrinsic motivation to
perform a detailed financial analysis on chosen companies and the industry in which
they do business results in a deeper and longer-lasting understanding of the course
concepts.
In addition to a higher level of engagement that may foster more effective learn
ing, this type of assignment also promotes collaboration and provides students with a
great opportunity to practice being a team player. The fact that the project is quite com
prehensive and lasts the entire semester (i. e., fourteen weeks) creates not only an op
portunity but also a need for students to practice their management skills, including
time management and leadership.
Valuation Projects: A Taste of Real Life in Finance Education
Another important benefit of the project is the enhancement of Excel skills, which
are continually ranked highly by employers. In my opinion, Excel is a cornerstone of
modern finance education because it provides students with powerful tools (financial
functions, Goal Seek, Data Table, Scenario Manager, Data Analysis, Solver Toolpak,
etc.) they can use to analyze financial problems. My own ten years of experience using
Excel tools in class show that students () are more engaged in practical demonstra
tions—which, in turn, makes the lectures themselves more effective—and () feel that
good Excel skills are a competitive advantage that may be noticed during internships
and will prepare them for future job requirements.
In addition to all of these benefits, this type of assignment also creates value by
departing from well-structured textbook problem sets and adding more of the chaos
that is pertinent to real-world work environments. As pointed out by Tashjian (),
students know that an exam will require them to apply a certain number of tools, and a
good student simply chooses the right tools from a small set they have prepared for the
occasion. However, students who do well in this sort of scenario may start to struggle
when they have to first identify the right tool from a larger set or if they—like my former
student—are confronted with a comprehensive set of data when solving real business
problems, be it as part of a job interview or in the first years of their careers. Assign
ments such as the valuation project teach students how to navigate oceans of data and
figure out which data to use—and how. Making them aware of potential biases in valu
ation that, if not addressed properly, will find their way into the end result, their work
on the valuation project also highlights the importance of critical thinking. But perhaps
the most important lesson is how to continue acquiring new skills and knowledge,
which will surely be integral parts of their future careers.
Finally, experiential learning can also be beneficial to the reputation of the busi
ness school itself, combining theory with practice in a way that helps students gain
both the proficiency and the confidence they will need to make a smooth transition
from higher education into their professional lives. If used as a regular part of teaching
in business degrees, experiential learning projects such as the valuation project may
therefore prove to be useful marketing tools for the admissions office of a business
school.
Despite its many benefits, however, even experiential learning comes with certain
downsides. One of the challenges that I have recognized over the past few years is relat-
ed to the fact that the project requires group work. Experiential learning offers more
freedom and flexibility, and students can decide how much time and effort they want to
use for different tasks. It is therefore crucial to design the assignment in a way that
ensures that all students take part in equal measure. For me, the biggest challenge as
the instructor accompanying and, later, grading the projects was measuring individual
students’ contributions. The fact that the project lasts the entire semester and requires
a lot of serious work helps in a sense: students start fairly early to disapprove of their
team members’ procrastinating behavior, and most groups deal pretty effectively with
the resulting unequal distribution of their workload. As I want students to take the
project seriously, its grade contributes % to their overall grade for the course. In
Iva Čondić-Jurkić
order to assess students’ performance and the extent to which learning outcomes have
been achieved on an individual level, after a few semesters I started to ask my students
to evaluate their own contributions to the teamwork, what they have learned in the pro
cess, and what they would do differently. This way, students take ownership of their
work, and in my experience, they are pretty honest about their performance. A tool
often suggested to measure results in group work is peer assessment; however, I
choose not to use it as I fear it might influence group dynamics negatively.
For some students, experiential learning means that they need to leave their com
fort zone. In this project, this mostly concerns the oral presentations that are held in
front of the entire class. Although all students are encouraged to present some part of
their group project, their participation in this part of the exercise is not mandatory.
However, I suggest that instructors take some time during office hours to talk to stu
dents who have issues with oral presentations, explaining that the classroom is a safe
environment in which they can practice many different skills and that, while they can
choose to skip the presentation in the course, they will certainly have to present the
results of their analyses in their future careers.
Implementing experiential learning means that the instructor will have to invest
more time in consultation and individual guidance for the teams. When students start
to work on their projects, they might run into many different issues and not know how
to proceed further without the instructor’s help. For example, one team working on the
valuation project chose two airline companies that were severely hit by the COVID-
pandemic, which negatively affected the income that serves as a starting point for dis
counted cash flow valuation, making it difficult for the students to estimate whether or
not they were working with reliable numbers. In other cases, students didn’t know how
to deal with some of the items they encountered in financial statements, or they picked
high-growth companies and struggled with determining the length of the extraordinary
growth period and the corresponding growth rate. In experiential learning scenarios,
the instructor needs to offer advice on how to deal with challenges such as these. I
usually invite students to discuss their issues during office hours, trying not to offer
them a solution but to gently steer them in the right direction so they can solve the
problem themselves. Sometimes, this can be quite time-consuming, but I believe it is
well worth the time, as students indicated that these meetings were exceptionally valua
ble for their learning processes.
Lastly, for this kind of assignment, it is of the utmost importance to be familiar
with the teaching materials for the class and to state clearly what is expected from the
students. Otherwise, students might feel discouraged and lose motivation. My sugges
tion is to start with fewer but well-structured and thoroughly explained requirements,
expanding the assignment in line with students’ learning outcomes over the course of
the following years.
Overall, I believe that the challenges of an experiential learning setting are out
weighed by all the benefits mentioned above. In my experience, the implementation of
the valuation project substantially increased the quality of the course.
Valuation Projects: A Taste of Real Life in Finance Education
Conclusion
This paper aimed to describe how a semester-long valuation project can be used to ex
pose undergraduate students in finance to the complexities of real-life valuation tasks
by creating an opportunity to apply theoretical frameworks to the numbers of actual
businesses, thereby providing them with a taste of what their future jobs may entail.
The work on a project of this scope is demanding for instructors and students alike, but
it is well worth the effort as it enhances problem-solving and critical thinking skills that
would be much harder to develop through more traditional methods of teaching in
higher education. The project not only fosters a higher level of engagement, which
leads to more effective learning processes, but it also promotes teamwork and collabo
ration. The most important benefit, however, is that students practice dealing with pro
fessional challenges in their own way and that they learn that real-life tasks require
continued work on their skillsets and knowledge.
References
AACSB International. (). Eligibility procedures and accreditation standards for business
accreditation. https://www.aacsb.edu/-/media/documents/accreditation/-busi
ness-standards.pdf
Bredthauer, J. (). An Applied Investment Project: Utilizing Traditional and Value
Investing Methodologies to Teach Equity Valuation. Journal of Financial Education,
42(3–4), –.
Brigham, E. F., & Houston, J. F. (). Fundamentals of Financial Management (. ed.).
Cengage.
Burke, B. M. (). Experiential professional development: A model for meaningful and
long-lasting change in classrooms. Journal of Experiential Education, 36, –.
https://doi.org/./
Cagle, J., Glasgo, P., & Hyland, D. (). Spreadsheets: Do They Improve Student Learn
ing in the Introductory Finance Course? Journal of Financial Education, 36, –.
Chapman, J., Schetzsle, S., & Wahlers, R. (). An innovative, experiential-learning
project for sales management and professional selling students. Marketing Education
Review, 26(), –. https://doi.org/./..
Coker, P. (). Eects of an experimental learning program on the clinical reasoning and
critical thinking skills of occupational therapy students. Journal of Allied Health, 39,
–.
Damodaran, A. (). Damodaran on Valuation: Security Analysis for Investment and
Corporate Finance (. Aufl.). John Wiley and Sons.
Deeley, S. J. (). Service-learning: Thinking outside the box. Higher Education, 11(),
–. https://doi.org/./
Iva Čondić-Jurkić
DeSimone, F., & Buzza, J. (). Experiential Learning: Improving The Ecacy Of An
Undergraduate Business Degree. American Journal Of Business Education, (),
–. https://doi.org/./ajbe.vi.
Eckhaus, E., Klein, G., & Kantor, J. (). Experiential learning in management education.
Business, Management and Education, 15(), –. https://doi.org/./bme.
.
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wen
deroth, M. P. (). Active learning boosts performance in STEM courses. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(), –. https://doi.org/./pnas.
Hamilton, J. G., & Klebba, J. M. (). Experiential Learning: A Course Design Process For
Critical Thinking. American Journal of Business Education, 4(), –. https://doi.org/
./ajbe.vi.
Hyams-Ssekasi, D., Caldwell, E. F. (). An Exploration of Experiential Education as a
Catalyst for Future Entrepreneurs. In Hyams-Ssekasi, D., Caldwell, E. (Eds.). Experien
tial Learning for Entrepreneurship. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/./
----_
Katula, R. A., & Threnhauser, E. (). Experiential education in the undergraduate curric
ulum. Communication Education, 48(), –. https://doi.org/./
Kolb, A. Y., & Kolb, D. A. (). Learning Styles and Learning Spaces: Enhancing Experien
tial Learning in Higher Education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4(),
–. https://doi.org/./amle..
Kolb, D. (). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development.
Prentice-Hall.
Kolb, D. A., Boyatzis, R. E., & Mainemelis, C. (). Experiential learning theory: Previous
research and new directions. In L. Zhang (Ed.), Perspectives on thinking, learning, and
cognitive styles (pp. 227–247). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://doi.org/./
-
Leal-Rodriguez, A. L., & Albort-Morant, G. (). Promoting innovative experiential learn
ing practices to improve academic performance: Empirical evidence from a Spanish
Business School. Journal of Innovation and Knowledge, 4, –. https://doi.org/
./j.jik...
Miettinen, R. (). The concept of experiential learning and John Dewey’s theory of re
flective thought and action. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 19(), –.
https://doi.org/./
Odom, S. F., Shehane, M., Moore, L. L., & McKim, B. (). An Analysis of a High-Impact
Field Experience in Agriculture: Documenting Critical Thinking Skills through Re
flection. NACTA Journal, 58(), –.
Piercy, N. (). Evaluating experiential learning in the business context: contributions to
group-based and cross-functional working. Innovations in Education and Teaching In
ternational, 50(), –. https://doi.org/./..
Valuation Projects: A Taste of Real Life in Finance Education
Porter, M. E. (). How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review,
57(), –.
Salas, E., Wildman, J. L., & Piccolo, R. F. (). Using simulation-based training to en
hance management education. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 8,
–. https://doi.org/./AMLE..
Samba, R. M. O., Achor, E. E., Bash, A. E., & Iortim, S. O. (). Fostering Students' Criti
cal Thinking and Achievement in Basic Science Using Graphic Organizer and Experi
ential Learning Strategies with Feedback. Science Education International, 31(),
–. https://doi.org/./sei.v.i.
Stohs, M. H. (). Teaching Corporate Finance by Valuing a Corporation. Journal of Fi
nancial Education, 25, –.
Takahashi, S., & Saito, E. (). Unraveling the process and meaning of problem-based
learning experiences. Higher Education, 66(), –. https://doi.org/./
s---
Tashjian, E. (). The essence of investing: experiential education with a student-run
portfolio. Managerial Finance, 46(), –. https://doi.org/./MF---
Valenzuela, L., Jerez, O. M., Hasbún, B., Pizarro, V., Valenzuela, G., & Orsini, C. A. ().
Closing the gap between business undergraduate education and the organisational
environment: A Chilean case study applying experiential learning theory. Innovations
in Education and Teaching International, 55(), –.
Voukelatou, G. (). The Contribution of Experiential Learning to the Development of
Cognitive and Social Skills in Secondary Education: A Case Study. Education Sciences,
9(), . https://doi.org/./educsci
Iva Čondić-Jurkić
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for
Professional Teacher Trainings: The EVe-LaB
Training Program as a Case Study
M B
Introduction
One of the major tasks of higher education is to qualify, train, and prepare teachers for
one of the greatest challenges of modern society: educating the young and thereby
shaping the society of tomorrow. The professional development of teachers is a com
plex issue due to multiple variables, e. g., the complexity of teaching itself, including
required knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and skills, as well as the constantly shifting re
quirements of society and frameworks or school curricula (Hattie, ; Zierer, ;
Timperley et al., ; Yoon et al., ).
Unfortunately, it is not sufficient to rely solely on the self-developmental capacities
and competencies of teachers to adapt, improve, and promote teaching and learning
conditions over time just by staying in the job (Burroughs et al., ; Gustafson &
Nilson, ). Therefore, frequent professional teacher trainings are essential to keep
ing teaching standards high. In , a new framework for teaching programs in gen
eral public schools (st–th grades) was introduced in Berlin and Brandenburg, two
federal states of Germany (LISUM, a, b). It was geared towards subjects like con
sumer education, health education, acceptance of diversity, learning in a global con
text/sustainable development, as well as other topics relevant to today’s schools. This
meant that new teaching skills related to these topics had to be conveyed (e. g., Fritz
et al., ). As part of this enterprise, new teacher training programs for different
school subjects were developed, including the training program EVeLaB1—School-
Based Nutrition and Consumer Education in the State of Brandenburg, which covers the
school subject “Wirtschaft—Arbeit—Technik” (WAT), which teaches a selection of
topics on economy, labor, and technology and is therefore related to many of the new
topics mentioned above. The project was funded by the Brandenburg Ministry of Social
Affairs, Health, Integration, and Consumer Protection and supported by the Ministry
of Education, Youth, and Sports via its program Quality Upgrading—School Catering3.
As a case study for the implementation of the self-experience format, the aim of
this article is to describe and analyze the context, concept, and evaluation results of
EVeLaB as a training program for WAT teachers in the state of Brandenburg, Ger
EVeLaB – Schulische Ernährungs- und Verbraucherbildung im Land Brandenburg.
In German schools, the subject WAT (also known as AWT) integrates topics of elds of economy, labor, and technology.
Qualitätsoensive Schulverpegung.
many. Aiming to train the teachers with the curriculum’s new content as well as pre
pare them for diverse classes, the training program was designed in an innovative self-
experience format. This means that during training, teachers take on the role of
students. This article discusses why such a self-experience format may provide as
promising an approach to future training in the field of teachers’ professional develop
ment as it already does in other fields of higher education, such as medicine, psychol
ogy, social work, or nursing.
Teachers’ professional development
New training programs for teachers may provide solutions for professional develop
ment as well as additional benefits for teachers if they are well-designed and of high
quality (Darling-Hammond et al., ; Hattie, ; Hubers et al., ; Lipowsky &
Rzejak, ; Timperley et al., ). Hattie () defines powerful, passionate, accom
plished teachers as teachers who:
st, focus on students’ cognitive engagement with the content of what it is that is being
taught;
nd, focus on developing a way of thinking and reasoning that emphasizes problem-solving
and teaching strategies relating to the content that they wish students to learn;
rd, focus on imparting new knowledge and understanding, and then monitor how stu
dents gain fluency and appreciation in this new knowledge;
th, focus on providing feedback in an appropriate and timely manner to help students to
attain the worthwhile goals of the lesson;
th, seek feedback about their effect on the progress and proficiency of all of their students;
th, have deep understanding about how we learn; and
th, focus on seeing learning through the eyes of the students, appreciating their fits and
starts in learning, and their often non-linear progressions to the goals, supporting their
deliberate practice, providing feedback about their errors and misdirections, and caring that
the students get to the goals and that the students share the teacher’s passion for the mate
rial being learnt. (Hattie, , pp. –)
Certainly, one of the most important means by which these characteristics of a “good
teacher” may be achieved is through teacher trainings that properly promote these
characteristics. To that effect, both Linder () and Jäger and Bodensohn () high
light the factors that characterize excellent coaches for professional development: au
thenticity, pedagogical expertise, and high motivation.
The attitude and knowledge of teachers and coaches must be accompanied by opti
mal lesson structure. According to Hattie (), an optimal lesson in general should
consider and cover expert strategies addressing:
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for Professional Teacher Trainings
. Prior achievement:… before the lesson is planned, the teacher must know what a
student already knows and can do, … teachers understand the attitudes and disposi
tions that students bring to the lesson, and aim to enhance these so that they are a
positive part of learning …
. Targeted learning: … teachers within the school jointly plan series of lessons, with
learning intentions and success criteria related to worthwhile curricular specification
…
. Components of learning intentions and success criteria:
a) invoke appropriate challenges that engage the students’ commitment to invest
in learning;
b) capitalize on and build students’ confidence to attain the learning intentions;
c) are based on appropriately high expectations of outcomes for students;
d) lead to students having goals to master and wishing to reinvest in their learn
ing; and
e) have learning intentions and success criteria that are explicitly known by [to]
the student;
. Teacher collaboration: … all teachers are thoroughly familiar with the curriculum—
in terms of content, levels of diculty, expected progressions—and share common
interpretations about these with each other. (Hattie, , pp. –)
Researchers like Lipowsky and Rzejak (), who, among other topics, explicitly deal
with professional teacher trainings, stress that the following factors and their interac
tions should be considered important for creating successful trainings:
. quality and quantity of learning opportunities;
. characteristics and competencies of the facilitator;
. the perception, interpretation, and use of provided content by participants of the
training, depending on cognitive, motivational, and volitional characteristics; and
. the general application conditions of the provided content in schools. Research
shows that additional factors are also important, e. g., creating situations in which
participants experience self-ecacy and connect with other professionals discus
sing familiar or newly learned teaching approaches.
Further characteristics of successful teacher training can be summarized as follows: it
is of sustained duration, supports collaboration, is accepted by teachers, is subject-spe
cific and content-focused, draws on external expertise and coaching support as well as
on research, incorporates active learning, uses references to existing knowledge, uses
models of effective/good practice, offers feedback and reflection, and is practice-based
(e. g., Cordingley et al., ; Darling-Hammond et al., ). It is of special value when
the topics covered by the training take into consideration the goals and intentions of
both the school and the teachers (e. g., Desimone, ; Penuel et al., ) and deal
with different aspects of heterogeneity (social background, abilities, culture, religion,
gender, etc.) as well as diversity-sensitive learning environments. Topics should also be
related to praxis, incorporating training phases of input, experience, and reflection
(Lipowsky & Rzejak, ). Desimone and Garet () also highlight the significance
of linking the training’s content to the teachers’ own school and teaching experience.
