Bespoke Mobile Application Development: Facilitating Transition of Foundation Students to Higher Education

Smartphone usage by students has increased rapidly over the last number of years, and it is expected that the utilisation of mobile applications in educational environments will continue to increase. This chapter focuses on a bespoke mobile application which aims to facilitate the transition of Foundation students to Higher Education in an Irish setting. Foundation students comprise of Access and International Students participating on pre-degree foundation courses. These students experience a major life change in making this transition and it is important that efforts are made to ensure a successful adjustment experience. Research suggests that mobile technologies can play a central role in this endeavour by offering support and access to particular information needs. This chapter will detail the design and development of a bespoke mobile application with such a purpose in mind and will also describe how the app was field tested with a cohort of incoming Foundation students in an Irish third level institute

Dealing With Cross-Cultural Issues in Culturally Diverse Classrooms

This study examines the extent to which faculties receive support in their coping with the challenge of cultural differences in their international classroom. The authors explore this relationship in eight business schools in Dutch research universities. These cases offer an in-depth description of the problems encountered in cross-cultural interactions, such as development of monocultural groups, lack of proper foreign language understanding, and stereotyping. They also discuss potential solutions in terms of language training, cultural awareness training for both teachers and students, institutional support, and the business school's rationale for internationalization.</jats:p