Global Classrooms in Higher Education Hub

Learning and teaching building

Global Classrooms in Higher Education Hub

Are we making the most of bringing together people of different international and cultural backgrounds within higher education? The creation of the Global Classrooms in Higher Education Hub responds to this question by sharing pedagogies, resources, ideas, and experiences as an inspiration for educators.

How did this work?

To inspire new practice that brings out the value of the international and intercultural classroom, the hub focuses on five student-defined themes: adaptation for greater accessibility, decolonisation of the classroom, the use of global case studies, multicultural group work and flexible assessment, and further related resources are also available.

Focusing on Campus Internationalisation

The hub concept originated within Warwick’s WHIEA Internationalisation Learning Circle in collaboration with the Intercultural Lab at Monash. The collaboration looked at how to provide a practical output that supported staff within international classrooms. They discussed student internationalisation mobility programmes, and virtual intercultural experiences, for example, through the International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR) but believed the total value of the rich mix of international staff and students already on the campuses would be an exciting direction to explore. The collaboration is to work together to engage with questions of intercultural competence by investing in a program of work that responds to, accommodates and embraces diversity across both universities in pursuit of social, cultural and economic inclusion.

Applying to the MWA Education Fund

Together, Dr Nadine Normand-Marconnet of the Intercultural Lab and her colleagues at Monash, and Caroline Gibson, Deputy-Director of IATL Warwick and colleagues within the Internationalisation Learning Circle, applied to the Alliance Education Fund for joint funding for a project grounded in the learning experiences of both universities based around interviews with staff and students. They started this project with students at its heart, sharing their experiences of the classroom. Through their Alliance networks of educators and students, they gathered a wide range of insights into internationalisation in higher education, which included the perspectives of two different institutions.

Co-creation of the Hub

Nadine and Caroline co-created the project with staff and students of the Alliance and decided as a group how developing a resource might work best. It was decided to record video conversations with students and staff to understand what settings gave students confidence, enabling them to contribute and feel a part of that classroom. They also needed to identify what inhibited students and what factors prevented them from engaging.

" Definitely working with the students was brilliant. They were great and every time we spoke to them, it just brought a slightly different dimension. I loved the way they helped us put together the structure of the hub and how they thought it should work. And because the pandemic hit, there were times when we really thought we wouldn't be able to finish. We had six students working with us throughout the project and we had to get our heads together about how to do it from home. But because the pandemic extended the project, we actually ended up really bonding with our colleagues at Monash as we met all the way through the pandemic.” – Caroline Gibson, Deputy-Director of IATL Warwick

Be inspired

The hub is now available online for staff to explore. It was never intended to be a definitive resource, so if people know of exciting activities taking place in classrooms that would enrich the hub, the team would love to hear from them. At Warwick, the hub will continue to be overseen by the WIHEA Internationalisation Learning Circle. It would be very happy to add case studies and further examples of outstanding practice from those who are innovating in their classrooms and can offer a new perspective.