Blending Cultures of Pedagogy

Abstract

Liberal arts schools and university programs are flourishing in India. Over the past decade economic growth and the ability to pay for education have spurred the creation of private and public liberal arts schools. As internationalization of higher education and cross-border movements of students become increasingly more common, a new generation of students is now familiar with global education and corresponding western pedagogies. Along with the increase in study abroad programs is the rise in demand for quality liberal arts institutions at home. This study of O.P. Jindal Global University, founded in 2007, and the Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities (jslh) examines the contradictions and challenges inherent in supplanting long-held traditional teaching methods and classroom culture with the western concept of liberal education. The jslh faculty consists of Indian and foreign instructors while all students are Indian. Applying qualitative research methods of direct observation, interviews with faculty and students and surveys, the author examines changes in the traditional classroom power dynamics and the acceptance and resistance to new pedagogies. One strategy for addressing challenges, such as the faculty’s resistance to change was through in-depth discussion among faculty of the merits and limitations of traditional education and experiential learning. Foreign faculty benefitted from co-teaching with Indian faculty as all parties made a conscious effort to recognize cultural differences in student-teacher relations.