For further reading on these aspects, see also Deci and Ryan (, ) and Vangrieken et al. ().
Majken Bieniok
Furthermore, they propose to modulate trainings to individual teachers’ needs and to
offer opportunities to adjust the training because teachers may respond differently to
the same training (Desimone & Garet, ; Domitrovich et al., ).
Social interaction, either intended or unintended, is an important intrinsic and
extrinsic motivational factor for the outcome of teacher trainings (Rzejak et al., ).
Other motivational factors are the wish to adapt to external expectations of peer groups
and society (extrinsic), career orientation (instrumental), and developmental orienta
tion (intrinsic), all of which may differ from person to person (Rzejak et al., ). Em
phasizing social interaction and cooperation between teachers seems to be a construc
tive approach, since collaborative work provides benefits on the students’ level (e. g.,
improvement of understanding and performance), on the teachers’ level (e. g., motiva
tion skills, communication, and efficiency), and on the school’s level (e. g., school cli
mate, innovation, professional culture of intellectual enquiry, and focus on the needs of
students) (Vangrieken et al., ). It supports the acquisition of competencies, too
(Berkemeyer et al., ; Bonsen & Rolff, ). Cooperative or peer learning also cre
ates a valuable and adaptive learning environment for heterogeneous groups (Mart
schinke, ).
Generally speaking, a distinct concept and training structure, featuring both a
comprehensible inner logic and cross-references between the individual topics, are
beneficial to teachers’ professional development (Fussangel et al., ; Opfer & Ped
der, ). These findings, pertaining to content, goals, duration, activities, format, and
set-up, are equally applicable to face-to-face and online training formats (e. g., Becker
et al., ; Fishman et al., ; Hill et al., ; Means et al., ; Rock, ).
The self-experience format in the EVe-LaB project
In order to satisfy as many criteria of a successful teacher training program as possible,
a new training format was developed by the team that worked on the EVe-LaB project.
The decision was made to conduct the training in a self-experience format in which the
trainees (i. e., schoolteachers) would take on the role of students during lessons while
the coaches would take on the role of teachers. This way, the trainees would experience
the whole training (as opposed to particular situations or case vignettes) like students
(see also: Crow & Nelson, ), with periodic reflection phases being the only excep
tion. This explicitly refers to Hattie’s () teacher criterion no. , “focus on seeing
learning through the eyes of the students” (p. ), to criterion no. , “focus on students’
cognitive engagement” (p. ), as well as criteria no. and no. , which cover the idea of
providing and seeking feedback (p. ). The format for the EVe-LaB teacher training
program had to be developed from scratch since no similar format could be found in
the related literature.
During the self-experience workshops, the participating teachers would become
familiar with both subject matter and didactic methods through the perspective of stu
dents (see also Andresen et al., ). Utilizing this approach, Hattie’s () teacher
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for Professional Teacher Trainings
criteria no. , “problem-solving and teaching strategies relating to the content” (p. ),
no. , “focus on imparting new knowledge and understanding” (p. ), and no. , “have
deep understanding about how we learn” (p. ), can be met. Deci and Ryan (,
) stress that contexts that support autonomy, competence, and relatedness foster
greater internalization and integration of information than other contexts. The self-
experience format creates exactly such a learning environment by providing opportuni
ties for learning and skill acquisition in a manner that satisfies the aforementioned
needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
First, autonomy can be experienced by both adopting the role of student and be
coming familiar with the learning material, exercises, etc. Different learning chal
lenges or compensatory strategies can be tested in the trainees’ imagination or in situ
by, for example, using pictures rather than language while cooking or using noise-can
celing headsets during exercises. Procedures like this provide learning opportunities
that may increase teachers’ sensitivity to diversity and allow them to reflect on adaptive
teaching strategies in diverse classes. Furthermore, the experience of taking on new
perspectives is intended to foster a higher level of autonomy while teaching the content
on one’s own after the training is complete.
Second, the learning material, the theoretical input provided by the coaches, and
the participating teachers’ personal experiences promote higher levels of competency.
Hence, new requirements of general or individual school curricula can be met more
comprehensively.
Third, relatedness can be experienced in a group of teachers who may use the
workshop to build new formal and informal networks, to discuss ideas and challenges,
and to collaborate on developing individual solutions for their respective schools, meet
ing their colleagues in the same setting, etc. This procedure also aims to achieve Hat
tie’s () criteria for an optimal lesson, for example “prior achievement—under
standing the attitudes and dispositions of students” (p. ), “targeted learning—plan
series of lessons according to the curricula” (p. ), “components of learning intentions
and success criteria” (p. ), and “teacher collaboration” (p. –).
Several research approaches underline these findings. The “situative approach”
(Greeno & Nokes-Malach, ; Nolen et al., ; Turner & Nolen, ), for example,
shows the importance of context, time, social interaction, culture, and change as ex
planatory factors of learning, motivation, and identity development. Further research
also points out the importance of different interactions and changes in social class ar
rangements during lessons because they lead to a higher motivational level and better
learning outcomes (Antosch-Bardohn, ; Wecker & Fischer, ). By using this
learning context, the self-experience format also facilitates the ongoing integration of
new information (assimilation) as well as the broadening and adaptation of existing
knowledge (accommodation) (see also Piaget, ). The more often information is
provided for encoding, possibly embedded in multiple associations, the better informa
tional storing and retrieval can proceed (Anderson, ; Janiszewski et al., ).
These mechanisms are also considered in teacher training in a self-experience format,
as is the value of breaks during the training program for explicit and implicit learning
Majken Bieniok
processes (Antosch-Bardohn, ; Litman & Davachi, ). Adjacent and favorable
approaches in pedagogy, such as “inquiry-based learning” or “problem-based learn
ing”, address the discussed aspects of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in their
teaching conceptions (Kauffeld & Othmer, ; Fritz et al., ).
The workshops of the EVe-LaB project were structurally designed in a similar
fashion. They all start with a “speed dating” phase in which the participants are intro
duced to the topic(s) of the workshop. This is followed by theoretical input and practical
exercises (including phases of reflection and exchange). The workshop concludes with
final feedback. During the second stage of the project (–), three of the work
shops were adapted to an online format. The content of the workshops was concep
tualized according to Hattie’s () criteria for good lessons while also taking into
account the following criteria (Meyer, ): well-defined teaching structure, high
amount of “time on task”, learning-supportive climate, content clarity, meaningful
communication, variety of instructional methods, individual support, well-precon
ceived exercises, transparent expectations, and a well-set learning environment. In re
lation to nutrition and consumer education, the following interdisciplinary topics were
covered, each for different learning levels: regional production, organic production, en
vironmental conservation, sensual perception, conduct and motivation, healthy nutri
tion, inclusivity, as well as issues related to culture, religion, and ethics. The utilized
material— developed for pupils of the th through th grades and used both by teach
ers in the training program and by pupils in school—is backed up with numerous pic
tures, enabling non-native-speakers and learners with special needs to actively partici
pate.
In general, the provided teaching materials of the EVe-LaB program cover at least
two whole school lessons ( minutes each) and are always composed of three parts: st,
teacher instructions and necessary information relevant to the topic and the lessons;
nd, working materials including tasks, handouts, and exercises for different learning
levels; and rd, recipes for cooking and instructions for games or the manufacturing of
products related to the specific topic. All of these materials are suitable for both the
professional development of teachers and application in school lessons. The teaching
materials were usually offered for three learning levels.
Evidence on the benefits of distributed practice, i. e., the implementation of a
schedule of practice that spreads out study activities over time for learning processes,
can be found in the research of Dunlosky et al. (). In their ranking of useful learn
ing strategies, distributed practice received high utility assessments because it benefits
learners of different ages and abilities and has been shown to boost students’ perform
ance across many criterion tasks and even in educational contexts. The EVeLaB work
shops were conceptualized according to these strategies for distributed learning, as
were the school lessons presented in the workshops.
For further reading on these aspects, see also Cordingley et al. (), Darling-Hammond et al. (), Deci & Ryan
(), Lipowsky & Rzejak (), and Vangrieken et al. ().
The EVeLaB teaching materials are available for download here: https://bildungsserver.berlin-brandenburg.de/thema-er
naehrung-material.
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for Professional Teacher Trainings
The conception and teaching materials of the EVe-LaB project were implemented
in face-to-face workshops:
. Self-made and healthy fast food,
. Super-organic regional food,
. Check out the cafeteria,
. Avoiding plastic products,
. Food waste,
. Meat and food production,
. Tempting sugar, caeine, etc.,
. Thinking, Feeling, Acting!
. Advertisement—expectations and reality,
. Attractiveness of fat, sweet, and colorful food,
. Inclusive cooking of exclusive meals,
. Religious, ethical, and moral aspects of consumption, and
. Pork, beef, and fish—animal breeding.
The content of these workshops was improved continuously. The three workshops
that were also transferred to an online format are: Avoiding plastic products (), Food
waste (), and Religious, ethical, and moral aspects of consumption ().
Conception of the workshop “Thinking, Feeling, Acting!”
or: How to create new routines in nutrition consumer
behavior through mindfulness
Using the workshop Thinking, Feeling, Acting! or: How to create new routines in nutrition
consumer behavior through mindfulness, theoretical content, instructions, exercises, and
procedures of the teacher training will be demonstrated in this section. The workshop
starts with a presentation on the instructions and information provided to the partici
pating teachers. The first item on the training’s agenda is the presentation of a list of
competencies that are to be facilitated through the school lessons. The second item is a
“speed dating” session for all participating teachers, in which three topics are each to be
discussed with a different colleague for two minutes:
. Please talk about your associations regarding “consumption” and “nutrition”.
. Please talk about your latest experiences of enjoying something to eat while re
maining silent.
. Please talk about possible reasons for children to enjoy eating while remaining
silent.
The exercise may also be adapted for children and presents a topical stimulus for the
first lesson in class. In the teacher training workshop, this exercise is followed by a
presentation on the question of how to administer the lessons to children, including
necessary materials and time, group size, students’ age and learning levels, security
information for learning settings in the kitchen, health-relevant information about the
Majken Bieniok
food prepared, etc. Since the workshops focus strongly on diverse learning groups
(e. g., Brodesser et al., ), sequences of possible school lessons and their adaptability
for special needs education and various learning levels are presented and discussed.
Though this brief reflective section of the lesson is solely applied during teacher train
ing and not for students in school, it is indispensable to the self-experience format.
The material for the first lesson on the topic Thinking, Feeling, Acting! provides
either an “imagine your favorite food” exercise or, alternatively, a more active and ad
venturous exercise (eating a dried apple ring without using one’s hands), both of which
come with a subsequent exchange of personal experiences. Additionally, instructions
for self-made apple rings along with their nutritional values are provided. Another al
ternative for the first lesson (or another subsequent lesson) is a short story about eat
ing, which may be read to students or shown as a video. As a next step, students are
requested to mindfully eat a dried apple ring or the self-prepared food (from the core
lesson described below) and to fill out the provided poster as an exercise. In the poster
exercise, students are invited to think about the ingredients of the product “dried apple
ring”, their sensory experience, feelings, and bodily sensations, as well as possible dis
tractions while consuming and enjoying the food. At this point, another exchange of
experiences is appropriate for all learners.
The core lesson consists of preparing food from organic and regional products.
The recipes created and adapted for the lessons combine Asian and German influen
ces. The menu consists of fruit and vegetable dishes like Japanese onigiri, maki sushi,
and Vietnamese summer rolls with spicy Chinese plum sauce, a sweet plum sauce
from Brandenburg, salty Vietnamese soy sauce, and a sweet mint sauce. This lesson is
presented entirely in the self-experience format. For the teacher training, the two work
shop coaches provide all necessary ingredients and cooking equipment, but for the les
son as it is later taught at schools, the students, as an additional exercise, may plan,
organize, and buy the necessary ingredients themselves. All recipes are designed in
such a manner that even children with minimal reading skills can follow their require
ments by looking at the picture attached to each step. Figure shows a section of the
recipe for onigiri with fruit, beginning with step .
After preparing the food and setting the tables, everybody is invited to eat the
dishes in a mindful manner without speaking. It is possible to combine this step with
additional tasks from the poster exercise. The coaches may also offer further experi
mental exercises like holding one’s nose, using noise-canceling headsets, wearing col
ored glasses, or eating with one’s eyes closed. Afterwards, individual experiences may
be compiled and discussed in the group, including collecting possible or typical distrac
tions from mindful or silent eating in general or at home (e. g., time pressure, other
people around, thinking of obligations or plans). As a follow-up, it is advisable to de
velop strategies suitable for preventing distractions as well as strategies for establishing
a calmer setting for consumption in daily routines, and to consider possible occasions
to which these strategies could be applied. Both teacher training and teaching materials
Story and video were developed and produced by the EVeLaB project. The video version of The Great Dispute About Apple
Rings is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH-GPVoxss&ab_channel=C.
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for Professional Teacher Trainings
also provide helpful hints for establishing new routines as well as further information
on consumption and stimulation (e. g., pros and cons of routines, differences between
hunger and appetite). The lesson ends with a joint clean-up, which provides an oppor
tunity for students to interact with their peers in an informal fashion.
Figure : Section of the recipe provided for onigiri with fruit
At this point in the teacher training workshop, the participants are encouraged to re
flect on their experience of being in the role of students, and on possible learning chal
lenges like learning with disabilities or diverse backgrounds, not speaking the lan
guage, etc. Particularly, experiences made during the experimental exercises (e. g.,
preparing and eating food without talking or while using noise-canceling headsets,
Majken Bieniok
holding one’s nose while eating, using colored glasses, or closing the eyes while eating)
are intended to facilitate perspective-taking and to provide new insights into these mat
ters.
This training sequence is followed by a group conversation on the adaptability of
the experienced lesson and the materials for the teachers’ own schools. In this context,
coaches and teachers may address relevant previous experiences, personal apprehen
sions, or organizational, structural, and environmental challenges. Individual solu
tions, expertise, new insights, and mutual support may emerge in the peer discussion,
as well.
Before the training workshop Thinking, Feeling, Acting! concludes with an evalua
tion, possible follow-up lessons are presented. For this workshop’s topic, there are addi
tional exercises for students, such as conducting interviews about eating habits with
people they know, creating short videos about distractions during eating, developing
theater or role plays of the story The Great Dispute About Apple Rings (including creating
masks) to teach other people to be mindful eaters, writing a consumption diary, or ana
lyzing the ingredients of their favorite foods. As further topics for discussion in class,
the coaches suggest:
. Local and global perspectives on consumption (e. g., hunger and poverty, religion,
norms and values, seasons of the year, or the environment);
. Health promotion (e. g., food ingredients, nutritional value, diets, allergies, emo
tional eating, and eating disorders); and
. Media influences, social networks, and peers.
In other workshops, the coaches provide similarly corresponding topics for further
consideration, and cross-reference other workshops from the EVe-LaB program.
Again, the teachers are requested to jointly develop approaches fitting their indi
vidual contexts as well as general and individual school curricula. Interdisciplinary con
nections and links to contiguous school subjects like psychology, geography, biology,
religion, or ethics are drawn. Special skills that are trained (e. g., fine motor skills, read
ing and understanding, mindful consumption) and acquired knowledge (e. g., regional
organic production of food, nutritional value, how to cook rice, how to prepare sauces)
are accentuated by subsequent input. Accompanying links to relevant literature are also
provided by the coaches.
EVe-LaB—training for nutrition and consumer education
The EVe-LaB training, consisting of workshops in total, aims primarily at consolidat
ing teachers’ knowledge, skills, abilities, and motivation, as well as conveying attitudes
(see also Lindner & Mayerhofer, ) suitable to fostering their students’ nutritional
awareness and consumer conduct (KMK, ). The training’s secondary aim is to
equip teachers with additional subject-related knowledge, teaching skills, and self- and
social competence. The total duration of the EVe-LaB project was months (May st,
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for Professional Teacher Trainings
, to December st, ). A particularity during the project’s first run (–)
was that the teacher training workshops were conducted at the respective schools of the
participating teachers (decentralized venue). The training program was designed in
such a way that each participant attended workshops at his or her own school as well as
two workshops at other schools. Later, the second cohort of teachers (–) atten
ded all workshops at the University of Potsdam (centralized venue) or, due to restric
tions during the COVID- pandemic, online. Additionally, the respective workshops
were organized in such a manner that teachers who worked at different schools and
taught different school types (primary school, secondary school, schools for students
with special needs, etc.) could attend the same workshops. Each teacher attended three
different workshops on average over a period of approximately one school year in
changing group configurations. Group sizes varied from five to twelve teachers. In the
first cohort, attendees also experienced different school locations. This practice allowed
them to interact with peers and learn about other teaching perspectives. Up to three
teachers from each school could participate in the EVe-LaB workshops. Since the EVe-
LaB project was sponsored by the State of Brandenburg, attendance at the workshops
was free of charge. Attendees were released from their respective school duties during
attendance days while receiving their full salary and travel expenses.
In addition, attendees were offered support by the EVe-LaB project for the develop
ment of individual school curricula according to the newly established requirements
(KMK, ). Accordingly, additional counseling opportunities were offered, including
a visitation at the teachers’ own schools. On these occasions, an objective agreement
for the training program was signed between the EVeLaB project and the respective
schools, and subsequently, a self-developed school project in the field of nutrition and
consumer education was planned. Schools were also offered support by the EVe-LaB
project in applying for financial support from the State of Brandenburg for the planned
school projects in question. At the end of a series of up to nine workshops per school,
the implementation of financially supported school projects was presented at a final
get-together with all participants (st cohort: –). In (nd cohort: –),
these additional offers could not be provided due to financial and COVID- restric
tions, respectively, but the EVe-LaB training program (including all workshops) was
carried on as planned and was even expanded regarding its range of topics.
