Session Information
20 SES 09, International Students' Experiences: Key factors in higher education
Paper/Ignite Talk Session
Contribution
This study is a continuation of the study „Peculiarities of Learning Environment of Students from Different Cultures at a Specialized University: A Vision of Dream Studies“ presented at this conference last year. The results of the research showed that students firstly associate the vision of dreams studies with teachers and their educational activities: this was expressed by 70% of the research participants in their mind maps. Therefore, it was decided to look at the image of the ideal teacher, reflecting the expectations of the students in terms of creating an educational environment. The study takes the position that learning outcomes of students from different cultures at a specialized university directly depend on the effectiveness of educational environments being developed at the university, i.e. how these environments meet specific student learning needs and motivate them for successful learning, i.e. to create a personal learning environment (Jucevičienė et al., 2010).
As noted in previous studies Jucevičienė et al. (2010); Gudaitytė, Butrimė et al. (2013, 2017); Gudaitytė, Alešiūnaitė et al. (2014); Artimova, Butrimė et al. (2016) the educational environment, when students' attitudes towards learning are influenced by their own cultural differences, must have special flexibility and unconventional pedagogical solutions, therefore, specialized university lecturers working with students from different cultures experience various difficulties related to the expression of teachers' educational competence. Feedback is crucial in solving these problems, so it makes sense to find out what educational competencies are most desirable by the students. According to Paul Ramsden in his book Learning to Teach in Higher Education "good teaching and good learning are combined with our perceived activity. Hence, we will not be able to teach better if we do not look at what we do in the eyes of students".
The article attempts to answer the question of what aspects of a teacher's educational activity are assessed by the students as the traits of an ideal teacher. Which of the teacher's educational competences, i.e. pedagogical, communicative or organizational, are the most important from the students' point of view when they create the image of an ideal teacher? What differences can be noticed in this respect when comparing the mind maps of 'An Ideal Teacher' created by international students and Lithuanian students. These questions are addressed through the research participants, i.e. the students of a specialized Lithuanian university who have come to study from other countries (hereinafter - international students) and Lithuanian students of the same university.
The research participants are asked to create a mind map of 'An Ideal Teacher'. In this way, the aim is to identify the peculiarities of the learning environment of different cultural students at a specialized university, based on the ideas in the mind maps of the ideal teacher.
Method
The article is based on theoretical positions that highlight constructivist attitudes, educational environments that favor student empowerment, preconditions for deep learning, differences in learning environment and educational environment and their relationship issues, the specifics of modern learning and higher education (Barnett, 1990, 1999; Jucevičienė, Gudaitytė et al., 2010; Petty, 2006; 2008; Ramsden, 2000). For the first year international students and Lithuanian students an individual task to create a mind map 'An Ideal Teacher'. A mind map was selected for the survey data collection, because this form allows to collect data in the form of a summarized minimal text. The mind maps were created by 200 first year students of an x specialized Lithuanian University: 100 international students and 100 Lithuanian students. The study population is targeted, user-friendly, context-sensitive. A convenient random selection was applied by inviting volunteers to participate in the study. The data of the mind maps (N = 200) were processed by employing qualitative content analysis.
Expected Outcomes
The results of the research suggest that the image of the ideal teacher, reflecting students' expectations regarding the creation of an educational environment, reveals the following peculiarities of student learning at a specialized university: in the group of study participants - international students, the most characteristic features of the teacher are those which form the communicative part of the teacher's educational competence; however, in the student group of Lithuanian students organizational and pedagogical parts of the teacher's educational competence dominate.
References
1.Artimová, Jozefa; Butrimė, Edita; Gudaitytė, Dalija; Morkevičienė, Sigita. ICT application peculiarities in teaching/learning of professional medical terminology in the Latin language: case study / J. Artimova, E. Butrime, D. Gudaityte, S. Morkeviciene // EDULEARN16 Proceedings : 8th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies : Barcelona, Spain, 4-6 July, 2016 / International Academy of Technology, Education and Development (IATED) ; Edited by L. Gómez Chova, A. López Martínez, I. Candel Torres. [Barcelona]: IATED, 2016, ISBN 9788460888604. p. 347-256. Prieiga per internetą:
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