Creating a Global Classroom: Transatlantic Storytelling through Digital Media
Abstract
Note: Submission for the Digital Humanities Session
Topics such as politics, reproductive rights, gun control, racism, healthcare, and climate change are the focus of many university class discussions. Yet, perspectives are often limited by our cultural backgrounds within the United States, leaving students with an incomplete or biased understanding of the global issues and possible solutions.
Through digital technologies, these limitations are being challenged by students and faculty at USC Upstate as part of a longstanding partnership with the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences in Magdeburg, Germany. Students and faculty from both universities collaborate on semester-long multimedia video projects that explore these topics in the United States, Germany and worldwide. Projects include virtual meetings between students and faculty to develop storyboards, research plans, and interviews with experts and the public in both countries.
After building the project’s foundation, students and faculty continue the collaboration in-person in either Washington, D.C., or Berlin through short-term study away or abroad trips each year. The trips and projects culminate in a 5–6-minute journalistic feature video including interviews, data graphics and voiceover produced by students from both universities. In addition to these more tangible outcomes, students gain experience in intercultural communication and international teamwork. Furthermore, they develop a more thorough and diverse understanding of their topics as a truly global classroom emerges largely through digital means.
This group symposium presentation will explore the digital humanities focus of the partnership between the universities and highlight specific student projects and experiences from the most recent trips to Berlin (July 2023) and Washington, D.C. (March 2024) to demonstrate the power of global collaborative digital storytelling.
Keywords
Digital Humanities
Creating a Global Classroom: Transatlantic Storytelling through Digital Media
CASB 101
Note: Submission for the Digital Humanities Session
Topics such as politics, reproductive rights, gun control, racism, healthcare, and climate change are the focus of many university class discussions. Yet, perspectives are often limited by our cultural backgrounds within the United States, leaving students with an incomplete or biased understanding of the global issues and possible solutions.
Through digital technologies, these limitations are being challenged by students and faculty at USC Upstate as part of a longstanding partnership with the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences in Magdeburg, Germany. Students and faculty from both universities collaborate on semester-long multimedia video projects that explore these topics in the United States, Germany and worldwide. Projects include virtual meetings between students and faculty to develop storyboards, research plans, and interviews with experts and the public in both countries.
After building the project’s foundation, students and faculty continue the collaboration in-person in either Washington, D.C., or Berlin through short-term study away or abroad trips each year. The trips and projects culminate in a 5–6-minute journalistic feature video including interviews, data graphics and voiceover produced by students from both universities. In addition to these more tangible outcomes, students gain experience in intercultural communication and international teamwork. Furthermore, they develop a more thorough and diverse understanding of their topics as a truly global classroom emerges largely through digital means.
This group symposium presentation will explore the digital humanities focus of the partnership between the universities and highlight specific student projects and experiences from the most recent trips to Berlin (July 2023) and Washington, D.C. (March 2024) to demonstrate the power of global collaborative digital storytelling.