Teaching and learning in a foreign environment?

I have been a stranger in a strange land- Exodus 2:22

Is ours a foreign environment? Well yes it is, for some staff and students coming to UWA, certainly in their early years. The University offers a rich learning environment to new members of its community but to many it is new and it is different. The individuals joining the University community have much to offer as well, both as teachers and as learners.

While ´the universal language and culture´ of particular disciplines may lessen the impact of geographical and sociocultural differences, academics new to UWA may find that the pedagogical approaches being used here differ significantly from those they are used to. Academics crossing disciplinary boundaries may well experience a similar dislocation and ´foreignness´. How might they respond? Cast off the old ways of teaching and take on the new? Convince new-found colleagues at this institution (or in this discipline), and the students, that their approach to teaching is as valid as those currently in use? Perhaps they might blend the best of their prior knowledge and skills of teaching with the best of what they find here.

What conventions exist in our university, and in our departments, with respect to the teaching and learning opportunities we provide? Are the practices arising from these conventions adequate? Are our norms dynamic and accommodating of new or different ways of thinking? Do we know what ´newcomers´ bring? Do we assume they have the same norms as we do? Imagine a seminar presentation by a new academic in your department on the topic ´Pedagogies I have known and their possible application here´. Would you attend?

Staff reflections on UWA as a foreign environment provides a collection of personal comments from staff who have recently joined the University from countries and regions as diverse as China, Eastern Europe, Malaysia and the United States. Their comments have been clustered around a number of key questions. We thank all staff for their contributions to this edition of ITL.