Keystone Concepts in Teaching: A Higher Education Podcast from the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning

S2 E19: Teaching Inspiration from Mason Korea

• Stearns Center • Season 2 • Episode 19

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In this episode, two inspiring Mason Korea faculty members, John David McGrew and Dr. Deborah Kwak, join your host, Dr. Rachel Yoho, to explore key considerations for teaching at an international campus of a US university, as well as what has inspired them lately.

Resource: https://masonkorea.gmu.edu 

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Rachel:

Hello and welcome to Keystone Concepts in Teaching. I'm your host, Rachel Yoho. And this is a podcast from the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning at George Mason University, where we share impactful and evidence-based teaching practices to support all students and faculty. I'm very excited to be joined by this episode's guests who are both from Mason Korea. We are joined by Professor John David McGrew, and we are joined by Dr. Deborah Kwak. So thank you so much to both of you for joining us. I'm very excited to chat with you today.

Deborah:

Good to be here.

John David:

Yeah. Thank you so much for having us.

Rachel:

Yeah, absolutely. So what we wanted to talk about in this episode is really what teaching at Mason Korea, at this type of international campus of a US based university, not only is like, but also what we can share with perhaps people who might be interested in teaching at Mason Korea or what that really teaches us about teaching in general, so that broad audience for both Mason Korea faculty and US based or other areas based faculty. Can one of you start us off with telling us a little bit about your teaching experience at Mason Korea?

Deborah:

Yeah, so, I'm entering my fifth year at Mason Korea, and I usually teach my area or my discipline is sociology, and then peace and conflict. So usually I teach sociology courses, also criminal justice courses. And then in my first two years I've been teaching peace and conflict courses as well. And then the number of students per course, you know, 25 to 30 is very typical for me. And then smaller classes sometimes range from 10 to 15 students. And most of the time this is higher level, you know, 300 level courses, sociology courses.

John David:

I have taught in the Computer Game Design program here at Mason Korea for about four years. My specialty is in 3D modeling, animation, and digital art. So all the courses I teach are major courses. Typically I have around 10 to 25 students per class.

Rachel:

Thank you both so much. So we're interested in talking with our audience about teaching at Mason Korea, right? So whether they're already part of the community there, or simply other Mason faculty, or perhaps other faculty at other institutions who may have campuses and other parts of the world as well. So what can you tell us from your perspective, from your substantial years of experience, you know, what do you think are some of the most important considerations or perhaps maybe some recommendations about teaching in that particular community with Mason Korea?

Deborah:

So I've taught in another institution before and I was thinking about what are kinda the unique strengths of Mason Korea, and in talking to an audience who might be interested in Mason Korea, I think there are several factors. So first of all, I think, Mason Korea's faculty, many if not all of them, are very enthusiastic about teaching and making sure that our students are learning and that they're engaged in the classroom. And so I think the level of enthusiasm is very high within the Mason Korea community. The other thing that I wanted to say is I think our Mason Korea community of students, most of them are very academically high achieving students. And so the majority of them are Korean students, although we do have a small number of international students. But, you know, these are students who have been told all their life that, you know, learning and education is really important and that it will determine their opportunities in their life and in their future. And so very much concerned about grades, very invested in the classroom. So I think that's one important, unique factor that Mason Korea has. And then I wanted to say that, and this is connected to the first point that I talked about, which is that, you know, faculty are very enthusiastic about teaching, is collegiality. And so collegiality around teaching. And so we have kind of all around our community, small groups of faculty who support each other in teaching. We also sometimes observe each other's classrooms. And it doesn't have to be the same discipline. For example in my program, which is the non-major courses in the CHSS program. So we do monthly kinda small teaching or sharing of small teaching practices. And so we talk about our teaching all of the time. We talk about our classroom and students all of the time and how we can be better teachers basically. Right? And so, collegiality. And then I think the last thing I wanted to mention was because we're so much into teaching, even our research agendas are related to teaching, right? So many of us were engaged in mentoring undergraduates in scholarship and doing research themselves. And then for our own research, we do engage in teaching and learning scholarships. So if you are interested in joining Mason Korea, I think that's an area where they can kind of pursue in their research.

