This worksheet prompts students to consider their digital identity in terms of academic development and to prepare for a portfolio project. Created by Steven Harris-Scott, Ph.D., and Amy Lewis, Ed.D., for INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Material Type: Module
Having students create a plan of study for their academic disciplines is essential for making progress in graduate study and identifying ways to be academically successful. Created by Steven Harris-Scott, Ph.D., and Amy Lewis, Ed.D., for INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
Material Type: Module
Being a graduate student and further studying in your academic discipline comes with the responsibility to deeper understand and apply academic integrity in a variety of situation. Students apply the knowledge gained about academic integrity to a situation described in a case study. This emphasizes ethical decision-making skills. It can be designed to expose students to a situation in which they work independently on a response as an assignment or collaborative conditions during class time. A comprehensive debrief is also recommended. Created by Steven Harris-Scott, Ph.D., and Amy Lewis, Ed.D., for INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Material Type: Module
This module is for lessons on plagiarism and academic integrity. International students learning in the U.S. tend to struggle both with the concept of plagiarism and the proper execution of citations and giving credit to their sources. Therefore, in INTO Mason's graduate transition courses, we spend one or two weeks on the concept of plagiarism and academic integrity with an Academic Integrity Research Paper as the assessment. Created by Steven Harris-Scott, Ph.D., and Amy Lewis, Ed.D., for INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Material Type: Module
The purpose of the elevator pitch activity is to encourage graduate students to think clearly about how they communicate their professional identity. In this assignment, students are asked to identify: strengths and skills; areas of interest in their disclipline; and professional goals for the near term. Students work to develop a 30-40 second elevator pitch that they can use in networking scenarios and career events. Created by Steven Harris-Scott, Ph.D., Amy Lewis, Ed.D., and Emma Cutrufello, Ph.D., for INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA.
Material Type: Module
The purpose of activity reflections is to encourage graduate students to become involved in academic and professional communities. By engaging in their field of study outside of the classroom environment, they are able to: introduce themselves in different situations, build academic and professional relationships, connect issues that they learn in the classroom to current discourse, and use reflection techniques to refine their academic and professional goals. Created by Steven Harris-Scott, Ph.D., and Amy Lewis, Ed.D., for INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA.
Material Type: Module
A reflection journal is designed for students to learn from experiences. This reflective journal focuses on basic concepts of academic development for graduate study and future professional development. Reflective learning requires a systematic review of learning experiences and intentional applications of concepts that are discussed in class. Written reflections require substantial context and connectivity of ideas and thoughts. Each journal entry is a minimum of 350 words and submitted bi-weekly. This reflection journal was designed to compliment course lessons and reiterate course learning objevtices. Created by Steven Harris-Scott, Ph.D., and Amy Lewis, Ed.D., for INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA.
Material Type: Module
This group project is designed for international students to research into topics related to the theme of success in graduate school and give a presentation to their classmates on their topic, preferably teaching the class on that topic but also engaging the class in the lesson. Students will also listen intently as their classmates present and critique some presentations formally. The instructor usually offers the students a variety of topics but groups can propose other topics to the instructor for his/her approval. Created by Steven Harris-Scott, Ph.D., and Amy Lewis, Ed.D., for INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Material Type: Module
Building the capacity to synthesize and to convey meanings from course reading is an essential skill for graduate study. In being a reading leader for a course session, students will demonstrate reading comprehension, presentation, and teamwork skills. Created by Steven Harris-Scott, Ph.D., and Amy Lewis, Ed.D., for INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). .
Material Type: Module
Students, particularly international graduate students, often do not know all the details of the field they have chosen to study and the resources available therein. In addition, they when they begin graduate school, they must adjust to the nature of the Western model where knowledge is created and shared within the field of study in a critical-thinking based model. The best way for them to truly enter the conversation of knowledge is to jump in and experience the information as fully as they can. Journals, associations and trade publications all provide a wealth of information - much of it free to students - for them to explore and think through how they want to make a contribution.
Material Type: Module
International students are often unsure of how to help each other with their writing within an American academic context. They might feel they do not have the expertise in the format or the content to improve each other's work. In this type of targeted lesson, students feel empowered to make comments based on what they hear, and they are not required to make so many comments that it seems overwhelming. In addition, because of the reading and listening aspects of the lesson, students are engaged in practicing different types of skills in the activity. The goal is for students to come away with enough constructive criticism from their peers to move forward with the next draft of their written work but in an environment that is supportive and practical for their purposes. Created by Aimee Weinstein, INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Material Type: Module
All too often international graduate students become paralyzed when asked to write in a Western academic context. They are concerned about their grammar and formatting and they lose sight of the assignment's meaning and purpose. In addition, the students, who already have an undergraduate degree related to their field of graduate study, often forget about their content area expertise in their concern for producing "correct" work for their professors in their graduate classes. In the beginnign phases of recognizing writing as a process, researcher Peter Elbow examined the uses of freewriting in his classrooms, calling it the best way to get out ideas in a disorganized fashion so that the editing and organizing can go on later in the writing process. (Elbow 1973) He likens the freewriting process to the use of voice; a writers voice must be formulated and created before it can be molded and shaped (Elbow 1973). Therefore, freewriting is one of the biggest gifts to give international students so they can find their voice and create authentic text in later drafts. Remind the students of their expertise in the field via allowing for free expression of ideas through the use of free writing. It is a first step for the students in creating the academic texts that will be necessary throughout their academic careers.Resource: Writing Without Teachers. New York: Oxford UP, 1973
Material Type: Module
International students are often unaccustomed to the American focus on critical thinking in the classroom. One of the most useful ways to introduce these students to the idea is via reflective practice. If we can help students reflect on a lesson or an experience, it opens an avenue to them to engage with their own thoughts on the topic presented and then be open to the ideas of classmates the teacher guides the process of creating knowledge together in the classroom. While the students are engaged in flexing the "muscle" of reflective practice, they are also being exposed to the action of thiking critically so they can reproduce the experience on their own going forward.
Material Type: Module
All too often it is not just a language problem that prevents international students from communicating clearly with their professors. Some of the communication gap might be due to lack of knowledge of email conventions that American professors take for granted that their students will use. Such conventions include the use of formal language, the inclusion of a thank you phrase at the end of the message, and the kindness when making requests of the teacher. It is useful when teaching international graduate students to go over the expectations for email use between the student and professor. Asking the students to read a bit about email etiquette before class and then doing the following worksheet in class will help.
Material Type: Module