Evaluation
Altogether, teachers from different schools and of different school types were
trained with the innovative self-experience training format and the newly developed
teaching materials (Table ). One teacher from one cohort participated in three work
shops on average. Over the course of three years and eight months, four different
coaches in varying lineups conducted a total of workshops ( face-to-face work-
shop. –, face-to-face workshop. –, and seven digital workshop.
–). Group sizes varied from five to twelve attendees per workshop.
Majken Bieniok
Throughout the project (May to December ), the training was evaluated
using the items and -point Likert scale developed by Landes and Ziegler () for the
evaluation of teaching, which were supplemented by several additional items. The scale
covered the following aspects to be rated by the teachers:
. Structure & Materials ( items: distinct conception & structure; attainment of many
new insights; achievement of defined goals; supportive learning materials);
. Conception & Didactics ( items: emphasis on the learning progress; application of
examples; comprehensible inner logic; references to existing knowledge; applica
tion of distinct language; exercises establishing understanding); and
. Interaction ( items: critical discussion of the topics encouraged; supportive at
mosphere of dialogue; comprehensible responses)
This way, several criteria for optimal lessons (e. g., Hattie, ; Meyer, ) and suc
cessful teacher training (Lipowsky & Rzejak, ) could be covered in an economic,
reliable, and valid way.
Additional items referring to a possible application in specific school contexts, an
interesting presentation of the topics, and satisfied expectations were assessed. These
additional items were allocated on a -point Likert scale, which ranged from (= not
true) to (= very true). The list of items was supplemented by two general measures: a)
satisfaction in general and b) satisfaction with the coaches, which were also assessed
using a -point scale ranging from (= very good/excellent) to (= very poor/failure).
Table : Numbers of participants, schools, and evaluations
/
face-to-face
/
face-to-face
/
digital total
participants
schools
evaluations
The evaluation results (overall descriptive data analysis) show a very high score and
outstanding satisfaction with both the workshop content (mean = .) and the coaches
(mean = .). Among other things, the evaluation showed that the “expected learning
goals” were achieved very well (mean = .), that the “utilized material” was exceed
ingly helpful (mean = .), and that the “attainment of many new insights” was
achieved well (mean = .). Items referring to the interaction with the coaches also
show very high scores: participants thought that they encouraged critical discussion of
the topics (mean = .), created a supportive atmosphere of dialogue (mean = .),
and provided comprehensible responses (mean = .) to questions arising during the
workshops.
Since there was no explicit introduction of items referring to the self-experience
format, it is of particular interest to outline the items “distinct conceptions & structure”
(mean = .) and “exercises establishing understanding” (mean = .), since in the
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for Professional Teacher Trainings
context of the EVe-LaB training program, these two items refer to the self-experience
format in which the training program was conducted. Both show very high scores.
Scores for criteria of Conception & Didactics in general, like “emphasis on the learn
ing progress” (mean = .), “application of examples” (mean = .), “comprehensible
inner logic” (mean = .), “references to existing knowledge” (mean = .), and “ap
plication of distinct language” (mean = .) were also high or even very high.
The scores regarding supplementary items such as the possible “application in
specific school contexts” (mean = .), the “interesting presentation of the topics”
(mean = .), or “satisfied expectations” (mean = .), also proved to be excellent.
Figure : Evaluation of the EVe-LaB training program
Figure , which shows the evaluation outcome, also differentiates two time periods (st
cohort: –; nd cohort: –) and selected topics (nd cohort online format:
– digital), which, due to corona restrictions, were conducted online and with
corresponding online exercises and didactical approaches (three workshops: Avoiding
plastic products, Food waste, and Religious, ethical, and moral aspects of consumption). Data
Majken Bieniok
shows that transferring workshops to an online format had no noteworthy impact on
the evaluation outcome (see Figure ). Unfortunately, further statistics and differential
analyses of the evaluation data cannot be presented in this article since the data for
statistical contingency tables is incomplete for relevant variables like “topic and mate
rial of the provided workshop”, “coaching team”, “face-to-face or digital format”, “first,
second, or third participation round”, “central or decentral venue”, “participants”, and
“group size”, due to the setup of the project.
Discussion
The EVe-LaB training program for nutrition and consumer education was conducted
between May and December . It attempted to enable teachers at all school
types to teach subjects related to nutrition and consumption and was meant to address
a very wide range and a highly diverse group of students (th through th grade, at
various learning levels, of diverse backgrounds, with special needs, and at different
school types).
There is no other way to describe the results of the evaluation of the EVe-LaB train
ing program, designed in an innovative self-experience format, than as excellent
(mean > ). The results pertaining to the aspects of Structure & Material, Conception &
Didactics, and Interaction, supplemented with additional items, indicate that the criteria
for optimal lessons and successful trainings (Hattie, ; Lipowsky & Rzejak, ;
Meyer, ) were very well met. Slight improvements could still be achieved by provid
ing more “references to existing knowledge” and “enabling the attainment of new in
sights”, at least in the face-to-face setting.
The workshop’s structure seems to be a promising one for professional teacher
trainings. These findings are of little surprise, however, because the EVe-LaB training
program was conducted in accordance with the criteria of an “optimal lesson” (Hattie,
) and “successful training” (Lipowsky & Rzejak, ). Yet, the workshop concept’s
compliance with the criteria of “optimal lesson” and “successful training” may not, in
and of itself, be a sufficient explanation for the exceedingly high scores achieved in the
training’s evaluation. In our view, an important element of this training concept must
have helped the training to comply to a high extent with these criteria and thereby boost
the evaluation scores.
Three major reasons lead us to the assumption that the training’s self-experience
framework is responsible for the high scores: Firstly, the training workshops were pre
sented to the teaching staff by four different coaches in changing lineups; secondly, the
coaches conducted a total of workshops; and thirdly, the workshops were rated al
most equally high over the course of three years and eight months, with just about
insignificant variability. These factors exclude other possible explanations (such as an
especially successful coaching lineup or experience gained over time) and leave the
workshop self-experience format itself as the only explanation for the training’s notable
success. Searching for the specific element that might have granted this concept its
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for Professional Teacher Trainings
success, we find that what distinguishes this teacher training from more conventional
training programs is the self-experience format.
The self-experience format was implemented in such a way that teachers experi
enced two complete lessons in the role of students. They had to work through the exer
cises as students and thereby became familiar with the way the lesson might be experi
enced by their own students later on. Occasionally, the teachers’ role as students was
deliberately interrupted to enable them to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
the exercises as well as the theoretical background and to discuss the adjustment of the
materials to their respective school settings (e. g., to students with reading disabilities,
to students from foreign countries, or to the facilities available).
It must be noted that reliable information about and comparison with other train
ing programs utilizing the self-experience format is not available. Nor are we aware of a
published study addressing the proportion of teacher training programs utilizing the
self-experience format or the proportion of teacher training programs in general scor
ing in their respective evaluations as high as the EVe-LaB program.
Hence, it remains an assumption that the self-experience format may be a key
element in elevating the quality of teacher training. Therefore, comprehensive studies
related to the self-experience format are required in order to determine its potential for
enhancing future conceptions of professional teacher trainings as well as its potential
for the development of future school programs that are better suited for diverse student
populations.
***
I would like to express my deep regards to my EVe-LaB project colleagues Carsten
Hinz, Caroline Hammer, and Robert Löffler as well as to the students Elisabeth
Waldow and Sophie Schwope. I would also like to thank the project assistant, Dr. Ulf
Holzendorf for his support in initiating and starting the EVe-LaB project, Prof. Bernd
Meier for hosting the project in its first phase (-–) at WiB e. V. Potsdam—
“Institute for Educational Advanced Training”—and Prof. Vera Kirchner for hosting the
second phase of the project at the University of Potsdam. The EVe-LaB training was
funded by the program “Quality Upgrading—School Catering” of the Brandenburg Min
istry of Social Affairs, Health, Integration, and Consumer Protection and supported by
the Ministry of Education, The Youth, and Sports.
References
Anderson, J. R. (). Learning and memory: An integrated approach. John Wiley & Sons
Inc.
Andresen, L., Boud, D., & Cohen, R. (). Experience-Based Learning. In G. Foley (Ed.),
Understanding Adult Education and Training (pp. –). Allen & Unwin.
Majken Bieniok
Antosch-Bardohn, J. (). Nicht-intentionale Lernprozesse im Alltag von Studierenden: Ein
flussfaktoren auf nicht-intentionale Lernprozesse in Zusammenhang mit studentischem
Wissenserwerb. Logos Verlag.
Antosch-Bardohn, J. (). „Für mein Thema brennen die Studis“ – Lernmotivation in der
Hochschullehre. In B. Berendt, A. Fleischmann, G. Salmhofer, N. Schaper, B. Szczyrba,
M. Wiemer & J. Wildt (Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre, 89, (pp.–). DUZ Ver
lags- und Medienhaus GmbH.
Becker, K. D., Bohnenkamp, J., Domitrovich, C., Keperling, J. P., & Ialongo, N. S. ().
Online training for teachers delivering evidence-based preventive interventions.
School Mental Health, 6(), –. https://doi.org/./s---x
Becker-Carus, C., & Wendt, M. (). Allgemeine Psychologie. Springer-Verlag. https://
doi.org/./----
Berkemeyer, N., Järvinen, H., Otto, J., & Bos, W. (). Kooperation und Reflexion als
Strategien der Professionalisierung in schulischen Netzwerken. Pädagogische Profes
sionalität, 57, –.
Bonsen, M., & Rol, H. G. (). Professionelle Lerngemeinschaften von Lehrerinnen
und Lehrern. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 52 (), –.
Brodesser, E., Frohn, J., Welskop, N., Liebsch, A. C., Moser, V., & Pech, D. (). Inklusions-
orientierte Lehr-Lern-Bausteine für die Hochschullehre. Verlag Julius Klinkhardt.
Burroughs, N., Gardner, J., Lee, Y., Guo, S., Touitou, I., Jansen, K., & Schmidt, W. ().
Teaching for excellence and equity. Analyzing teacher characteristics, behaviors and student
outcomes with TIMSS. IEA Research for Education (Vol. ). Springer Cham. https://
doi.org/./----
Cordingley, P., Higgins, S., Greany, T., Buckler, N., Coles-Jordan, D., Crisp, B., Saunders,
L., & Coe, R. (). Developing Great Teaching: Lessons from the international reviews
into eective professional development. Teacher Development Trust. https://tdtrust.org/
wp-content/uploads///DGT-Full-report.pdf (last access: ..)
Crow, M., & Nelson, L. (). The Eects of Using Role-Play in a Teacher Education
Course. International Journal of Role-Playing, , –. https://doi.org/./
ijrp.vi.
Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., & Gardner, M. (). Eective Teacher Professional De
velopment. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/
product/teacher-prof-dev (last access: ..). https://doi.org/./.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (). Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrin
sic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being. American Psychologist, 55 (),
–. https://doi.org/./-X...
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (). Handbook of self-determination research. University of Ro
chester Press.
Desimone, L. M. (). Improving impact studies of teachers’ professional development:
Toward better conceptualizations and measures. Educational Researcher, 38(),
–. https://doi.org/./X
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for Professional Teacher Trainings
Desimone, L. M., & Garet, M. S. (). Best practices in teachers’ professional develop
ment in the United States. Psychology, Society and Education, 7 (), –. https://
doi.org/./psye.vi.
Domitrovich, C. E., Gest, S. D., Gill, S., Jones, D., & DeRousie, R. S. (). Individual fac
tors associated with professional development training outcomes of the Head Start
REDI program. Early Education and Development, 20(), –. https://doi.org/
./
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (). Improv
ing Students’ Learning with Eective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions
from Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest,
14(), –. https://doi.org/./
Fishman, B., Konstantopoulos, S., Kubitskey, B. W., Vath, R., Park, G., Johnson, H., & Edel
son, D. C. (). Comparing the impact of online and face-to-face professional devel
opment in the context of curriculum implementation. Journal of Teacher Education,
64(), –. https://doi.org/./
Fritz, U., Lauermann, K., Paechter, M., Stock, M., & Weirer, W. (). Kompetenzorien
tierter Unterricht Theoretische Grundlagen – erprobte Praxisbeispiele. Verlag Barbara Bu
drich. https://doi.org/./
Fussangel, K., Rürup, M., & Gräsel, C. (). Lehrerfortbildung als Unterstützungssys
tem. In H. Altrichter & K. Maag Merki (Eds.), Handbuch Neue Steuerung im Schulsys
tem (pp. –). VS Verlag. https://doi.org/./----_
Goldstein, B. (). Cognitive Psychology. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. https://doi.org/
./----_
Greeno, J. G., & Nokes-Malach, T. (). Some early contributions to the situative perspec
tive on learning and cognition. In M. Evans, M. Packer & R. Sawye (Eds.), Reflections
on the learning sciences (pp. –). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/
./CBO.
Gustafsson, J. & Nilson, T. (). The impact of school climate and teacher quality on
mathematics achievement: A dierence-in-dierences approach. In T. Nilson &
J. Gustafsson (Eds.), Teacher quality, instructional quality and student outcomes. IEA
Research for Education (Vol. 2) (pp. –). Cham. https://doi.org/./---
-_
Hattie, J. (). Visible learning. A synthesis of over 800 metaanalyses relating to achievement.
Routledge.
Hattie, J. (). Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. Routledge.
https://doi.org/./
Hill, H. C., Beisiegel, M., & Jacob, R. (). Professional development research: Consen
sus, crossroads, and challenges. Educational Researcher, 42(), –. https://doi.org/
./X
Hubers, M. D., Endedijk, M. D., & Van Veen, K. (). Eective characteristics of profes
sional development programmes for science and technology education. Professional
Development in Education, 48(), –. https://doi.org/./..
Majken Bieniok
Jäger, R. S., & Bodensohn, R. (). Bericht zur Befragung von Mathematiklehrkräften. Die
Situation der Lehrerfortbildung im Fach Mathematik aus der Sicht der Lehrkräfte. Deut
sche Telekom Stiftung. https://dzlm.de/files/uploads/___mathematiklehrerbe
fragung.pdf (last access: ..).
Janiszewski, C., Noel, H., & Sawyer A. G. (). A Meta-analysis of the spacing eect in
verbal learning: Implications for research on advertising repetition and consumer
memory. Journal of Consumer Research, 30 (), –. https://doi.org/./
Kaueld, S., & Othmer, J. (). Handbuch Innovative Lehre. Springer. https://doi.org/
./----
KMK – Kultusministerkonferenz (). Ländergemeinsame inhaltliche Anforderungen für
die Fachwissenschaften und Fachdidaktiken in der Lehrerbildung. Sekretariat der Kultus
ministerkonferenz. https://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/veroeentlichun
gen_beschluesse//__-Fachprofile-Lehrerbildung.pdf (last access:
..)
Landes, T., & Ziegler, M. (). Ein Praxisbeispiel zur Konstruktion eines Lehrevaluation
sinstruments: Berliner Lehrevaluationsinventar für Vorlesungen (BLEI-VL). Diagnos
tica, 61(), –. https://doi.org/./-/a
Linder, S. M. (). The facilitator’s role in elementary mathematics professional develop
ment. Mathematics Teacher Education & Development, 13(), –.
Lindner, G., & Mayerhofer, S. (). Kompetenzorientierter guter Unterricht und bedarfsor
ientierte Lehrerfortbildung. Waxmann.
Lipowsky, F., & Rzejak, D. (). Key features of eective professional development pro
grams for teachers. Ricercazione, 7 (), –.
LISUM – Landesinstitut für Schule und Medien Berlin-Brandenburg (a). ARLP – All
gemeiner Rahmenlehrplan für die Jahrgangsstufen 1–10 der Berliner und Brandenburger
Schulen. Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Wissenschaft Berlin Ministerium
für Bildung, Jugend und Sport des Landes Brandenburg. https://bildungsserver.ber
lin-brandenburg.de/unterricht/rahmenlehrplaene/jahrgangsstufen-- (last access:
..)
LISUM – Landesinstitut für Schule und Medien Berlin-Brandenburg (b). RLP-B –
Rahmenlehrplan für die Jahrgangsstufen 1–10 der Berliner und Brandenburger Schulen,
Teil B Fachübergreifende Kompetenzentwicklung. Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend
und Wissenschaft Berlin Ministerium für Bildung, Jugend und Sport des Landes
Brandenburg. https://bildungsserver.berlin-brandenburg.de/fileadmin/bbb/unter
richt/rahmenlehrplaene/Rahmenlehrplanprojekt/amtliche_Fassung/Teil_B__
__WEB.pdf (last access: ..)
Litman, L., & Davachi, L. (). Distributed learning enhances relational memory consoli
dation. Learning & Memory, 15(), –. https://doi.org/./lm.
Martschinke, S. (). Facetten adaptiven Unterrichts aus der Sicht der Unterrichtsfor
schung. In K. Liebers, B. Landwehr, A. Marquardt & K. Schlotter (Eds.), Lernprozessbe
gleitung und adaptives Lernen in der Grundschule (pp. –). Springer Fachmedien.
https://doi.org/./----_
The Self-Experience Format as an Innovation for Professional Teacher Trainings
Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (). Evaluation of evidence-
based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies.
Department of Education, Oce of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED.pdf (last access: ..)
Meyer, H. (). Was ist guter Unterricht? Cornelsen Scriptor.
Nolen, S. B., Ward, C. J., & Horn, I. S. (). Methods for taking a situative approach to
studying the development of motivation, identity, and learning in multiple social con
texts. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 27(), –. https://doi.org/
./s---
Opfer, V. D., & Pedder, D. (). Conceptualizing teacher professional learning. Review of
Educational Research, 81(), –. https://doi.org/./
Penuel, W. R., Fishman, B. J., & Yamaguchi, R. (). What makes professional develop
ment eective? Strategies that foster curriculum implementation. American Educa
tional Research Journal, 44(), –. https://doi.org/./
Piaget, J. (). Die Äquilibration der kognitiven Strukturen. Klett.
Rock, H. M. (). The eect of face-to-face versus online pedagogy-based professional develop
ment on student learning outcomes (Publication No. ) [Doctoral dissertation,
Grand Canyon University] ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. https://www.
proquest.com/docview/?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true (last
access: ..)
