Common use of Pedagogy Clause in Contracts

Pedagogy. In the view of both onshore and offshore academics, offshore tutors had a vital role in programme implementation. Expertise was critical. Reflective of the view of offshore academics, one tutor commented that “not many teachers could teach this course”. However, it was determined from the interviews that there was no formal English language requirement for tutor appointments to the programme, even though the programme was constructed to be taught in English and assessed in English. While the onshore academics were given the resumes of prospective tutors and could refuse appointments, they did not conduct interviews of any kind with applicants. Nor was there any formal induction for newly hired tutors. Professional development and orientation to the programme was provided by the Australian university in the course of programme delivery, through online contact between coordinators and tutors, course material mail-outs and teaching visits. Academics offshore saw little educational value for students from lectures delivered by visiting academics from the Australian university. There was general agreement that the lectures were often terribly difficult to understand for the students. The general view was that students would be bereft of any idea of the content of visitors‟ lectures, without the efforts of tutors to provide what translation and explanation they could. The tutors explained that they also found lectures very hard to follow, adding that the Australian accent compounded the difficulties in comprehending meaning. One example of the difficulty posed by accent was the pronunciation of „dada‟ for „data‟. The onshore academics were to some extent aware of comprehension difficulties created through their delivery of what one termed “high-speed technical English”, mainly because of polite requests made to visiting lecturers to speak more slowly. The onshore academics believed that by asking students for verbal responses in their lectures they were demonstrating to tutors and students a „western‟ approach to engaging with the programme in the classroom. They said that it was very difficult to generate student comment or inquiry. One explanation they provided was that students were used to the Chinese education system which they said did not encourage critical thinking and student-centred learning activities. They also believed that there were language barriers to participation. Illustrative of the general view, one of the senior academics observed that “the reality is the typical Chinese student does not have strong English listening and speaking competency. They have strong reading competency, but not the others”. From the viewpoint of the onshore academics, students risked a “loss of face” by speaking in English in the classroom. The offshore academics largely concurred with these views, adding only that lack of comprehension of lectures also influenced students to avoid volunteering questions or comments to visiting lecturers.

Pedagogy. In the view of both onshore and offshore academics, offshore tutors had a vital role in programme implementation. Expertise was critical. Reflective Positive aspects of the view relationship were realised through a strong teaching partnership that included teaching visits, commitment to a particular style of offshore academicspedagogy and mentoring. This partnership was supported through processes of tutor selection and by the monitoring and moderation of teaching practices. Academics at the Australian end of the operation believed that the quality of the information technology programme was assured without face-to-face teaching. They stated that the programme could function appropriately as „distance‟ education. The international coordinator remarked: “We regard teaching skills as not really essential to the model we do”. There was a shared conviction that quality was preserved through onshore control over the curriculum, one tutor commented that “not many teachers could teach this course”the nature of assessment, examination marking and final grading. However, it was determined from the interviews that there was no formal English language requirement for tutor appointments onshore academics welcomed their partner‟s provision of “full-time teaching support” manifested by local Mandarin-speaking tutors teaching classes of students undertaking courses in the programme. They routinely described the use of tutors in face-to-face teaching as “value-adding” to the programme, even though . Their idea of value-adding was facilitation of cultural and educational adjustment. The role of the tutors was to help students “accustomed to a rote learning environment” to acclimatise to the demands imposed by a programme built to “western” educational requirements. Specific examples of „value-adding‟ included “fostering critical thinking skills” and “encouraging discussion of content”. This view of face-to-face as cultural and educational initiation was constructed to be taught in English and assessed in English. While shared by the onshore academics were given the resumes of prospective tutors and could refuse appointments, they did not conduct interviews of any kind with applicants. Nor was there any formal induction for newly hired offshore tutors. Professional development Chinese local tutors described what they referred to as “the Chinese way of teaching” as the “feeding duck” method, whereby teachers gave the students the facts they needed to know and orientation the students listened in preparation for examination. They also said that essay writing and