Take the United States as an example, during 2014-2015, the international students accounted for 5% of the total college students. And international students also made a great economical impact on U.S. societies. According to the research, they contributed a total of 36 billion dollars (as cited in Wekullo, 2019).

At the same time, the interaction between native and international students have benefited both parties related to insights, cultures and so on (as cited in Wang & BrckaLorenz, 2018).

 

So we can see that international students have played an important role in a country's education and economic development, it is fair to say that their rights should be well protected and will be a critical mission for educators.

 

 

First of all, the background and experience of international students are also ignored by native educators. According to the research, due to the incompetent English skills, international students will seldom participate in the class discussions actively (as cited in Wekullo, 2019), and this further brings pressure for international students. In Wang's article, she mentioned that asking international students to express their ideas is a way to help them, and they should be told that keeping quiet in class is actually a form of distraction (Wang & BrckaLorenz, 2018). But this proposal will cause pressure for international students for sure, as they typically need more time to organize their expression. Besides the class, international students rarely participate in social work (as cited in Wang & BrckaLorenz, 2018).

 

In addition, the race issue also exists in international students. They may have received different levels of education, and for black students, the race issue is more sensitive (as cited in Wekullo, 2019).

 

Furthermore, due to COVID-19, most learning is conducted online now. Online learning poses both convenience and challenges for international students. As Wong pointed out: “sharing work only through digital platforms limits students from skills that are more readily fostered in in person environments (i.e., voice projection, reacting to a live audience in a room)” (p. 13).  What's worse, the lack of body language and the language environment in online learning also makes it harder for international students to learn from the teachers. Like Fullan said, "making digital devices available and helping teachers and students use them is the easy part—but it isn’t pedagogy" （Fullan, 2012, p. 37). So, how to help teachers and students make better use of technology in teaching and learning process, while paying attention to the special situation and needs of international students, this is the challenge that education leaders need to pay attention to.

Initially, due to unqualified language tests results, I had to spend one additional year on the language bridge courses, however, thanks to this preparation year which I interacted a lot with the native teachers, I was pretty confident when I started my master degree. As the previous presenter said, studying overseas is a step-by-step process.

During 2018-2019, I spent one year in Toronto for my language and bridge courses, as a preparation step for my master's degree. It is in this year which I found out the difference between Chinese classes and Canadian classes. For example, in China, students will focus on the questions raised by teachers, however, in Canada, students are encouraged to come up with their own views and concerns, which is critical in cultivating 21st century skills. Another thing is that in China, the teachers will evaluate the student by exams and give feedback on a term basis, however, in Canada, we can talk much more with teachers regarding all kinds of questions and we can always receive feedback in a timely manner.  In terms of communication methods, we mainly use cell phone and text messages in China, while here in Canada, a handful of online tools such as Google Drive, Gmail, Apps are used to improve efficiency. Because of this year, I got more understanding about teaching way in Canada and got ready for my master study.

Now when I am in my master study, the previous experience allows me to actively participate in the various class discussions and can be at the same pace with teachers. After the class, I also actively utilize the email and other apps to talk to instructors. One example I would like to mention is that because I have learned APA format in my bridge course, I saved a lot of time when I write the essay as I do not need to struggle with the APA format any more. Also although I am still not competent in English skills, I am not shy to communicate with native students and participate in various school activities.

However, I do recognize the difficulties the international students are facing when they study in Canada, especially now online learning becomes mainstream due to COVID-19. In previous face-to-face courses, teachers can easily capture our reaction to the course contents, and quickly explain the stuff we feel confused about. However, when we attend the course through the Zoom, teachers can no longer quickly get the students' response, this situation is exacerbated by the internet speed and delay etc. As students, we can not get immediate help either, and have to replay the course video again and again to capture the things we missed, which is not efficient at all. 

 

2. International students always need to be prepared in advance. Due to the language and cultural barrier, international students need to spend more efforts on study. Preparation is definitely one of the most important steps. By utilizing various technology resources, international students can search for video, audios and slides to prepare the class, and locate the key contents they need to focus on during class time. Good preparation can also make them less stressed in class, and better interact with classmates and teachers, and therefore enjoy the whole process.

