A Literature Review and Directions for Future Research on International Student Perceptions of Online versus Face-to-Face Education: Program-centered Characteristics

Abstract

As higher education institutions continue incorporating online education into their curricula, different cultural perspectives regarding online versus face-to-face education will impact upon its sustained proliferation.

A comparison of graduate university perspectives of online versus face-to-face during the pandemic

“…In general, the results within the USA and around the world reveal mixed results regarding student perceptions of online versus FTF on motivation, discipline, self-directed learning and independence (Fish and Snodgrass, 2016a, 2016b). In general, students from individualistic cultures are more motivated to participate in online learning than students from collectivistic cultures (Tapanes et al , 2009).…”

“…Program factors, which are decisions that the instructor makes in developing the course, studied include academic difficulty, academic integrity (cheating), student-to-instructor interaction, student-to-instructor interaction and program technologies. The purpose of the literature review that follows is to extend prior research (Fish and Snodgrass, 2016a, 2016b) and highlight recent research on international student perspectives respective to individual and program research streams during the pandemic.…”

“…However, culture may not be the only consideration as some students prefer to work individually regardless of cultural background (Pfaff and Huddleston, 2003). Some tendencies for student-to-student interaction include (Fish and Snodgrass, 2016b) as follows: Eastern Asian cultures foster more formal relationships to show proper respect (Zhu et al , 2009). Collectivistic-oriented students perceive online collaborative learning more positively than individualistic oriented students; however, collectivistic-oriented students voiced concern regarding learning from a peer (Popov et al , 2014).…”

“…There are general differences in the way that different cultures address different student learning styles and requirements (Fish and Snodgrass, 2016a, 2016b). Students from different cultural contexts learn better with different instructional formats, which requires instructors to consider different instructional formats for material (Sithole and Abeysekera, 2021).…”

“…Since 2012, business students’ perceptions of online versus face-to-face (FTF) education at an AACSB Jesuit, Catholic University in the northeast have been researched (Fish and Snodgrass, 2014). Specific to this article, research on general differences and similarities in the way that different cultures address different student learning styles and requirements were researched prior to the pandemic (Fish and Snodgrass, 2016a, 2016b).…”