Twenty-first International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This presentation describes an innovative curriculum initiative at The University of Hong Kong involving undergraduate historical research that requires the use of immersive technologies. Students create their own individual and collaborative projects using methods as varied as online virtual exchanges with students and informants from distant parts of the world and the creation of VR narratives that are the product of research on past and current migration. This pedagogical approach allows students to, not only understand how global flows between China and Latin America operate, but also to examine and feel how diasporic Chinese, Korean and Japanese communities collaborate(d) in the construction of the Americas. The use of multi-sensory tools that facilitate immersion in the foreign environments also promote social-emotional engagement with material and individuals, and nurture long-term application of the learned concepts. This is an innovative, transdisciplinary course both in terms of the content and skills, including multimedia and intercultural communication, that students acquire through it.