Rzejak, D., Künsting, J., Lipowsky, F., Fischer, E., Dezhgahi, U., & Reichardt, A. ().
Facetten der Lehrerfortbildungsmotivation – eine faktorenanalytische Betrachtung.
Journal for Educational Research Online, 6 (), –.
Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H., & Fung, I. (). Teacher professional learning and
development: Best evidence synthesis iteration (BES). Wellington Ministry of Education.
Turner, J. C., & Nolen, S. B. (). Introduction: The Relevance of the Situative Perspective
in Educational Psychology. Educational Psychologist, 50(), –. https://doi.org/
./..
Vangrieken, K., Dochy, F., Raes, E., & Kyndt, E. (). Teacher collaboration. A systematic
review. Educational Research Review, 15, –. https://doi.org/./j.edurev..
.
Wecker, C., & Fischer, F. (). Lernen in Gruppen. In T. Seidl & A. Krapp (Eds.), Pädagogi
sche Psychologie (pp. –). Beltz Verlag.
Wild, E., & Moller, J. (). Pädagogische Psychologie. Springer-Verlag. https://doi.org/
./----
Yoon, K. S., Duncan, T., Lee S. W.-Y., Scarloss, B., & Shapley, K. (). Reviewing the evi
dence on how teacher professional development aects student achievement. Issues & An
swers Report, , U. S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences,
National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educa
tion Laboratory Southwest.
Majken Bieniok
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:
Experience and Insights
P S, V Vz
Introduction: Is there a Better Solution?
The authors of this article teach Financial Accounting in the International Business
program at RIT Croatia in Zagreb, a global campus of the Rochester Institute of Tech
nology. The language of instruction is English, which is a foreign language for the ma
jority of the student population. We started flipping the Financial Accounting class
room in . By the time this article was written, the course had run times with a
total of n = , enrolled students.
This article examines a multi-year field study on flipping the classroom for an in
troductory Financial Accounting course, in which the authors share their experience,
their results as obtained through observation and student surveys, and best practices
advice for anyone interested in trying a flipped classroom approach for one of their
courses.
. Situation: “Won’t You Please Pay Attention and Do the Work?”
Financial Accounting is traditionally perceived as “hard”, “boring”, and “impossible”
for those “not good with numbers”. The grade distribution usually shows a fat tail on
the F side. Many students seem unmotivated or lack discipline and good work habits,
and many of them earn low grades, which result in high withdrawal or failure rates.
We set out to explore whether the classroom lecture method may be to blame
since this model obviously collides with reality. How it supposedly is: The teacher stands
in front of a class while the students are listening attentively. They take notes, learn,
and succeed in their exams. They value the experience. How it really is: The teacher
stands in front of the class, but the students do not conform to the assumptions of the
classroom lecture model. For many of them, it is difficult to sit quietly for over an hour
and focus on the instruction dispensed by the teacher. They want to learn, but in the
classroom, they doze off, are easily distracted, lack simple study skills like good notetak
ing, and struggle with discipline. Outside the classroom, they are engaged in social
media, video games, or video and music clips—activities that only require a short atten
tion span.
Disillusioned by the end-of semester outcomes of lecture-style teaching, we asked
ourselves: Is there a better way?
Quotes taken from student feedback questionnaires collected over the course of several semesters.
. The Idea: What Could Be Done Dierently?
A common description of the learning process distinguishes two phases: First comes
transmission, which is followed by assimilation. Transmission refers to the transfer of
information and the explanation of new concepts by the teacher with students in a pre
dominantly passive role. Assimilation refers to students’ active engagement in the new
material as they apply the new information to relevant practice problems. Assimilation
follows transmission in order to consolidate the newly learned content.
Studies on the efficiency of learning techniques proclaim that “Practice Testing”
and “Distributed Practice” proved to be the most efficient learning methods (Dunlosky
et al., ). “Practice Testing” is defined as working on practice problems that involve
the concepts the students have just learned, while “Distributed Practice” is working
steadily but at a low intensity on newly learned concepts over a longer period of time.
As we know firsthand, the biggest challenges for freshmen are poor study habits, a lack
of discipline, and being overwhelmed, which can result in disinterest. They need guid
ance in learning how to learn.
The classroom hours are traditionally occupied with transmission, so there is little
time left to guide students to successful assimilation. Instructors commonly rely on
what students accomplish at home on their own—not the most promising strategy for
freshmen.
Thus, the traditional lecture-teaching approach has some major flaws: The burden
on the student is higher for assimilation than for transmission, but help is more readily
available during transmission than it is during the processes of higher-order assimila
tion, which mostly take place at home (Nickles, ). And to make matters worse,
transmission by in-class lecture is a one-shot event, and inattentive or absent students
will miss the lesson for good.
As a fixed curriculum must be covered during the semester, time for in-class prac
tice could be freed up by outsourcing transmission to video lectures, which can be stud
ied in advance. The hope is that students are more likely and willing to study a video at
home than to engage in more difficult assimilative practice, i. e., classic homework.
Students today are used to consuming digital media, and the increasing accessibility of
video has long been experimented with in education, pioneered by digital media plat
forms and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). For an instructor open to experi
mentation, “how-to” information regarding video-supported teaching models is easy to
find.
The terminology traces back to Benjamin S. Bloom (“Bloom’s Taxonomy”), see Crouch & Mazur (), p. , and Talbert
().
As is readily conrmed in the literature. See, e. g., Brinkworth et al. (), p. .
One of the earliest sources on the inverted (or ipped) classroom comes from Miami University’s Economics Department
(Lage et al., ). A very useful, up-to-date guide for faculty interested in implementing a ipped classroom course is
Talbert (). Valuable comprehensive studies providing a solid foundation for the ipped classroom are Santos Green,
Banas, and Perkins (), as well as Reidsema, Kavanagh, Hadgraft, and Smith (). Also helpful for a practical
approach is Talbert ().
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:Experience and Insights
Methods and Setup of the Flipped Classroom
Exploration
. Making Videos: Contents and Form
Our first step towards a flipped classroom was to lay down a curriculum for the whole
semester, using an established textbook as the backbone. We were able to take the
course structure from our traditional lecture version of the Financial Accounting
course and then record the first edition of the videos “on the fly” as the semester pro
gressed.
Instructional videos for flipped classroom designs should not be too long so as not
to thwart students’ curiosity (Crawford & Senecal, ). Due to notetaking, reproduc
ing calculations or accounting procedures, and rewatching difficult passages, studying
a lecture video will take the student a multiple of the video’s net length. The average
length of our videos for Financial Accounting turned out to be minutes. Overall, our
course turned out to fit into videos with a total net time of hours.
At least initially, full scripts are helpful for the production of video material. With
increasing practice, we managed to record unscripted lectures based on the screencast
material, usually PowerPoint slides or tablet drawings, and our teaching experience.
After a few videos, teaching “to the laptop” becomes familiar. Video lecture production
therefore comes with a steep learning curve: the first videos took a day each to produce,
not to mention the hours spent on trial and error, exploring both the software and the
hardware setup, and learning the procedure. Besides the actual recording, production
includes preparing the presentation material, post-production steps, and server upload.
But soon the ratio shrank to about :, leaving us with minutes of production time
for a -minute video.
A video lecture is far denser in information than a live class. After all, videos allow
the teacher to save time, which is usually spent on classroom management, developing
the whiteboard content, or on questions and conversations that may interrupt the lec
ture flow. Time-consuming attempts to elicit student participation are not necessary in
this lecture format, and intentional repetitions of key content can be omitted because
students can rewatch the video as needed.
. Making Videos: The Technology
Recording lecture videos is possible even on a shoestring budget. Our initial equip
ment was a Windows laptop, on which we used Microsoft Office, mostly for Power
Point slides and Excel worksheets, to generate the screencast material. Additionally, we
used a simple Wacom Bamboo tablet, size A, to simulate the classroom whiteboard.
We combined the tablet with SmoothDraw , a freeware drawing program that sup
A good recommendation to every ipped classroom instructor is to enroll in a video-based MOOC themselves to experi
ence the receiving side of the model rsthand in order to develop a sense for the students’ situation.
Peter Schmidt, Vanja Vejzagić
ports image layering, so that prepared drawings could be overlaid as content was devel
oped during the recorded lecture (see the Appendix for details).
Excellent sound quality is crucial to successfully reaching the audience with an
instructional video (Akcayir & Akcayir, ). It is therefore important to choose an
external, high-quality microphone because ambient noise (air conditioning, tele
phones, street noise, etc.) cannot always be avoided and the built-in microphones of
most laptops pick up too much of it. Therefore, we recommend investing in an external
microphone, preferably with its own sound card, in its simplest form as a USB plug-in.
We settled for a wireless Logitech USB headset microphone.
A camera, on the other hand, is only needed if a face overlay of the teacher is de
sired. We decided against it because it complicates the production process and reduces
the visible screen space.
Screencasts can be recorded with simple screen capture software. We used a com
mercial program called SnagIt by TechSmith (see Appendix), which at the time of the
recording was recommended by our university. SnagIt does not allow editing of the
video, so all videos must be uncut one-takes. Not being able to edit seems like a serious
limitation until we consider that a teacher never gets to edit anything in the live class
room, either. Lecture videos need not be perfect to serve as good teaching tools. The
time spent learning how to edit videos, added to the actual editing process, would make
the production of learning materials for the flipped classroom even more time-con
suming. Facing this trade-off, we quickly learned to tolerate small imperfections in our
video clips.
Even the production of a simple one-take screencast lecture format turned out to
be time-consuming. There are many more advanced video production features availa
ble, and for teachers at a large university who can rely on the support of a professional
media center, the process of video production may be much easier. For a shoestring
budget DIY approach like ours, however, which uses a laptop and has the teacher act as
the screenwriter, set designer, main actor, and sole producer all rolled into one, the
simple screencast version is challenging enough. Fortunately, for the purpose of the
flipped classroom, the quality of the results proved sufficient. On the one hand, trans
ferring the content of our lecture to videos meant that we needed to invest a considera
ble amount of time. On the other hand, the video lectures will amortize over the years.
An unexpected windfall in our case was the ease with which we could adapt the
course to the COVID- restrictions. Since we already had several years of experience
working with a flipped classroom, our already-prepared setup made the move to online
teaching very easy.
. Video Hosting: Making Lecture Videos Available to Students
The next step is to make the video lectures available to students. Compared to public
hosting sites like YouTube, which provide the instructional videos in a deliberately dis
A helpful hands-on explanation of how to make simple educational videos using SmoothDraw is provided by Bourassa
(). The Khan Academy, an online-education institution for high school and college education established by Salman
Khan, popularized ipped classroom teaching through their large collection of short and simple educational videos.
If editing the lecture videos cannot be avoided, the more powerful TechSmith product Camtasia Studio is an option.
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:Experience and Insights
tracting user environment, a school video server is the far cleaner and preferred solu
tion. We hosted on the RIT Ensemble video server, which allows the creation of video
playlists that can easily be embedded in the learning management system (LMS), in
RIT’s case myCourses by Brightspace/DesireLearn. We recommend the simplest so
lution possible, preferably auto-updating playlists directly from the server whenever
new or updated videos have been uploaded, thus saving time and preventing errors.
We set the server to disallow the download of video content in favor of streaming
online because we wanted to retain as much control over the content as possible, e. g.,
in case we chose to replace a video with an improved version.
. In-Class Practice: Content and Timing
Once the students have accomplished “transmission” by studying the lecture videos,
the “assimilation” phase follows. In the flipped classroom, this means in-class practice
guided by a teacher. Again, the selection, adaptation, or creation of suitable material
requires a considerable amount of time. The sessions should therefore be planned with
an eye towards aligning them with the assigned video content because good synchroni
zation of video content and in-class practice is key for student motivation.
Initially, however, this synchronization is hard to achieve because the teacher still
lacks a sense for the time required for each task when using the flipped classroom
method for the first time. A comprehensive textbook with a wide selection of practice
problems to choose from comes in handy for the in-class portion of the flipped class
room model. Nevertheless, selecting and adapting problems remains a considerable
task, especially if the video lectures leave out some of the textbook content. If a textbook
is to be used in a flipped classroom scenario, we recommend that teachers carefully
scrutinize the practice material beforehand in order to avoid skipped content.
The quality of each in-class practice session crucially depends on the level of stu
dent preparation. We experimented with various motivational approaches. Initially, we
tried old-fashioned admonitions, justified by suspiciously low video viewing statistics.
In later semesters, we developed quizzes, which we integrated into the LMS. These
quizzes were administered and auto-graded weekly, using random questions from cus
tom-made pools. Students take these quizzes at their own pace on the day this content
will be discussed and practiced in class. It was our subjective impression that the gentle
pressure of weekly quizzes improved the level of preparedness over mere admonitions,
as was visible in in-class participation. While the initial time investment for the teacher
is high, it will amortize over the semesters.
. Logistics of In-Class Practice
In the semesters before the COVID- pandemic, we divided the class into groups of
four students, mixing stronger and weaker students, and used their weekly quiz results
to assess them. This strategy ignores social ties and makes it more likely that instead of
the students’ plans for the weekend, the theory and practice of financial accounting will
RIT uses myCourses by DesireLearn (DL) as its LMS, a product also marketed under the brand name Brightspace.
Peter Schmidt, Vanja Vejzagić
be their main topic of conversation. We also reckon that at least some students per
group will always be sufficiently prepared to tackle practice problems.
Stronger students may reinforce their understanding by explaining concepts to
weaker students. The weaker students, in turn, can ask a peer to provide necessary ex
planations instead of the teacher, who will be moving from group to group, making
sure that they are all successfully applying the newly learned concepts. If nothing else,
these in-class sessions will show weaker students that their peers are mastering the
content that they themselves do not yet understand. Ideally, they will derive motivation
from this insight.
To save the in-class group work during the COVID- lockdowns, we used Zoom
to move the practice sessions online. With the breakout room feature, teachers can di
vide their classes into groups with a predefined head count. Each of these groups is
then assigned a virtual room in which they can meet and work. The teacher can move
from one room to the next in a digital equivalent of moving from one circle of chairs to
the next in the physical classroom.
Instead of paper, the practice material is distributed via Google Sheets. Every
group has its own sheet on which the members can collaborate. One student shares the
spreadsheet on the screen in the breakout room, and all members can edit it simultane
ously. This makes for an even stronger collaborative experience than in the traditional
circle of chairs, where everyone has their own sheet in front of them. The teacher’s
preparations for these virtual collaboration tasks include setting up folders for each in-
class session on Google Drive and breakout rooms in Zoom, copying spreadsheets and
adjusting the options for collaboration, and sharing the link to the folder with the stu
dents in the Zoom chat before letting the groups move to their respective breakout
rooms.
. Textbook
As the backbone of our video lectures, we used an established accounting textbook that
we had already used in the traditional in-class version of the course, which provided
both structure and practice material. We chose an open access textbook from an Ameri
can university, Larry M. Walther’s Principles of Accounting (Walther, n. d.), which sup
ported students’ individual study preferences. If they wanted to supplement their video
lecture with additional textbook reading, they had a choice of reading the book online
or using the PDF version to print the material.
. Communication: Discussion Forum and Instant Messaging
A discussion forum in the LMS can serve as a convenient extension of the in-class prac
tice sessions. Students can continue to interact there when finishing up problem sets
or re-doing problems in preparation for exams, and they can also discuss their difficul
We chose Zoom’s random assignment of students to breakout rooms for eciency. Had we tried to reproduce the previ
ous strategy of mixing strong and weak students, the preparations in Zoom would have taken extra time, only to become
obsolete and cause ad hoc reshuing if some of the students did not show up for class. As an additional benet, the
randomness of the groups in each new practice session prevented “group fatigue”, i. e., students getting bored or even
annoyed with the group to which they were assigned.
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:Experience and Insights
ties and insights along the way. Answers can be posted either by peers or by the teacher,
and—unlike replies to individual student e-mails—are accessible to all. As of late, mes
senger platforms like Slack provide a more advanced and easier-to-use technology that
allows us to achieve the same effect.
We created one discussion forum per textbook chapter, plus a general forum for
video-related questions, to make the forums as user-friendly as possible and pertinent
information easy to locate. Clear rules on posting etiquette and an emphasis on concise
subject lines must be impressed on students to make for a smooth experience. For
example, each post must be placed in the appropriate forum thread, the subject line
must clearly reference the chapter, problem, or issue in question, and the general rules
of courtesy and conciseness expected in e-mails should be encouraged.
Creating a livelier discussion platform for all class sections is one of the strongest
arguments for merging all sections of the course into one common course shell on the
LMS. The disadvantage of giving up the technical control over individual sections will
be compensated by improved LMS functionality.
As a reaction to COVID- restrictions, we introduced the Slack instant messaging
platform, which became part of the RIT tech infrastructure at that time. On Slack, stu
dent questions can be answered within minutes, making the messenger far more at
tractive than asynchronous discussion through the forums. Our primary motivation to
start using Slack, however, was to regain some sense of the proximity we had lost to
social distancing and lockdowns. Slack turned out to be far more versatile than ex
pected, replacing many office hour visits and a great percentage of what under different
circumstances would have been e-mail communication. Additionally, Slack even helped
with students’ social communication during lockdowns. Due to these benefits, we will
surely keep using the messenger after the return to in-person classes, phasing out the
old-fashioned forums.
Results: What Works—and What Does Not (Yet)?
This section reports the results of our flipped classroom teaching experiment, based on
feedback elicited from n = , students in iterations of the flipped classroom ver
sion of the Financial Accounting course. Feedback was collected via regular online
course evaluations, with an average response rate of %. Additionally, we used selec
tively administered anonymous paper-based course survey questionnaires, which stu
dents filled out unsupervised during the last session of the course. This procedure was
chosen to guarantee full response rates for the questionnaires while maintaining the
responding students’ anonymity.
Typically, a course in any given semester would consist of or sections of – students.
