Digital support for Contact Making Between Domestic and International Students : A user-centered prototyping study for increased inter-cultural social interaction

Sammanfattning

Contact between domestic and international students at Karlstad University tends to decline after the introductory phase. There is currently no shared digital platform that supports continued interaction between these groups over time. This study explores how a digital platform can be designed to support contact between domestic and international students. The study investigates three research questions concerning barriers to contact, design requirements, and perceived usefulness. Data was collected through a survey of 22 student respondents and two rounds of prototype testing with a total of twelve sessions completed (total 9 students of which 3 were reused from the first test to the second test). This was then complemented by follow-up questions connected to each test session. The first prototype was built on design implications derived from the survey results. The second prototype was refined based on the findings from the first usability test. The findings suggest that barriers to contact are shaped as much by social and contextual factors as by language ability, with the most frequently identified barriers being not knowing where to meet students from the other group, lacking a clear activity or reason to gather around, and uncertainty related to language expectations. As a result of this, five design requirements were identified. These were an activity overview of contact opportunities, clear social and practical information before registration, optional first-contact support, support for continued interaction after registration, and aspects of trustworthiness and social safety.