Transnational Education Experiences

In the last 8 days, I spent my week working in Shanghai and I realised how much I enjoy working with students from Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade (SIFT). The class I taught was under the umbrella of RMIT Bachelor of Business (International Business) program. Thus, I expected the students to be worldly...or at least..... internationally in their views to the business and education.

I wasn't wrong when I went to teach them on the first day because most of them showed a high level of enthusiasm and understanding of key global issues. This is totally different from what I read from research on Chinese students (or myth about Chinese students). Some, not all, of them were quiet and passive in the first 60 minutes. Later on, when we broke the ice, I started to see the sparkling in their eyes when we started to talk about issues such as offshoring, outsourcing, Wal-MART in China, how Justin Bieber becomes global brand etc etc. I must admit the very first class at SIFT for me went very well and the very first lesson I learnt from this class is student-centered approach can become a reality when teachers shift the focus from the 'context of knowledge' in the classroom to the 'context of learning' among students.