Abstract:

Managing international cohorts of students who undertake workplace learning in countries other than the country of their host university can be a very complex and difficult process. University academics are used to personal contact with their students and often find that they are working in a virtual world of communication where the concept of teaching as a self and others process is sorely tested.
This paper investigates the use of a very simple social media tool to stay in regular and personal contact with students during their off-shore work placements. Griffith University Australia has a proud tradition of attracting students from Canada to study education at the university. Students in the program undertake an internship in Canada of nine weeks duration, during which time university academics usually stay in contact via email. This paper suggests that this is only one means of contact and not always an effective means of contact. The point is made that contact with students must be rewarding and other- centred in ways not usually discussed within the blended learning environments of contemporary universities.

Keywords:

Social media, internationalisation, blended learning, higher education.