When life and learning seem separated:the lived experience of international students taking online courses

The number of international students who take online degree courses provided by UK Higher Education Institutions is increasing, and universities are currently developing and shaping the related policies and provisions. As students' voices are important for universities to develop their policies and provisions, this paper unpacks the learning experience of 23 international students who took postgraduate taught courses online. It was found that the students tended to separate their learning from their daily life, they did not successfully build global connections, and their learning was restricted by the technologies to a certain extent. It is recommended that universities should better understand the needs of their students, provide opportunities for students to extend their learning to their daily life, create space for students to have deeper communication with each other and build connections beyond their studies, and carefully choose the use of technology to minimise students’ difficulties and barriers.