On 19 October 2021, the UNIMED SubNetwork on eLearning and Open Education in collaboration with the Anna Lindh Foundation organized an online conversation on the Impact of Digitalization and Education on the Promotion of Intercultural Dialogue in the Euro-Med region. Attended by 37 participants from the two shores of the Mediterranean, the 90 minutes conversation tackled various angles on the topic.
Eleonora Insalaco, Head of Operations and Intercultural Research at the Anna Lindh Foundation, opened the webinar by giving an overview of the work of the Anna Lindh Foundation and presented the results of the empirical research on the Intercultural Trends in the Euro Mediterranean region. “We collected this data that is empirical quantitative and then we had the opportunity to ask different experts to interpret the data and to contextualise it, and then we publish this information in a report every three years, but of course our report and this level of interpretation by our experts is the first one of the ten and the hundreds of interpretation that is possible to give to the same figures, to the same data that has been collected so in 2020 “ said Eleonora.
The second part of the webinar, was led by Karl Donert, Geographer and consultant, Former President and current Vice President of EUROGEO. Donert presented the Impact of digitalization (virtual mobility) on Intercultural Dialogue . In his speech, he tackled various aspects of the subject such as intercultural dialogue, culture and education, digitalization, technological maturity, disruptive innovation, the future of education, the impact of digitalization on media and concluded with recommendations.
“There are really big lessons we can learn from the way the same countries are using digital technologies for cross-cultural encounters because they’re not being used by Europeans in the same way so I think there’s a great opportunity to undertake research in this area What is it that enables cross-cultural encounters to be successful in terms of digital activities? I think that would be a great research project to develop. What is clear is that, cultural barriers are less of an obstacle online than face-to- face and it suggests also that the use of digital technologies in modifying not only globally but local ethnic cultures themselves, and also the conditions of the dialogue between those cultures is being modified so i think there’s a real open area for research here. “ Said Karl Donert.
The online conversation also introduced the online course “Euro-Mediterranean Intercultural Trends” which is based on the Anna Lindh Report on Intercultural Trends and Social Change in the Euro-Mediterranean region, including a unique public opinion survey among a representative sample of the Euro- Mediterranean population about mutual perceptions, values and openness to diversity. The fall edition of the course will be in English and French and will run from October 25th to November 21th 2021, jointly delivered by the Anna Lindh Foundation and UNIMED, the Mediterranean Universities Union.
The participants had an opportunity to hear and share their experiences and best practices on the topic. The webinar ended with Q&A sessions and concluding remarks by Eleonora Insalaco and Karl Donert.
You can watch the recording of this conversation here .
Playlist of previous conversations.
This conversation is recorded in an “online wall” at the address: https://padlet.com/unimed/sn_elearning
