Online Journal of International Education
Volume 3, Number 2, 2018
Editor: Dr Adam Brown; Director of Research, Auckland Institute of Studies
Preface
The first of the two articles in this issue of the Online Journal of International Education, by Ahmed Rashid, deals with two-way mobility of students for tertiary study, that is, students from one country travelling to another country for study and, vice versa. The second, by Subramaniam et al, explores modern pedagogy, in particular gaming, for increased student achievement, a methodology that may be unfamiliar to many international students. Finally, Joanna Smith reviews Understanding and Teaching English Spelling, English spelling being a topic that is a constant source of difficulty for many international students.
Canada-global South two-way student mobility: challenges and inspiring practices
Ahmed Rashid, from Canada, interviewed 32 participants, including many professors, managers of international relations departments, etc, from 14 tertiary institutions, about Canadian students studying overseas and, vice versa, students from those countries studying in Canada. While these arrangements are valuable in terms of student development, and may be viewed as reciprocal, there may be large differences in the numbers of students travelling in one direction compared with the other. The importance of student orientation to the new culture, and ways of achieving this successfully, are examined.
Teaching methods and enhancing students’ engagement in a classroom
Geetha Subramaniam and colleagues from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia, critically evaluate the techniques of (nowadays well-established) collaborative learning, and (much more modern) gamification, as methods for improving the soft skills of students, such as teamwork, and their academic achievement. Focussing on gaming, they investigated its effect on 192 tertiary Economics students. The results were positive in terms of students’ enjoyment, engagement, collaboration, and communicational and social skills.
Book review
Finally, Joanna Smith reviews Understanding and Teaching English Spelling by Adam Brown. As she concludes, “It’s not a book which will provide tomorrow’s lesson plan, but it is a book which will certainly provide plenty of ‘Aha!’ moments.”
Adam Brown
Editor, Director of Research