A Democratic Reflective Syllabus in a Second Language Acquisition Context: In-person, Digital and Hybrid Experiences

Since its inception in 2004, Siena Italian Studies (SIS) has worked to offer students a challenging and engaging intercultural experience thanks to the implementation of the service-learning pedagogy and the practice of reflection combined with language acquisition. Over the years, SIS courses have been aligned with European policies and developments so that students could better understand the impact of their experience and build competences useful for their future as global citizens. For this reason, the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) was incorporated in the syllabus of the renewed reflection course, “Intercultural Dialogue, Democracy and Global Citizenship through Reflection”. The sudden change of habits and perspectives due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020 abruptly caused a shift in education. Therefore, proceeding along its ever-evolving path, SIS has come to develop new ways of educating to democracy: a digital and a hybrid reflective course. This contribution will present the Democratic Reflective Syllabus used in the EUFICCS (European Use of Full-Immersion, Culture, Content and Service) approach and compare its in-person version with its two updated versions developed.