E-Stories is an innovative educational initiative focused on empowering international university students and enhancing their language skills, storytelling abilities, and digital competencies.
E-Stories is designed to address the diverse needs of students in higher education institutions (HEIs), particularly migrant and international students, while also providing valuable resources for language educators.
Objectives
E-Stories aims to achieve the following objectives:
- Enhancing Language Skills: Our project seeks to improve international university students’ productive language skills, specifically in speaking and writing in the host language.
- Empowering Storytellers: We aim to enhance students’ storytelling skills and empower them as writers of their own stories.
- Fostering Digital Competence: E-Stories endeavours to foster digital competence and literacy among students, equipping them with essential skills for the digital age.
- Encouraging Creativity: We strive to encourage creativity and creative writing among students, providing them with platforms to express themselves.
- Promoting Intercultural Competence: Our project aims to promote intercultural competence and awareness among students, fostering understanding and appreciation of diverse perspectives.
- Maximising Professional Competence: E-Stories also focuses on maximising the professional competencies of language educators, providing them with valuable resources and tools.
Project Deliverables
E-Stories consists of the following deliverables:
Innovative Course Design:
We will develop an 8-week innovative course design that integrates digital storytelling, language education, and social integration strategies.
Online Course Modules:
The instructional design will be transformed into an 8-module online course hosted on a free, open-source learning platform, accessible to students worldwide.
Educator Guidebook:
We will create a comprehensive guidebook for language educators in e-book format, offering valuable insights and strategies for implementing the E-Stories curriculum.
Publication of Student Works:
E-Stories will facilitate the publication of e-books featuring students’ stories and digital narratives, showcasing their creative endeavours.
Expected Outcomes
Through E-Stories, we anticipate significant gains in the following areas for international university students:
- Improved language competence
- Enhanced digital literacy and competence
- Increased intercultural awareness
- Strengthened communicative skills
- Fostering of creativity and self-expression
We believe that by offering a multidisciplinary approach and presenting our educational intervention in open-access formats, including both face-to-face and online modalities, E-Stories will provide enriching and complementary educational experiences for students and educators alike.