Beyond all the challenges faced by new faculty in general, international faculty face additional hurdles, from immigration and citizenship issues to financial ones. In terms of teaching, the most common issues are teaching in a foreign language, adjusting to American college classrooms and students, and understanding both the popular culture and the culture of a given university.
We’ve gathered here a variety of excellent resources that international faculty should find helpful in their teaching.
The Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College has a helpful set of suggestions for international faculty, applicable to those in all disciplines, not just sciences.
One of the major points here, and repeated elsewhere, is the importance of setting clear expectations about the course requirements and difficulty. We would add that this includes clear, written guidelines for how grades are assigned.
In terms of teaching in English, faculty should consider using PowerPoint or the chalkboard to indicate major points or concepts, or even words that students might have difficulty understanding. And international faculty should encourage students to ask if there are words they have trouble understanding.
“Teaching in the US Classroom”
Although this posting from Tomorrow’s Professor focuses on the experience of Teaching Assistants, it provides many valuable insights into challenges and solutions.
For instance, the authors point out that American students are much more free to ask questions in class than are students in many other countries, where give and take between student and teacher is often minimal, and certainly more formal than it is in the U.S. In addition, office hours in some other countries are more like tutorials, rather than the conversational norm in the U.S.
The Ohio State University has an excellent handbook for International Faculty and Teaching Assistants. In particular, we recommend the following three sections:
Cultural and Cross-cultural Issues [pdf]
Communication Skills and Strategies [pdf]
Academic Culture [pdf]
The Office of Student Ressearch produces a UC Berkeley Undergraduate Fact Sheet [pdf] every year that provides much helpful and interesting information about who our students are.
The University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey will give you insights into your students’ attitudes about everything from their own prepartaion to study habits to extracurricular activities. How much time do they spend studying? How often to they skip class? How many have jobs? How many participate in extracurricular clubs and activities? These are just some of the topics that are covered.
Student Data New Student Convocation 2008
Based on Statements of Intent to Register as of mid-August 2008
Demographics of New Fall 2008 Freshmen & Transfers
We expect about 4,403 new freshmen, 2,100 new transfer students. (This number is subject to change, of course.)
Among new freshmen, women will again outnumber men by about the same margin as last year - 54% female
For transfers, men outnumber women, 53% to 47%, continuing a trend started in fall 2007.
Youngest
This year the youngest new students are two transfer students who are 13 and will turn 14 this fall.
Oldest
Among our new undergraduates this fall we have two students 60 years of age or older. Both are transfer students.
Geographical Representation (combined freshmen and transfers)
Our new class comes from 50 counties in CA, 45 states and territories plus DC (other than CA) and 51 countries
Texas and New York top two states other than California
Korea, China, and Singapore (in that order) provide the most undergraduates among foreign countries. Together they comprise more than half of the home countries of international students. Canada is #4.
New students hail from all but one of the seven continents. (Sorry, Antarctica.)
86% of freshmen & 92% transfers are from California and represent 50 of California's 58 counties
Among Californians, 73% of new undergrads come from just seven counties: Los Angeles, Alameda, Santa Clara, Orange, Contra Costa, San Diego & San Francisco. Nearly half come from Los Angeles, Alameda, and Santa Clara Counties combined.
But we also are welcoming four new Cal undergrads who are the single representatives of their counties: Amador, Calaveras, Mono, and Plumas.
Among new freshmen from California, 46% are from the Bay Area and Northern CA, 45% from LA and Southern Cal, and 8% from the Central Valley and Inland Empire. (Figures do not add to 100% due to rounding.)
Among new transfers 59% are from the Bay Area and Northern California, 36% from LA and Southern California, and 5% from the Central Valley and Inland Empire.
What schools they are coming from
They represent 94 California Community Colleges and more than 1,100 public and private high schools in California and around the world.
GPA
For transfer students, the average college transfer GPA is 3.63.
For freshmen, the average weighted high school GPA is 4.23.
Household Incomes
For Freshman and Transfers combined, 36% come from families w/ combined income under $40,000 and 28% come from families with income under $30,000.
For transfer students median family income is $35,000.
For incoming freshmen the median family income is $80,000.
First generation college students
47% of new transfer students and 28% of new freshmen are first generation college students (defined as neither parent has a four-year college degree, although one or both parents may have attended college and/or received a two-year degree).
Prepared by the Office of Student Research