ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected international students around the world. Chinese international students are challenged in their daily life and study due to the travel restrictions, disruption of research, closure of labs, and the rise of anti-Asian racism. This study investigates the challenges, especially psychological ones, faced by international doctoral students from China studying in the United States. and explores how their social networks and support systems help them navigate their life and study during the pandemic. In light of social networks and support theory, we interviewed 20 Chinese international doctoral students studying in the U.S. and found that falling in between intimate relationships and student-institution relationships, academic departments and advisors are able to provide all types of support, namely, instrumental, informational, and emotional. Their ability to provide emotional support was heavily overlooked, especially during a global crisis. Concerted efforts must urgently be put together to deal with the mental health of international doctoral students on campus and rebuild a supportive and hospitable U.S. higher education system. This study can contribute to the scholarship of international higher education by capturing international doctoral student experiences and perceptions in this crucial time and assessing higher education institutions' capability to support international students.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 crisis has led to a rapid pivot to online teaching and student engagement across higher education internationally, due to public health 'lockdown' measures. In March 2020 in the UK this move was sudden, and universities were forced to move their provision to digital formats with little preparatory time, and in many cases, inadequate training and experience. In the subsequent period, higher education institutions have prioritised the enhancement of digital education, with a range of strategic initiatives and training programmes for teaching staff. This paper, written by a staff-student partnership of authors, reports on two institutionally-supported studies conducted at a large, research-focused university in England, in which student views were sought on their experiences and priorities surrounding online engagement during the COVID-19 crisis. In our discussion of the findings, we argue that the student accounts challenge some of the mainstream assumptions about constructs such as student 'inclusivity', academic 'community' online, and teaching which encourages 'questioning', requiring us to think more deeply about what constitutes a meaningful and rich online educative experience. In the spirit of 'lessons learned' from the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper proposes alternative conceptions of these values, emphasising relationality, communities, difference, and the importance of an ethos of care. We conclude with a discussion of findings, implications for theory, research, policy and practice in a post-pandemic context, proposing that an ethos of care be recognised as central to the development of digital education and the practices and ethics of student engagement.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic not only presented unique challenges to faculty and students in the classroom, but it also forced institutions to think creatively about the way they support students. Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) knew it had to provide more than just academic supports for students as the school quickly transitioned into virtual learning in spring 2020. Like many colleges, OTC took an extended spring break and had students return to virtual-only courses. In conjunction with students' return, OTC planned to proactively reach out to each currently enrolled student to connect them with services, check on their transition to virtual learning, and guide them toward any necessary community resources. With limited time and budget, a calling campaign was the best approach to reach students where they were and address their emerging needs. The original calling campaign has been repeated by the college throughout the summer and fall semesters and has been established as a reliable program design. In this article, the authors have outlined this design in order for it to be replicated by other colleges looking for a new way to communicate with their students.