Rachel:

Yeah, that's great. I mean, we definitely have a lot of engagement also between the Fairfax campus and Mason Korea. I personally enjoy working with the Mason Korea instructor community a great deal as well. And I've definitely noticed as well with some of our different areas, you know, like you mentioned, CHSS, like the College of Humanities and Social Sciences or certain other areas, really tend to have very close instructor and instructional interest communities. That's great. I appreciate your mentioning that, but yeah, John, do you wanna tell us a little bit more about some of your experiences as well, or your thoughts here?

John David:

Yeah, I might echo some of what Deborah just said, but even though a large portion of our student body is our domestic students from Korea, many of them have an international experience. So there's a really rich, not only a rich Korean culture here, but there's a rich international culture. Some of these students have studied overseas, or they've lived overseas, all around the world. And so there's a lot to draw on there, I think. Korea of itself has a really beautiful culture, but just bringing in all those different experiences makes this a very nice experience. That being said, because we teach an environment where we have a majority of students that are speaking English as a second language, we have to think about just the general accommodation that we need to have in the classroom. How do we pace our lessons? How do we make things more concise and clear? How do we create opportunities for students that may be struggling to follow class that they have a secondary option of keeping up with the course and the course content? So those are some of the challenges that I didn't see, didn't quite understand maybe coming in that I've come to understand better as I've interacted with students and tried to connect with them and help them grow and become more versed in my content area.

Rachel:

I appreciate your sharing there. We had another episode in our previous season talking about multilingualism and how that impacts education. But I think that's such a great point that people might not be thinking about as they're listening about the Mason Korea campus and thinking very specifically about our multilingual students. So that's such a great point. And I think this also kind of leads me into our next question. Can you maybe expand on this a little bit or perhaps compare and contrast the Korean context for teaching maybe broadly or perhaps the US university international campus type of context. Because both of you, you know, have teaching experience in other parts of the world as well.

Deborah:

I think this is an interesting question. I mean definitely because my previous institution was in the US in Canton, Ohio, and I think there is many similarities in terms of, in Korea having this American education, higher education system in Korea, I mean, that's definitely what you would see at Mason Korea. Having said that, I think because we are located in Korea, there are many creative ways that we could take the same content materials and maybe provide kind of other opportunities for students in the classroom. So for example, in my introduction to criminal justice classroom, we talk about corrections and the interesting thing is this is a completely American context classroom, right? American context, criminal justice. And so it's the same material. I use the same textbook. A lot of the times it's the same online resources. Having said that, for example, when I talk about juveniles, because the topic of juvenile justice is very controversial and pretty big in Korea right now. A lot of the public perception, for example, is that, you know, we are being very lenient towards the juveniles in the justice system. So I know this context, I also wanna bring that debate into the classroom and I encourage my students to share their own perspectives and opinions. But then also I wanna kind of bring more evidence, for example, about brain research and ask them to be critical of their own perspectives. Right? The other thing that I try to do is kind of make it career specific. So like when we talk about corrections, I want them to visit, and I do, this is a self-guided field trip where they go to a Korean corrections facility. It's a historical facility, so now it's changed into a museum. And so they have to all go and think about the concept of social construction, right? So it's the same concept, but in a way I provide an experiential learning opportunity that is very career specific and that you can't get anywhere else.

John David:

Just maybe expanding a bit on what was said before. I try to provide students with opportunity to make mistakes in the classroom. Most of the things that we do are not one and done, either through providing them with opportunities to turn in drafts beforehand, or milestones or even resubmit work to correct some of the issues that were found in the original submission. Also, I found that students here tend to be a little bit in general, tend to be a little bit more reserved in opening up and engaging in class. And so I also try to provide students with an opportunity to have time to take things in and digest them and prepare how they're going to speak. So if I plan a discussion, at least the class before or even a week before, I give them discussion questions to look over, so that they are prepared during class to be able to say those things. Because many people, even in their native language, they find it hard to respond to a question, particularly in an academic setting, just off the cuff. And having said that, idiom, that's something else that maybe I, I need to work on is trying to restrain myself from using colloquialisms and idioms in the classroom without at least explaining what's going on. So I have to rewrite all my jokes as well. Um, or otherwise, it's a complete silence anytime they're delivered.

