Episode 12: Intercultural Communication in the Active Learning Classroom with Dr. Tara Harvey

by Barbi Honeycutt, Ph.D.

lecture breakers podcast teaching and learning in higher education

Description: Dr. Tara Harvey joins me in episode 12 of the Lecture Breakers podcast. I invited Tara to the show because she brings an important perspective to the conversation about the influence of culture in our classrooms, especially when it comes to using non-traditional teaching strategies such as active learning.

And today, more than ever, we need to have these conversations with ourselves, our students, and our colleagues.

This episode adds another layer to our conversations about student resistance, faculty resistance, motivation, communication, and expectations. When we break up our lectures and try something new, we need to be aware of how these changes might be perceived by our students (and colleagues).

Tara discusses the importance of starting with our own intercultural learning if we want our students to become skilled in working with and valuing others' ideas, perspectives, and opinions.

Throughout our conversation, I had so many "ah ah!" moments about the influence culture has on our daily interactions with students and colleagues (be sure to listen to minutes 30-45 if you want to hear me starting to process all of this for myself!).

We are all coming into the classroom with very different perspectives. As educators, we need to be aware of those differences so we can bridge the intercultural gap based on what you know about who your students are and where they are coming from.

Lots of "ah ha!" moments in this episode. Hope you enjoy it and learn as much as I have. (And if you want to learn more from Tara about intercultural competence in the online classroom, be sure to listen to episode 117!)

Memorable Quotes:

"Intercultural competence is the ability to communicate and act appropriately and effectively across cultural differences."

"Just because you are immersed in or have experience in another culture does not automatically lead to intercultural learning."

"If these are the things we want students to be able to do, we need to have faculty doing them first."

"Culture can mean any group that has shaped our values - socioeconomic, gender identity, sexual orientation, differing abilities, regionality, etc."

"All parties should feel valued and respected."

Show Notes: (listed in the order the resource was mentioned on the show)

Free Training, "Interculturally Competent U: The What, Why & How of Building Intercultural Competence in Higher Education": https://www.truenorthintercultural.com/freetraining
Learn more about CIEE: Council on International Education Exchange
Read Tara's blog post about the syllabus as a cultural artifact.
Read my blog post about Tuckman's four stages of group performance (forming, storming, norming, and performing).
Read the latest research in Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad
Learn more about the Intercultural Learning Hub at Purdue University (the HubICL).
Read more about the WISE conference at Wake Forest University. Workshop on Intercultural Skills Enhancement).
Learn more about Tara and her work on her website: truenorthintercultural.com
Connect with Tara on LinkedIn.
Join the free Lecture Breakers Facebook group.
Don't miss an episode! Be sure to subscribe to the show!

Transcript:

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