Abstract:

Recently, universities have been focusing on internationalization of their campuses and educative experiences. The trend of international student mobility is increasing worldwide, and international students are enrolling at record rates (European Union, 2013; Hudzik & Briggs, 2012). These increases now require instructors of higher education to develop a social and instructional cache of understandings about learning, knowledge, and facilitative methodologies that may transcend their own cultural influences (Coryell, 2013). This is required not only because of the diversity of learners but also because knowledge is transforming through global intersections of society, the workplace, politics, economics, and lifelong learning (Altbach & Knight, 2006). However, while literature on the experiences international students face on campus is increasing, scant research has been dedicated to investigate how professional development occurs and can be designed for university instructors of international students (Stevens, Emil, & Yamashita, 2010; Tran, 2013; Trice, 2007). Research suggests that faculty professional development can happen through a variety of formal and informal ways (Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001). Therefore, this international comparative study employed a broad definition of faculty professional development (FPD) to include the myriad means by which instructors in both the European Union and the United States enhance their knowledge and instructional skills to meet the needs of increasingly diverse students. Moreover, the study was designed to provide context and insight to inform the future of FPD that can transcend national borders.

Framed theoretically by situated cognition and communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991), the international research team employed an interpretivist research methodology to conduct the study. Johnson and Golombek (2002, p. 1) assert that what instructors understand about teaching is “largely socially constructed out of the experiences and classrooms from which [they] have come,” and therefore recommend conducting research in which instructors are asked to recall these experiences in our quest to understand instructor professional development. Therefore, purposeful sampling was employed (Patton, 2002), and 20 instructors from varying academic disciplines across universities in Italy and the United States participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data on participants’ previous professional development regarding learning about and preparing to teach international students, and experiences actually teaching these students across undergraduate and graduate programs. Interview transcriptions were analyzed using qualitative data software. Findings include participants’ perspectives on differences, similarities, benefits, and challenges of teaching international students; successful teaching approaches/methods with internationally diverse student populations; the values, behaviors, and attitudes necessary for successfully teaching of international students across a variety of disciplines; desires for further professional development, and advice for future instructors of international students. Our presentation offers the design and findings of the study along with implications for FPD for teaching in this global era.

Keywords:

Internationalization of adult and higher education, faculty development in higher education, teaching internationally diverse students.