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Training educators: it takes a globe
Published: Wednesday, 17 Apr 2013
The most qualified educators of tomorrow will come from all over the globe, and many of them will pass through East Lansing on their way to the world’s classroom. Reitumetse Mabokela, Ph.D., coordinator of the Fellowship to Enhance Global Understanding at Michigan State University’s College of Education, is sure that MSU is making a difference in the globalization of higher education.
Students and faculty are now moving around the world to gain education, experience and a network of support in the academic community. “When we look at the issue of student mobility, we have evidence of the impact of globalization. The U.S. has been in the lead in attracting students, but now we are seeing other countries entering the higher education arena,” she said. Australia, for example, has become a dominant force in attracting students— particularly from Asia. An increase in the mobility of faculty members to and from the United States has also changed things. Mabokela said that U.S. universities hope to retain their best and brightest graduates, however the market for leading educators is strong and worldwide opportunities have a strong allure.
Fellowship to Enhance Global Understanding
To strengthen MSU’s already strong presence as a leading teacher education center, the Fellowship to Enhance Global Understanding program was introduced in China four years ago. A collaborative partnership between the College of Education and Southwest University resulted in a pilot program that allowed MSU students to spend three weeks working with faculty and graduate students in China. The program has continued to expand and now includes international study tours in three more countries—Botswana, Vietnam and Cyprus.
“The goal of the program is to ensure that doctoral candidates in the college have a strong understanding of how the world and education systems work. We are hoping they’ll not only have a wider view of how other systems work but also begin to interrogate their thinking about their own research and own practice as educators. It is our goal to graduate students who have a fairly broad and global view of educational issues and educational practices,” said Mabokela.
“We believe it is important for the college to graduate students who are globally competent. By that we mean, even if they don’t choose to study or live abroad, they have a consciousness and an understanding of how global issues impact educational issues and practices.”
The locations for the international study tours were not targeted specifically, but grew from relationships between faculty and educators around the world. “In thinking and identifying areas for tours, we depend upon faculty initiatives and areas where faculty members have developed very strong relationships. We had a professor with relationships at SWU in China. Botswana emerged because Deb Feltz had a graduate student who received his Ph.D. at MSU and then returned to Botswana to serve as a senior administrator at the University of Botswana. Through conversations, she explored the possibility of hosting an international program there and her former student was eager to host us,” said Mabokela.
Students Benefit
MSU students participating in the fellowship program are enhancing their research, scholarship and their practices as future scholars. “When doctoral students participate in internationalizing experiences, they have the opportunity to develop a greater awareness of how incredibly interconnected we in the United States are with others in the world,” said John Dirkx, professor of educational administration and leader of several Fellowship to Enhance programs.
The questions pursued in doctoral research in education are often similar to questions being asked in Botswana, China, Vietnam, Finland, and other countries around the world. “Because our cultural, political, and economic contexts are quite different so is how these questions are approached and addressed,” he said. He believes that participating in internationalizing experiences can help doctoral students better understand how the context of research shapes the very nature of the research itself.
“As a college, we are not looking to turn all of our students into international scholars, but we are trying to give them the tools to function and operate as researchers, as scholars and academics,” Mabokela said.
Measuring Success
The indicators of success for the international exchange at the College of Education are varied, but one of the goals has already been achieved. At the outset of the SWU program, Mabokela said MSU wanted to establish a reciprocal relationship with the host country and bring Chinese education students back to East Lansing. For the last three years, MSU has hosted international teams from SWU. “Another goal we hoped to accomplish was that our students have continuing relationships. The buddy system is such that while in-country our students are paired with students or faculty from their host countries—many of these have blossomed into long-lasting relationships with pairs now attending conferences together and exploring research opportunities in mutually beneficial relationships,” according to Mabokela.
For example, just last year a student at the University of Botswana discovered that he and an MSU faculty member shared research interests in the field of kinesiology. As a result of their discussions, the former host student is now a doctoral student at MSU. “The goal is to make sure we have relationships in both directions and that the benefits of the program not only benefit those at MSU but also the students and faculty in the host country,” she said. Dirkx and his colleagues in International Studies and Programs are currently studying the impact global experiences have on graduate students in the College of Education. “A lot of people want to know what makes a global experience meaningful and high impact,” he said.
Based on his own experiences, Dirkx has a few preliminary ideas.
“It’s important for international experiences to offer opportunities that can contribute to the students’ professional interests and development,” he said. “We also believe that the experience needs to reflect the properties or characteristics of experiential learning, where learners are engaged at the cognitive and affective, and perhaps the spiritual levels,” said Dirkx.
“While I think these characteristics among others have been reflected in various study tours, I think we have a ways to go before we are taking full advantage of the opportunities. But we are learning,” he said.
Making an International Mark
“When I leave East Lansing, I’m always amazed by the impact and name recognition that MSU has, partly because of international alumni who go back home and talk about it, but most importantly it is the research and the scholarship we do that really gives MSU the kind of credibility it has internationally. And when one thinks about contributing to the solution of world problems, MSU has a teacher education program that has been ranked number one for the last 18 years and several other programs in the top 15. MSU’s reputation speaks volumes,” she said.
On a global scale, MSU has a notable representation of international students from the College of Education who contribute in many meaningful ways in their own countries. “We are training a cadre of researchers, teachers, teacher educators and practitioners in field of education who are working around the world,” said Mabokela. “We will continue to educate world-class educators, train leading academics and scholars, and contribute to a better understanding of education and how education can be done in a conscientious way.”
Watch an interview with Reitumetse at www.isp.edu/multimedia
