Students Learning to Collaborate With Community Members: Curricular Integration of Digital Media With Community-Oriented Pedagogy

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Curricular Choices in Multicultural Education

Abstract

In this case study, we examined students learning to communicate and collaborate with community members via participation in a technology-mediated and community-based discourse about local Asian Canadian communities. Through a fourth-year English course, students learned about cultural foodways and examined issues of representation, identity and discrimination. Collaboration took the form of students producing film documentaries about local community members they interviewed. Our study entailed capturing the students’ learning experiences. Through phenomenographic analysis (Marton & Booth, 1997), we present three ways by which students conceptualized their experiences. These included students integrating abstract theoretical conceptualizations with lived experiences of community engagement; overcoming boundaries and assumptions to engage with difficult conversations; developing an impetus for social action through films, representation and narratives.

Authors

• Yuen Sze Michelle Tan, The University of British Columbia

• C. Owen Lo, The University of British Columbia

• Mashael Alharbi, University of British Columbia