Experiences and Challenges of International Students in Technology-Rich Learning Environments

This article presents a study of international students and their use of technology in a Scandinavian institution of Higher Education. A special emphasis is placed on patterns of use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) that is available to all the study programmes at the institution. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is used as a theoretical approach to focus on the socio-material nature of the various networks that students, teachers, course designers, and artefacts make up within the realm of the institution. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with forty informants, all of them students or staff members at the studied institution. The main findings of the study are that the following factors are essential in the educational experience of international students: the students' level of digital literacy, their degree of understanding of academic and administrative language, and the types of technology that are used in communication. The article also suggests that technology as a socio-material assemblage may encapsulate cultural codes that can be alienating for international students and that there is a need to "open the black boxes" of technology to cater for the needs of international students.

[1]  Peter H. Sawchuk,et al.  Emerging Approaches to Educational Research: Tracing the Socio-Material , 2011 .

[2]  Wiebe E. Bijker,et al.  Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change ed. by Wiebe E. Bijker, John Law (review) , 1994, Technology and Culture.

[3]  Y. Engeström,et al.  Expansive Learning at Work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization , 2001 .

[4]  Johanna E. Nilsson,et al.  The Relationships Among Perfectionism, Acculturation, and Stress in Asian International Students , 2008 .

[5]  Norm Friesen,et al.  The questionable promise of social media for education: connective learning and the commercial imperative , 2012, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[6]  Christine Nadel,et al.  Case Study Research Design And Methods , 2016 .

[7]  O. Hanseth,et al.  Developing Information Infrastructure: The Tension Between Standardization and Flexibility , 1996 .

[8]  M. Patton,et al.  Qualitative evaluation and research methods , 1992 .

[9]  Z. Charlesworth.  Learning styles across cultures: suggestions for educators , 2008 .

[10]  Richard Edwards,et al.  Rethinking contexts for learning and teaching : communities, activities and networks , 2009 .

[11]  Rowena Cullen,et al.  Handbook of Research on Overcoming Digital Divides: Constructing an Equitable and Competitive Information Society , 2011 .

[12]  R. Edwards,et al.  Considering Materiality in Educational Policy: Messy Objects and Multiple Reals. , 2011 .

[13]  Madeleine Akrich,et al.  The De-scription of Technical Objects , 1992 .

[14]  Matthew B. Miles,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook , 1994 .

[15]  Shibao Guo,et al.  Internationalisation of higher education: integrating international students into Canadian academic environment , 2011 .

[16]  R. Edwards,et al.  Actor-Network Theory in Education , 2010 .

[17]  Laurence Wolff,et al.  What is The Digital Divide? 1 , 2002 .

[18]  Steve Fox,et al.  Contexts of teaching and learning: An actor-network view of the classroom , 2009 .

[19]  T. Fenwick.  Reading Educational Reform with Actor Network Theory: Fluid spaces, otherings, and ambivalences , 2011 .

[20]  Mina Eaves.  The relevance of learning styles for international pedagogy in higher education , 2011 .

[21]  L. S. Vygotksy.  Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes , 1978 .

[22]  Tanya J. McGill,et al.  How students and instructors using a virtual learning environment perceive the fit between technology and task , 2007, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[23]  Wen-Hao David Huang,et al.  Comparison of Web 2.0 Technology Acceptance Level based on Cultural Differences , 2011, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[24]  Giovan Francesco Lanzara,et al.  Between transient constructs and persistent structures: designing systems in action , 1999, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[25]  Jan Nespor,et al.  Knowledge In Motion : Space, Time And Curriculum In Undergraduate Physics And Management , 2014 .

[26]  Danah Henriksen,et al.  Situated Learning with Online Portfolios, Classroom Websites and Facebook , 2013 .

[27]  Joseph Kee-Kuok Wong,et al.  Are the Learning Styles of Asian International Students Culturally or Contextually Based , 2004 .

[28]  Pertti Kansanen,et al.  Teaching as Teaching‐Studying‐Learning Interaction , 1999 .

[29]  Laurence Habib,et al.  Virtual learning environments as sociomaterial agents in the network of teaching practice , 2012, Comput. Educ..

[30]  M. Patton.  Qualitative evaluation and research methods, 2nd ed. , 1990 .

[31]  Monica Johannesen,et al.  The role of professional identity in patterns of use of multiple‐choice assessment tools , 2010 .

[32]  Françoise Blin,et al.  Why hasn't technology disrupted academics' teaching practices Understanding resistance to change through the lens of activity theory , 2008, Comput. Educ..

[33]  M. Callon.  Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of St Brieuc Bay , 1984 .

[34]  Yi-Ching Jean Chiu.  Facilitating Asian students' critical thinking in online discussions , 2009, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[35]  Knud Illeris,et al.  Contemporary Theories of Learning : Learning Theorists … In Their Own Words , 2009 .

[36]  Eric Monteiro,et al.  Developing Information Infrastructure: The Tension Between Standardization and Flexibility , 1996 .

[37]  S. Bennett,et al.  When Chinese learners meet constructivist pedagogy online , 2012 .

[38]  Per Hetland,et al.  The Materiality of Learning , 2012 .

[39]  Arthur Sweeney,et al.  Cultural differences, learning styles and transnational education , 2010 .

[40]  E. Srensen.  The Materiality of Learning: Technology and Knowledge in Educational Practice , 2009 .

[41]  Monica Johannesen,et al.  The role of virtual learning environments in a primary school context: An analysis of inscription of assessment practices , 2013, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[42]  Hiro Saito.  Actor‐network theory of cosmopolitan education , 2010 .

[43]  L. Lundahl,et al.  Still Social and Democratic? Inclusive Education Policies in the Nordic Welfare States , 2006 .

[44]  Madeleine Akrich,et al.  A Summary of a Convenient Vocabulary for the Semiotics of Human and Nonhuman Assemblies , 1992 .

[45]  Kari Kuutti,et al.  Supporting Learning at Work by Making Work Activities Visible through Information Technology , 1996 .