The Impact of Transculturality on Student Experience of Higher Education

Abstract

Background: Higher education outdoor studies programs retain a critical interest in student experiences as they seek to prepare citizens in a globalized, yet simultaneously neo-nationalist, world. Purpose: This research explored the impact of transculturality on the student experience of outdoor studies in the Transcultural European Outdoor Studies (TEOS) Masters, a course hosted by three universities in three countries. Methodology/Approach: A longitudinal study of the student experience, using a conceptual framework of self, place, transculturality, and outdoor learning theory underpins the research. Semistructured online interviews and one face-to-face retrospective interview were conducted with four participants throughout the course (Semesters 1, 2, 3), plus an additional five participants prior to the end of Semester 3. Findings/Conclusions: The findings elucidate students’ transcultural self-growth and transcultural capabilities, including resilience, intelligence, and fatigue. Implications: Although challenges exist for course design, considerations of transcultural pedagogy and curricula, reflective practices, support for students and teaching staff, cultural learning experiences (including language acquisition), and a willingness to move beyond traditional models of curricula at the university level are recommended.

Experiential learning – a systematic review and revision of Kolb’s model

“…Knowledge is situated in context: emphasising place and time. Experiential learning occurs in a specified place (Smith & Segbers, 2018), in which interactions and contact with people are key (Harper, 2018). Pipitone (2018) conceptualizes place, which has both geographical and conceptual aspects (cf.…”

“…Moreover, Smith, and Segbers (2018) explain that students learn from and learn how to live with people from a variety of cultural backgrounds, which can assist learners to appreciate transculturality. This "attends to the way in which humanity has moved about the globe with single cultures now intertwined" (Smith & Segbers, 2018, p. 77).…”

Transculturality in higher education

“…An ongoing longitudinal case study exploring the student and staff experience of transcultural learning in one internationally diverse and mobile Erasmus Mundus Transcultural European Outdoor Studies (TEOS) Masters programme found transcultural self-growth and transcultural capabilities (resilience, intelligence and the ability to work through fatigue) to be prominent determinants of student experience, along with motivations and expectations, equity and diversity, and aspects of learning identified as 'lost in translation' (Smith and Segbers 2018). The findings of this research identified the necessity for student support that attended to the needs of the transcultural cohort; intentional pedagogy; reflective practice; clear communication; and credit-bearing courses to develop language and cultural knowledge about the places in which the learning occurred, and to teach the language in which the programme was taught; these were all absent at the time of study and were deemed essential cornerstones for success (Smith and Segbers 2018).…”

Reform and Practice on the Internationalization of General Education Based on Hall’s Three-Dimensional Structure — A Case Study of the Course Reading China from an International Perspective

“…For example, students are supposed to discuss the topic of UN peacekeeping forces' funding allocation in small classes at the beginning, and then form project groups spontaneously according to different research results to carry out project research, for which the results can be in the form of reports or papers. Project-based teaching could maximize the internationalization ability of students, and at the same time link different professional backgrounds of students with the handling of practical problems, so as to realize the internationalization of general education courses from multiple levels while training students' scientific research ability [10].…”