Rachel:

Complete silence. A lot of explaining. Yeah. No, makes sense. Absolutely. Yeah.

Deborah:

I wanted to add to John's point because it's really good. And I think this is kind of going back to his point about, you know, teaching bilingual students and then trying to come up with these creative accommodations that work for our majority student population. I think it's important to, perhaps, mention that a lot of these students who have gone to Korean public schools have had this education style or learning style in the classroom where their perspectives were not really considered as important. It's not really important to talk about what you think, but it's more important to listen to your teacher and just kind of digest that and then perform through tests. Right? And so we have many of these students in our classroom. And in a way they're challenging themselves because they put themselves, and their parents also investing in, you know, putting themselves in that situation where they have to do something completely different from what they're very much used to all their lives. Right. So I think I really appreciate John's perspective where, you know, as a teacher, as a professor, you have to always remind yourself that that's the context where in which they come from. And then of course, over time, you do see them grow into really considering their own perspectives. Like my opinions, what I think, even if it's half-baked thoughts, like it's important. And then, and then now I'm interested in what my peers think. Right? And so, really kind of thinking about ways in which to do that. I was also gonna add and say that, in my SOCI 101, I do structure discussion. And structure discussion is really important for my students because they can prepare in advance. Right? And so when they come into the classroom and do small group discussion, I don't give them like open-ended questions, like right then and there, but they've already prepared, and I tell them, you shouldn't be afraid to share because you've written it and you should just share what you have in front of you. So I think that does help in reducing student anxiety, somewhat.

Rachel:

That's such a compelling point when we're thinking about the move from that type of educational system into a little bit more active or a little bit more engaged style. And also even then, when we're thinking about bringing in those elements of reflection or the student's positionality, or the students even just a perspective on a particular topic and the challenges there. I really like how you're describing like that sort of stepwise process and helping not only with some of the multilingual or the bilingual aspects, but also the preparation, the interest in sharing. That's really important. So I guess as we continue on, I'd be really interested in your thoughts, maybe something recently or perhaps mildly recently that has inspired you in your teaching that you'd be interested in sharing.

John David:

I recently taught a course where the students were very excited to learn. This isn't necessarily completely unique, but, uh, the level of excitement

Rachel:

Hopefully not.

John David:

the level of excitement I think was unique and the student's desire to really expand on what was being taught outside of class. Asking for resources and ways in which they could take what they learned in class and then build upon that just in their own individual projects, I think was really inspiring and just reminded me, yeah, I really do need to spend more time really sparking that excitement and students. I teach in a, an exciting area, computer game design, and I, games are supposed to

Rachel:

A very cool area.

John David:

Yeah, games are supposed to be fun. So I bring some of that fun into teaching how to build those games. I think was another just a good reminder to me and a good inspiration to move forward and carry that excitement with me and help the students hopefully also catch hold of that.

Deborah:

Yeah, I think my mine is also pretty similar to John's. This is my fifth year of teaching at Mason Korea and, you know, usually, although I make some adjustments depending on the student group that I have that semester, a lot of the times, you know, many things that we say and do and the activities and assignments are very similar or same. But having said that, I think it really matters and I really believe in student professor interactions because if you see that students are engaged in your classroom and with the activities that you give them, then you as a professor, of course, will become enthusiastic and more enthusiastic about supporting those students. And so, recently a couple of them, my SOCI 101, they went out and they conducted an observation. And so they're supposed to write ethnographic field notes after the 40 minute silent observation that they're supposed to do. And it's a 10 point assignment. And when students submitted them, out of the, you know, 35 students, like I think around, seven or so, wrote some really excellent detailed field notes. Including their reflections and then possibly merging research questions that come out of their observation. And I thought, wow, like the level of just curiosity, as well as just the way that they take this assignment so seriously, right? And sometimes it's the attitude that really matters. Although right pro the product and the outcome is important as well,'cause you grade them. But you can also, when you read something, you can see that this student is very enthusiastic about learning and getting something out of your classroom, and I think that really matters to me. And so then you wanna make sure that you support that growth because you know that you can see it, right? You can see that happening in the classroom.

