Supporting International Students Remotely
Attending classes face-to-face may not be possible for many international students; however, they will be enrolled remotely. As you design and teach your courses, we ask that you consider the following when seeking ways to help students be successful in your courses.
Language and culture
- Comprehension: Minnesota State University, Mankato students for whom English is an additional language have a very high level of English proficiency. However, this proficiency may become stretched in remote learning environments. Therefore, we recommend recording lectures and class meetings with captions (pro tip: it is helpful for all students).
- Students can review the recording as often as needed, using captions to support their listening comprehension. The following tools can be used to caption your course meetings:
- Zoom: requires typing the captions for live captioning but has a setting to generate audio transcripts of recorded sessions.
- MediaSpace: a Minnstate enterprise tool for recording lectures and captioning can be requested for your videos.
- PowerPoint: enable settings or simply click the Closed Captioning icon, which will automatically caption the presentation while you speak.
- Post slides and notes also help all students.
- Headphones or earbuds helps students hear your voice more clearly, so encourage students to use them when viewing course materials.
- Confidence: Students may be self-conscious about communicating in imperfect English because fearing it may negatively impact perceptions of their intelligence to you and their peers, limiting community building in the class. Posting messages in discussion boards could feel daunting because sentence-level errors will be available for review by the entire class.
- Clearly state the purpose and expectations of any public posting are important for all students. Reinforce this purpose by focusing on and responding to the content of posts rather than any sentence-level errors.
- Alternatively, consider allowing other mediums for engaging in class discussions, including video and audio recordings and other visual representations that convey contribution and understanding.
- Content: Students from China may be unable to comment on topics considered to be sensitive to their government, no matter what their feelings are. This is because of possible retribution they may face by responding. Provide ways for students to demonstrate their engagement with the topic without any potential risks.
- Source used: Anxiety around integrating and citing sources may increase while students are learning remotely, and some students may inadvertently plagiarize when completing assignments. Encourage students to share concerns about this with you and recommend that they get feedback on their source-use practices. Be sure to share with them the PowerPoint and video on plagiarism available through the Writing Center.
Technology
- Internet access: Accessing reliable high-speed internet may not be plausible for all students. For those who can join class synchronously, avoid requiring video to allow students to conserve bandwidth. Note: for those with virtual lab courses, low bandwidth may affect the use of the lab software.
- Minnesota State University, Mankato platforms: The primary platforms (D2L Brightspace, Zoom, and Office 365) are currently not blocked in China, meaning students will have the greatest access to these platforms. However, the following issues may occur: very slow logins and page loads, forced terminations, and “failure to submit” messages with online assessments. Be flexible when possible.
- Website blocking: Many websites, social media, and streaming platforms are blocked in other countries, especially in China, so your students may not be able to watch YouTube videos, contribute to a Google doc or a Slack project, read a New York Times article, etc., even when the materials are linked in D2L Brightspace. When possible, download content and post it directly on your D2L rather than posting external links.
- Collaboration platforms and group projects: Many platforms (e.g., Slack, Trello, Google, WhatsApp) are not available in China. If group projects rely on collaboration software and messaging apps, encourage students to talk with their international team members to determine what is available to them. This may be students’ first time using collaborative tools, so take time to talk with the class and assess their familiarity and provide some instruction on how to use them.
- Domain checker: You can check to see if a domain is blocked in China using resources like Comparitech. There is also a brief list of other countries that censor access to the internet in this ReadWrite article.
Time zones
- Participation and inclusion: Time zone differences will likely affect students’ ability to join classes synchronously. This may leave them feeling like they aren’t part of the learning community. Check out these tips on ways to enhance student engagement. Take time to learn about your students’ locations in this time zone map.
- Teaching strategies: Check out the Getting Started page on the FlexSync website for ideas, resources, and support available.
- Group projects: When possible, communicate with international students about their preferences regarding group projects. It may be helpful for them to work with people living closer to their time zone. Ask on-campus students to schedule project meetings to accommodate different time zones and schedules. See above about collaborative software for group projects.
- Deadlines: Be mindful of students who are up to 18 hours ahead of Minnesota State University, Mankato time when posting assignments, and setting deadlines. It will be helpful to create “accept until” dates in D2L. If a precise hourly deadline is necessary, notify students well in advance, particularly about time changes in the Fall and Spring semester. Not all countries observe Daylight Saving Time, and your students may not be aware of the changes.
- Office hours: Provide alternative virtual office hours that can be made “by appointment” to help you and the student find more convenient times to meet.
Additional strategies
