Developing intercultural awareness using digital storytelling

ABSTRACT

Higher Education mirrors the shifting nature of society and work. Mobility may provide unparalleled learning opportunities for all stakeholders; however, in order to live and work in plural societies as socially responsible and intercultural knowledgeable citizens, intercultural awareness and intercultural communication skills need to be mastered. In parallel, the relevance of a digital agenda and the studies that attest to the positive student engagement brought about by the inclusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) across all grade levels push educators to seek and incorporate technology-based learning and teaching strategies. Digital Storytelling was implemented in an undergraduate degree in Business Communication, where students discuss and reflect on key issues in Intercultural Communication. Our case study draws on the qualitative analysis of a questionnaire, which intended to understand student perceptions regarding an assignment where they are asked to create Digital Stories and consider on the their own reflection process regarding intercultural differences and communicating across cultures. Our analysis of the 140 questionnaires revealed that Digital Storytelling was able to engage students in a serious and productive debate revolving around technology-enhanced learning and cultural differences, empowering them to construct new personal and group meanings and improve their intercultural awareness.

O Ensino Superior reflete a natureza inconstante da sociedade e do trabalho. A mobilidade pode proporcionar oportunidades de aprendizagem inigualáveis para todos, no entanto, a fim de viver e trabalhar em sociedades plurais como cidadãos conhecedores e socialmente responsáveis, é necessário adquirirem uma maior consciência intercultural. Ao mesmo tempo, a relevância da Agenda Digital, e os estudos que destacam os resultados positivos que derivam da inclusão das TIC no ensino servem de ímpeto para os professores incorporarem estratégias de ensino base tecnológica. Digital Storytelling foi implementado na Licenciatura em Comunicação Empresarial, onde os alunos têm a oportunidade de se debruçarem sobre questões relacionadas com a Comunicação Intercultural. O nosso estudo de caso baseia-se na análise qualitativa de um questionário, que destina-se a compreender as percepções dos alunos em relação a uma trabalho em que têm de criar narrativas digitais e analisar o sobre o seu próprio processo de reflexão sobre as diferenças interculturais e a comunicação entre culturas. Uma análise a 140 inquéritos por questionário revelou que o trabalho que incluía Digital Storytelling foi capaz de motivar e envolver os alunos em torno de um debate, consciente e inconsciente, sobre a integração das TIC no ensino superior e as diferenças culturais de forma a capacitá-los para a construção de novos significados individuais e de grupo e melhorar a sua consciência intercultural.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital storytelling
• HE
• intercultural awareness
• student engagement
• technology-enhanced learning

Acknowledgements

The work presented in this manuscript incorporates part of an ongoing study that began in 2009 with a PhD on DS in HE and that has, since then, been applied to multiple contexts and courses in ISCAP. Although the approach presented here is clearly qualitative in nature, data using the Questionnaire to Measure the Level of Reflective Thinking, Assessment & Evaluation in HE (Kember et al., 2000) have been collected and quantitative data analysis has begun.

Notes on contributor

Sandra P.M. Ribeiro is a senior lecturer at the School of Accounting and Administration of Oporto (ISCAP), in the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (IPP), since the year 2000 in the area of Languages and Cultures. She holds a PhD from the University of Aveiro in Digital Storytelling in Higher Education. She is a member of Centro de Estudos Interculturais (CEI) and a member of the Centre for Research in Communication and Education (CICE) at ISCAP. Her research interests, besides Digital Storytelling as a pedagogical practice, include intercultural communication, translation and sub-themes such as identity, self-representation, interpersonal relationships and technologies in HE.

Notes

1 The book was first published in Portuguese in 1968 and in 1970, it was translated and published in English by Herder and Herder in New York.

2 http://www.storycenter.org