I’ve been reading an article by Maggi Savin-Gaden that discusses different «constellations» in problem-based learning. I like the constellation metaphor – it conjurs up images of The Enterprise «going where no man has gone before».

While reading the article I’ve been thinking about how this relates to my job as International Coordinator. It seems that international coordinator’s in academia are either placed in administration (my position) or in teaching, resulting in quite different manifestations of the possible. I have experienced some amazing teachers who straddle both roles as well as any two-horse rodeo rider, but I have also experienced teachers quite flustered by not understanding that successful teaching is not just about what they deliver in the classroom – it depends on the students» state of mind when they enter the classroom as well. And that state of mind depends a lot on obvious and not so obvious actions and interventions done by international coordinators.

Savin-Baden discusses three modes of knowledge in her article, where mode 3 is being able to identify epistemological gaps and engage with them. A story came to mind when I reflected on this – An Ethiopian student who came to campus in a suit with a briefcase the first day for example. A suit and a briefcase had no place at a rural campus in the southern mountains of Norway. Taking the time to walk around campus with this student and play «guess what role that person has here» with the student helped him to start to unravel his own concepts of dresscode and hierarchy – although discovering that the scruffy, bearded man in shorts and sandals was NOT the janitor, but one of Norway’s best know eco-philosophers was a bit traumatic. So, in this respect I see that part of my role is in spending informal time with students to «catch» their cultural knowledge gaps and help them fill them. As someone who is not a teacher, and not going to be evaluating them, it may be easier for some students to either ask, or inadvertently reveal this to me.

But what really resonated with me in Savin-Badin’s article were «Constellations» 2 and 3 – the one related to PBL related to learning through activity and the other relating to project-led learning. Both of these focus on «Knowledge that transcends disciplines and is produced and validated through the work». When I try to describe what I actually DO, I realize I am trying to describe what Captain Kirk does – I am travelling in and out of these different constellations – sometimes at warp-speed.

An example of this would be the evolution of the Norwegian Police University College’s «International Student Weeks». The idea came about during a discussion that identified a problem – irrational use of the international office’s time due to ad-hoc solutions for visit requests, coupled with the desire to get Norwegian students more involved with international students. From there to identifying themes for the weeks, and finally potential collaborative partners – all based on what I now know is Mode 3 thinking.

The end result – 3 topics – 3 weeks – about 25 students each week representing 7 European countries and 4 different professions. I think it is more accurate to say that everyone involved in these weeks moved at warp-speed between these constellations – here is an example: The majority of students were police students, but in the mix we had social workers and child protection advocates who happened to come from the West Bank and Myanmar. At the end of a week of discussing solutions to different cases these two particular students said that never in their lives would they have thought they could feel safe in a room filled with police: knowledge gaps uncovered – explored – and filled. And equally important, several police students said «Now we know that the police and the social workers are working for the same goal, different tools, but the same goal – from now on we can work to include them in problem-solving» – here, not only knowledge gaps uncovered and engaged in – but a very real practical outcome that points to better inter-professional project management in the future.

For sure, international coordinators have housekeeping obligations – it’s part of the job, but giving them an equal voice – and equal stake in designing international programs and projects is an important step to uncovering knowledge gaps that need filling.