Bridges, Boundaries and Hybrid spaces: International Students’ Experiences with Social Media in an Australian University

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Education, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Commerce, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.

The present study explored the experiences of international students in regard to their uses of social media for learning and their resulting perceptions of connection to peers in their first semester at an Australian university. This mixed methods study included volunteer sampling of international students from language backgrounds other than English. A survey was conducted of participants’ social media uses prior to beginning their degree (n equals 43), and followed with interviews during their first semester to explore their experiences of using social media for educational purposes (n equals 28). The resulting data revealed how the use of social media for learning presents both challenges and affordances for facilitating connection between international students through bridges, boundaries, and hybrid spaces. It is argued that informal student-directed uses of social media to conduct peer interactions for learning purposes is an active space that is impacting on international students’ perceptions of connections to classmates. Where collaborative interactions can be facilitated, these situations can lead to students making connections, or bridges, for learning. However, where only cooperative interactions take place, or students are using new digital spaces that they are uncomfortable in, students can be left feeling disconnected through the visible boundaries from the peers that they are learning with. Finally, where bridges can be made through social media, there is the possibility for hybrid spaces to develop that can accommodate both the academic and social lives of students. The recommendations from the findings are that classroom modelling of collaborative forms of online interaction that build connection would assist in students being better able to create similar conditions in their own informal interactions with classmates. Further research of international students’ experiences beyond their first semester of university would broaden understanding of how the use of social media for learning impacts on a sense of connection.