Since RIT’s online evaluation has undergone various changes in both format and administration policy (full semester vs.
summer classes), not all iterations of the course used the same set of feedback formats. Further, we administered our
elaborate course survey questionnaire to four iterations of the course to test the impact of the choices we made in our
continued eorts to improve the course over the long observation period. The results reported in this section are therefore
more of an evaluation-supported qualitative nature than a thorough and rigorous statistical analysis.
Peter Schmidt, Vanja Vejzagić
. Videos
Depending on the features of the video server and LMS used in a flipped classroom
design, streaming statistics may be available, at least on a per-video basis. These sta
tistics provide some insight into student engagement and preparation. While we could
not (and would not care to) police students individually, the overall viewing statistics
per video were nevertheless useful to call students to order: After all, the low view
counts on the lecture videos convincingly convey to the students that there may be very
simple explanations for poor exam results.
Fortunately, the viewing statistics of the video lectures, as evidenced by the video
hosting system, were reasonably high and stable. In the long run, they also showed that
students on average watched each video more than once, which can be considered suc
cessful student engagement. The number of views per video declined slightly for the
later videos, which is in line with the strongly declining number of students still partici
pating in the course towards the end of the semester.
Student reactions to the videos, as evidenced by both the course evaluation and the
questionnaires, were overwhelmingly positive. Only about % of students expressed
dislike for the lecture videos in the surveys.
By their own account, students were shocked by how quickly video study time
backlog builds up. In debriefing discussions, students have suggested that before expe
riencing video-based lectures, they associated videos with relaxation and entertainment
but not with serious studying. Therefore, a list of videos they still need to work on
seems deceptively less “dangerous” than a list of unread textbook chapters. Many stu
dents indicated that they tried binge-watching several hours of our video content before
an exam to make up for prior dawdling. The consequences were as one might expect: If
students do not keep up with their studies, they are just as lost in the virtual segment of
the flipped classroom as they would have been in a conventional lecture-and-textbook
course. Firstly, binge watching before an exam is as useless as an all-nighter with the
textbook, and secondly, success in a Financial Accounting exam requires a level of prac
tice in solving actual accounting problems, which skimming the videos will not pro
vide.
Fortunately, access to technology has proved unproblematic, even in the early
years of this field study. When we started flipping the classroom in , smart mobile
devices and video content were still less common, but except for occasional initial hic
cups such as login ID malfunctions, students did not complain about difficulties re
garding the accessibility of the course and its content.
. In-Class Practice
Dividing the class according to students’ skill levels and ensuring that each study group
consisted of strong and weak students presented several challenges. Firstly, if the group
division was prepared beforehand, there was always a certain risk that it might become
RIT’s infrastructure at the time did not allow by-student viewing statistics. This unfortunately limited our ability to examine
the correlation between viewing statistics and individual course success.
The failure or withdrawal percentage of enrolled students ranges between % and % in the observed period. See
Section ., Grades and Withdrawals, for more detail.
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:Experience and Insights
obsolete due to some students not being in class that day. In this case, groups had to be
rearranged on the spot, filling gaps with whoever was available. Secondly, group dy
namics are notoriously unpredictable when students are thrown together regardless of
social ties. Individual groups may lack motivation, while others split into subgroups. In
one scenario, the stronger students may make progress while the weaker students are
too far behind to keep up with them, growing ever more frustrated. In another sce
nario, the unprepared students may chit-chat while those willing to practice ignore
them and get the work done. To resolve issues such as these, we chose to re-mix the
study groups every three weeks.
Over the years, we found four students to be a good size for a study group. While
smaller groups could easily turn dysfunctional if their members are not sufficiently
prepared for a lesson, a team of four is usually able to absorb at least some of the effects
of individual group members coming to class without adequate preparation. Although
attending in-class practice unprepared is still a waste of the student’s time, a group that
also includes some prepared peers at least shows the unprepared that the class is mov
ing on without them. For some, this may translate into the motivation they need to be
prepared next time.
The in-class logistics for practice groups proved rather time-consuming. It is most
efficient to prepare the classroom beforehand by setting up circles of chairs and to seat
students in their groups immediately upon arrival. Ideally, we would recommend
scheduling flipped classroom courses back-to-back so the classroom arrangement can
be reused. Furthermore, it is advisable to plan group practice for full class periods
rather than for just parts of a class. Students are notoriously inert when asked to switch
from a forward-facing lecture mode to seating arrangements more conducive to discus
sion within their study groups, and much time is lost in the process.
Perfect coordination between the video assignment and the in-class practice ses
sion proved essential but hard to achieve since it is not always easy to predict how much
progress a class will make during an in-class session. Even under ideal circumstances,
with ample time to watch the videos and the practice material exactly matching the
video content, student preparation often covers only the bare minimum. While allow
ing the teachers to move on with the lesson, this keeps the class from moving swiftly. If
students are clueless as to what to do with the practice problems, the best intention to
provide guided assimilation will fail—and so the class inevitably slows down until ev
eryone has caught up with the material.
Over the course of several semesters, we noticed two types of groups emerging in
the flipped classroom. On the one hand, there are groups that work well, constantly
check their interim results, and ask for cues on the next problem. On the other hand,
there are groups that need to be pushed to make up for their lack of motivation or prep
aration. For the teachers, dividing their attention between six to ten groups is demand
ing. There is plenty of running around and trying to keep each individual group’s pro
cesses going, but witnessing students’ occasional aha! moments during assimilation
still makes it a rewarding experience.
Peter Schmidt, Vanja Vejzagić
In group practice, some idling and inefficiency are inevitable. We would even go
so far as to consider it inherent to the method. However, the benchmark to which we
compare the progress made through in-class practice should not be teacher-led practice
with the entire class, which speeds up the process by cutting out the time students need
to think, interact, and engage in order to work out the solution in a study group. In
stead, our benchmark should be the speed at which an average student would do their
homework. The best a teacher can do to support students’ progress in this setting is to
minimize the amount of time lost on logistics.
For our Financial Accounting course, the most efficient protocol turned out to be
assigning a certain period of time during which the study groups may work on a prac
tice problem. Once this time has elapsed, we interrupt the group work and discuss the
results with the entire class. For an average class of minutes, about four such alter
nations between group work and class debriefing are feasible. These alternating phases
keep the process moving along, even for those groups that are lost or slow, while also
giving the teacher more control over the progress.
In our evaluations, on average, % of the students indicated that they liked the
in-class practice, and about one quarter of them even considered it an outstanding fea
ture of the course, mentioning that they would like to see more of it. Other students
clearly realized that they botched their in-class practice because they came unpre
pared—a helpful insight if they fail their exams and have to repeat the course.
The group work during in-class practice received mixed feedback. Only a few stu
dents expressed high satisfaction with the study groups. About % of our students
suggested changing to a teacher-centered form of practice in which the entire class is
guided through the process of problem solving. We only rarely used such forms of in-
class practice because they keep the students in a mostly passive role.
Very few students, presumably those who came prepared and ready to work, ex
pressed dissatisfaction at their groupmates’ ignorance. Some students noted that they
would have liked group work if their peers had presented the same level of prepared
ness and motivation. We find that a good way to respond to such frustrations is to tell
students that explaining content to a peer can be a rewarding task, too, because it deep
ens the explaining student’s own understanding: You learn by teaching.
The practice groups were easy to move online during the COVID- pandemic.
The breakout room setup on Zoom requires just a few clicks—compared to rearrang
ing the physical classroom, this actually saved time—and randomized group division
made the discussion of the pros and cons of different types of group composition obso
lete. In the beginning, however, some time had to be budgeted to teach students break
out room etiquette and how to handle the electronically delivered material.
A final interesting outcome for us teachers was the realization of how hard it is to
truly abstain from lecturing to the class in a flipped classroom setup. It takes a few
iterations of the course for the teachers to really trust the method and become comfort
able with letting go of lecturing, focusing on review, questions, and guidance instead.
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:Experience and Insights
. Textbook
Larry M. Walther’s Principles of Accounting (Walther, n. d.) proved an excellent choice.
The text is well edited and up-to-date, and it comes with the usual material for use in
higher education (glossary, practice problems). Despite the book being more concise
than most printed introductory accounting textbooks, it still provides plenty of mate
rial for a one-semester introduction to financial accounting. While the book provides a
good selection of practice problems, we felt that some chapters didn’t provide enough
basic problems and therefore created additional practice material of our own.
By their own account, most students ( %) prefer the free online version of the
textbook. Only % state that they would have preferred a traditional printed textbook to
accompany the flipped classroom. Concerning the textbook as such, students praised
the explanations and the succinct, no-frills style. The fact that the book was available
online was also seen as an advantage when traveling.
However, this part of the evaluation also showed an unexpected cultural aspect: In
order to appeal to students, many modern American undergraduate textbooks use
glossy images and elaborate “real life” stories tailored to students immersed in Ameri
can culture. Even though RIT Croatia teaches in English, very few students have an
American background. Therefore, the Americana included in the textbook at best failed
to pull in non-American students—and at worst, they were considered a distraction.
From the perspective of a non-native speaker who may already be struggling with the
vocabulary and therefore reading with diminished speed, less is certainly more.
Discipline regarding self-organized learning, concerning the video lectures as well
as classroom practice, proved crucial to student success in Financial Accounting, as
students will hardly be able to catch up once they fall behind. If students are idle during
the first four weeks, when the fundamental concepts of bookkeeping are taught, the
coursework of the remaining ten weeks will become incomprehensible. Even if they
realize their mistake five weeks in and make an effort to catch up, they will struggle to
do that and simultaneously keep abreast of all the new study assignments that accumu
late in the meantime. Once they have fallen behind, only a few students manage to
recover and succeed.
. Out-of-Class Interaction: Discussion Forum and Messaging
Participation in LMS discussion forums varied greatly between different classes and
sections of the course. Habits emerging during the first weeks determine the result.
Even with approximately equal section sizes, the participation level from section to sec
tion of the same semester on the LMS discussion forum varies widely. It comes as no
surprise that more engaged sections are associated with higher grades: For the same
year, the mean final grade was % for the least active section, while it was % for the
most engaged section mentioned above.
Typical accounting textbooks easily amount to pages and are usually an expensive, glossy cash drain, particularly on a
non-US market.
As an example, in the fall semester /, among approximately equal-sized sections, the most active section had
postings, while the least active section had only postings on the discussion forums of the LMS. While in the most active
section students replied to one another, in the least active section the students would only post questions but rarely any
replies, leaving the answers largely up to the instructor.
Peter Schmidt, Vanja Vejzagić
Discussion forum statistics regularly show anxious activity in the hours before
an exam—confirming, unfortunately, that many of the forum’s users do not study reg
ularly. We consistently observe that forum participation is driven by very few individ
uals; usually fewer than five students are regularly engaged in any given section. On
average, user statistics over the course of a semester reveal that almost % of post
ings are authored by just % of the students in each section, while % remain pas
sive, posting only the occasional question or reply. When it comes to reading the forum
posts, this changes dramatically: Between half and two-thirds of all students read every
posting, even if they do not actively post themselves. Only a very few students never
used the discussion forum at all.
In our evaluations, the discussion forums did not rank very high in students’ ap
preciation. Only about % of our students perceived the forums as an outstanding
feature of the course. Specifically, the layout of the discussion forum in our particular
LMS was criticized by some as convoluted, unattractive, and not user-friendly.
During the COVID- pandemic, we introduced Slack instant messaging, first at
our initiative on a free plan. As the pandemic persisted, RIT acquired a university-wide
license that allowed integration with other RIT tech infrastructure. Student feedback
was overwhelmingly positive about the near-synchronous experience, especially when
compared to the asynchronous discussion posts, which were perceived as old-fash
ioned. Since Slack is available on mobile phones, as soon as a question pops up, it is
convenient and easy for the students to reply. Even adding a snapshot of a practice
problem in progress is simple. By adopting Slack as a means of communication, we
could even successfully retain some of the feeling of proximity and immediacy lost to
social distancing and online teaching. For us, the messenger proved a “keeper” for post-
COVID teaching.
. Grades and Withdrawals
Starting with an original enrollment of to students per semester, the long-term
average shows that a third of all students withdraw or fail the course. Regarding these
numbers, the flipped classroom unfortunately achieves no improvement: Prior tradi
tional formats had a dropout rate of about one third, too. The improvement we ex
pected to see regarding students’ grades did not happen either.
One possible explanation for the high withdrawal and failure rate is that quantita
tive courses like Financial Accounting traditionally act as a filter during the freshman
year. This effect may be even more pronounced if there is no quantitatively oriented
entrance examination before enrollment. In the absence of an entrance exam, it is in
evitable that student ranks will be thinned out by the exams of the first semesters, and
it is preferable to confront students with a reality check regarding their study program
sooner rather than later.
Due to coaching sessions with freshmen taking the First Year Enrichment courses at RIT Croatia, we are aware that many
students see business as a “safe” choice to study. They enroll because they have not yet found a career about which they
are passionate, because they are swayed by the supposedly good job prospects, or because of parental pressure. Students
who choose business because of their own inclination or because they are passionate about the career options that come
with it seem to be much rarer.
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:Experience and Insights
In many semesters, however, the distribution of grades shows an A as the most
frequent passing grade, a peculiarity we also observed in the exams (two midterms, one
final per semester), while in prior iterations of the traditional lecture format showed a
more equal distribution among the passing grades of A to D. This points to a positive
effect of the flipped classroom method: the students who knew how to put in the work
required to prepare their lessons often excel in the flipped classroom, while mid-level
grades are less frequent. Nevertheless, we were disappointed to realize that the video
component does not seem to help more students make a habit of disciplined, self-or
ganized studying.
More specifically, and arguing for Financial Accounting in particular, the majority
of the students in our evaluations express, even if only implicitly, a dislike for “working
with numbers” or for quantitative subjects in general. On average, less than % of
students comment favorably on the subject of the course. More than two-thirds unen
thusiastically accept that accounting is necessary and maybe even important in busi
ness but also state that the subject is certainly not appealing to them. Some of these
students do not even beat around the bush when it comes to their aversions: “good
teaching, but horrible course”, opined one student in our questionnaire.
Taking all of these findings into account, we, as teachers, face a dilemma: If a flip
ped classroom course is portrayed as “easy” or “more accessible”, many students do not
feel a need to try hard. Advertising the flipped classroom as “easier” because the video
lectures replace the intimidatingly thick accounting textbook may tempt some students
to think that clicking “play” is all it takes to pass this course. By the time students real
ize this fallacy, it is often too late to catch up.
Our evaluations show that almost half of all students participating in the Financial
Accounting course will admit that they do not study regularly. This is corroborated by
feedback conversations in which many students readily admit to all-night cramming
before the exam. The same trend is also evidenced by the significant increase in video
viewing statistics in the hours before an exam. Students are unaware that video is espe
cially unsuitable for effective cramming. Unlike book pages, which allow for speedy (if
superficial) consumption, instructional videos come with a predetermined viewing
time that cannot be reduced by much before the audio turns incomprehensible.
Of course, a skill-oriented course like Financial Accounting does not only require
the students to learn new concepts; they also need to acquire and hone new skills,
which is why binge learning never works. Watching a video does not teach students
how to think through the solution of a complex accounting problem. Assimilation of
the transmitted knowledge must inevitably happen through their own work and effort.
Anecdotal evidence of erratic grades confirms this: Occasionally, students on a
low-grade trajectory score surprisingly well on a single quiz or exam. In follow-up con
versations, it then turns out that this time they have indeed put in the disciplined prep
work. The opposite is also true, where straight-A students score a C or even a D as an
outlier because—for once—they did not prepare according to their usual standards. We
regard a tight correlation between effort and grade outcome as a positive quality of a
Peter Schmidt, Vanja Vejzagić
course. If the time spent on preparation and practice leads to noticeably better grades,
students will have a strong incentive to study.
Study discipline, regrettably, remains a notoriously weak point. Data from the fall
semester / showed that, despite requiring all students with a D or F to visit their
teachers during office hours for a face-to-face talk, only % of these students actually
showed up. Of those who took the office hour visits seriously, the overwhelming major
ity then admitted that they did not adequately prepare. This suggests that the flipped
classroom model fails to pull in the unmotivated or undisciplined portion of the stu
dent population. Perhaps as much as % of all students seem unwilling to seriously
engage in their chosen study program: They ignore support offers and do not make use
of the resources available, such as teachers’ office hours, peer tutoring, discussion fo
rums, or messaging platforms, to have questions answered, to clarify concepts, or to
check their problem solutions.
In our conversations, these students often revealed that they are conscious of their
predicament, but regarding possible solutions, they seemed almost paralyzed, unable
to change their behavior. We hypothesize that the freshman experience plays a role
here: Freshmen move out of their parents’ home, come to a different city, may live
alone for the first time, and for the first time in their lives find themselves responsible
for their own daily schedule. Additionally, at RIT Croatia, most students leave a non-
American school system for an American-style college experience and have to get ac
customed to a foreign language and a different learning culture. Given this long list of
challenges, it is not surprising that some are overwhelmed at the first attempt.
Discussion: Is Flipping Worth the Trouble?
What are the pros and cons that we can identify when taking into consideration the
iterations of freshman Financial Accounting we have taught in the flipped class
room? The results are mixed. There is no unambiguous enthusiasm allowing us to
proclaim that with this teaching method we have discovered a panacea. At best, we can
say that those students who are willing to work for their success do well, possibly scor
ing higher grades than in a traditional format, and that students are generally likely to
find the flipped classroom approach more appealing than a traditional textbook-based
course. At the same time, the flipped classroom method will not compensate for a lack
of motivation or interest, let alone a lack of discipline. This explains the persistently
high frequency of E and F grades: an unmotivated student will not be stirred by the
teacher flipping anything.
Besides this general verdict, some details and variations of the method merit addi
tional discussion. On the one hand, creating homogeneous practice groups may be
worth a try, replacing our attempt to induce some “peer teaching” by mixing different
ability levels in one group. On the other hand, there is a certain risk that groups made
Statistics from North Carolina State University’s Friday Institute for Educational Innovation show that for about % of
students, even a ipped classroom does not work (Gimbar, ).
