International students’ transition to university: Connection and disconnection in online group work interactions

Catherine Lang,Eva Dakich,Jade Sleeman

doi:10.5204/ssj.v10i2.1300

Abstract

An Australian higher education experience often includes group work as an important social learning opportunity. For international students, taking part in a group assignment can positively influence learning and adjustment to the new cultural and educational context through social interaction. However, students are increasingly choosing to use digital technologies to participate in group assignments, which may impact on opportunities available to make social connections with peers. This study investigated the experiences of 26 international students as they transitioned to study at an Australian university about their use of social media for group assignments and their resulting perceptions of connection to classmates. Analysis of the results suggests that students who engaged in collaborative rather than cooperative interactions via social media were more likely to perceive a connection to their classmates. This has implications for educators to include classroom modelling of digitally-mediated collaborative interactions to benefit students’ participation in group assignments, which can improve the transition experience through social connection.

Highlights

Group assignments are popularly used in higher education courses to facilitate social learning interactions among students
The literature abounds with various terms such as ‘peer learning’, ‘group work’, ‘cooperative’ or ‘collaborative learning’, and ‘learning communities’, but it is the concept of learning in groups to bridge the gap between academic and social life which is key to student engagement (Tinto, 1997)
The major theme identified in this study was that students were using informal social media platforms to conduct group assignments

Summary

Introduction

Group assignments are popularly used in higher education courses to facilitate social learning interactions among students While these interactions can have advantages for learning, they can provide students with opportunities to make social connections that can increase engagement (Zhao & Kuh, 2004). Where group assignments would once have entailed face-to-face interaction, they are often conducted using digital technologies, such as social network sites (SNSs) (Henderson, Selwyn, Finger, & Aston, 2015). For this reason, this study investigated the digitally-mediated experiences of international students in group assignment situations, and their resulting perceptions of connections to classmates. One important finding from this approach are the differences between groups that interact in what can be described as a collaborative manner, and those that are cooperative

Results

Discussion

Conclusion