INTERNATIONAL CHINESE AND CANADIAN STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF INTERNATIONALIZATION AT A CANADIAN UNIVERSITY

Internationalization, as a response to globalization, is one of the key drivers and shapers of the fundamental changes transforming the world of higher education. There is a need to understand internationalization within higher education from the vantage point of the domestic and international students who are currently being educated because their experiences testify to the provision of quality education. Using a Case Study approach this research explores ways that the internationalization of higher education impacts students’ intercultural relations, identities, intercultural sensitivity, critical understandings, and notions of citizenship. A postcolonial perspective is used to explore how students perceive the influences of globalization. Contemporary ideological constructions of globalization are seen in historical and cultural contexts and not as naturalized and reified economic processes. Various themes were identified in international Chinese and domestic students’ accounts of their experiences of internationalization at a Canadian university including: education and marketization, academic pressure and performance, language, intercultural connections and barriers, and cultural hybridity. Results indicated that students responded to internationalization in complex and contradictory ways. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was used as a tool to demonstrate growth in students’ intercultural sensitivity. The intercultural experiences students discussed in interviews were difficult to compare with the inventory results. The IDI did not, in the space of one academic year, capture the finer nuances and changes in students’ intercultural growth and sensitivity. Students’ intercultural sensitivity, as indicated by the EDI scores, did not necessarily progress or improve with increased intercultural contact and in some cases, it decreased

Internationalization at Canadian Universities: Progress and Challenges

The world-wide demand for international education continues to grow and Canadian universities are rising to meet this need. The rationales for internationalization are many and are culturally, politically, academically, and economically based. An overview of the current state of internationalization, its initiatives and programs at Canadian universities is outlined. Some of the challenges of internationalization include a lack of resources and a need for university-wide centralized and collaborative leadership for incoming international students, and study abroad programs. University staff and faculty would benefit from availing themselves of intercultural training provided through their university international offices. Many Canadian universities fully support internationalization in their strategic plans yet have less developed plans of how to implement internationalization into the teaching, support and service dimensions of the university. A case study describes how a mid-sized Catholic affiliated public university college in Ontario is implementing international programs and services for students. Cooperative and experiential learning theories are utilized as a means of guiding implementation. La demande universelle pour l\u27éducation internationale continue à s\u27agrandir et les universités canadiennes se montrent à la hauteur de la situation. Il y a plusieurs raisons pour cette internationalisation et elles sont de bases culturelle, politique, universitaire et économique. L\u27auteur esquisse ici une vue d\u27ensemble de l\u27état actuel de cette internationalisation, ses initiatives et ses programmes dans les universités canadiennes. Quelques-uns des défis de cette internationalisation comprennent un manque de ressources et le besoin d\u27une direction centralisée et collaborative entre les universités pour les programmes d\u27accueil des étudiants internationaux au Canada et pour les Canadiens qui étudient à l\u27étranger. La formation interculturelle fournie par les bureaux internationaux des universités ferait du bien aux membres enseignants des universités et aux facultés. Dans leurs plans stratégiques, plusieurs universités canadiennes soutiennent complètement l\u27internationalisation, mais elles n\u27ont pas développé les projets pour réaliser l\u27internationalisation dans toute l\u27étendue de leur enseignement, leur soutien et de leur service. Par une étude de cas l\u27auteur décrit comment une faculté catholique de taille moyenne affiliée avec l\u27université de Western Ontario réalise ses programmes d\u27internationalisation et offre ses services aux étudiants. Les théories d\u27apprentissage basées sur l\u27expérience et sur la coopération sont utilisées pour guider cette réalisation

Wirksamkeit von Elterntrainings zur Behandlung von psychischen Störungen bei Kindern und deren Effekte auf die Eltern

