Reflecting on cultural encounters before mobility

The learning assignments

In this chapter you can find learning assignments to investigate your own assumptions about culture and your position on cultural diversity. They also help you to build a theoretical background you can draw on as you analyse your cultural encounters. They support you in exploring the skills you need in diverse cultural and educational contexts and reflecting on your development. 

Those learning assignments are intended to be completed before the exchange period to orientate you to cultural encounters and help you explore the concept of culture and your position on cultural diversity:

• A letter to yourself
• Skills that have been found important in cultural encounters
• Learning journey log (start keeping the log)

Letter to yourself

Write a letter to yourself about your expectations of your exchange period and what you want to learn during it. You can can also write about how you came up with the idea of going abroad and about your feelings now that you are about to start your journey. Store the letter somewhere where you can find it and read it after you have returned home. The letter is only for you and you do not have to hand it in. The purpose of the letter is to help you reflect on your learning.

 

Skills that have been found important in cultural encounters

If you aim to develop the skills that support you in cultural encounters you obviously need to know what these skills are and understand how you can develop them. In this section you explore such skills.

1. Read about the competences that have been found important in cultural encounters and about the skills that are needed in multicultural guidance and dialogue. You can find the texts below.
2. Based on your reading, consider which skills are important in cultural encounters and how such skills can be developed. Then have a look at these skills from your perspective: explore your strengths and the ways to develop your skills. Consider also how you can develop your skills during your exchange period.

READING TEXT (adapted from Jones, P. et al. 2019. Intercultural Learning: Critical preparation for international student travel. Sydney: University of Technology Sydney ePress, p. 31). One of the strategies includes cultivating an attitude of “curiosity ahead of judgement” and recognising one’s own intercultural incompetence. This attitude comes from the practice of cultural relativism, where: One should try to judge and interpret the behaviour of others in terms of their traditions and experience. This does not mean that one should not make judgements; it simply means that one should suspend judgement while engaged with aspects of that particular culture. This requires as to cultivate the skills to suspend judgement, tolerate ambiguity, understand that there will be multiple truths and have a critical awareness of how and by whom knowledge is created. Further to this, it is important to “consider every culture a dynamic culture and every interaction a dynamic interaction… as a collaborative partnership based on power-sharing”. These sentiments are echoed in the concept of cultural humility which requires “a change in overall perspective and way of life…[to] be aware of power imbalances and being humble in every interaction with every individual” by exercising the attributes of openness, self-awareness, egoless, supportive interaction and self-reflection and critique.

 

Learning journey log

The purpose of the learning journey log is to help you reflect on your learning during the exchange period.

In your learning journey log you, you explore any incidents, cultural encounters and learning outcomes that have been meaningful to you during the exchange period. You can keep your learning log like a diary describing your feelings about cultural encounters or critically reflecting on them and your learing. Please include material that helps you describe and reflect on your learning in your log.

Start your learning journey log by defining the learning goals of your exchange period before you travel abroad. Define also the goals for developing the skills required in intercultural encounters. Please go back to assignment Skills that have been found important in cultural encounters where you have already explored your skills.

After your exchange period, use your log as basis of the learning journey description and reflect on your learning.

Format of learning journey log

Use a format and any media that helps you both to think about your learning journey and to store material about it. You can use, for example, a digital service to combine different types of media such as text, pictures, videos, or you can simply use a notebook – or a combination of them. The log should be easy for you to access and use.

When to keep your learning journey log?

This is an important question that you should consider to find time for reflection and material collection when meaningful incidents occur and you can still remember them instead of ending up with something that has to be accomplished at some point of your journey. Consider when you have time to make entries to the log – for example, if you should make entries on a weekly basis or every day at a certain time. Make a plan and stick to it!