Rachel:

Yeah. These are such great points. I appreciate your sharing these experiences. You know, sometimes people talk about education with so many comparisons, like, you know, filling a cup, lighting a fire, but when we see our students say adding wood to that fire, it makes us even more enthusiastic.'Cause teaching can be very challenging if we think everyone feels indifferent and trying to inspire indifferent people is challenging. But when we see that in return, that engagement, I think that's such a great experience for everyone in this space as well. So any other insights that you wish to share or that you'd like to talk about in this context or just about teaching, things that you think are cool?

John David:

I'll go first and Deborah, feel free to correct or condemn anything that I say. I'll talk, I'll talk a little bit about, again, the rich Korean culture. I think this is a great part about being here at Mason Korea. Many Koreans really appreciate it if you take an interest in the language and culture and you make an effort. Even my Korean language skills are very, very base level, but even just trying to learn a phrase or two and trying to use that, a lot of gratitude is expressed towards me for doing that. And then taking an interest in the culture is always been really appreciated, I think. In general with my experience with particularly the Korean students, they're trying to make connections. They ask about your Myers-Briggs personality, M BTI type. They ask about your blood type and other things as well, but they're trying to make connections with us and, for us being willing to be open to those connections so that we can help them better I think is really useful. So that, those are some of the things that I've appreciated being here at Mason Korea.

Deborah:

Yeah. Adding to that, I completely agree. I think, and this kind of goes back to the connection right, that we have with our students, I think the connection that I have with my students is really important in order to have a productive classroom and also discussion. I think one way that I connect with my students, especially with the bilingual students is mentioning that I'm also bilingual and I also have experienced those same challenges. And sometimes they don't believe me. But I tell them some specific stories about, you know, embarrassing stories and things that I thought once it was shameful, but when I open up, they open up as well. If I don't open up, they won't open up. Right? And so, I always think about this as an interaction. It's always mutual. I think being vulnerable is really important. And then of course, I try to be, create the safe space where we're open to each other and if they need support, then they are also able to come to me easily or more easily or faster throughout the semester. And so, I think that's really important for all teachers to take into consideration the context of the students. But also you should be open enough to talk about your own context. The other thing that I wanted to say was, I think it's too bad that we don't get that this opportunity as much, but I think it's important to observe other people's classrooms. And I've had the privilege of doing that occasionally at Mason Korea. And when we do, even if the teaching style is very different from mine, you know, the person that you're observing their classroom is very different from mine. I do learn so much from that, right? And so, I learn about what to do and maybe what not to do as well, right? Like, I learn about, you know, ways in which people have really been thoughtful in trying to engage students in a different way. Like I've, you know, used various activities and assignments in my classroom over and over again, but then I become more creative about it because, oh, like this person did it this way. So I think, you know, doesn't matter if it's a different discipline department program, I think it's really useful to just go into a different person's classroom, a faculty's classroom and observe them and kind of help your own teaching and inspire your own classroom as well.

Rachel:

Absolutely. That's such a great point. You know, we spend so much time in our own areas, our own, our own heads, really, with our activities and our assignments, and we don't always have to, as the saying goes, if you will, reinvent the wheel, we can, we can borrow and adapt and all of that. That's such a great point. So as we wrap up for today, I think this really brings us to our keystone concept of engagement. But I think it's a little bit different than maybe we've talked about like student engagement before because here we're really talking about that spark. You know, whether it's something creative, something interesting that we're doing, or how we feed off our students' energy and our students feed off our energies, whether that's about openness or vulnerability like Deborah was talking about, or the engagement, like both Deborah and John, you were talking about with your students, really feeding off that energy and that investment, you know, from both sides, from our students and from us as well. I think that's really a different type of engagement than we've talked about before. And I really appreciate your sharing. But with that, I really appreciate your time as well as your insights. I am obviously delighted, to have guests from Mason Korea talking about teaching at Mason Korea. It's so important with this experience, having this campus for George Mason University as well. So thank you so much for your time and your insights, and I look forward to connecting with you in other spaces as well. So please join us with our episodes every two weeks during the academic semesters, and we will catch you in other spaces as well. So thank you so much for your time.

Deborah:

Thank you.

John David:

Thanks, Rachel.