Abstract:

This paper is based on a study drawn from two projects: DLAB and TalkTech. Both are focussed on co-creation, digital competences, social innovation, cultural literacy and the notion of technology enhanced learning. The Digital Learning Across Boundaries (DLAB) is a three year Erasmus+ funded project, it draws inspiration from the changemaker movement, which seeks to build the skills and attributes for individuals to find innovative solutions to society’s challenges. The project uses immersive technologies, such as AR and VR, to blend physical and digital learning environments and provide creative opportunities for international collaboration among school pupils, university students, teachers and lecturers in England, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Spain. The participants collaborate during designated ‘international days’ using videoconferencing and TweetBeam to communicate with their partners and see what is happening in each other’s classrooms. They developed digital skills to be creative with AR and VR, beginning by swapping 360° video and stills to gain immersive experiences of each other’s spaces, and then combining a range of apps and tools to invent exergames for each other to experience in AR and VR.

TalkTech is a collaborative learning project that, since 2008, has paired students enrolled in a first-year introductory technology course at Bentley University in the United States with fourth-year multimedia students from Politehnica University of Timisoara (UPT) in Romania. The project pairs students from Bentley’s IT 101 (Introduction to Information Technology Concepts) and UPT’s Technologies of Multimedia courses to work together each fall semester to research and debate current technologies, and create digital media artefacts and experiences that develop computational thinking and digital literacy skills. Students negotiate which tools to use for communication and collaboration, as they explore augmented and virtual reality as a means to experience and share culture across continents. Since 2017, the TalkTech project has incorporated VR technology, tools and platforms, as Romanian and American students worked in international teams to create VR experiences around a cultural or business landmark or experience and share them with their team partners. Locations exploited in VR include cultural landmarks; tech retail shops; public art; coffee shops, fast food, or local restaurants; sports venues; supermarkets; local landmarks; and campus landmarks.

The two projects have come together in their evaluative stage to explore the notion of intercultural competencies being facilitated by technology enhanced learning and how university students can develop their digital competences by co-creating VR/AT artefacts. The data analysed in this paper is elicited from a questionnaire administered at the end of the year. The paper presents an analyse of all key components of digital competence in the 5 areas of DigComp 2.0 in the context of co-creation in an international setting.

Keywords:

Digital competences, creation, co-create, project-based learning.