Challenges for international students in using electronic resources in the Learning Centre : a case study of Oslo University College

摘要

The purpose of this study is to find out the challenges facing by international students in usingelectronic resources in the OUC learning center. This research has used a qualitative approachand purposive, a non-probability techniques used for sampling of this study. A semi-structuredface-to-face interviews method is used for the collection of data. The interview questions wereopen ended and the discourse analysis method has been used for analysing data. In the dataanalysis section the researcher has chosen to quote the most significant utterances in uneditedform and other utterances have been included in edited form as supporting evidence.The study identified a number of the challenges faced by international students in usingelectronic resources in the OUC learning center. It also discovered some general problems inrelation to international students’ use of the libraries in general for instance, differentclassification system; different library location; closed shelves; no experience usingautomated library before; problems related to login and using FRONTER. These barrierswere problematic to the informants for a while, but through asking for help from thelibrary staff or their friends, they resolved them. So, these were not serious problems thatneed any intervention from the learning center. But of course some substantial problemswhich were particularly problematic to international students in connection with using theelectronic resources in the OUC learning center, including: Cultural differences;Language barrier; Lack of training; Problems in user Interface; Unfamiliar teaching orlearning style. These are the problems uncovered, demand intervention from the learningcenter.Furthermore, in this study it is found that students from countries closely culturallyrelated to Norway are more familiar or apt with library environment and teaching stylethan students from countries culturally distant from Norway. It is significant that library anxietyor barriers with staff, judging from the results of the interviews, were absent. The studentsoverwhelmingly confirmed that they were happy with the assistance of library staff and thatthey were comfortable with using the 24/7 computer availability, printing and drop boxfacilities for return the borrowed items.Suggestions for actions to increase the usefulness of the library resources forinternational students, include: to arrange cultural diversity workshops; both Norwegian and English compatible web page; to make available all kind of forms are in English; to arrangeweb based training program; to provide online instruction for searching e-resources; to arrangepractical training; to provide training program for 2/3 times; to replace the icon “book” with asuitable link like “library”; online chat with a librarian 24/7.It is recommended that the learning center needs to be proactive in addressing theproblems of these students in order to provide the learning center support required for them tosuccessfully pursue their studies.