Course design in an international partnership context

Natalie JellinekEducational Development OfficerOctober 2013

Thematic courses:

Thematic subject courses that are integrated in ongoing collaborations between SLU research schools, capacity building programs or major research programs.

WHY!?

Who IS your partner?

What type of partnerships?

Mutually-beneficial partnerships?

Needs assessment?

Shared vision? Ownership?

Purpose? Common goals?

Working methods?

Roles & Responsibilities?

Sustainable?

Barriers & challenges?

“The sum of our partnership equals something greater”

Higher education is of critical importance to the long-term development of knowledge societies.

Knowledge generation and innovation to meet both local and global societal and economic needs.

”The educational systems in different kinds of societies in the world have been, and are, very different in organization and content. They are different because the societies providing the education are different, and because education, whether it be formal or informal, has a purpose. That purpose is to transmit from one generation to the next the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of society, and to prepare the young people for their future membership of the society and their active participation in its maintenance and development.” (p.268)

Julius Nyerere, former President of TanzaniaFreedom and Socialism

Course design

alignment = arrangementconstructivism = learning as a process (mediated by social environments, social constructivism)

* Students construct their knowledge by what they do in the course

* The teacher must make sure the learning outcomes, learning activities, and assessment are aligned in a clear and logical way.

Constructive alignment

Intended Learning

Outomes

Teaching & Learning Activities

Assessment

Biggs, 2003

Constructive alignment

Kummel

PhD education in Sweden: Objectives

Knowledge and understanding

For a degree of Doctor research students must - demonstrate broad knowledge in and a systematic

understanding of the field of research, together with deep and up-to-date specialist knowledge in a defined part of the field of research;

- demonstrate familiarity with scholarly methods in general and with methods in the specific field of research in particular.

PhD education in Sweden: Objectives

Skills and abilities

- demonstrate an ability to engage in scholarly analysis and synthesis and in independent, critical examination and assessment of new and complex phenomena, issues and situations;

- demonstrate an ability to identify and formulate issues, critically, independently and creatively, and proceeding with scientific precision, and to plan and, using appropriate methods, conduct research and other advanced tasks within specified time limits, and to scrutinise and evaluate such work;

Skills and abilities

- demonstrate, in a dissertation, their ability to make a substantial contribution to the development of knowledge by their own research;

- demonstrate an ability to present and discuss research and research results with authority, in dialogue with the scholarly community and society in general, orally and in writing, in both national and international contexts; - demonstrate an ability to identify their need of further knowledge;

- demonstrate a potential to contribute to the development of society and support other people’s learning, both in the field of research and education and in other advanced professional contexts.

PhD education in Sweden: Objectives

Judgment and approach

For a degree of Doctor research students must

- demonstrate intellectual independence and scholarly integrity and an ability to make ethical assessments relating to research;

- demonstrate deeper insight into the potential and limitations of scholarship, its role in society and people’s responsibility for how it is used.

University of Botswana: Mission & Vision

a. To be a leading academic centre of excellence in Africa and the world

b. To improve economic and social conditions for the nation while advancing itself as a distinctively African university with a regional and international outlook.

Thank you!

natalie.jellinek@slu.se