Developing intercultural competence through drone-assisted virtual field trips while adapting to pandemic times

We designed technology-assisted intercultural learning activities in this study. University students, ten from Indonesia and ten from China recorded videos about local culture and traditions, and then they exchanged videos with partners to enable cultural virtual field trips. To record cultural videos, one has to personally go to places related to local culture and traditions; however, this was not a good idea due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To implement the physical distancing measures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the participants employed drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to record cultural videos. This study explored the affordances of UAVs for intercultural learning and whether intercultural competence of the participants will be facilitated. Through our mixed-method approach, we collected the data from questionnaires, videos, and interviews. We obtained three main findings. First, we revealed five UAV affordances such as (1) UAVs convey visual and aural feelings of being in a place; (2) UAVs provide details on a circular route beyond the human eye-level; (3) UAVs provide landscape overviews; (4) UAVs provide detailed observations at higher altitudes or make surveillance possible, and (5) UAVs enable flying to a specific area. Second, drone-assisted intercultural learning activities facilitated intercultural competence of the Chinese and Indonesian participants. Based on the results of the study, we made several suggestions and drew implications for educators and researchers.