What lessons to be learnt from reflective learning journals written by students to improve learning and intercultural awareness?

 

This paper addresses the problem of mixing Danish engineering students having 3 years of experience with project work in teams, with foreign students starting on Master Engineering educations with close to zero PBL experience.

The first semester the foreign students are working in teams together and given special help to develop team and project work skills. When Danish and foreign students are grouped in mixed teams on the 2^nd semester, the Danish students still are experts in project work and they are not familiar with taking in less skilled newcomers.

A new course was established for Danish 1st semester Master students in 2007, with a double purpose of both developing team work and intercultural skills further and restart the students reflection and talking about how they actually work together, to prepare them to take in foreign students on the 2^nd semester. To secure the latter part and the learning goal the students have to write an individual learning journal. The setup of the course and the learning journals was presented at last years SEFI conference.

This paper will investigate the learning portfolios further, now having two years experiences in app. 100 portfolios. The focus will be on intercultural awareness and the lessons to be learnt about how to prepare for and start up an intercultural teamwork in problem solving.