Learning in a new culture
and in an intercultural environment
Lars Peter Jensen and Xiangyun Du
Department of Control Engineering
Department of Education, Learning and Philosophy
Overview
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9:30 – 9:40 Workshop introduction
9:40 – 10:30 Reflection on culture
and intercultural communication
10.30 – 13.00 Project work on a
case study, incl. lunch break
13:00 – 14:00 Guest lecture by
Torben Brændgaard, Grundfoss
14.00 – 15.00 Project work cont.
15:00 – 16.00 Project presentation
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What are the things
confronting when
entering a new
country?
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Things that have been taken for granted in
one culture might be unknown in another
• Parents
4
Meeting cultures – Cultural shock
Please write 3 words
For foreign students:
What were your most impressive observations
on arrival of AAU/DK?
For Danish students:
What were your most impressive observations
on arrival of another country?
East vs. West - Cultural Differences
comparison of Western and Asian culture in the eyes of a
Chinese raised in Germany.
http://www.socialhallucinations.com/2008/11/east-vs-west---cultural-differences-in-pictures.html
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ME
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WAYS OF LIFE
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PARTY
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TRENDS
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STREET AT WEEKEND
11
SHOWER TIME
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QUEUING
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Intercultural communication
- non-verbal language
Symbolism
Manners and body language – eye contact,
distance, etc.
Rasmussen & Bank-Mikkelsen 2000: 8)
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Intercultural communication
- cultural understanding
‘The most important
thing in
communication is
to hear what isn't
being said.’
(Peter F. Drucker
American
Educator, b.1909)
Solution
(Herlitz 1989:60)
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Intercultural communication
- cultural understanding
How would you read this ad of pills?
(Herlitz 1989:38)
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Intercultural communication
- Power of language
Please work in pairs, talking to different
people using the script which follows…
The script:
A: ‘Hello’.
B: ‘Hello’.
A: ‘You are late’.
B: ‘I know’.
Try to do it completely differently each time.
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Intercultural communication
in teaching and learning
Why is culture an issue?
• Development of intercultural competencies
for future engineers
• Establishment of international program
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Developing intercultural competencies for future engineers
Globalized context
Interdisciplinary
knowledge
Lifelong learning
Effective
communication
Analytical skills
Application of
mathematics and
science knowledge
Team work
Project
management
Diverse
capabilities
Designing and
conducting
experiments
Intercultural
competencies
Identity and solve
applied science
problems
Social,
environmental, and
ethical concerns
- National Academy of Engineering, The Engineer of 2020, 2004
- EUR-ACE (Accreditation of European Engineering Programmes and Graduates,
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http://www.feani.org/EUR_ACE/EUR_ACE_Main_Page.htm
- ABET: http://www.abet.org/
Intercultural environment in PBL
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Challenges and
identified problems 1
• Miscommunication arises due to
– Use of second language (English) as a means of
communication
– Learning and working styles
– Personality
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Challenges and identified problems 2
Different beliefs on/ways of learning
– different expectations
Opinions?
Educational background
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Challenges and identified problems 2
Different beliefs on/ ways of learning
 Nobody knows the exact
answers until the project is
finished
 Students are responsible for
managing their own learning
 Learners are creating new
knowledge
Studying in a PBL environment,
Denmark
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Challenges and identified problems 3
Can group work be an efficient way of learning?
Will they
believe me
because I am a
girl??
It is my turn to
talk?
If we don’t
follow the
supervisor’s
suggestion,
will he allow
us to pass?
He complains of
my garlic, but he
has coffee and
carrots all the
time!!!
YES, we can meet
at 8 tomorrow
morning
NO, I can’t get
up anyway
Listen to me,
I am very
experienced
They don’t
understand even
such easy things!!
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Group
meeting
Exam
Report
writing
Life
Brainstorm
Doing project
in groups
Subgroup
work
Discussion
Presentation
Compromise
Disagreement
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Student’s reflection
`I have never worked in a group in my educational
life… In group work, I preferred to listen when
some students discussed intensely, because I
could not understand why it was a question to
discuss. Sometimes I could not follow their ideas
or thinking. I need to change and actively work in
the group.´ (Chinese female master student)
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Is ethnicity the
only reason
that
makes us
different?
