International Student Support Repository
An openly available collaborative resource for post-secondary faculty, student affairs professionals, and communities working with international students
Take a Video Tour of the Repository
Welcome!
The International Student Support Repository (ISSR) is a public and freely available resource for faculty, student affairs professionals, staff, and community members who work and interact with international students. Each page provides a variety of resources that may be used independently or curated into training programs.
For the purposes of this repository, UNESCO's definition for internationally mobile students is being used:
"An internationally mobile student [international student] is a student who has left their country, or territory of origin, and moved to another country or territory with the singular objective of studying."
A note from the Curator: I originally conceptualized and curated this repository within my final graduate course at Northeastern University with the generous support of my Capstone professor, Dr. Joan Burkhardt and my project sponsor, Jaime White. Now, it is maintained as a part of my contribution to the international education community. My hope is that users can grow their own knowledge and skills, translate that into improving services for international students, and join the Open Educational Resources movement by contributing their own big ideas, resources, and events to this repository.
If you are interested in getting involved with the repository further, please contact me!
Please note: The ISSR is an independent project maintained by Rachael Elliott and has no current affiliation with a company, university, or institution.
About
What is this?
The ISSR is an Open Educational Resource (OER). It is a collection of freely and openly available resources that offers untethered and borderless training, professional development, and support to those who work with international students.
The ISSR currently includes resources that support cultivating a sense of belonging, supporting mental health, and adopting an attitude of cultural humility, but it will continue to grow and develop with new topics. Content can be found in the following formats: Videos, Scholarly Articles, News Articles, Podcasts, Blog Posts, Webinars, MOOCs, Websites, etc.
In addition to providing ongoing training, the ISSR also has the goal of contributing to the collegiality of the international education community by providing an accessible and inclusive domain for professionals to enhance their student-centered practices and to share their own knowledge in a non-proprietary and "borderless" context.
Who is it for?
The ISSR is for all who are vital players in defining the educational trajectory of international students: faculty, student affairs professionals, staff, and communities that interact with international students.
International students may also find the ISSR helpful.
How can I use it?
The resources found within the ISSR can be used for personal development, can be infused into pre-existing trainings, and can be remixed and curated to support campus-wide trainings. As an Open Educational Resource (OER) itself, all content and resources herein are curated to be freely and openly available to all users. However, if you do choose to reuse, revise, or remix any content, please make sure to make appropriate attributions!
Any content that requires payment, membership, or a subscription, will be marked as such.
About The Curator
Rachael Elliott is the Director of Comprehensive [Immigration] Advising in the Office of Global Services at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. After a 10 year contemporary dance career in Europe, Asia, and North America, she entered the international education field and never looked back. Rachael is invested in and devoted to improving international student outcomes and experiences. She hopes that this collection of high-quality resources and training for the faculty, staff, and communities that work with and support international students will provide a framework with which to do so.
References
Elliott, R. W. (2020, July). The history and evolution of open learning. The History and Evolution of Open Learning. https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/1458484/The-History-and-Evolution-of-Open-Learning/.
Sparks, S. D. (2020, September 24). Open Educational Resources (OER): Overview and Definition. https://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/open-educational-resources-oer/index.html.
What Defines an International Student? A Look Behind the Numbers. (2019, June 12). https://wenr.wes.org/2009/09/wenr-september-2009-feature.