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:Experience and Insights
up of exclusively weak and unprepared students will waste their practice time and fall
behind. It would be an ethically questionable approach to give up on those students by
putting them in groups of “lost causes”.
In our courses, students keep suggesting that we should let them choose their
own groupmates. We have reservations because this will result in best friends hanging
out in the same group, which will not necessarily improve student learning. Students
who are unprepared or unmotivated may easily end up chatting, bored, and inactive.
We believe that the groups with mixed skill levels remain the best solution and would
rather suggest remixing them every few weeks to prevent group dynamics from turn
ing stale.
We also believe that graded incentives like our weekly online quizzes on the LMS
are important to support steady work. Such quizzes are yet another time-consuming
component to set up, like video production or practice problem design, but they, too,
amortize, and the benefit for students justifies the investment. Our statistics show that
less than % of all such quizzes were missed by our students, so we consider them
successful pacemakers.
There is room for further improvement, based on students’ feedback and our own
observations. Here are our top recommendations to teachers contemplating the
method.
. Do not go halfway: You have to really quit in-class lecturing. Student feedback
confirms that reverting to in-class lecturing sabotages the flipped classroom be
cause students start relying on the teacher to explain things anyway, which may
drastically impact their willingness to thoroughly prepare the lessons.
. Make use of students’ anity for new media and plan with a limited span of
attention: two ten-minute videos are better than a single twenty-minute clip. Re
sist the temptation to “squeeze it all in” and space it out instead.
. Maximize in-class practice and experimentation with variations of in-class prac
tice formats, e. g., instructor-led vs. group practice, group practice in various
group sizes, group practice in self-selected vs. pre-assigned groups, etc. Consider
the students’ preferences, which can easily be surveyed on the spot with online
services like mentimeter.com.
. Fine-tune the coordination between video assignment and in-class practice to en
courage on-time preparation of the lesson material. Use incentives such as quiz
zes to motivate students to show up “transmission accomplished” and ready for
in-class practice. We consider this the single most important prerequisite for suc
cessful assimilation.
. Refrain from advertising the flipped classroom format as “easy.” Switching from
a teacher-centric approach to video lectures will not make learning easier. On the
contrary: students tend to not take video-based studying seriously and fail.
The question remains: do the results justify the effort? We think they do. Even though
the outcome fell short of our optimistic expectations, there are many positive effects.
Overall, the grade scale shows more students scoring an A, a trend likely induced by the
Peter Schmidt, Vanja Vejzagić
new method. In the long run, we often observe that students who have already dropped
out of the course once score an A or B their second time around. We attribute this
success to the video teaching method, which enabled them to understand the concepts
once they started over the right way.
Another reason for updating teaching methods is to stay open and abreast of the
advancement of technology and instructional innovation. Once upon a time, when
printed sources of knowledge were hard to come by, lecturing ex cathedra was, by de
fault, state-of-the-art. But teaching has undergone much change since and embraced
many innovations, which arguably improved the quality of teaching. We can never go
back because the old methods no longer serve today’s realities. While innovation al
ways seems to make things easier, standards and expectations grow along with the pos
sibilities. In the long run, therefore, we must keep questioning established methods
and attempt to continually innovate the classroom experience.
References
Akçayır, G., & Akçayır, M. (). The flipped classroom: A review of its advantages and
challenges. Computers & Education, 126(Nov ), –. https://doi.org/./
j.compedu...
Bourassa, P. (, March ). How to Make a Khan Academy Video [Video]. YouTube.
https://youtu.be/QZJAhfaZnUA
Brinkworth, R., McCann, B., Matthews, C., & Nordström, K. (). First year expectations
and experiences: Student and teacher perspectives. Higher Education, 58(), –.
https://doi.org/./s---
Crawford. S. R., & Senecal, J. (). Tools of the Trade. What Do You Need to Flip? In
L. Santos Green, J. R. Banas, & R. A. Perkins (Eds.), The flipped college classroom. Con
ceptualized and re-conceptualized (pp. –). Springer. https://doi.org/./--
--
Crouch, C., & Mazur, E. (). Peer Instruction: Ten Years of Experience and Results,
American Journal of Physics, 69, –. https://doi.org/./.
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (). Improv
ing Students’ Learning with Eective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions
from Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest,
14(), –. http://www.jstor.org/stable/. https://doi.org/./
Gimbar, K. (). How Does This Work for All Learners? – FAQ – Katie Gimbar’s Flipped
Classroom [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/cyDpsJnS
Lage, M. J., Platt, G. J., & Treglia, M. (). Inverting the classroom: A gateway to creating
an inclusive learning environment. Journal of Economic Education, 31(), –.
https://doi.org/./
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:Experience and Insights
Lombardini, C., Lakkala, M., & Muukkonen, H. (). The impact of the flipped classroom
in a principles of microeconomics course: evidence from a quasi-experiment with two
flipped classroom designs. International Review of Economics Education, 29, –.
https://doi.org/./j.iree...
Nickles, J. (, April ). Flipping the College Classroom. The Bubbly Professor. https://
bubblyprofessor.com////flipping-the-college-classroom
Reidsema, C., Kavanagh, L., Hadgraft, R., & Smith, N. (Eds.) (). The flipped classroom.
Practice and practices in higher education. Springer. https://doi.org/./--
--
Santos Green, L., Banas, J. R., & Perkins, R. A. (Eds.). (). The flipped college classroom
conceptualized and re-conceptualized. Springer. https://doi.org/./---
-
Talbert, R. (). Inverted classroom. Colleagues, 9(), –.
Talbert, R. (, June). The inverted classroom in introductory calculus: Best practices and
potential benefits for the preparation of engineers. ASEE Annual Conference & Exposi
tion, Indianapolis, IN, United States. https://doi.org/./---
Talbert, R. ().Flipped learning: A guide for higher education faculty. Stylus Publishing.
Walther, L. (n. d.). Principles of Accounting. https://www.principlesofaccounting.com/
Appendix: Flipped Classroom Resources
A Free or Low-Budget Downloadable or Online Textbooks
These online publishers offer textbooks on a wide variety of subjects, not restricted to
business or economics.
•Bookboon: Free ad-supported college textbooks, http://bookboon.com/en/text
books
•Flat World Knowledge Online: Publisher of original customizable low-budget
textbooks, http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/
•Merlot: A large multimedia repository of free educational resources for learning
and online teaching, maintained by the California State University, http://mer-
lot.org
•College Open Textbooks: The following sites offer creative commons license text
books, mostly for free download, partly available for purchase as low budget
prints.
–https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/
–https://open.bccampus.ca/
•Saylor Academy Open Textbooks: The Saylor Foundation’s virtual bookshelf con
tains the content of Flat World Knowledge and other textbooks under a creative
commons license, http://www.saylor.org/books/
Peter Schmidt, Vanja Vejzagić
B Other Online Media and Courses
These providers of video-based courses can serve as models for designing a flipped
classroom course. It is helpful to observe the effectiveness of the various video lecture
formats used in different courses.
•Open Education Database: Over , open courses available from many of the
providers listed below and others, http://oedb.org/open/
•Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/
•Coursera, https://www.coursera.org/
•edX, https://www.edx.org/
•Udemy, https://www.udemy.com/
•MIT OpenCourseWare, http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
C Software
This is the software we used in our flipped classroom setup:
•SmoothDraw~4: A drawing and writing software for graphic tablets, http://
www.smoothdraw.com/
•SnagIt: Screen capture software for images and video, http://www.techsmith.com/
snagit.html. As an alternative, we can also recommend Camtasia Studio, a more
comprehensive video recording and editing package by TechSmith, http://
www.techsmith. com/camtasia.html. The TechSmith website also provides excel
lent free educational material on how to record educational videos.
• There are many other options for recording software, even some free online
screencast recording software that requires no installation on your computer. For
a current and comprehensive overview on screencast recording software see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_screencasting_software.
•Google Drive and Google Sheets: To make practice materials available to groups
in an online teaching situation, e. g., in a pandemic lockdown.
•Microsoft Oce (PowerPoint): To produce the slide decks used in screencast lec
ture videos unless the material was directly developed during the video by draw
ing and writing on a graphic tablet.
Financial Accounting in a Flipped Classroom:Experience and Insights
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or
Critical Distance?
The Impact of Applied Business Education on Social
Evaluations of Firms
H Lü, S B
Introduction
One of the teaching goals in undergraduate business education is to familiarize stu
dents with typical challenges and management activities in corporations, combined
with a focus on critical thinking, complex reasoning, and written communication
(Colby et al., ). However, the applied focus of many teaching approaches in busi
ness is rarely explicitly addressed in research on pedagogy and tertiary education. It is
mostly mentioned in discussions of the portfolio of skills and competencies resulting
from practice-oriented education (e. g., Baldwin et al., ; Colby et al., ) and/or
when the career and status consequences of applied degrees are of interest (e. g., Bald
win et al., ; Benton, ).
A rarely debated question is what it means for the mindset, attitudes, and judg
ments of the students when their attention is directed at the details and complexity of
corporate practice. This paper explores what applied business education, defined as
education with a focus on “practical tasks in authentic contexts” (Baldwin et al., ,
p. ), means for the students’ social judgments of the corporate world. The process of
social judgment—“an evaluator’s decision or opinion about the social properties of an
organization” (Bitektine, , p. ) — is strongly influenced by the amount of de
tailed knowledge available to the evaluator (Bitektine, ; Tost, ). In particular, we
are interested in how applied education influences the evaluator’s opinions on corpo
rate reputation as a form of social judgment.
The implicit but untested assumption of many stakeholders like university admin
istrators, educators, and recruiters seems to be that theoretical closeness to corporate
proceedings leads to emotional and cognitive closeness, too. Managers in Germany
stated that they prefer recruits from applied programs as they are easier to integrate
and need less training and socialization time (Holuscha, , p. ; for similar ideas in
Prof. Dr. Holger Lüdeke, Touro University Berlin, A Campus of Touro University New York, USA, Department of Manage-
ment, Am Rupenhorn , Berlin, Email: holger.luedeke@touroberlin.de – Prof. Sabra Brock, PhD, Touro Graduate
School of Business, West th Street, New York, NY , Email: hluedeke@berlin.touro.edu
The three most common forms of social evaluation of rms are reputation, status, and legitimacy (Bitektine, ). The
role of status and legitimacy is left out of our considerations to focus the discussion on reputation.
the USA, see Cappelli, ). Anecdotal evidence shows that students especially appre
ciate applied business education as it allows them to better fit in because information
on “business norms and practices provide[s] important signals to students concerning
what is valued in organizations and what credentials are likely to produce the best pros
pects for employment” (Rynes et al., , p. ; Bishop. ). Career data from Ger
many also shows that students from applied programs are faster at securing their first
job after college and faster at getting promoted into their first leadership position.
Applied learning often puts students in theoretical situations where they are in
charge of decision-making and have leverage to come to their final decisions, which
can make them less critical through the affirmative perspective of power and status
(for a summary of the link between powerful positions and psychology, see Magee &
Galinsky, ). The potential overall effect is self-identification with the corporate
world through ingroup favoritism, defined as the effect that “novel ingroups to which
the self has been assigned are evaluated positively by default” (Dovidio & Gaertner,
, p. ). Applied learning leads to permanent exposure to the “normative idealiza
tion of organizational goals ... [that] aim at achieving organization-wide technical effi
ciency and effectiveness through instrumentally rational actions, and at propelling
organizational growth in a competitive environment” (Shrivastava, , p. ). A peda
gogical focus on hands-on approaches makes some educators fear that applied busi
ness education comes at the cost of diminished critical thinking skills, instead favoring
vocational knowledge (for a summary of the problem discussion, see Bunch, ).
However, this is not the complete picture of applied learning. Insights into nu
ance-rich authentic settings can also help foster critical thinking, defined as the activity
of “questioning assumptions, evaluating evidence, and testing the logic of ideas, pro
posals, and courses of action ... including raising awareness of hidden values, beliefs,
and assumptions—those of others and our own” (Rousseau, , p. ). Such a ques
tioning and self-regulatory cognitive distance to the daily routines can be achieved
through learning that simulates some of the more challenging components of corpo
rate practice (Lovelace et al., ). In particular, a questioning mindset is supported by
teamwork and exchange with others, regular feedback on the outcomes of decisions
over a period of time, and exposure to complex and dynamic settings with real-time
information that require fast and frequent changes to a perception of past activities.
While proponents of critical thinking stress that “[t]he word critical is a loaded
word [and] doesn’t mean being negative or oppositional” (Rousseau, , p.), other
researchers also assume links between applied learning and a higher level of criticality.
For example, Reynolds and Vince () stress that in-depth insights into corporate
practice can also foster stronger opposition to the status quo. Applied learners will of
ten experience that decisions in practice prioritize the interests of some organizational
members over others and that strong constraints on their freedom to decide what could
work best exist, resulting from “processes of power, control, and vested interests” (Rey
nolds & Vince, , p. ). Bunch () presents additional evidence that business
However, this advantage disappears and is potentially reversed in later career stages; for a summary of the inconclusive
research ndings in Germany, see Holuscha, .
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or Critical Distance?
students are more negative about the current jobs they are holding (compared to other
undergraduate majors), and that they expect to gain less job satisfaction in future jobs
than other students (e. g., Easterling & Smith, ).
To summarize, the literature on applied business education is inconclusive re
garding the consequences of corporate realities on social evaluations. We are looking
for a research base establishing whether practice-based business curricula have an im
pact on critical thinking skills in students. Our contribution to the discussion is a focus
on business familiarity as a mediating mechanism that explains the link between ap
plied education and social evaluations and a careful exploration of the consequences of
business familiarity on reputation judgments.
We will proceed as follows: First, we develop the theory that applied education
leads to increased business familiarity, which in turn has a positive influence on the
variance (but not on the central tendency) of corporate reputation judgments. In a sec
ond step, we will introduce the empirical setting in which we tested our assumptions,
and present and interpret our empirical results. Finally, we will discuss the theoretical
implications and limits of our research.
Theory and Hypothesis Development
. Positive association with applied business education—business
familiarity
Business education programs differ in their focus on application. The programs most
dedicated to “practical tasks in authentic contexts” (Baldwin et al., , p. ) have
integrated a portfolio of educational concepts to contribute to business familiarity, de
fined as observer or stakeholder awareness of an organization or a group of organizations
without judgment (Barnett et al., ). We introduce three of the most common teach
ing approaches, namely a problem-based focus, experiential learning, and imitation-
based transfer of tacit knowledge. While this is far from a complete list of educational
options, it covers many of the common pedagogies that also happen to play a role in our
empirical setting. We first want to show that a main contribution of these selected
teaching approaches is to contribute to increased, in-depth awareness of organizations
and their industry contexts.
a) Problem-based focus of applied teaching
A common approach in applied settings is to focus on solving realistic problems of
corporate practice instead of starting with generalizable rules and social laws. This idea
was first introduced in the s by the Harvard Business School, where teaching by
case studies without previous theoretical studies became the guiding philosophy (Por
ter & Siggelkow, ). Case studies are a description of “real-life situations that busi
ness executives have faced. Casewriters, as good reporters, have written up these situa
tions to present [students] with the information available to the executive involved”
(Hammond, , p. ). The idea is that students should be exposed to “a focused form
Holger Lüdeke, Sabra Brock
of learning by doing ... [and] cut across a range of organizations and situations ... [for]
exposure far greater than you are likely to experience in your day-to-day routines”
(Hammond, , p. ). The learning goal is that by getting acquainted with a large
number of business situations, students improve analogical reasoning (Gavetti et al.,
; Gavetti & Rivkin, ). They start to get a feeling for which facts in the clutter of
information have more practical relevance, which similarities between unique situa
tions matter, and which similarities are only superficial and can be neglected. Just as
important as the content of the case studies is the group discussion of potential solu
tions in the classroom that “potentially simulates the emotional atmosphere in which
managers must operate [in top management team meetings]” (Contardo & Wensley,
, p. ). It is important for students to understand that there is “no single, demon
strably right answer to a business problem ... [and that in] every business situation,
there is always a reasonable possibility that the best answer has not yet been found—
even by the teachers” (Hammond, , p. ). While case studies have no optimal solu
tion, at least they usually come with some potential case solutions (best practices) as
imagined in the case writer’s teaching notes.
An even more open-ended exercise is to assign student groups to current, real-life
consulting cases from corporations in academic-business cooperation programs (Un
garetti et al., ). This teaching approach resembles a medical diagnosis course inso
far as “the first day of class, instead of receiving a lecture, students are given a problem
[and the ] class session would focus on the development of a list of questions that
should be asked ... and why those questions are relevant (Ungaretti et al., , p. ).
The main difference between these assignments and case studies is that the latter
approach “provides cases that have solutions”, while involvement in consulting “pro
vides problems that are yet to be solved” (p. ). Both teaching angles share that they
familiarize students with the perspective of a decision maker, as they follow the same
teaching guideline: “Make the manager’s problems your problems” (Hammond, ,
p. ).
b) Experiential learning in applied teaching
Experiential learning, defined as “learning through reflection on doing” (Smith, ,
p. ), aims at a full immersion of the student in corporate activities. In this view,
learning about business is ineffective if it is not accompanied by actual experience on
top of which to build later reflection (Mintzberg, ). Based on integrative learning,
the pedagogical approach “is holistic and as such addresses the whole person physically
and mentally; not only in a specialized skill or job role but in the context of his or her
total life situation” (Kolb et al., , p. ), including, for example, tasks like dealing
with difficult others, overwhelming information complexity, the challenge of having
clear opinions in ambiguous decision situations, and the need for stress management
due to negative emotions, deadlines, or time pressure.
