Blended learning with international students: a multiliteracies approach

Abstract

While the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) continues to transform learning, international migration and the increasing complexity of intercultural exchange and communication continue to do so as well. In this paper, we connect the dots and ask how ICTs can be used to enhance the learning experiences of international students. Using a case study of a new program for first-year international students at a Canadian university, we bring together insights from blended learning and multiliteracies approaches to show how multiple cultural references and multimedia can form the basis for the development of new potentials between learners, knowledge, and disciplinary practice. This involves an analysis of the innovative structure of a two-course sequence in Human Geography, followed by a discussion of student feedback on the model. Based on our results, we conclude that blended learning offers not only a sophisticated approach to multiliteracies in the context of an international student setting, but for teaching students in the social sciences and humanities more broadly.

Keywords:

• Blended learning
• multiliteracies
• international students
• ICT’s

Notes

1. Roughly 80% of the 95 students in the Arts program (Geography’s home) were from mainland China or Hong Kong. The remaining 20% were scattered nearly equally across a range of countries: Mongolia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Guatemala, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Russia, Poland, France, and Saudi Arabia. Students from Africa were not represented at all in the first Vantage cohort.