Conference Agenda

Higher education institutions are increasingly challenged to strengthen democratic culture by fostering inclusive, participatory, and socially responsible learning environments. However, universities prioritize content transmission over student-centred learning, confirming that democratic-orientated teaching practices remain rare (Nagy & Gloe, 2020). Building on research emphasizing the transformative potential of collaborative, socially embedded learning (Hofer & Derkau, 2020), a transnational e-service-learning project was initiated within teacher education at the University of Konstanz (Germany), in partnership with the University of Pretoria, Mamelodi Campus (South Africa).

During a three-day webinar series on Social Media Literacy (SML; Polanco Levic & Salvo-Garrido, 2022) in summer 2025, university students engaged with marginalized adolescents from the township of Mamelodi. Moreover, the project aimed to foster future skills (i.e., collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, civic agency; OECD, 2019, 2025). In a pilot study, I explored the e-service-learning approach, focusing on how German students perceived their roles, reflected on their learning processes, and how the adolescents described their experiences.

Thematic analyses (Braun & Clarke, 2006) of self-reflection reports from thirteen German students and several WhatsApp messages from 28–35 adolescents indicate that the project fostered social media literacy, intercultural communication, digital collaboration, critical thinking, and flexibility. German students reported an increased awareness of global social inequalities, enhanced intercultural sensitivity, and a stronger sense of social responsibility. The adolescents reported increased confidence in engaging with digital content in a critical and safe manner. The pilot study suggests that transnational service-learning can serve as a powerful mechanism for strengthening democratic competencies by creating bottom-up, relational, and transformative learning spaces. It highlights the potential of digital collaboration to bridge social divides, promote mutual understanding, and cultivate civic dispositions across global contexts.

Based on the positive experiences of all participants and the relevance of social media literacy—competencies increasingly linked to democratic participation and resilience in digital societies (Polanco Levic & Salvo-Garrido, 2022)—the project was also conducted in winter 2025/26 and will be continued in 2026 at the University of Konstanz. The findings inform the design of a forthcoming mixed-methods study (Ahmed et al., 2024): students will document their learning processes in reflective diaries, adolescents will participate in short pre- and post-surveys, and educational partners at the Mamelodi campus will be interviewed. This work contributes to ongoing debates on how higher education can redefine professional excellence to include civic responsibility, and how service-learning can support resilient, inclusive, and socially democratic societies.