Digital Stories as Reflection Artifacts of Intercultural Competence

• In Event: Educational Border-Crossings: Exploring Political and Cultural Boundaries and Their Influences on Educational Practice

Abstract

Objectives:
We discuss the impact of an international immersion experience on teachers’ level of intercultural competence during a five week Fulbright-Hays Group Study Abroad Seminar to China. The objective was to develop educators' intercultural competence and knowledge of Asia and enhance social studies curriculum and instruction on China in middle and high school classrooms. The seminar provided opportunities for the teachers to acquire first-hand knowledge of the history, culture, language, geography, family structures, religion, education, economics and politics of China. Researchers wanted to know how and in what ways participants learned to understand and appreciate cultural differences and to function in a multicultural setting.

Theoretical Framework:
Taylor (1994) defines intercultural competence as “an adaptive capacity based on an inclusive and integrative world view which allows participants to effectively accommodate the demands of living in a host culture.” Leeman & Ledoux (2003) assert that competence in intercultural education should be an integral part of teachers' profession development (p. 282). Reflection is a process of turning experience into learning; a way to explore experience in order to learn new things from it (Boud, 2001). Constructing a digital story requires individuals to reflect on experience (Barrett, 2005). Digital stories become permanent artifacts that capture a specific moment in time, and stand as objects for personal reflection and critique (Lathem, Reyes, & Qi, 2006).

Research Methods:
Participants recorded daily events in individual journals during the China Seminar. Each teacher constructed a digital story based on a meaningful personal experience upon return. Researchers used emergent coding to analyze the journal entries and the digital stories to look for patterns and evolving themes related to an increased level of intercultural competence. To triangulate data, digital stories were also evaluated using a modified version of Bradley's criteria for assessing levels of reflection (Bradley, 1995). Researchers wanted to determine themes in the China journals and compare them to themes in the digital stories to evaluate the impact of reflection on experience and determine if the digital stories actually became reflection artifacts that provided a window into the level of individual change.

Results:
Evaluation of the journals provided insight into what the teachers experienced on a daily basis; however, the digital stories were more indicative of the impact of an international immersion experience on teachers’ level of intercultural competence. While the journals recorded a catalogue of events, the digital stories told about participants interactions with Chinese people and Chinese culture. The digital stories provide evidence of individual personal and professional change through intercultural experiences, and they stand as permanent artifacts available for further reflection and for sharing with an audience.

Significance:
The five week cultural immersion experience gave teachers a new appreciation of both home and host countries, new tools and techniques to bring to the classroom, and knowledge of themselves and others as cultural beings.

Authors

• Lynne Masel Walters, Texas A&M University

• Martha Robison Green, Texas A&M University

• Liangyan Wang, Texas A&M University