Creating Interactive Digital Content: A Cross-Cultural Approach to Develop Critical Peer Feedback

Giving and receiving critical feedback are key 21st century learning skills, which form an integral part of enquiry based approaches to learning. Yet learners face several barriers to acquiring those skills; a lack of interest in peer-created content; social politeness; and under-valuing peer-feedback. Additionally, the perception of one’s peers as equals rather than experts engenders low engagement in peer-feedback activities. In this study, we investigate and address some of these barriers through a 3-month cross-cultural activity with 60 students in two schools – in India and England. By introducing an interactive content-creation tool to facilitate the peer feedback process in a cross-cultural, Project-Based Learning (PBL) activity we initiate and utilise the cultural expertise of the students. The activity involved creating interactive content to stimulate critical feedback exchange between students where the students were considered to be ‘experts’ in their cultural setting. The three-month activity demonstrates that the use of an interactive content-creation tool in a culture-sensitive PBL process aids the development of critical peer feedback and helps students to achieve a deeper understanding of their own culture and that of the ‘other’.