Towards a Framework for Planning International Student Instruction

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on higher education and student mobility has been immense worldwide. The choices and changes in modality of pre-pandemic teaching and learning have been disrupted profoundly since the pandemic changed pedagogical practices beginning in March 2020. New insights related to how courses are planned and delivered—and how students access them—have also emerged. This chapter examines the specific context of online course delivery that emerged as a result of the pandemic and the lessons that stakeholders learned at various institutions in Ontario. Based on the lessons learned, the authors propose a framework that could be applied while deliberating online course delivery to international students. Although having emerged from reflections of practices adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lessons learned will apply beyond the pandemic. Consequently, this chapter should appeal to higher education organization decision-makers and administrators as well as international students who opt to enroll in online courses.

The changed context resulting from the pandemic revealed that course delivery requires a different level of decision-making and planning. Researchers have identified numerous concerns needing attention (Gudiño Paredes et al., 2021; Liu & Shirley, 2021; Octaberlina & Muslimin, 2020). While these issues and the resulting deliberations are helpful, they seem to demand attention and resolution from program planners to each unique challenge separately. This stratagem is onerous, daunting, and seemingly unending. A more efficient and effective way may be to classify the issues into larger categories to form a framework. While the framework can be applied to any set of students, the discussion here focuses on international students’ experiences because the importance of international students in Canadian postsecondary institutions and the issues they face are also unique (Calder et al., 2016; De Moissac et al., 2020). The purpose of this chapter is to introduce a framework that sheds light on the complexities associated with programs at the postsecondary level for international students.

The are many beneficial reasons for educating international students in Ontario universities and colleges, ranging from the internationalization of campuses (Knight, 2003; McGregor & Hunter, 2021); the exchange and integration of intercultural ideas and experiences into the curriculum and local culture (McGregor & Hunter, 2021; Taskoh, 2020); the socialization, training, and vetting of future high-skilled immigrants (Scott et al., 2015; Statistics Canada, 2020); the buttressing of declining domestic student enrolments (McGregor & Hunter, 2021); the cross-pollination of ideas between international and domestic students (Belkhodja & Esses, 2013; Knight, 1999); and augmenting the financial sustainability of postsecondary programs and campuses (Lu & Hou, 2019; Statistics Canada, 2020; Taskoh, 2020; Trilokekar & El Masri, 2019). These rationales can be classified as ideological, educational, and instrumental as per Stier’s (2004) analysis. Regardless of the reasons, it is evident that Canadian universities and colleges are actively recruiting students from other countries. Moreover, the number of students attending postsecondary institutions in Canada in general and Ontario, in particular, is increasing. Figure 1 illustrates the steady rise in the number of international students at Ontario universities over a 5-year span.

Figure 1.

Rise in international students in Ontario universities (Statistics Canada, 2021a)

An increase in the number of international students has also been seen at Ontario colleges, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Rise in international students in Ontario colleges (Statistics Canada, 2021a)