Abstract#R##N##R##N#This article reports the findings of a collaborative digital storytelling project titled “Being Human Today,” a multimodal curricular initiative that was implemented simultaneously in both a South African and an American university classroom in 2015. By facilitating dialogue and the sharing of digital stories by means of a closed Facebook group, instructors were able to investigate students’ critical awareness and social consciousness regarding notions of “self” and “other” across continents. Case study methodology was applied as a research framework to collect, code, and triangulate data gathered from student-driven texts, Facebook entries, and student-produced digital stories. Framed by Giroux's border pedagogy and set within social justice education, findings provide evidence of our students’ desire to be connected to each other, both locally and abroad, which we found to be the heart of what it means to be human today. Further, data revealed how sharing stories as cultural and personal artifacts worked to demystify notions of otherness in both local and global contexts. In particular, the comparison of personal stories shared in this space allowed for critique and a raised awareness of how students are impacted by global hegemonic discourses. Implications of practice for this study include breaking down the barriers-both real and imagined-as they relate to how educators conceive the use of technology in classroom spaces and student engagement across continents.
['Kristian J. Stewart', 'Daniela Gachago']
Being Human Today: A Digital Storytelling Pedagogy for Transcontinental Border Crossing.