Abstract:
Introduction and backgroundThis paper aims to further theorise on the challenges and processes surrounding transnational curriculum design in Internationalisation at a Distance (IaD) higher education contexts. To date, the literature on internationalisation in higher education has noted the development of three modes of internationalisation. Internationalisation Abroad (IA) entails the geographic relocation of students and their exposure to a higher education context and curricular content outside of their home country. Internationalisation at home (IaH), on the other hand, is said to occur when students are educated in institutions that have integrated international and intercultural curricular dimensions into the domestic learning environments . More recently, the term ‘Internationalisation at a Distance’ (IaD) has been used to denote a new form of exchange in which knowledge and ideas are internationally mobile with the support of technologies, rather than the students themselves. This theorization of internationalisation, underscores a need to prioritise research not only in areas of IaD pedagogical development, but also in transnational curriculum development, design and adaptation. Designing and delivering offshore programs require the development or adjustments of curriculum, which cannot be constructed by knowledge alone. “Context” and “form” have to be taken into consideration when designing curriculum, especially in the complex cultural and linguistic context of transnational education. The paper offers a critical reflection of the seven-stage “Transnational Curriculum Design Framework’ as the authors encountered several limitations when applied in the design of an IaD program.Method Adopting a case-study approach of internationalization at a distance, IaD, this paper examines the processes involved in design, adaptation and implementation of transnational curriculum, paying particular attention to the role of contextualization, relationality, boundaries and (im)mobility. The analysis of linear models of international curriculum development is framed by a social realist approach to curriculum and pedagogy that frames the contextualization of international curriculum though a ‘didactic triangle’. Further theorizing the triangle through the case study will develop a curriculum model to show the process of internationalization as an idealized alignment between educational, cultural contexts and knowledge making, and is a deliberative selective process that has cultural and ideational influence. Results and ConclusionThis paper presents a modified theoretical model for transnational curriculum design that was used to support the development, adaptation and implementation of curriculum in the context of IaD in the present study. The chapter/paper hence makes a novel contribution to the study of IaD and the enactment of transnational curriculum.