A common approach to foster experiential learning is one or more mandatory in
ternship experiences or a semester practicum (McCarthy & McCarthy, ). The most
effective applied learning is based on actual experience in the field. A consistent result
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or Critical Distance?
of student surveys is that a semester-long practicum is perceived to be the most pro
found educational experience (McCarthy & McCarthy, ), and recruiters increas
ingly value internship experience as the most important advantage of applicants in the
selection process (Bunch, ). A student’s opportunity to “learn about the field, pro
fession, or business” and to learn “a lot of things that [they] would never have been able
to learn in the classroom” proves by far the strongest predictor of satisfaction with an
internship, ranking far higher than contextual factors like the (in)flexibility of work
hours, commute time, or pay satisfaction (D’abate et al., , p. ). This demon
strates impressively that students understand and value “action-learning situations
which compel them to apply classroom theory and knowledge to practice in a manner
that builds deep, practical in situ business, management and decision-making skills”
(p. ).
But also other, less time-intensive, complementary approaches like role-plays
(Whetten & Cameron, ) and, more recently, web-based management and business
simulations (Kayes et al., ; Lovelace et al., ) contribute to experiential learning.
In experiential role-plays, students are not only exposed to critical business incidents,
they are also supposed to re-live the troubling cognitive limits of corporate decision
making and even the emotions involved in difficult situations, simulating a “direct,
personal encounter with the phenomena being investigated” (McCarthy & McCarthy,
, p. ). Role-playing allows to repeatedly practice behavioral guidelines in an aca
demic, low-risk environment and to adapt the theoretical principles to personal style
through repetition and learning from feedback (Whetten & Cameron, ). Web-
based management simulations are defined as “[i]nternet-based, synthetic learning en
vironments where decisions are made within a complex and dynamic setting, and
where students experience real-time information and feedback” (Lovelace et al., ,
p. ). The usual design is that student teams must make a series of decisions in an
environment that replicates a typical workplace. Fast-paced feedback on the consequen
ces of their first decisions within a longer timeframe allows students to learn from mis
takes and discover unintentional side effects, often in realistic industry settings. The
result is a simulation of practice that contributes both to content knowledge regarding
industries and corporate functions, and to skill development when it comes to decision
making in complex environments. Common to all approaches to experiential learning
is that instead of merely thinking about a situation or case, students must make real
decisions that have immediate consequences on the simulation (McCarthy & McCar
thy, ).
c) Imitation-based transfer of educators’ tacit knowledge
Many other pedagogical angles try to contribute to business familiarity, among them
the often relatively unnoticed advantages of faculty members with practical experience
in business. In many applied programs, some business experience is expected of edu
cators or even institutionally mandated. In Germany’s application-focused institutions
of higher education, the so-called “Fachhochschulen”, job experience of at least three
years outside the academic world is the mandatory minimum standard. Learning from
Holger Lüdeke, Sabra Brock
practitioners is not only about access to networks outside academia or access to busi
ness details that cannot be found in textbooks. Learning from practitioners also allows
“knowledge-by-exemplification: one that is demonstrative, creative, and unreflectively
performative, transmitted directly through the demeanor, style, and mannerism of
management educators rather than through the content of lectures” (Chia & Holt,
, p. ). The underlying pedagogical concept is that many ways of operating in
business are forms of tacit, practical knowing (“knowing how” and “knowing when”)
that can only be learned through participation and imitation (Chia & Holt, ). In
particular, an experienced practitioner’s habitus, their “feel for the game … embodied
and turned into a second nature” (Bourdieu, , p. ), and the naturalness of profes
sional behavior that Bourdieu calls “casualness amid familiarity” (p. ), can only be
learned through permanent exposure and subsequent imitation. John McArthur, the
former dean of the Harvard Business School, coined the famous phrase “how we teach,
is what we teach” (Contardo & Wensley, , p. ), implying that the main aspect
to be learned from the case instructors is the capability to show self-confidence and
demonstrate consistency in decision-making even in situations of overwhelming com
plexity.
To sum up, applied education has the goal of familiarizing students with a multi
tude of aspects relevant to corporate practice: from detailed insights into different firms
and functions to comparative aspects of business contexts and industries and to holistic
experiences that may be gained from taking the perspectives of decision-makers.
Therefore, we hypothesize:
H1: Applied business education is associated with higher business familiarity.
. Positive association with business familiarity—variance in reputation
judgments
In the next step, we will explore the relationship between business familiarity and so
cial evaluations of firms. We assume that there is no direct effect of familiarity on posi
tive social evaluations. This conclusion stands in stark contrast to early research on
familiarity and liking that hypothesized that stronger familiarity leads to more emo
tional and cognitive closeness and increased personal attraction to well-known firms
and business contexts. Surveys covering the effects of business familiarity (e. g., Lange
et al., ; Mariconda & Lurati, ) regularly list numerous research settings in
which the better-known companies gained in popularity and reputation. The theoreti
cal background of many of these early papers is based on the psychological principles
of exposure and fluency.
Research on the “mere exposure” effect states that increased exposure to an object
most often will result in more positive evaluations of that object due to the increased
familiarity that is interpreted as a good sign (Zajonc, ; Reis, ). Additionally, the
theory of “fluency” describes the experience that traits of familiar objects tend to be
processed perceptually and cognitively in a more fluent manner. Such fluency, in turn,
is experienced by evaluators in positive affective ways—you like what you can easily
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or Critical Distance?
grasp and deal with (Bornstein & DʼAgostino, ; Finkel et al., ). However, critics
have stressed early on that the research on exposure effects and fluency relies too much
on familiarity with stimuli that “tend to be low in prior experience and meaning to
participants receiving them (e. g., nonsense syllables, foreign words, Chinese ideo
graphs)” (Brooks & Highhouse, , p. ), while more meaningful stimuli such as
the names of well-known companies may require different cognitive theories.
The best-known approach to business familiarity assumes that familiarity allows
an observer to pick selective arguments from the large flow of information that results
from closeness to a firm (Brooks & Highhouse, ; Brooks et al., ). As a familiar
observer is unavoidably aware of many contradictory positive and negative business
details, familiarity contributes to an ambiguous and unclear picture of the firm. What
mainly counts for the overall effect is how the judging person wants to see the business.
Brooks and Highhouse () call this biased search for supporting information “re
sponse mode” (p. ). With growing familiarity, it is easier for a person to back up their
own negative or positive response with supporting evidence. This way, familiarity leads
to stronger opinions that can be either positive or negative, depending on the decision
situation and the personal bias of the judging observer. A similar possibility of stronger
opinions drifting off in either direction is also noted by social psychologists with regard
to interpersonal liking (Norton et al., ; Norton et al., ): With increasing famili
arity, judging persons will either have their positive attitudes toward others confirmed
and strengthened, or the growing information flow may lead to low regard and critical
distance if familiarity makes the gaps between the status quo and the desired bench
marks more visible.
While we do not question the possibility of higher variance of opinions due to ini
tial expectations and their confirmation or disappointment (and we control for this pos
sibility in our empirical setting), our main interest lies in providing an explanation for
higher variance due to increasing familiarity that applies even if biases are controlled
for. Accordingly, we apply the theory of social judgments developed by a group of or
ganizational scholars (Bitektine, ; Bitektine et al., ; Tost, ) to explain how
evaluators develop a series of related personal opinions on corporations, including
their legitimacy, status, and reputation. In this perspective, theories on social evalua
tions such as the reputation of a firm have to focus on how social actors develop “active
cognitive processing, information search efforts, and social interactions that precede
the formation of ... [reputation] ... judgments” (Bitektine, , p. ). The form of so
cial judgment mainly relevant for our context is corporate reputation, defined as judg
ment on the following question: “How will the organization perform/behave in the
future relative to other organizations in the set?” (Bitektine, , p. ). Reputation
judgments focus on comparisons among organizations and stress the perceived eco
nomic differences between them, with the main goal of distinguishing one firm from
another based on their perceived ability to create value (for a summary of reputation
definitions with sources, see Bitektine, , p. ). These reputation judgments can
be formed in different ways, as evaluators may choose how to process their judgment.
This decision is based on cognitive economy (how much time and resources should be
Holger Lüdeke, Sabra Brock
invested in the information search) and social context (how do others perceive and eval
uate my judgments). An observer familiar with a business context has enough informa
tion to pursue a “feature-based judgment” (Bitektine, , p. ), which is a cogni
tively demanding, rational evaluation of the features of an organization that fully
acknowledges the differences between organizations, based on an extensive informa
tion search and rational choice evaluation.
However, for an unfamiliar observer who does not have the resources available to
make such judgments, there are alternative forms of judgment formation, in particular
using heuristics and shortcuts that require less cognitive processing effort (Simon,
). While research has identified numerous cognitive shortcuts that can be used
under conditions of bounded rationality (Gilovich et al., ), a main heuristic in rep
utation judgments under uncertainty and lack of information is: “When an organiza
tion’s reputation is unknown, the organization will most likely be treated as reputation
neutral, since neither positive nor negative predictions about its future behavior nor
mally can be made when there is a lack of information” (Bitektine, , p. ). Based
on this heuristic, it is to be expected that respondents in a survey that asks them to form
an immediate reputation judgment on firms they are not fully familiar with will assign
average reputation scores.
A second common alternative to feature-based social evaluations is relying on the
opinions of others through “judgment compensation heuristics”, which means that
“evaluators may substitute simpler and less ‘expensive’ category-based forms of judg
ment ... for more complex feature-based judgments” (Bitektine, , p. ). So instead
of evaluating every single firm on its own, through processing every bit of information
on the firms’ qualities and traits, respondents may rely on broader categories (for ex
ample “Is this a typical member of the industry?”; a cognitive legitimacy judgment) or
on the evaluation of others (for example: “How do others in society evaluate this firm?”;
a status judgment) (Bitektine et al., ). An example of a possible evaluation outcome
is the assignment of generally high or low scores to all unfamiliar firms in the chemical
industry, due to the assumed high or low status of the chemical industry in society.
The theory of social judgments does not lead to predictions on the central tenden
cies of status evaluations based on familiarity. The status judgment of a familiar ob
server is not generally higher or lower than the evaluation by less familiar observers.
What can be hypothesized is that the variance of the status judgments is larger—a fea
ture-based evaluation that acknowledges all existing differences between firms leads to
more pronounced evaluations than judgments by unfamiliar observers. The latter are
based on assigning average reputation scores for less well-known firms or reputation
scores derived from broader categories, both of which make the judgments less differ
entiated. Therefore, we hypothesize:
H2: Business familiarity is associated with a larger variance in reputation
judgments.
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or Critical Distance?
We assume that the influence of applied business education on the larger variance of
reputation judgments is mainly caused by the students’ increasing business familiar
ity. In other words, we theorize a mediating relationship, leading to our last hypothesis:
H3: Business familiarity mediates the relationship between applied business
education and variance of status judgments.
Methods
. Sample and Procedure
Our goal was to survey students with differing familiarity towards corporations and
business contexts, participating both in applied and more theory-driven programs. Sur
veys in eight different programs at various institutions of tertiary education in different
German cities were handed out and collected in . The selection of programs was
convenience-driven, so the resulting sample is not necessarily representative. How
ever, the inclusion of programs with varied teaching approaches is sufficient for gain
ing initial insights into our topics of interest.
The sampling approach resulted in questionnaires with answers filled out in
all relevant survey sections; respondents who did not answer demographic questions or
did not evaluate at least one organization’s reputation were dropped from the sample.
The respondents received a portfolio of ten different industry sectors with a list of
companies from each sector. They were then asked to focus on the industry they know
best to evaluate organizational reputation. They were advised to offer only social evalua
tions of firms within the industry of which they were sufficiently aware. This resulted
in , reputation scores. On average, every respondent in the sample evaluated
organizations.
. Dependent variables
Reputation: After respondents had decided on the industry they understood best, they
received a list of industry participants (taken from the Manager Magazin reputation
ranking ) and were asked to offer their own opinion on several aspects related to
the reputation of every firm on the list. Additionally, they were reminded of the option
to not offer scores and leave boxes empty for organizations they were not sure about.
Following common practice, we built the corporate reputation score as a summa
tive index of the different aspects of reputation. We used the items and scales best
known in the German context due to their regular inclusion in the biannual Manager
Magazin reputation ranking. Respondents had been asked to evaluate five aspects—the
corporation’s management quality, financial solidity, innovativeness, customer orien
tation, and environmental sustainability—on a scale from (= very bad) to (= very
The sectors to choose from were IT & Communication/Automobile/Consumer Goods/Retail/Machinery & Industrial
Goods/Tourism & Transportation/Media/Pharmaceuticals/Finance & Insurance/Commodities.
Holger Lüdeke, Sabra Brock
good). To improve validity, a general item was included (“How do you evaluate the rep
utation?”) in addition to the component scores (as suggested by Helm, ). The gen
eral reputation item also used a scale ranging from to . Overall, this procedure led
to , summative reputation index scores included in the statistical analysis.
Variance of Reputation: To measure the degree of differentiation of personal judgments,
we calculated the standard deviation of the reputation scores per respondent, with
higher values indicating a more differentiated set of evaluations.
Business Familiarity: A respondent’s awareness of the business situation was measured
by an item asking for knowledge of the evaluated industry, on a scale from (= “I do
not know the industry at all”) to (= “I know the industry very well”).
. Independent Variable & Controls
Applied Business Education: We measured applied education as an indicator variable
with = part of an applied business education program. For that, we utilized the institu
tional separation of applied and theory-driven programs in the German tertiary educa
tion system. Applied programs are offered by separate institutions accredited as “Fach
hochschulen”, which use a pedagogical approach comparable to American business
schools. Three years of professional practice outside academia are mandatory for their
specialized faculty, and their programs focus on teaching in applied settings. To ensure
a wide range of business familiarity, we surveyed advanced students from applied pro
grams with mandatory internships and requested work experience, as well as first-se
mester students from academic research universities. Students participating in applied
business programs at a Fachhochschule were assigned a in our indicator variable,
while was assigned to students in more theory-driven academic business programs,
and to non-business social science students in applied programs.
Several control variables were added to the models.
Gender and Age: As demographic controls, we used gender and age. Gender was meas
ured by a dummy variable, indicating if the respondent was male. Age measured the
age of respondents in years at the time of the survey.
Job Experience: To control for the impact of diverse practical experience on judging cor
porate practice, we measured job experience as the number of industries in which a
respondent has already held job, apprenticeship, or internship positions. The variable
is a count variable derived from the actual positions the respondents have held, as indi
cated by them in the open-answer format of the questionnaire: “If you have already
gained work experience (e. g., because of an apprenticeship, internship, or employment
before you started studying), in which industries did you gain this experience?” (more
than one answer possible). The count ranged from zero to five different industry expe
riences.
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or Critical Distance?
Strength of Home Region: We also controlled for the economic strength of the region in
which the respondent grew up. By doing so, we accounted for an impact on business
familiarity and social evaluations of firms beyond the academic influence. Porter ()
assumes that the most competitive international business environments are character
ized by highly critical customers with above-average expectations who drive improve
ment through their business familiarity and impatience with low performance, and
their subsequent willingness to permanently address a lack of progress in product de
velopment and business upgrading if it becomes visible to them. Since the impact of
critical customers is mainly on a regional level (Porter, ), we measured it in the
survey by asking German students to indicate the federal state (“Bundesland”) they
grew up in, while international students were asked to indicate their home country.
The variable “Strength of Home Region” measures the average gross domestic product
per person (in euros) in the federal state (or country) of origin, with data derived from
the Eurostat database and a German statistical agency (“Arbeitskreis Volkswirtschaft-
liche Gesamtrechnungen der Länder”).
General Negative Outlook on Business: To account for a respondent’s general negative (or
positive) bias towards business (the response mode), we calculated the average opinion
of a respondent regarding society’s evaluation of the ten industries introduced in our
survey (see Appendix ), ranging from (= “The reputation of this industry in society is
very bad”) to (= “The reputation of this industry in society is very good”). The reverse-
scored average of the ten evaluation scores was used as a proxy for how pessimistic or
negative the respondent sees business in general, with higher scores indicating more
negative views on corporate’s position in society. The respondents showed considera
ble variance in their opinions, confirming the strong subjective component of the proxy
measure.
. Methods
To estimate our mediation model, we built a path model with full-information maxi
mum likelihood (Muthén et al., ). All calculations were performed with the MPlus
Software package (version .). We used linear regression analysis with robust stan
dard errors clustered by organization. As the calculation of confidence intervals in
mediated relationships requires a resampling procedure like bootstrapping (Hayes,
), we drew , random samples with replacement from our dataset and calcula
ted a bootstrap confidence interval. By bootstrapping, we adjusted for the non-normal
sampling distribution in the mediated relationship “Applied Business Education →
Business Familiarity → Variance of Organizational Reputation” (e. g., Hayes, ).
Holger Lüdeke, Sabra Brock
Results
All three of our basic hypotheses were supported by the evidence, as shown in Figure :
Figure : Eect of Applied Education on Reputation via Business Familiarity
Although we had not stated a hypothesis regarding the relationship between applied
education and the central tendency of the corporate reputation scores, we included the
calculation in the model to support our assumption that applied education does not
make corporations look more or less likeable (and, accordingly, the reputation scores
higher or lower). As expected, we did not find a significant direct link between applied
education and the dependent reputation variables (Organizational Reputation and Var
iance of Organizational Reputation). Neither was there a significant direct effect of
business familiarity on the average reputation score. Therefore, we thinned out the
three respective arrows in Figure to indicate that the relationships were calculated (as
controls, outside of our stated hypotheses) but had no significant impact.
Hypothesis states a relationship between applied business education and famili
arity with business. We found a positive association (b = ., p < .). An additional
effect size calculation showed that the difference in business familiarity between re
spondents in the applied business programs and the rest is d = . standard deviations
of business familiarity ( % Confidence Interval is [.; .]).
The assumed relationship between business familiarity and variance in organiza
tional reputation in Hypothesis was also supported. The link is positive and statisti
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or Critical Distance?
cally significant (b = ., p < .), with an effect size of d = ., which means that an
increase of one standard deviation in business familiarity leads to an increase of .
standard deviations in the reputation variance (with a % confidence interval of
[.;.]).
The effect of business familiarity as a mediator (Hypothesis : Applied Business
Education → Business Familiarity → Variance of Organizational Reputation) was sig
nificant on a level of p < . when using bootstrap confidence intervals with ,
replications (b = ., % Confidence Interval [.; .]).
