Preparing students for international study : the use of technology

About 1.6 million students currently study outside their home country. Despite this, and the fact that Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and many of the other host countries of international students are themselves extremely culturally diverse communities, business education remains essentially mono-cultural in form and Anglo American in content. Whilst it is true that these international students may want to understand the "Western" way of doing things, they may not be familiar or comfortable with the processes used to facilitate learning. This paper explores a project undertaken to create a tool that provides essential pre-orientation information and advice to students before they leave home. Where cultural adjustment is required, catching students before departure is a very effective time to introduce key information about lifestyle, culture and approaches to teaching and learning that would assist students with the complex and difficult adjustment to studying abroad, so that they could make a smoother transition to their new place of learning. Welcome to Studying Business at QUT is a Data DVD with 19 short videos capturing a student perspective on life and study. Forty percent of the content is related to living and studying and includes sections on accommodation, lifestyle, food and transport etc., and 60% takes an in-depth look at studying business, featuring students and academics talking about issues such as assessment, academic writing and working in groups. This paper outlines the process of developing the DVD and the range of issues addressed.