Die Prävalenz psychischer Störungen bei Kindern liegt weltweit bei ca. 13 %. Es lässt sich eine Unterteilung in internalisierende und externalisierende Störungen vornehmen, die jeweils mit ernsthaften Beeinträchtigungen einhergehen. Bisher konnten sowohl biologische und psychologische sowie umweltbezogene Ursachen psychischer Störungen gefunden werden. Eine rechtzeitige und wirkungsvolle Behandlung ist wichtig, um den Verlauf dieser Störungen und die kindliche Entwicklung positiv zu beeinflussen. Dabei spielt der Einbezug der Eltern in die Behandlung der Kinder eine wichtige Rolle. Im vorliegenden Kumulus werden drei Publikationen vorgestellt, die sich mit der Wirksamkeit elternzentrierter Interventionen in der Behandlung von Kindern mit internalisierenden und externalisierenden Störungen beschäftigen. Da die Eltern eine wichtige Rolle für die gesamte kindliche Entwicklung spielen, werden ebenso die Auswirkungen von Elterntrainings auf spezifische Elternvariablen dargestellt. In Publikation 1 wurde mittels eines systematischen Reviews die vorhandene Literatur zur Wirksamkeit elternzentrierter Interventionen in der Behandlung von internalisierenden und externalisierenden Störungen überblicksartig zusammengefasst. Insgesamt konnten Belege für die Wirksamkeit gefunden werden, wobei sich die Forschungsbasis für externalisierende Störungen deutlich breiter präsentierte als für internalisierende Störungen. Die vorliegenden meta-analytischen Befunde zur Wirksamkeit von Elterntrainings bei externalisierenden Störungen weisen dabei jedoch heterogene Effekte sowohl für bestimmte Elternvariablen als auch für die Veränderung des kindlichen Verhaltens auf. Deshalb wurden in Publikation 2 und 3 mittels Meta-Meta-Analysen diese Befunde zusammengefasst, um einen genaueren Eindruck über die Höhe der Effekte auf spezifische Elternvariablen (Erziehungsverhalten, elterliche Wahrnehmung, elterliche psychische Gesundheit, elterliche Beziehungsqualität) bzw. auf das kindliche Verhalten (allgemeines kindliches Verhalten, externalisierendes Verhalten) zu erhalten. Um einer möglichen Verzerrung der Ergebnisse durch Überlappungen von Primärstudien vorzubeugen, wurden diese in den Berechnungen berücksichtigt. Bezüglich der Elternvariablen konnten für das Erziehungsverhalten sowie für die elterliche Wahrnehmung moderate, stabile Effekte gefunden werden. Allerdings konnte die Wirksamkeit auf das Erziehungsverhalten durch Daten zur Verhaltensbeobachtung nicht bestätigt werden. Für die elterliche psychische Gesundheit und die Beziehungsqualität zeigte sich hingegen jeweils nur ein kleiner Effekt, der sich im Follow-Up nur für die elterliche Beziehungsqualität als stabil erwies. Bezüglich der Wirksamkeit von Elterntrainings auf das kindliche Verhalten konnten für alle untersuchten Variablen (allgemeines kindliches Verhalten, externalisierendes Verhalten) über alle Messzeitpunkte hinweg (Post-Intervention, Follow-Up) moderate Effekte gefunden werden. Dabei konnte die Wirksamkeit auf das kindliche Verhalten auch anhand von Verhaltensbeobachtungen bestätigt werden. Insgesamt wurde eine deutliche Heterogenität in den Analysen festgestellt, auf die in der Diskussion hinsichtlich möglicher Ursachen eingegangen wird. Zusammenfassend lässt sich feststellen, dass Elterntrainings eine evidenzbasierte Intervention für die Behandlung von Kindern mit psychischen Störungen darstellen und aus diesem Grund in der klinischen Praxis eingesetzt werden sollten

INTERNATIONAL CHINESE AND CANADIAN STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF INTERNATIONALIZATION AT A CANADIAN UNIVERSITY

