This article explores how student teachers use moral imagination when writing about an ethical dilemma. Moral imagination refers to the ability to consider a situation from a distance and to understand different perspectives through imagination. An ethical dilemma was presented in the form of a framing story, which the participating Austrian and…

To successfully create inclusive environments that address the unique needs of each student, teacher candidates must adopt their students' perspectives. Radical imagination is essential for empathy, as it enables individuals to recognize diverse viewpoints (Greene, 1995). Arts-based methods provide a means for teacher candidates to practice…

Universities annually welcome students from a wide variety of locations, cultures, and backgrounds, aiming to educate them in their career of choice. However, they often hit a wall when it comes to creating opportunities for students who hold deep and often polarizing diversity markers, specifically religious preference, faith and/or worldview, to…

Background: In western societies, commitment to social justice claims for politics of recognition when referring to gender diversity. Gender non-conforming people, such as trans persons, represent social groups traditionally oppressed within heteronormative hegemonic thinking on gender. We present two qualitative case studies based on pedagogical…

This article offers a critique of consumer culture that draws on Augustine's vision of human consciousness, exploring consumerism's formative effects on the memory, attention, and imagination of consumers. Drawing on William Cavanaugh's analysis of consumers' disposition of detachment, it explains how consumer culture distorts memory, attention,…

The article discusses two versions of a complex role-playing exercise in undergraduate courses on Buddhism. The pedagogical exercise demonstrated how imagination cultivated through creative writing could be used to enhance learning about history, culture, and religion. Students were also challenged to generate an understanding of religious…

This paper reflects on the teaching of science fiction texts to first-year engineering students at the University of the Witwatersrand as part of a Critical Thinking course that uses literature as a vehicle through which to develop competence in critical literacy and communication. This course aims to equip engineering students, as future…

In this article we depart from a conceptualisation of foreign language teaching as intercultural citizenship in schools and universities. We extend this conceptualisation by suggesting that foreign language teaching can and should also sensitise students about issues of human suffering and cultivate empathy, solidarity, hospitality and inclusion.…

This study considers the 2-year bilingual Masters programme, 'Cultural Intelligence and Innovation' at Université de Paris, for which classes are taught in English and in French. Alumni are working as strategic planners, brand managers, community managers, advertisers, futures and trend specialists, web content writers and project leads in a wide…

This essay describes an adaptable, multimodal assignment in which students create a comic in lieu of a traditional essay or exam. I outline the theoretical and practical value of this assignment and provide a detailed description of its implementation in two different literature courses: an introduction to the major course and a course on…

Spatial design as a discipline relies on the psychological construct of space. In the light of shortcomings and challenges faced by traditional approaches to spatial design learning, this paper investigates the role and value of Virtual Reality (VR) as a pedagogic vehicle. Based on understandings informed by action-research using VR with learners…

Reforms surrounding the teacher's role in fostering students' social competences, especially those associated with empathy, have moved to the forefront of global higher education policy discourse. In this context, reform in higher education teaching has been focused on shifting teachers' practices away from traditional lecture-style…

The digital economy and the global pandemic, together with the effects of climate change, have taken a human toll affecting the pace of everyday life, creating an exponential increase in anxiety and stress related diseases. Today's complex, globalised world creates a need to challenge and reconceptualise educational priorities. In an increasingly…

Dance archives can bring students into contact with historical subjects through artifacts of the past. This article advocates the use of archival projects in undergraduate dance history courses, arguing that such hands-on learning activities give students dynamic and interactive experiences of history. The author describes a creative project she…

The importance of imagination in understanding sustainability has often been overlooked. This paper examines acts of imagining in teaching and learning that elicit and enable the emotive experience of empathy. I frame ways of thinking about imagination and empathy through theoretical perspectives of otherness. I report on research findings into…