Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

students in their language skills. The range of differences between students is largerthan in a normal Dutch course group. Many Italian students, for example, have noprevious experience whatsoever in writing course papers and essays, whereas manyBritish students have been doing this in most of their home courses. One teacherobserved some differences between Dutch students, who were in his opinion fairlygood in terms of their academic skills, and foreign students who were better in theapplication of software and techniques for data analysis. But, he said, as soon asthese students work together things works out very well.Student evaluationsStudent evaluations of the modules on European Integration and Geography and Citizenshipgive us a better idea of how students value working in multinational studentgroups. 38 students filled in the evaluation form of the European Integration module (in2004). Their reaction to the statement ‘I have learned a lot from working with studentsfrom other countries’ was very positive. Over 75% of the students agreed with this statement(agreed or agreed ‘very much’). Students were asked to sketch the positive aspectsof the international character of the course. They mention the fact that the course was inEnglish (22 students), that they were dealing with different points of view (16 students)and that they met and worked with foreign students (10 students). The disadvantageswere the lack of English language skills of some students (3 students) and some teachers(2 students) and the problems of making yourself clear in English (5 students), so that(according to 1 student) often the same students take the lead in discussions. Criticalcomments of the students (the majority who filled in the form were Dutch students)focused on problems with language. The evaluation shows that they see the strugglewith language as an advantage (good training) rather than as a disadvantage (22 versus11 students). The guest students are more used to English as a working language(although they do not necessarily speak it better than the Dutch students) and hardlyrefer to it as a problem or an advantage.The students who participated in the Geography and Citizenship module werealso positive about the international character of the course. One student wrote:“The topic was interesting especially because you were working with students fromother nationalities”. They were especially positive about the multi-national classroomdiscussions about citizenship issues. Almost all students mentioned one specific partof the course as a positive experience: peer review of the individual course papers.Towards the end of the course all students had to comment on and discuss the papersfrom fellow students. The topics of the papers were chosen by the students but hadto fit well in the conceptual and theoretical frameworks of the module. They foundthe paper review a great idea because it gave them different perspectives and an ideaof comparative quality and style of students work, also internationally. They werevery surprised by the different conventions in various countries on how to writea paper. On the other hand they agreed completely on which were the best papers.One Polish student gave the following comment: “The most strange for me was thepublic evaluation of the individual papers but while reading other peoples papersI learned almost as much as when writing my own”.110