Internationalization, as a response to globalization, is one of the key drivers and shapers of the fundamental changes transforming the world of higher education. There is a need to understand internationalization within higher education from the vantage point of the domestic and international students who are currently being educated because their experiences testify to the provision of quality education. Using a Case Study approach this research explores ways that the internationalization of higher education impacts students’ intercultural relations, identities, intercultural sensitivity, critical understandings, and notions of citizenship. A postcolonial perspective is used to explore how students perceive the influences of globalization. Contemporary ideological constructions of globalization are seen in historical and cultural contexts and not as naturalized and reified economic processes. Various themes were identified in international Chinese and domestic students’ accounts of their experiences of internationalization at a Canadian university including: education and marketization, academic pressure and performance, language, intercultural connections and barriers, and cultural hybridity. Results indicated that students responded to internationalization in complex and contradictory ways. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was used as a tool to demonstrate growth in students’ intercultural sensitivity. The intercultural experiences students discussed in interviews were difficult to compare with the inventory results. The IDI did not, in the space of one academic year, capture the finer nuances and changes in students’ intercultural growth and sensitivity. Students’ intercultural sensitivity, as indicated by the EDI scores, did not necessarily progress or improve with increased intercultural contact and in some cases, it decreased

The Sociological Practitioner in Organizational Health Promotion Programming

In this paper, the roles of the sociological practitioner will be investigated as they apply to the rapidly growing field of organizational health promotion. Health promotion programs include a combination of educational, organizational, and environmental activities designed to support health-conducive behavior within the work setting. Such programs usually include weight reduction programs, aerobic exercise classes, blood pressure monitoring and so on. Theoretically, the ideas of Mead and Becker are investigated as one approach to the understanding of health behaviors. Methodologically, the utilization of needs assessment and evaluation tools provide integral information for the development of a program specifically tailored to meet the needs of an organization. Finally, the clinical sociologist, as a practitioner, can work to design successful programmatic interventions for the worksite. The field of helath promotion provides a number of roles within which sociologists could find viable employment

International Chinese and Canadian Students\u27 Experiences of Internationalization at a Canadian University

Internationalization, as a response to globalization, is one of the key drivers and shapers of the fundamental changes transforming the world of higher education. There is a need to understand internationalization within higher education from the vantage point of the domestic and international students who are currently being educated because their experiences testify to the provision of quality education. Using a Case Study approach this research explores ways that the internationalization of higher education impacts students’ intercultural relations, identities, intercultural sensitivity, critical understandings, notions of citizenship and futures. A postcolonial perspective is used to explore how students perceive the influences of globalization. Contemporary ideological constructions of globalization are seen in historical and cultural contexts and not as naturalized and reified economic processes. Various themes were identified in international Chinese and domestic students’ accounts of their experiences of internationalization at a Canadian university including: education and marketization, academic pressure and performance, language, intercultural connections and barriers, and cultural hybridity. Results indicated that students are impacted by internationalization in complex and contradictory ways. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was used as a tool to demonstrate growth in students’ intercultural sensitivity. The intercultural experiences students discussed in interviews were difficult to compare with the inventory results. The IDI did not, in the space of one academic year, capture the finer nuances and changes in students’ intercultural growth and sensitivity. Students’ intercultural sensitivity did not necessarily progress or improve with increased intercultural contact and in some cases, it decreased

On Reconstructing Trust: Time, Intention, and Forgiveness

The central focus of this paper is the mechanisms that ordinary people use in their everyday lives to manage relations that have included trust violations. Trust violations provide the impetus for strong emotional experiences. Many relationships recuperate from significant violations of trust, although in a changed form. Our data, gathered from ten in-depth interviews, indicated that on those occasions where individuals deemed the relationship worth salvaging, our respondents and their violators participated in a negotiation process that included the following components: the passing of time, an assessment of the seriousness of the violation and the intent of the other, the offering of an apology, and the rendering of forgiveness. Trust is an orientation to self, other, and relationship whose existence provides the framework for the possibility of intense emotional experiences such as love and hate. These experiences provide a motivating force and goal for the construction, maintenance, and destruction of interpersonal relationships which comprise the fabric of society