academic referencing were not familiar to Chinese students and part of the teaching task was to train students in these “western” practices. Onshore academics viewed teaching visits to the programme was provided by Chinese university partly as opportunities to instruct tutors in „western‟ pedagogical approaches and model the Australian university in kind of teaching delivery the course of programme delivery, through online contact between coordinators and tutors, course material mail-outs and teaching visits. Academics offshore saw little educational value for students from lectures delivered by visiting academics from the Australian universitythought suitable for their programme. There A goal was general agreement that the lectures were often terribly difficult “to understand for the studentsget our western style into their teaching culture”. The general view was that students would be bereft of any idea of the content of visitors‟ lectures, without the efforts of Chinese tutors to provide what translation and explanation they could. The tutors explained that they also found lectures very hard to follow, adding said that the Australian accent compounded teaching visits helped them understand the difficulties in comprehending meaning. One example context of the difficulty posed by accent was the pronunciation of „dada‟ for „data‟. The onshore academics were to some extent aware of comprehension difficulties created through their delivery of what one termed “high-speed technical English”, mainly because of polite requests made to visiting lecturers to speak more slowly. The onshore academics believed that by asking students for verbal responses in their lectures courses they were demonstrating to tutors teaching and students a „western‟ approach to engaging with the programme helped them improve their English language skills, especially their understanding of key English terminology used in the classroom. They said that it was very difficult to generate student comment or inquiry. One explanation they provided was that students were used to the Chinese education system which they said did not encourage critical thinking and student-centred learning activitiescourse. They also believed maintained that there were language barriers direct classroom observation helped them to participation“learn the western mode” of teaching. Illustrative of the general view, one of the senior academics observed that “the reality is the typical Chinese student does not have strong English listening and speaking competency. They have strong reading competency, but not the others”. From the viewpoint of In a judgment shared by the onshore academics, the Chinese tutors thought that the teaching visits were useful to “help the Australians to understand the Chinese culture and the way we teach here”. Onshore academics also saw teaching visits as opportunities to provide students risked and tutors with information and detail on specific assignments. They believed that this instruction would help tutors “know what to look for next time”. Both groups of academics believed that pedagogy was enhanced through visits by Chinese tutors to the Australian campus. From early informal arrangements, the visits were now structured to give the Chinese tutors maximum exposure to classroom teaching practices. The tutors were also encouraged to sit in with programme lecturers to see the approach taken to assessment. According to onshore staff, the benefits of immersing their visitors in local academic culture were that students‟ results had improved, cases of plagiarism had declined and the Chinese tutors “were now much more confident in their teaching”. Chinese tutors also reported positively on online support provided by onshore course controllers in actual classroom instruction. One aspect they found particularly useful was a “loss site on discussion boards that enabled private communication between the onshore coordinator and offshore tutor while students were engaged in lessons. There was agreement on both sides that pedagogy was enhanced through a requirement for local tutors to communicate with onshore coordinators on a weekly basis. The moderation process had several components that served pedagogy well. For in- semester assessments undertaken by local tutors there was a rigorous moderation process. Local tutors conducted their assessments by using a detailed marking scheme provided by a course leader and then forwarded copies of face” by speaking in English up to 35 per cent of their marked work, with samples from lowest to highest assessment, to the course leader for review. Under the moderation arrangement, local tutors were not to return work to students prior to completion of the moderation process. Student examination papers were couriered to the onshore university within 24 hours of the examination and returned within 72 hours of the examination. Senior academics working in the classroomprogramme onshore and offshore regarded the selection of tutors as “one of the most important determinants of quality in the programme”. The offshore academics largely concurred with these viewsWhile tutors were engaged by the Chinese partner, adding only that lack the onshore university received a potential tutor‟s curriculum vitae and had the right to refuse the employment of comprehension a tutor in the programme. At the end of lectures also influenced students each semester, each course leader was required to avoid volunteering questions or comments submit a report to visiting lecturersthe programme coordinator on the performance of tutors working into the programme in China.