Skip to main content

Study Group Multilingualism:

"Visualization and Virtual Reality meet Multi-Linguistic Landscapes"

With the progression of globalization and international migration flows, it is increasingly reasonable to think about reshaping linguistic landscapes. The Study Group "Multilingualism" focused on the examination of multilingualism and different visualization techniques and tools for presenting ideas and information inside as well as outside the classroom. In this workshop, students learned about different forms of multilingual visualization and applied them to central locations at the University of Potsdam (library, dining hall) using analog techniques (sketchnotes) and digital graphic tools. Creative language comparisons and multilingual communication were also practiced and reflected upon. At the end of the Summer School, the students’ innovative ideas were presented in a multilingual-designed VR room in Mozilla Hubs.

Study Group Results:

The study group split into three groups that worked on separate projects: one worked with Sketchnotes, one created flyers and signs using Canva, and one created a Virtual-Reality presentation. The three study group projects worked on the SDGs and sustainability in the classroom and extended their focus to multilingualism and visualization. Two main perspectives were central to this approach. On the one hand, multilingualism in a societal context - looking at the ways in which multilingualism and inclusion allow us to understand each other. On the other hand, multilingualism in the classroom and the ways in which visualization can support learning processes. The Sketchnote project group created a variety of flyers that reflected the aspects of multilingualism mentioned above. The Canva project group worked on the improvement of signs and flyers on campus in order to make them more inclusive and visually effective. This was done by taking photos of flyers and signs and editing or creating new versions of them on Canva. The Virtual Reality project group created an interactive virtual room in which the results of the other two groups could be presented.

Study Group Multilingualism
Photo: Ernst Kaczynski
Study Group Multilingualism

Study Group impressions: