Douglas has authored papers and reports in relation to his doctoral research, as well as on the global landscape of international education research. With Laura Rumbley from Boston College's Center for International Higher Education, he is co-editor of a Routledge book entitled “The Future Agenda for Internationalization in Higher Education” which offers new perspectives from a younger generation of scholars and practitioners on the future of internationalization in higher education.

Douglas is Chair of the EAIE Publications Committee and has edited recent EAIE Forum magazines on the topics of the evolving classroom and Brexit.

This workshop will draw on the experiences of the International Living Knowledge Network and of EC-funded projects PERARES and EnRRICH and will inform the development of the CIRCLET Erasmus+ project which is being led by QUB Science Shop. The workshop will give examples of how modules in Queen’s incorporate Community Engaged Research and Learning (CERL) and the benefits of this approach for students, communities and academics. Participants will have the chance to reflect on their own teaching and learning responsibilities, and to explore whether they would like to be involved in the CIRCLET project, either through an accredited online CPD module or through a cross-disciplinary Learning Circle to offer peer support in reworking modules to include CERL.

Involvement in CIRCLET can help you to:

• Build your local and international network;
• Offer your students a real-world authentic learning experience;
• Generate societal impact and address the Sustainable Development Goals at a local level;
• Explore how to best use educational technology to support community engagement;
• Enhance your skills and CV through peer learning.

Those who successfully complete either the CPD module or the Learning Circle can apply for implementation or dissemination funding. Project participants can also apply for funding to participate in an international Learning Circle which will take place in Budapest in spring 2021.

Preparation before session

Workshop participants are encouraged to consider which of their module(s) might be suitable for students engaging with communities and if possible bring along the module handbook. Participants are welcome to view the CIRCLET website before the conference, along with all resources to encourage fruitful conversations and dialogue during the session.

If anyone requires content in more accessible formats, please contact ced@qub.ac.uk.

Session Outline

An education at Queen’s University Belfast involves just under 2600 international community of students representing a 100 nationalities from all over the world. There are 9.5% of students from GB and the EU and 10.5% are from Non-EU countries, with an institutional target to increase that number to just under 4000 by 2021. Universities have significantly gained economically by increasing international student numbers. Unfortunately, across the UK the focus of internationalisation has mostly been on student mobility and recruitment, rather than embedding cultural diversity and intercultural competence where students learn to respect diversity, celebrate difference and are prepared to live and work in a globalised world.

Cultural diversity increases with the growing number of international students in Higher Education but only if international students are engaged with cross-cultural interaction with home students. Empirical evidence indicates that without support and the proper conditions, imposed diversity can lead to reinforcing stereotypes and increased divisiveness (Reid and Garson 2016). While there are many things that need to occur to celebrate cultural diversity for both home and international students, one such way is to internationalise the curriculum.

One of the most utilised definitions of IoC is the ‘incorporation of international, intercultural, and/or global dimensions into the content of the curriculum as well as learning outcomes, assessment tasks, teaching methods and support services of a programme of study’ (Leask 2015, p.9). However, no matter what the discipline it is an ongoing process that always needs to focus on intentional student learning. IoC is one of the strands in the Education Strategy 2016-2021 that is identified as a key factor to promote inclusivity at Queen’s and is included in our Corporate Plan 2016-2021.

The session looks at the why, how and what of IoC. The conceptual framework of IoC is viewed from where it fits within the internationalisation agenda and how it can be embedded into teaching, learning and assessment. The session ends in a discussion around how we can promote a high quality, equitable, global learning experience for all our staff and students irrespective of geographical location, educational experience or background to support the internationalisation agenda.

Session Activities and Approximate Timings

Preparation before session

Workshop participants are welcome to view the PPT presentation before the conference, along with all resources to encourage fruitful conversations and dialogue during the session.

A summary of any new ideas, resources and suggestions arising from the workshop will be sent to delegates after the conference.

If anyone requires content in more accessible formats, please contact ced@qub.ac.uk

Session Outline

This session will provide delegates with an overview of two key development tasks for postgraduate students: critical thinking and group work.  Ben Harper will provide an overview of a model of criticality developed in The Graduate School that promotes critical thinking, reading and writing.  Ben will provide example tasks to demonstrate how the model is promoted within individual sessions, large group training and online platforms.  The session will conclude with practical strategies that can be applied across disciplines. 

Anne Rowan will focus on Intercultural awareness and group work competencies within collaborative tasks in Higher Education, particularly between home and international students. Anne will examine the challenges that students may encounter and present solutions to communication and interaction difficulties within group work scenarios. The session will involve a practical element which will equip lecturers with the relevant knowledge and skills on how to promote inclusive classrooms, with an aim of improving academic integration, respect and cultural understanding between all students.

Session Activities and Approximate Timings

Preparation before session

Workshop participants are welcome to view the PPT presentation before the conference, along with all resources to encourage fruitful conversations and dialogue during the session.

A summary of any new ideas, resources and suggestions arising from the workshop will be sent to delegates after the conference.

If anyone requires content in more accessible formats, please contact ced@qub.ac.uk

Session Outline

The Decolonising the University movement has gained attention in recent years with symbolic victories such as the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes from the University of Cape Town campus. It has been fuelled by the demands of students that Higher Education institutions acknowledge their complicity in perpetuating structural inequalities and their active role in the colonisation and delegitimisation of various knowledge systems. Reforming such epistemological systems acquires an even greater urgency in light of the potentially alienating effects of traditional university canons on increasingly diverse student populations. This workshop will examine what decolonisation means and requires, departing from the definition presented in Keele University’s Decolonising the Curriculum Manifesto:

Decolonising the curriculum means creating spaces and resources for a dialogue among all members of the university on how to imagine and envision all cultures and knowledge systems in the curriculum, and with respect to what is being taught and how it frames the world (Keele University, ‘Keele Manifesto for Decolonising the Curriculum’).

Crucial to decolonisation is the challenging of unseen, insidious and invisible effects of colonialism which continue to shape the ways in which bodies of knowledge are regarded and transmitted in the HE system. This challenge also has implications at global, national and local levels, and presents different obstacles in different disciplines. This workshop seeks to encourage contributors to reflect on and interrogate assumptions and structures which underpin epistemologies and pedagogies in Higher Education. It aims to start a conversation across disciplines, time periods and area specialisms around the decolonisation agenda, as well as providing space for reflection on and evaluation of practical, creative and pedagogical decolonising approaches currently being pursued. Acknowledging its own context in the Northern Ireland Higher Education landscape, along with the challenges and obstacles specific to this context, the workshop will build on existing toolkits in this area to provide practical guidance for participants undertaking to decolonise their teaching.

Session Activities and Approximate Timings

Preparation before session

Workshop participants are asked to bring along a module guide/handbook. Delegates are welcome to view the PowerPoint presentation before the conference, along with all resources to encourage fruitful conversations during the session.

We will post a summary of any new ideas, resources and suggestions arising from the workshop after the conference.

If anyone requires content in more accessible formats, please contact ced@qub.ac.uk