Marianna Coulentianos
PhD ‘20
The University of Michigan offers numerous international project opportunities that encourages participants to utilize learned skills to create a culturally sensitive and relevant deliverable. However, there is a need for increased support in dealing with culture shock, and we propose to leverage culture shock as a tool for growth and self-reflection, with a gameful approach. The purpose of this project is to create a card game that will improve the cultural awareness and cultural empathy of students and more generally of any person entering a new community, a new setting, or starting a new experience. Each card has a prompt. The student is to pick a card a day and do the prompt, then the student is encouraged to jot down notes on the card or in a journal, and to share her experience with fellow travelers. The student would use the deck of cards before, during, and after her experience to become more aware of cultural values, beliefs, and perceptions, and will hopefully be more open minded towards other cultures.
Library Mentor: Gabriel Duque