 

3. International students should actively look for help. Nowadays, almost all universities have set up the special department to help international students with all kinds of different needs. Therefore, international students should learn how to effectively utilize these resources to help them overcome the issues they encounter. For example, during COVID-19, some international students do not know how to effectively communicate with professors through Zoom. In this case, students can make an appointment with student service and consultants to look for tips on this. Besides, most international students get serious mental problems during COVID-19 as they cannot go out and socialize with others. In this case, they can seek professional advice from consultants by using online meeting tools.

 

2. Universities should consider opening more bridge courses for students to make better preparation for the degree study (Wekullo, 2019). In fact, the existence of bridge courses can not only prepare international students ready for the language requirement, but also prepare some preliminary knowledge which will be used in their degree study. By taking bridge courses, students can generally perform better than if they don't take the bridge courses.

 

3. Universities should have regular training for teachers, especially the training of use of new technologies. By applying the latest technologies to the class, teachers can better attract the attention from the students, and even make it easier to communicate with students as students themselves are usually familiar with new technologies such as social networks. Besides, universities should encourage teachers to communicate with their peers (Wekullo, 2019).

 

4. Educators should pay more attention to international students' unique background, and therefore better meet their learning expectations by reflecting this in the course design (Wekullo, 2019). Making students feel that they're being paid attention from educators is very important. For example, if teachers can reflect more stuff students are interested in, such as the technology, students can feel that their needs are better included in the course design and therefore the participation rate will be improved. To be specific, teachers can include more stuff related to international students' background and interact more with them on these topics, and international students can then be attracted (Wang & BrckaLorenz, 2018).

 

5. Educators should sometimes designate the study group in class instead of letting students form the groups by themselves (Wang & BrckaLorenz, 2018). Because in this way, educators can make sure some students are not excluded from their peers, and can also push students to communicate with some classmates whom they're not familiar with before. Technology actually can help with this task. For example, Zoom can do a random grouping of students, so that students will not always be grouped with their close friends.

 

6. Universities should make sure there is sufficient financial and human capital support for international students. Teachers themselves cannot do much without the support from the financial and administration side. Especially in terms of technology support, without funding, teachers can hardly afford these latest technologies.

 

Another issue is that international students tend to only communicate with peers from the same race and background, which I also have the personal experience with. It is natural for international students to do so, especially in a different country. But this situation tends to be even worse for some majors, like Med, where Chinese students are also a large group of the class. If not intervened, these Chinese students will form their own groups so other minority students will feel they're excluded from this group, and Chinese students also won't have opportunities to talk to other students. what's worse, since now all class activities are conducted online, students won't have any communication after the class is over. Therefore, educator should focus more on how to solve these issues, and make students from different backgrounds communicate more with others, and therefore improve the classroom engagement rate.

 

Nowadays, the best tool to improve international students' participation rate is -- technology. Technology can provide various learning contents and tools for international students. “The first step in moving toward more student agency in general is for leaders, teachers, and parents to acknowledge and articulate the fact that learning only occurs at depth when the learner has choice” (Richardson, 2019). When applied in education, technology can provide flexible ways for international students to become more familiar with the learning environment and chat more with classmates, as well as utilizing different resources to help themselves in adapting to new environments. While there are all kinds of choices, students can also choose the one fit their habits the most.

 

Like Fullan mentioned in his book: “effective teacher as active change agent” (p. 47). For teachers, the technology can be used to cater to different needs from students efficiently, and even easily switch the roles with the students to better understand their needs. Through different technology tools, teachers can easily can students progress, answer questions, as well as doing random groping for the students. The online tools can also prompt more communications between students and help some of them relieve the social pressure. Compared with the traditional education methods, technology provides different possibilities, one of the most important possibilities is interactive learning. Students can easily find the content they're interested in and then come back and raise questions by themselves instead of letting teachers tell them everything. By doing so, international students can cultivate their critical thinking and problem solving abilities, and therefore the class participation rate can be improved. Besides, teachers can also use technology to regularly talk to their peers. Since it is hard to call all the teachers and provide training to them, technology can actually help teachers to communicate in a more flexible way. In addition. Teachers can also use technology to find useful contents and videos to improve their teaching skills.

 

Therefore, by integrating technology and education, not only the class participation rate can be improved, teachers and students can also easily search for useful content and communicate more. On the backdrop on globalization, the utilization of technology can also help education globalization.