Digital Storytelling and Mobile Learning: Potentials for Internationalization of Higher Education Curriculum

Abstract

The professions are becoming global and required are intended students’ learning outcomes to ensure intercultural communication; therefore, the prospective students’ learning outcomes include those for working in international and multicultural environments. Higher education needs to be responsive to students’ cultural background and to engage them in intercultural exchange by creating authentic cultural contexts guaranteeing authentic learning, which requires integration of students’ authentic social practices. Mobile technology providing instant information access and connectivity supports new types of learning relationships, connecting students outside the immediate classroom context. Mobile technology is transforming social practices and facilitates learning embedded in social practices. Students are engaged in cross-cultural learning and thus develop knowledge, skills and attitudes from within the context meeting other cultures. Social networking sites for collaborative learning are recognized as useful and allow students to experience authentic cultural and authentic social practices that they use in non-academic activities and as such merging formal and informal learning. Digital storytelling was applied in computer supported collaborative international learning. The collaborative learning took place in academic year 2016/17 involving two Slovenian, two Taiwanese and one Russian class.