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Digital Environment and AI in International Education: The Gaps and Implications

The impact of digitization and AI on international education is not fully understood. This article highlights their influence, addresses misconceptions, and advocates for interdisciplinary collaborations to bridge research gaps and meet evolving needs.

Published onSep 15, 2024
Digital Environment and AI in International Education: The Gaps and Implications
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The impact of increased digitization and use of AI on international education is not yet fully understood, with practice advancing faster than research and evaluation. This article highlights how AI and the digital environment influence international education, addressing misconceptions and highlighting key areas affected. It advocates for interdisciplinary collaborations to bridge research gaps and meet the sector’s evolving needs.


This article explores how artificial intelligence (AI) and the digital environment may impact international education given current trends, trying to debunk common misconceptions, and to make it seem “less scary.” As even technologists cannot predict the societal effects of the current wave of AI, this article sets an agenda for research to address the increasing gap between international education research and technology.

How Has the Digital Campus Impacted International Education?

The digital campus is the official online presence of a university which extends to and localizes the metaphor of the digital environment. This ranges from devices (e.g., iPads), to online platforms including social media (from Citrix to XiaoHongShu), to learning management systems (from Blackboard to Moodle). Key concerns include two long-held assumptions which have been debunked by current research: 1) online platforms are value-free, and are merely tools for information dissemination, and 2) contemporary students are “digital natives” who will find information online easily.

How Has AI Been Used in Education and Higher Education?

Most prominent among the worries in higher education post-2022 is that students can use ChatGPT to cheat. Yet, AI has also been used for good purposes. For example, AI can be used during the application process by students trying to optimize their admission essays. AI can be used to design higher education programs, from ideation to extracurricular activity design. It can also be used by students beyond assessments, including summarizing reports or automating day-to-day tasks. Finally, AI can be used by students to get one-on-one nonjudgemental tutoring, empowering them to overcome embarrassment or introversion.

The challenges remain in the fact that AI is driven by existing available data. Therefore, the derivative outcomes, while potentially expansive, continue to be somewhat summative of what had been done before. Hence, a key limitation of AI is that it is hamstrung by existing data sets, which means they may lack capacity to innovate or unlearn stereotypes and misconceptions without human intervention.

In curriculum, this might lead to stymieing of new ideas, and embedding old scholarly biases such as a continued prioritization of English-language literature from the Global North. For students, AI-powered tools help them optimize their personal learning experiences, but also challenge serendipitous intercultural learning.

Research Gaps and Implications

Extant work on digitalization of international education relates to impact on curriculum, campus culture and interactions, student engagement, and broader policy implications. This ranges from the use of information technologies in international education, collaborative online international learning (COIL), virtual mobility, to the digital experiences of international students. However, there is less work on the broader digital environment as a space for internationalization and on the use of AI in international education. Yet, there are implications for both research and practice in the field, especially in the following four key areas.

International student experience. From student transition, to academic practices, to well-being, international students are interacting online, which means that there is a need to update traditional research on student experiences. For example, the ways AI is used to devise transition and student services programs is highly dependent on past practices, hampering their ability to innovate. Therefore, new research that would examine the digital environment as an essential space through which to understand student experiences is needed.

Internationalization of curriculum. The ways AI is used in higher education are changing at a fast pace and happening outside the discussion on international education. Therefore, any research and practice on internationalization that does not engage with the digital environment is somewhat incomplete, making it imperative for increased dialogue between researchers and practitioners in educational technology and international education.

Internationalization at home. A truly international digital environment would include the use and understanding of the norms of different platforms and practices. Yet, most institutions understandably have one preferred online learning management system with a preferred style of online engagement. Research is needed to examine how the digital environment is a space for integration or segregation of student cohorts, because such institutional practices contradict the naturally diverse online behaviors of students.

International education models. With the rise of technology, microcredentials accreditation challenges and loss of trust in institutions, how have established models of international education such as virtual exchange and transnational education accounted for the changing needs of students and faculty? Research into this changing landscape is important to look at any spill-on effects on credentialing requirements and career pathways in the global economy.

Conclusions

The integration of AI in education will fundamentally transform how students learn and prepare for the future. By embracing AI, we empower students to become not just consumers of knowledge, but active, innovative thinkers who are ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. But how do we achieve this? Higher education policy and practice should guide them in using AI not only productively, but also ethically and responsibly, ensuring they remain adaptable and resilient lifelong learners. To this end, we recommend developing guidelines or frameworks for ethical and responsible use of AI in education. This could include the establishment of interdisciplinary research and practice groups or initiatives to bridge the gap between international education research and technology. Such efforts would help break preexisting disciplinary silos, and create new knowledge to support and empower students in the evolving landscape of international education against the background of increasingly pervasive AI. It is time for international education to engage in this conversation.

Let us work together to ensure that our students are equipped with the skills and knowledge they will need to thrive in a world where AI is an increasingly integral part of our lives.


Shanton Chang is associate dean (international) and professor of information behavior at the School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne, Australia. E-mail: [email protected].

Marc Cheong is senior lecturer at the School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne, Australia. E-mail: [email protected].

Eduardo Araujo Oliveira is senior lecturer at the School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne, Australia. E-mail: [email protected].

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