All students watched the National Geographics documentary "Before the Flood" and each group was asked to come up with an innovative transmedia campaign based on the documentary, engaging and inspiring the target group to work on the SDGs.
"Their accent is amazing I loved it. The way they think inspired me in a way to show my better version and be creative".
During the first online meeting with South African team members, the cooperation was immediately tested by the exchange of opinions and cultural differences in the field of global warming and sustainability. Through research into the SDGs and target group and inspiration from existing campaigns, films, apps and games, each group came up with a unique story.
Ideas and concepts of the groups were supported by the lessons Storytelling, Transmedia Campaign and Gamification, alternately given by Dutch and African teachers via Microsoft Teams. As a result, instructions, feedback and collaborative learning started to flow together in a pleasant way. Dutch teachers gave feedback to students from Vega school and the South African teachers taught our students more about gamification in transmedia campaigns. The result: 10 smashing presentations, with well thought-out transmedia storylines and accompanying concepts for various media expressions.
FHICT and Vega School South Africa had been talking about collaboration and possible exchange for some time, but until now this had not materialised. Due to the Corona crisis and similar blended-learning measures in both countries, the physical distance had been reduced to 0 and the difference in educational didactics disappeared. An additional advantage was of course that South Africa is in the same time zone as the Netherlands. This created a great opportunity for a joint online project. The great results and the pleasant cooperation, experienced by both students and teachers, show that distance and cultural differences can easily be overcome online in a joint international project.