Professor Roberto Rey Agudo's Language Study Abroad course took place in Barcelona, Spain. Some of the learning objectives for the class included increasing students’ language proficiency, intercultural competence, and understanding the relationship between Barcelona and the Barcelona that is portrayed in literature and film. Professor Roberto Rey Agudo asked how he might use design to address these learning objectives.
Students in the LSA Barcelona program produced orientation materials for future students. The project involved reflecting on their own experience, identifying gaps in the existing orientations, surveying students (from both the winter and spring cohorts), researching, and matching projects with appropriate formats.
This design project helped students improve their intercultural knowledge by prompting them to reflect on their experience and act as linguistic and cultural mediators for the next student cohort. In terms of language learning goals, it provided students with opportunities to read and synthesize policy documents, media, and research in the target language. Many groups also interviewed local informants for the project, leading to an increased knowledge of city culture and people.
“Getting students to have a say in what they wanted to work on and how they wanted to do it seemed successful and pedagogically productive.” - Professor Rey Agudo