Let's talk and share! Refugees and migrants building social inclusion and wellbeing through digital stories and online learning resources

Abstract

Social inclusion and wellbeing are a fundamental human right and intimately connected with the right to reside in a country. For refugees and migrants this takes on multiple and new forms as digital experiences increasingly wrap every part of our being. It can refer to maintaining social capital through shared digitally mediated conversations and images with friends and relatives in the homeland. It can also be about producing and accessing digital information and learning resources that can support social inclusion and wellbeing in the new country. In this paper, we explore how digital learning resources developed in the Erasmus+ ReGap project (Reducing the Educational Gap for Migrants and Refugees) can support the desire to be socially included and to experience a sense of wellbeing. A key finding is that in creating such resources as digital stories, refugees and migrants, who are co-producers and users of these stories, experience social inclusion and a sense of wellbeing. The paper proposes an innovative set of indicators to measure the success of the online learning resources developed.