Muslim
Young girl
Philosopher
Animal
doctor
butcher
farmer
wolf
artist
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Engineering culture – engineer study
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Engineering culture – engineer study
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’I got culture from mom’s breast breeding’
Is culture
something
we are
born with?
(Jensen 2005:18)
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Learning from each other vs. cultural integration
Self vs. others
Acceptance vs. adaptation
You are so big.
You can not stay
here! Come back
when you become
smaller!
(Jensen 2005:72)
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Cultural reflections
PBL in International programs, AAU, Denmark
Doing PBL in ‘the right’ way!
Root of PBL in DK
- Tradition of group
work in Denmark
- Critical thinking
- Emphasis on
- Collaboration
and participation
- Lower power gap
- Close link between
industry and university
Different backgrounds
in educational culture
A new culture to be
established
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Mini project for today’s workshop
A real life case:
Confucius Institute for Innovation & Learning, AAU is playing a role of facilitating
intercultural and international collaboration between DK-China. In collaboration
with Investment Denmark, a state-run organization, to attract and facilitate
Chinese industry to invest in north DK. BRANDEN, a biomed company in China
showed interest and is exploring opportunities. These days the CEO, Mr Zhang,
comes to Aalborg for a visit.
Please work out a list of recommendations for BRANDEN to successfully develop a
new international small-middle size company in North DK.
Both Danish and foreign graduates from Aalborg University will be potential
employees in the new company, together with Engineers from China, North DK
and other countries.
• What are the cultural issues to prepare/consider for establishing a company in
North DK
• What are the culture preparations for employing international staff (engineers,
scientists and medicine people) and facilitate an efficient working environment?
How to prepare for meetings, how to approach people, etc.
• What management style will you suggest to lead the new company?
• Which parts of the company profile should be emphasized in a job adverticement
to attract graduates from Aalborg University?
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Profile of Branden
Branden is a professional medical device supplier, who also handles its own R&D,
production and marketing services. The company was founded in 1996, registered in
Zhongguancun, Haidian District in Beijing. Over a decade, the company experienced a
rapid growth period. http://www.brandentech.com
Technology:
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advanced technology in medical polymer material production, especially in silicone
production and research field.
focusing on medical plasma technology, engineers have enlarged our range of products
with a plasma sterilizer and a plasma electrotome system.
key techniques like drug coating, coating spreading techniques, as well as brand new highly
effecient drugs.
Intellectual property:
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Branden pays special attention to international cooperation with its partners and cares for
the respect of intellectual property rights.
We have succeeded in building cooperation relationships with universities and laboratories in Germany, the Netherlands, and the US- concerning drug-eluting stents, biodegradable
metals and polymer materials, and the medical plasma technology field.
Due to our efforts, we have obtained over ten patens in China as well as PCT international
patent in the key technologies of these fields.
Profile of Branden
Marketing:
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Branden’s R&D team, marketing team and management employees have an extinguish
feature of diversification. In fact they all have backgrounds or work experiences in medical,
polymer material, biomedical engineering, and mechanical manufacturing.
This feature allows our employees to understand the specific needs of our clients in terms
of product R&D and design process. We provide our customers with reasonable solutions to
meet their requests.
Branden has its branches in the main cities of China mainland including Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou, Tianjin and Jinan. Moreover, branden is proud of having won its acceptance of
U.S major buyers such as Cardinal Health, Medline, Diamics as well as multinational
companies in Europe and Japan, being permitted to be their official supplier.
Internationalization:
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Branden has a global vision of business, by now it has branches in Germany, the USA,
Brazil, and Malaysia.
Its products have been exported to over 20 countries and regions including Europe, the
USA, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, India, Taiwan etc...
Its annual exporting growth rate reached 100% for the last three years.
Profile of Branden
Corporate culture:
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Our goal is to become an excellent company recognized by the actors of the Medical field.
Development:
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Branden keeps developing medical and health-care products of high technology; making
efforts to open up now markets; providing ongoing staff training, career and personal
development opportunities.
Respecting human rights:
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Branden treats its employees equally, strives to build up a working environment which
benefits employees’ communication. Branden believes one of the key criteria to become an
excellent company is to make its staff feel relaxed and at ease on the workplace.
Customer:
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Branden put its customers in the first place, providing them with services and products of
the best quality. The success of the company lies on this whole philosophy.