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.

With the increased focus on the use of digital platforms to facilitate teaching and learning comes the challenge of creating connections between international students and their new classmates. The use of social media in higher education may be one avenue that can enable not only learning but also social connections between students to improve the international study experience and sense of community. This article reports on the findings of a small survey study at an Australian university, which demonstrate that the majority of international students surveyed had greater prior experience with social network sites for personal and educational use rather than wikis, blogs, and discussion forums, which are often used in institutional settings. Furthermore, the results suggest that the educational use of social network sites led many participants to add new classmates as profile friends. These findings have implications for the choice of digital platforms for pedagogical use of social media and how that may impact on the teaching of international students in higher education for making connections.

An Australian higher education experience often includes group work as an important social learning opportunity. For international students, taking part in a group assignment can positively influence learning and adjustment to the new cultural and educational context through social interaction. However, students are increasingly choosing to use digital technologies to participate in group assignments, which may impact on opportunities available to make social connections with peers. This study investigated the experiences of 26 international students as they transitioned to study at an Australian university about their use of social media for group assignments and their resulting perceptions of connection to classmates. Analysis of the results suggests that students who engaged in collaborative rather than cooperative interactions via social media were more likely to perceive a connection to their classmates. This has implications for educators to include classroom modelling of digitally-mediated collaborative interactions to benefit students' participation in group assignments, which can improve the transition experience through social connection.

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