Create an online learning environment international students feel comfortable in

I first entered the classroom as an international student in September 1997. It was an introductory level master’s course called “end user computing”, and that two-hour session was a very distressing experience. I could not understand most of what the professor was saying – his accent was difficult to follow, despite my having been educated in English and English being my main language of communication at home. I was worried that after paying international student fees, I was going to fail this course and all the others.

I was a mature student with a family, and it was our third day in Australia. I was almost close to quitting, but I wanted to talk to the programme adviser before making a decision. The adviser counselled me to persevere and suggested how I could cope with this situation. It was, she said, a situation common to the many international students she had advised in her long career, but could be turned around with some effort. I did manage to turn it around.

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Let’s fast-forward to March 2020. I was applying for academic jobs, and the world around us was changing. On the day of one interview, I was told that it would be on Zoom. I would have to do an online lecture and use the Zoom feature to set up breakout rooms for in-class activities. I hadn’t used Zoom before and didn’t even have a Zoom account. The interview was a disaster.

I have recounted these examples from my life to illustrate the experiences that have shaped my approach to teaching, especially when teaching international students online.

Challenges for international students are amplified online

My personal experience is familiar to many international students. Over the past 25 years, I’ve interacted often with international students, and many of them have told me that their first term or semester is almost a write-off. The challenges they face are so overwhelming, they aim just to pass the courses. These include the challenges of understanding their teachers’ accents, working with multicultural groups and adjusting to different assessment structures and expectations.

During the two-year period when international students had to learn online, these challenges were amplified. Students felt distracted and isolated because of the lack of a physical presence, and this curtailed their ability to establish a sense of connection with the teacher and fellow students.

Strategies for creating an effective online learning environment

Practical application of both Chickering and Gamson’s seven principles of good practice in education and David H. Rose and Anne Meyer’s universal design for learning offers ways to address these challenges. Developing a learning philosophy, built on a critical analysis of these approaches, helps create an effective online learning environment for international students.

Here are my recommendations:

• During the first session, collaborate with your students and develop a plan to set the boundaries for class discussion
• Send students personal emails outlining how they can make contact. For example, via phone, email or social media platforms, such as LinkedIn
• Provide comprehensive formative feedback to every student
• Offer students a chance to connect through a video call so they can have a one-to-one conversation. This addresses any reluctance they may feel about speaking in online classes
• Apply a personalised mentoring approach to support the diverse range of students.

As modern-day academics operating in a global environment, we teach students with different national, social and ethnic backgrounds. This situation entails a differentiated strategy in pedagogy and not the traditional approach for ongoing assessment, group collaboration, recognition of students’ diverse levels of knowledge, problem-solving and choice in reading and writing experiences. The universal design for learning framework provides a guide to designing learning experiences that are accessible and challenging for all students regardless of their background, skills or abilities. We should strive to ensure that students achieve a common level of understanding.

One of the reasons I enjoy mentoring is because of the opportunity to offer one-to-one advice to students, which reduces the pressure that can come from studying in a cohort. This can be easily replicated in an online setting. Taking the time to give personalised attention can ensure that every student walks away with something of value to their academic and career pursuits.

From wanting to quit as an international student and failing a Zoom interview for an academic position, my journey has progressed to a stage where my Zoom classroom sessions have been highly commended by peers. My learning journey, from an international student to an academic who is regularly invited to offer online sessions to universities across the world, is testament to the fact that we can overcome the challenges of learning online for international students.

Rajeev Kamineni is academic director at Adelaide Business School, the University of Adelaide.

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