This article presents an educational internet forum, which was a part of the blended learning project the author led throughout the academic year 2011/2012 parallel to the course Introduction to the Cultural Studies at the University of Gdansk. As a result of the project the site http://wiedzaokulturze.wikispaces.com was created by a group of sixty-five Cultural Studies students. Students’ task was to take part in two discussions each semester by sharing their opinion on the topic the teacher proposed. In total they left 260 comments on 20 discussion forums. Each discussion forum was closed two days before the next class, so it prepared for the subsequent discussion. The aim of this article is to demonstrate whether participation in online discussion develops the competence necessary to lead a face to face discussion, the key ability that should be improved by humanistic education. Year-round care of the project helped to make many observations that can be used as a guide for teachers who plan to moderate the educational forum. This paper presents examples of discussion topics, analyzes students’ comments and proposes methods for moderating internet discussion. The experience gained during the project leads to the conclusion that, although the Internet educational forum solves some of the problems of traditional discussion, it generates another ones. The most serious of them result from the separation of time and space and lack of natural interaction. As explained by research results and statistics collected after closing the project, the online discussion is more cool, intellectual and less spontaneous. Because of this fact the educational forum threads should be planned as a preparation for written assignment.

Taming the Other by theatre – the case of the project “NIEW(INNY)”

The aim of the article is to show the potential of theatrical art in intercultural education, and more specifically in the process of taming the broadly understood Otherness. The first part of the study presents the conceptual categories: the Other and the Stranger in the perspective of intercultural education. The intercultural intentions of art are also characterized, with particular focus on theatre and emphasizing the role of theatre activities in developing attitudes of tolerance towards cultural diversity. The most important features of theatre allowing for the recognition of theatre as an effective and attractive tool for intercultural education were indicated. The second part of the study is related to educational practice, as it is a record of an original theatre project addressed to primary school students, aimed at sensitizing to cultural differences. As part of the project, a spectacle dealing with the issues of various dimensions of Strangeness / Otherness (biological, economic, cultural, geophysical, mental) was realized, emphasizing their relativity and contextuality. There were also theatrical and intercultural workshops referring to the performance and to developing the attitude of tolerance with the use of such theatrical techniques as: movement games, drama, theatre improvisation, voice games with theatrical intention.