Learning in an online distance education course: Experiences of three international students

This case study explores the learning experiences of three international students who were enrolled in an online master’s program offered by a large university in Canada. The aim of the study was to understand the international students’ experiences with, and perspectives on, the online learning env...

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Autores principales:	Zuochen Zhang, Richard Kenny
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Athabasca University Press 2010
Materias:	distance education online learning CMC international students Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/cf50cef59ba24a18ba33778c0d9dc422
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:cf50cef59ba24a18ba33778c0d9dc4222021-12-02T19:20:49ZLearning in an online distance education course: Experiences of three international students10.19173/irrodl.v11i1.7751492-3831https://doaj.org/article/cf50cef59ba24a18ba33778c0d9dc4222010-03-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/775https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831This case study explores the learning experiences of three international students who were enrolled in an online master’s program offered by a large university in Canada. The aim of the study was to understand the international students’ experiences with, and perspectives on, the online learning environment. Findings indicate that previous education and especially language proficiency strongly impacted the learning of these students in this environment. Non-native English speakers required considerably more time to process readings and postings and to make postings themselves. Their lack of familiarity with the details of North American culture and colloquial language made it difficult to follow much of the course discussion. They also tended to avoid socializing in the course, which left them at the periphery of course activities. Based on these findings, the authors make the following recommendations for designers and instructors of online courses: 1) Raise the English language proficiency requirement for graduate admissions into online programs because the text-based communication in a CMC space requires interpreting messages without non-verbal cues; 2) Ensure that online distance education course designers are aware of the needs and expectations of international students; and 3) Combine the design principles from both traditional and constructivism theories.Zuochen ZhangRichard KennyAthabasca University Pressarticledistance educationonline learningCMCinternational studentsSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 11, Iss 1 (2010)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	distance education online learning CMC international students Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	distance education online learning CMC international students Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Zuochen Zhang Richard Kenny Learning in an online distance education course: Experiences of three international students
description	This case study explores the learning experiences of three international students who were enrolled in an online master’s program offered by a large university in Canada. The aim of the study was to understand the international students’ experiences with, and perspectives on, the online learning environment. Findings indicate that previous education and especially language proficiency strongly impacted the learning of these students in this environment. Non-native English speakers required considerably more time to process readings and postings and to make postings themselves. Their lack of familiarity with the details of North American culture and colloquial language made it difficult to follow much of the course discussion. They also tended to avoid socializing in the course, which left them at the periphery of course activities. Based on these findings, the authors make the following recommendations for designers and instructors of online courses: 1) Raise the English language proficiency requirement for graduate admissions into online programs because the text-based communication in a CMC space requires interpreting messages without non-verbal cues; 2) Ensure that online distance education course designers are aware of the needs and expectations of international students; and 3) Combine the design principles from both traditional and constructivism theories.
format	article
author	Zuochen Zhang Richard Kenny
author_facet	Zuochen Zhang Richard Kenny
author_sort	Zuochen Zhang
title	Learning in an online distance education course: Experiences of three international students
title_short	Learning in an online distance education course: Experiences of three international students
title_full	Learning in an online distance education course: Experiences of three international students
title_fullStr	Learning in an online distance education course: Experiences of three international students
title_full_unstemmed	Learning in an online distance education course: Experiences of three international students
title_sort	learning in an online distance education course: experiences of three international students
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2010
url	https://doaj.org/article/cf50cef59ba24a18ba33778c0d9dc422
work_keys_str_mv	AT zuochenzhang learninginanonlinedistanceeducationcourseexperiencesofthreeinternationalstudents AT richardkenny learninginanonlinedistanceeducationcourseexperiencesofthreeinternationalstudents
_version_	1718376822652010496

Learning in an online distance education course: Experiences of three international students

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