Fostering Democratic Competences in Learners: A Cross-Curricular, Multimodal Storybook Approach

Based on the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC, Council of Europe 2018), a teaching concept was developed and implemented that not only provides opportunities to practice communicative skills but puts a major focus on democratic competences. In the winter semester 2019/20, students from the Department of Mathematics of the University of Connecticut and students from the Department of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) of the University of Munich engaged in an interdisciplinary, virtual exchange project. Having familiarized themselves with the RFCDC, they reflected upon local and global issues that can be seen from more than one perspective. The students created short stories in which they address these issues and which they compiled in a multimodal, digital book. The topics they chose are all related to the domain of values in the RFCDC. The project was designed as ICE project (Intercultural Citizenship Education) and therefore included collaboration at every step in the creation of the multimodal book as well as action in the community. The teaching concept was developed for the CULTNET RFCDC Project – Principles and Practicalities lead by Prof. Michael Byram.

The goal of the project was to inspire people to see things from various perspectives and to promote democratic competences related to human rights, cultural diversity, justice, fairness and equality locally and globally.

The project was conducted in close collaboration by Dr. Petra Rauschert, LMU, and Prof. Fabiana Cardetti, UConn.

 

Links to the multimodal storybook:

The Danger of a Single Picture. A Storybook about Multiple Perspectives

PDF of the book (in case the multimodal version cannot be accessed):

The Danger of a Single Picture. A Storybook about Multiple Perspectives