Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Cross Cultural Learning Styles Workshop

These projects are funded with support from the European Commission. This publication

[communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held

responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Agenda

• Why are we here?• Learning Styles• Culture and the Classroom• Introduction to case based learning• The Workshop• Case presentation

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Learning Styles

Kolb (1976) introduced the idea of learning styles

• accomodators favour concrete experiencing and active experimentation (good at carrying out plans)

• divergers prefer concrete experiencing and reflective observation (good imaginative ability)

• convergers are good at abstract conceptualization and active experimentation (good problem solvers and decision makers)

• assimilators like abstract conceptualization and reflective observation (good at inductive reasoning)

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Learning Styles

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Learning Styles

• Marton and Säljö (1997)

distinguish deep and surface approaches to learning which stand for entirely differing concepts of what learning is all about.  ‘Deep learning’ is the preferred approach within higher education.  ‘Surface learning’ is

associated with ‘remembering’ formulae and trivial facts. 

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Agenda

• Why are we here?• Learning Styles• Culture and the Classroom• Introduction to case based learning• Case presentation

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Cross Cultural Classroom

Classrooms worldwide are increasingly becoming multicultural.

With diverse classrooms also comes diversity in learning behavior of students which sometimes poses serious challenges for students, faculty, and administrators in higher education.

It is therefore important for all stakeholders to gain a better understanding of cross-cultural differences.

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Culture

• Culture is not easily defined, nor is there a consensus among scholars, philosophers and polititicians (nor, probably, among the rest of us) as to what exactly the concept should include.

• Historically the word derives from the Latin word "colere", which could be translated as "to build", "to care for","to plant" or "to cultivate. Thus "culture" usually referred to something that is derived from, or created by the intervention of humans – "culture" is cultivated. (Dahl, 1998, 2000)

• Hofestede (1994) defined culture as “[…] the collective programming of the mind which distinguished the member of one group or category of people from another […]" (p.5)

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Examples for Cultural Differences in Learning

• Criticism • Cheating• Initiative in the classroom• In class discussions• Written vs. oral exams• Keeping of deadlines

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Agenda

• Why are we here?• Learning Styles• Culture and the Classroom• Introduction to case based learning• The Workshop• Case presentation

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Introduction to case based learning

• Reason for case based learning• Goals of case based learning• Results of case based learning

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Agenda

• Why are we here?• Learning Styles• Culture and the Classroom• Introduction to case based learning• The Workshop• Case presentation

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

WorkshopThe following slides give an overview about the

– Design– Methodology and– Role play

to conduct a workshop for incoming students at their host university to create awareness and improve their cross cultural skills for a better studying time in a new university environment.

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Structure

• Day 1 (1,5hrs)General introductionWork deliveryOutlook for next daysPresent the idea of the „Elavator presentation“

• Day 2 (1,5hrs)Parallel execution of workshop and its supervision (duration app. 1h)

• Day 3 (1,5hrs)AnalysisPresentationsInterpretationLesson learned

Presentation of most striking facts as „elevator presentation“

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

The classroom could look as follows:

Methodology I

Table

CFO

HRCM

PM

M&S

CEO

Supervisors from University

HR 1MED 1 CM 1 PM 1 M&S 1 CEO 1 CFO 1

HR 2MED 2 CM 2 PM 2 M&S 2 CEO 2 CFO 3

.

.

.

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Methodology II

The six company representatives discuss the case for the duration of one hour. During this discussion process every company member is observed by several other students.

Example: Total: 48 studentsCompany members: 6Observers: 8 people observe 1 company member

Ideally the observers are coming from different cultures / nations to see if their perceptions differ significantly.

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Agenda

• Why are we here?• Learning Styles• Culture and the Classroom• Introduction to case based learning• The Workshop• Case presentation

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

The Case“Starbilly Global”, a tea retail company from Thailand runs, among other countries, a local retail

subsidiary in Finland. Due to unforeseen circumstances the subsidiary can not fulfill the requirements foreseen in the annual financial planning and incurred a huge loss in the last financial year. The reasons for the losses are many, as are the assumptions about causes and responsibilities for the severe crisis in which the Finish subsidiary is currently seen.

The losses incurred have drawn the attention of the Thai based headquarter to the Finish subsidiary. An urgent meeting is called by the CEO of Starbilly Global in order to resolve the problems of the local subsidiary.

Therefore the CEO, CFO, the product manager, and HR-Manager are sent to Finland to solve the problem and bring the subsidiary back on track. A meeting with the local representatives (country manager, marketing & sales manager) come together to discuss open issues and next steps. Since the company is internationally acting their representatives all have different nationalities and cultures. This leads to diverse approaches to solve the problem.

The roles involved are:

1. CEO2. CFO3. HR-Manager4. Country Manager5. Marketing & Sales Manager6. Product Manager

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Agenda

• Why are we here?• Learning Styles• Culture and the Classroom• Introduction to case based learning• The Workshop• Case presentation

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Presentation

• The presentation will take place during the last session and is limited to exactly 5 minutes.

• During the presentation the key outcomes of the analysis of the roleplay have to be given by each group (CEO, CFO,…)

• 2 people of each group will be chosen randomly on Friday to give the presentation

• The presentation should be clear, structured, analytical, short and exciting.

Workshop – Cross Cultural Learning StylesWorkshop – Cross Cultural Learning Styles

Short Presentation What I should take care of

• Outline the goal of the presentation• Build up a good structure• Focus on facts• Speak facing towards the audience (eye contact)• Rehearsal before presenting to the audience in order to

determine length and impact