Transcript Cross-cultural Team Building

International Master Program
POL Course Mm3
Cross-cultural Team Building
Learning in a New Culture
Lars Peter Jensen
Xiangyun Du
October 15th 2003
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Presentation –
learning in a new
culture
Cross-culture group
discussion
Poster
Presentation
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My Journey
from China to Denmark
 Educated as a
teacher of
International Master
language
program ‘Science,
Worked
as a Technology and Society’
teaching
assistant  Study in Roskilde
in an University, Denmark
engineering and experienced PBL
University
 Study ‘Gender &
in China
Technology’ in Linköping
University, Sweden
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 Ph.D. project
‘Gendered way
of learning
engineering in PBL’
 Teaching
assistant in POL
for international
students
 Research on
learning styles
3
Experiences
in RUC
- a hard time
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in
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Am I Stupid?
Study
I got a nick name of
‘question person’ from
asking all kinds of
stupid questions
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Problems in Project Work
-With Supervision
• We shifted the topic in order to draw the
interest of the supervisor
• Supervisor sometimes could not remember our
progress in the project
• I expected to have more inputs from supervisor
at the beginning
• Supervisor only provide comments rather than
suggestions – ‘What do you think?’
 It is your BABY! It is the students’ role to be
active and take the responsibility of the project.
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Problems in Project Work
-With Group Work
• misunderstanding arising from saying something we
don’t actually mean (language use)
• different values on ‘good manners’ (‘Yes’ to be polite)
• different norms on human relations (social
status/genders)
• different attitudes towards success and failure
• different ways of conducting discussions and
arguments (one-way meeting, order for speaking)
• different ways of learning (learning styles)
 Cooperation is very important to get the project
done! – To understand, negotiate, and compromise.
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Communication
 Language
Knowledge
background
Main Barriers
in learning
Social
customs
attitudes,
norms,
and values
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Come from
Culture
Differences
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- lack of
knowledge
others
grow up
with
-different
understanding
of the
same thing
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Why I am here?
What I am doing here?
I come here to learn!
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What is Learning?
When, where and how will learning take
place?
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Learning is the process whereby
knowledge is created through the
transformation of experiences
- David Kolb
Learning is a function of the activity,
context, and culture in which it normally
occurs, thus it is situated
- Jean Lave & Etienne Wenger
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We learn when we deal with
knowledge in social context
Learning is not only a matter of
processing of information in people’s
brains, but a social activity
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Learn in a Cultural Context
Individuals are socialized, thus what we learn
and the ways we learn are greatly influenced by
cultural values, attitudes and beliefs
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What is Culture?

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A Culture is a particular society or
civilization that consists of ideas, customs
and art produced or shared by this society
- Collins Cobuild Dictionary
A culture is a shared set of or a cognitive
map of meanings
- James Spradley
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New
country
Learning in
a new
culture
New
study form
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New
Environment
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How to learn in a new culture?
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To understand the cultural differences
To accept and learn from the cultural
differences
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Learning Environment in Western
Countries in My Eyes
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student-centred, involving sufficient cooperative
group work and varied teaching methods
contents are presented in a meaningful context
learning by doing
smaller classes
warmer class climate
more ways of assessment than multiple choicecentred exams
assessment is conducted in less threatening ways
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Learning Environment in China
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Teacher-centred with focus on lectures
Fixed contents as obligation
Big class – little discussion
Principles and regulations to follow
Scores and ranks-based assessment - motivation
Marks are the only way of evaluating students ranks in the exam are the standard for ‘good’
student
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How do Chinese Learn
How do Chinese Learn
Students are expected to
Principles
- Learn what and how rather than why
- Learn knowledge (facts) transferred
from teachers
- Follow up superiors’ experiences and
suggestions
- Obey disciplines and rules
- To study diligently by repetition and
memorizing
Uniforms
No interruption to teachers
No speaking in a lecture unless when asked personally
No challenge and criticism to teaching contents and teachers
Not to make teachers lose face
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Chinese Beliefs on Learning
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Basic skills should be developed before exploration
Repetition is a strategy to ensure accurate recall for
understanding in rote learning
To learn from others’ experiences will help to save
time and efforts
Loyalty and obedience to authority is highly essential
to keep the social order
Success and failure is attributed firstly to efforts
and lack of effort rather than ability
Success in academic work and career is related to
success in family and social life
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Eastern
Philosophy
on
Education
prestige,
power
social status
Social
hierarchy are
reinforced and
reproduced
Confucianism
People are encouraged to
conform to the prevailing
norms and culture
Examination - diploma certificate are
regarded as the means of upward
mobility on the social ladder
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Things I Did Learn in the New Culture
- My Strategies to ‘Survive’
• To be open
- to understand and see things in a new way
- to share some common understanding
• To be active
- to catch chances rather than wait passively
- to explain and clarify myself - ‘By saying this, I mean…’ ‘Am I
clear in this way?’ ‘Is this understandable?’
• To be patient
- to understand others’ point before getting offended - ‘do you
mean… by saying this?’
- to think from other’s perspective
- to ask myself ‘why they do it in this way?’ rather than just
complaining ‘how can they do it in this way!’
• To ask ‘stupid’ questions – There are NO stupid questions!
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Cross-cultural Group Discussion
Reflection on your own experiences
To understand and learn from
cultural differences
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