Navigating Online Down Under: International Students' Digital Journeys in Australia

Research focusing on the lived experiences of international students tends to centre directly on their educational experiences rather than their everyday lives outside their study space. Moreover, much of this research has concentrated almost exclusively on the various impacts of the physical and geographic mobility that international students make as they move from one country to another; with very little exploration of their digital experiences. At the same time, there is also extensive research on the social media and information seeking experiences of young people in different regions of the world. Some of these research provide a comparison of the different sources of information and uses of social media. However, there has been little research on what happens when these young people move regions/countries. Borrowing Chang and Gomes' (2017) concept of the Digital Journey where in crossing transnational borders, migrants might also cross digital borders which are culturally different from their own, this chapter aims to provide concrete examples of the digital experiences of international students as they transition to the Australian digital environment. This transition may occur as they still maintain links to their native digital environments. How do international students transition from certain online environments into others which may be completely different, if not alien, to what they have previously experienced? By referring to qualitative and quantitative data we collected from three separate projects which we conducted from, 2013 to 2017, this chapter argues that in making the digital journey, international students in Australia do not so much quit their digital comfort zones as widen their digital experiences. Understanding the digital journeys which international students is particularly significant since it has implications for future research in international student well-being and the provision of support services for students.