We had also included a number of controls that were either not significant or
showed effects in the direction expected by theory. For further details on the model
coefficients, including controls, see Appendix . The negative correlation between aver
age reputation scores and variance of reputation scores (rho=-.) was not covered in
our hypotheses, but it is to be expected. Reputation scores usually have a left-skewed
distribution. In our sample, the median reputation score was a on a scale from to ,
and there were nearly five times as many scores of as scores of . If the reputation
scores increasingly deviate from the average, the upper limit of for a corporation is
therefore reached sooner than the lower limit of , and even if the familiar observer is
strongly convinced of the best corporations, it cannot get better than the score of .
Therefore, stronger opinions mainly show in the data as a slight shift towards the lower
values, but this is most likely a statistical artifact.
Discussion: Limits and Outlook
The question of the practical applicability of academic management and business
knowledge lies at the heart of the discipline. Hundreds of articles and several special
issues of the leading management journals have been dedicated to the question of
whether practicing managers and business professionals can (and should) use the
knowledge generated in universities and other academic institutions in real-life deci
sion-making (for a summary of the discussion, see Kieser et al., ). The Academy of
Management Learning & Education Journal regularly introduces state-of-the-art ap
proaches to make business learning more applied and to make understood the practical
consequences of abstract theories.
However, when it comes to the empirical measurement of specific consequences
of applied education, the field is surprisingly underexplored. Next to pedagogical mani
festos, anecdotal success stories and speculative essays, very few empirical assessments
exist on the actual consequences of implemented academic business knowledge and its
pedagogical surroundings.
We focus on one specific teaching outcome: How does an applied business focus
influence the social evaluation of companies by the students? While empirical research
shows little impact of applied education on a differentiated understanding of business
(Baldwin et al., ), a constant pedagogical concern is that the main effect of applied
teaching might be an unreasonable closeness to vocational and effectiveness goals that
Holger Lüdeke, Sabra Brock
inhibits critical thinking and does not allow an abstract and critical distance to the sta
tus quo to better understand the potential for improvement (Bunch, ). Our re
search says otherwise: at least when it comes to pronounced social evaluations, stu
dents from applied settings develop stronger business familiarity that allows them to
better differentiate the situations in which corporations interact. Instead of relying on
general judgments and broad categories, business familiarity enables a feature-based,
detailed evaluation of firms that better acknowledges existing differences between
competitors and leads to stronger and more decisive judgments on organizational rep
utation.
Some limitations of our research project should not go unmentioned. As we rely
on cross-sectional data, it is not possible to estimate the impact of self-selection into the
education programs. Maybe some students decided to enroll in programs with an ap
plied focus exactly because they already had more detailed business knowledge and
were familiar with applied settings. Future research could try to utilize longitudinal
data to compare students before enrollment in applied vs. more theoretical programs,
and then two or three years after enrollment, when the learning progress has become
fully visible. This way, it might be easier to isolate the influence of students self-select
ing into programs that befit their style of thinking, compared to the causal effect of
learning about business details through higher education.
Furthermore, a more complex path model with additional dependent variables
could help to fully grasp the impact of applied education. While we controlled for job
experience and the general attitude towards business, we are fully aware that these fac
tors might interact with applied education as well. A theory exploring the mutual influ
ences of business familiarity, the general response mode towards corporations, differ
entiated social firm evaluations, and applied business education could help advance the
field. As the whole topic has been underexplored so far, we focused on establishing
some basic relationships: Applied education contributes effectively to business famili
arity, which in turn allows for more differentiated and pronounced judgments on
firms. This alone is a point worth making, in particular with respect to the ideas ex
pressed so far. However, this can only be a first step towards a much better empirical
understanding of the consequences of applied business education.
References
Baldwin, T. T., Pierce, J. R., Joines, R. C., & Farouk, S. (). The elusiveness of applied
management knowledge: A critical challenge for management educators. Academy of
Management Learning & Education, –. https://doi.org/./amle..
Barnett, M. L., Jermier, J. M., & Laert, B. A. (). Corporate reputation: The definitional
landscape. Corporate Reputation Review, (), –. https://doi.org/./palgrave.
crr.
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or Critical Distance?
Benton, T. H. (). A perfect storm in undergraduate education, Part I. The Chronicle of
Higher Education, February . http://chronicle.com/article/A-Perfect-Stormin/
/
Bitektine, A. (). Toward a theory of social judgments of organizations: The case of
legitimacy, reputation, and status. Academy of Management Review, 36(1), –.
https://doi.org/./AMR..
Bitektine, A., Hill, K., Song, F., & Vandenberghe, C. (). Organizational legitimacy, rep
utation, and status: Insights from micro-level measurement. Academy of Management
Discoveries, 6(1), –. https://doi.org/./amd..
Bornstein, R. F., & DʼAgostino, P. R. (). The attribution and discounting of perceptual
fluency: Preliminary tests of a perceptual fluency/attributional model of the mere ex
posure eect. Social Cognition, 12(2), –. https://doi.org/./soco...
.
Brooks, M. E., & Highhouse, S. (). Familiarity breeds ambivalence. Corporate Reputa
tion Review, 9(), –. https://doi.org/./palgrave.crr.
Brooks, M. E., Highhouse, S., Russell, S. S., & Mohr, D. C. (). Familiarity, ambivalence,
and firm reputation: Is corporate fame a double-edged sword? Journal of Applied Psy
chology, 88(), –. https://doi.org/./–...
Bunch, K. J. (). State of undergraduate business education: A perfect storm or climate
change? Academy of Management Learning & Education, 19(), –. https://doi.org/
./amle..
Cappelli, P. (, September th). What employers really want? Workers they don’t have to
train, Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/
///what-employers-really-want-workers-they-dont-have-to-train/
Chia, R., & Holt, R. . The nature of knowledge in business schools. Academy of Man
agement Learning & Education, 7(), –. https://doi.org/./amle..
Colby, A., Ehrlich, T., Sullivan, W. M., & Dolle, J. R. (). Rethinking Undergraduate Busi
ness Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession. John Wiley & Sons.
Contardo, I., & Wensley, R. (). The harvard business school story: Avoiding knowledge
by being relevant. Organization, 11(), –. https://doi.org/./
Dʼabate, C. P., Youndt, M. A., & Wenzel, K. E. (). Making the most of an internship: An
empirical study of internship satisfaction. Academy of Management Learning & Educa
tion, 8(), –. https://doi.org/./AMLE..
Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (). Intergroup bias. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert, &
G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology (pp. –). John Wiley. https://
doi.org/./.socpsy
Easterling, D. S., & Smith, K. J. (). Business student perceptions regarding purpose,
choice of major, and future work: A factor-analytic investigation. Business Education
Digest, 18, –.
Eisenhardt, K. M. (). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Manage
ment Review, 14(), –. https://doi.org/./
Holger Lüdeke, Sabra Brock
Finkel, E. J., Norton, M. I., Reis, H. T., Ariely, D., Caprariello, P. A., Eastwick, P. W., Frost,
J. H., & Maniaci, M. R. . When does familiarity promote versus undermine inter
personal attraction? A proposed integrative model from erstwhile adversaries. Perspec
tives on Psychological Science, 10(), –. https://doi.org/./
Gavetti, G., Levinthal, D., & Rivkin, J. W. (). Strategy making in novel and complex
worlds: The power of analogy. Strategic Management Journal, 26(), –. https://
doi.org/./smj.
Gavetti, G., & Rivkin, J. W. . How strategists really think – Tapping the power of
analogy. Harvard Business Review, 83(), –.
Gilovich, T., Grin, D., & Kahnemann, D. (Eds.) (). Heuristics and Biases. The Psychol
ogy of Intuitive Judgment. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/./
CBO
Hammond, J. S. (). Learning by the Case Method. Harvard Business School Boston.
Hayes, A. F. (). Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis:
A Regression-Based Approach (nd ed). Guilford Publications.
Helm, S. (). Designing a formative measure for corporate reputation. Corporate Repu
tation Review, 8(), –. https://doi.org/./palgrave.crr.
Holuscha, E. (). Das Prinzip Fachhochschule – Erfolg oder Scheitern?: Eine Fallstudie am
Beispiel Nordrhein-Westfalen. MV-Verlag.
Kayes, A. B., Kayes, D. C., & Kolb, D. A. (). Experiential learning in teams. Simulation &
Gaming, 36(), –. https://doi.org/./
Kieser, A., Nicolai, A., & Seidl, D. . The practical relevance of management research:
Turning the debate on relevance into a rigorous scientific research program. The Acad
emy of Management Annals, 9(), –. https://doi.org/./..
Kolb, D., Lublin, S., Spoth, J., & Baker, R. (). Strategic management development: us
ing experiential learning theory to assess and develop managerial competencies. Jour
nal of Management Development, 5(), 13–24. https://doi.org/./eb
Lange, D., Lee, P. M., & Dai, Y. (). Organizational reputation: A review. Journal of Man
agement, 37(), –. https://doi.org/./
Lovelace, K. J., Eggers, F., & Dyck, L. R. (). I do and I understand: Assessing the utility
of web-based management simulations to develop critical thinking skills. Academy of
Management Learning & Education, 15(), –. https://doi.org/./amle..
Magee, J. C., & Galinsky, A. D. (). Social hierarchy: The self‐reinforcing nature of
power and status. The Academy of Management Annals, 2(), –. https://doi.org/
./
Mariconda, S., & Lurati, F. (). Being known: A literature review on media visibility,
public prominence and familiarity with implications for reputation research and man
agement. Corporate Reputation Review, 17(), –. https://doi.org/./crr.
.
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or Critical Distance?
McCarthy, P. R., & McCarthy, H. M. (). When case studies are not enough: Integrating
experiential learning into business curricula. Journal of Education for Business, 81(),
–. https://doi.org/./JOEB...–
Muthén, B. O., Muthén, L. K., & Asparouhov, T. (). Regression and Mediation Analysis
Using Mplus. Muthén & Muthén.
Norton, M. I., Frost, J. H., & Ariely, D. (). Less is more: The lure of ambiguity, or why
familiarity breeds contempt. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, , –.
https://doi.org/./–...
Norton, M. I., Frost, J. H., & Ariely, D. (). Does familiarity breed contempt or liking?
Comment on Reis, Maniaci, Caprariello, Eastwick, and Finkel (). Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 101(), –. https://doi.org/./a
Porter, M. (). The economic performance of regions. Regional Studies, 37(–),
–. https://doi.org/./
Porter, M. E. (). The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Free Press. https://doi.org/
./----
Porter, M. E., & Siggelkow, N. (). Competition and strategy. The creation of a group and
a field. In T. McCraw, & J. Cruikshank (Eds.), The Intellectual Venture Capitalist
(pp. –). Harvard Business School Press.
Reynolds, M., & Vince, R. (). Critical management education and action-based learn
ing: Synergies and contradictions. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(),
–. https://doi.org/./amle..
Rousseau, D. M. (). Envisioning evidence-based management, In D. Rousseau (Ed.),
The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-Based Management (pp. –). Oxford University
Press. https://doi.org/./oxfordhb/..
Rynes, S. L., Trank, C., Lawson, A. M., & Ilies, R. (). Behavioural coursework in busi
ness education: Growing evidence of a legitimacy crisis. Academy of Management
Learning and Education, 2(), –. https://doi.org/./AMLE..
Shrivastava, P. (). Is strategic management ideological? Journal of Management, 12(),
–. https://doi.org/./
Simon, H. (). Making management decisions: The role of intuition and emotion. Acad
emy of Management Executive, 1(), –. https://www.jstor.org/stable/.
https://doi.org/./ame..
Smith, A. (). Experiential learning. In A. Wilkinson & S. Johnstone (Eds.), Encyclopedia
of Human Resource Management (p. ). Edward Elgar.
Tost, L. P. (). An integrative model of legitimacy judgments. Academy of Management
Review, 36(), –. https://doi.org/./amr..
Ungaretti, T., Thompson, K. R., Miller, A., & Peterson, T. O. (). Problem-based learn
ing: Lessons from medical education and challenges for management education.
Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(), –. https://doi.org/./
amle..
Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (). Developing Management Skills. Pearson Education.
Holger Lüdeke, Sabra Brock
Appendix
Appendix : The Mediated Impact of Applied Education on Reputation (n = )
Does Business Familiarity Breed Liking or Critical Distance?
Author Descriptions
Søren S. E. Bengtsen is associate professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus
University, where he is also the co-director of the research center ‘Centre for Higher
Education Futures’ (CHEF). His research is specialized in higher and doctoral educa
tion and educational philosophy.
Majken Bieniok is a cognitive psychologist and professor at the University of Applied
Sciences Berlin (HSAP). Her research focuses on social and environmental psychol
ogy, health, and education.
Nikolina Božinović is a professor of German and Spanish at RIT Croatia. She is en
gaged in research in the field of applied linguistics, and her scholarly work focuses on
language learning strategies in German and Spanish.
Sabra Brock is chair of the Business & Accounting Department at the New York School
of Career and Applied Science at Touro University, New York City.
Larisa Buhin is a professor of psychology at Touro University Berlin (a campus of
Touro University New York, USA). She specializes in multicultural counseling, antira
cist education, social justice, and research on actions against hate speech on social
media.
Nadejda Burow is a linguist and research administrator at Bielefeld University of Ap
plied Sciences and Arts. Her research addresses academic literacy and higher educa
tion research.
Rebecca Charry Roje is a senior lecturer in English language and literature at RIT Cro
atia, a campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology (New York, USA). Her research
interests include intercultural communication, civic engagement, and global English.
Iva Čondić-Jurkić is a senior lecturer at Rochester Institute of Technology Croatia. She
teaches finance courses within the Global Business Management program. Her re
search focuses on emerging capital markets.
Brian D. Crawford is a professor of English, currently teaching at the Georg August
Universität in Göttingen. He teaches a range of courses in literature and composition,
and his scholarly work examines contemporary American fiction and poetry, and Jew
ish cultural studies.
Marius Fahrner is a postdoc in mathematics at Touro University Berlin (a campus of
Touro University New York, USA) with a special interest in learning theories and edu
cational philosophy.
Ana Havelka Meštrović is a clinical psychologist. She works as a senior lecturer and
assistant professor at RIT Croatia. Her interdisciplinary research connects psychology,
cognitive sciences, medicine, and health.
Carolin Kreber is professor of education at Cape Breton University (and Honorary Pro
fessor at the University of Edinburgh) specializing in teaching and learning in higher
education, democratic professionalism in education, transformative learning, and cur
riculum.
Reinar Luedeke is emeritus professor at the University of Passau. He held the chair of
public finance in Passau.
Holger Luedeke is professor of management at Touro University Berlin (a campus of
Touro University New York, USA). He teaches applied business classes in Berlin and
New York. His research focuses on career trajectories and social capital.
Larry Moneta served for years in various administrative and faculty posts at several
US universities. Prior to his retirement in , he was the Vice President for Student
Affairs at Duke University. He remains Adjunct Professor of Higher Education at the
University of Pennsylvania where he teaches modules on Campus and Student Ser
vices and advises doctoral students in their Executive Doctorate Program. In , Dr.
Moneta served as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Zagreb in Croatia.
Jules Moskovits is a psychological researcher with a special interest in social and envi
ronmental justice. Their work focuses on social identity, intergroup relations, and hate
speech on social media.
Kristin O’Rourke is an assistant professor of education at Cape Breton University. She
specializes in international educational contexts and leadership in education.
Dominik Ruffeis is a higher education didactic trainer and coach working for the
Teaching Academy at Graz University of Technology.
Peter Schmidt teaches and researches accounting, taxation, and Bitcoin at the Roches
ter Institute of Technology Croatia in Zagreb. He takes particular interest in the didac
tics of higher education, which has earned him several RIT teaching awards.
Christiane Schmieder is a professor of social law at Bielefeld University of Applied Sci
ences and Arts. Her research focuses on child and youth services and delinquent help.
Author Descriptions
Tobias Schmohl is a professor at OWL Technical University of Applied Sciences and
Arts. He specializes in teaching and learning sciences, focusing his research on higher
education, curriculum studies, and philosophy of science.
Karin Sonnleitner is a senior lecturer at University of Graz. In her teaching and re
search, she deals with alternative dispute resolution and higher education.
Michael Stricker is professor of social management at Bielefeld University of Applied
Sciences and Arts. His research focuses on social entrepreneurship.
Peter Theiss-Abendroth, Prof. Dr. med., is psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psycho
analyst (DGPT, DPG) in private practice, professor of psychology at Touro University
Berlin (a campus of Touro University New York, USA), lecturer, supervisor, and train
ing therapist at Berliner Akademie für Psychotherapie, as well as a lecturer at the Ber
liner Institut für Psychotherapie und Psychoanalyse. His areas of interest include
cross-cultural psychotherapy, trauma and psychosis in historical and cultural perspec
tive, and scholastic psychology.
Vanja Vejzagić is a senior lecturer in accounting at RIT Croatia. His scholarly work
examines ESG and education topics in the field of accounting.
Birgit Wolf is a professor of management at Touro University Berlin (a campus of
Touro University New York, USA) and a visiting professor for social management at
Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and Arts, with a special interest in interdisci
plinary research in higher education.
Author Descriptions
ISBN: 978-3-7639-7568-6
wbv.de
This publication aspires to clarify and illustrate the role of higher
education in promoting internationalisation, especially Internationaliza-
tion at Home (IaH). It aims to highlight higher education’s three central
roles: teaching, research, and community service, each in its global
context.
The anthology actively promotes change and development in the
higher education sector and identies strategies like online learning
platforms and community partnerships that make higher education
more accessible and enhance its benets. The publication comprises
two interconnected sections: the rst addresses the evolving classroom
dynamics due to IaH, focusing on curriculum adaptations for a varied
student body. The second section delves into educational goals,
emphasizing an international perspective.
Targeted at educators and researchers, the anthology oers guidance
on integrating international and intercultural perspectives into curricula
and teaching methods, with a focus on social inclusivity.