Many higher education institutions around the world are increasingly motivated to incorporate social media for pedagogical benefit. At the same time, many institutions are also attracting an ever-growing number of students from overseas countries. With this in mind, researching how the use of social media applications impact on international students’ experiences of new cultural and pedagogical contexts in the host country is relevant. This article is a systematic review of current literature on international students in higher education and their use of social media, focusing on both the personal and educational aspects of use. This analysis reveals three central themes related to the role of social web technologies for international students, that is creating bridges, boundaries, or hybrid spaces.

This paper presents research findings from an Australian Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT) against a backdrop of declining interest amongst women in courses and careers in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It poses the question of why research conversations around women in ICT are still pedagogically ignored, even after over twenty years of gender research and projects. In reporting the findings of this research project it seeks an understanding of and remedy for the steep decline of interest and uptake of ICT places at tertiary institutions in Australia, particularly amongst young women. In addition to understanding gender differences in educational motivation and performance, and appreciating the challenges posed to ICT education, readers must also be cognisant of the steep decline of interest in careers in ICT in general.

A multimedia university program with relatively equal numbers of male and female students in elective programming subjects provided a rare opportunity to investigate female motivation to study and pursue computer programming in a career. The MSLQ was used to survey 85 participants. In common with research into deterrence of females from STEM domains, females displayed significantly lower self-efficacy and expectancy for success. In contrast to research into deterrence of females from STEM domains, both genders placed similar high values on computer programming and shared high extrinsic and intrinsic goal orientation. The authors propose that the stereotype associated with a creative multimedia career could attract female participation in computer programming whereas the stereotype associated with computer science could be a deterrent.

PurposeThis paper aims to present results of interviews with Australian students in junior, middle and senior secondary‐school. It also aims to provide a current insight into the declining diversity of the information technology (IT) student cohort that is not captured in the existing literature. Educational psychology theories of self‐efficacy shed light on the development of like and dislike towards aspects of IT, it also seeks to consider the career choice decision‐making theories and models to understand the cost‐benefit dimensions of career choice in young people in the twenty‐first century. Socio‐cultural factors that condition young women for their expected role in society also apply to career choice and build a theoretical framework for the research.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research methodology of semi‐structured focus group interviews were conducted with students of both genders from three different year levels. The interviews were analysed using a meta matrix approach aligned with themes suggested in the literature.FindingsThis research found that IT rarely entered their schematic repertoire of possible future careers, a schematic repertoire strongly influenced by parental opinion and habitus at all stages of education. While it would appear that there is a deficit in student knowledge of what an IT career involves beyond that of the most stereotypical portrayal of a programmer, this deficit of knowledge is evident in both genders. While it would appear that there is a deficit in student knowledge of what an IT career involves beyond that of the most stereotypical portrayal of a programmer, this deficit of knowledge is evident in both genders. This research found a pattern of factors specific to Information Technology that encouraged some males to choose this career path and a pattern of inhibiting factors that had a stronger negative impact on young women than young men.Research limitations/implicationsIt is apparent from this study that the lack of women in IT is not necessarily a gender issue, but an issue embedded in the image of the IT discipline, an image of lower status than most other professional careers. It is apparent from this study that the lack of women in IT is not necessarily a gender issue, but an issue embedded in the image of the IT discipline, an image of lower status than most other professional careers.Practical implicationsA positive implication is that there is little differentiation between the genders in IT use, despite greater confidence in technical ability residing with males.Social implicationsA lack of diversity in a workforce is detrimental to creativity and future design. IT professionals, industry and academics need to work together to engender greater interest in this discipline and increase their focus on parents of students.Originality/valueThis paper adds to current theory by suggesting that parents remain the primary influencers to student career and course choices. A second important contribution to current theory is the perpetuation of the poor imag...

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