Published in Cross-Cultural Design, Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Presented in 25th International Conference on Human-Computer Interation (HCII 2023) (See full paper)
Abstract:
In the age of globalization, international students from developing countries (for brevity, we term them as ‘international students’ in this paper, unless otherwise specified) have become an integral part of the U.S. education system. After relocation to the USA, first-generation international students undergo not only societal differences but also experience changes in the technology space - posing unique challenges for them. Our semi-structured interviews with 26 participants who were pursuing education at the time of our study, or had recently graduated informed us of their adaptation to the technology landscape in the USA; our analysis revealed the underlying challenges in light of the changes in policies, regulations, and social norms that our participants had experienced after geographic relocation. We identified the significance, and scopes of bridging the gap between the existing role of the U.S. institutions and the expectations of international students in helping them to navigate through the technology space in a foreign country. Overall, our findings provide valuable insights for the HCI community to understand the international students’ challenges, needs, and expectations with technology use in the USA. We provide recommendations based on our findings and present guidelines for future research in these directions.
