Along with the conventional skills of literacy, disciplinary knowledge, and communication, skills such as digital literacies, digital design and familiarity with Web 2.0 tools have become additional requirements. Joan Lippincott (2007), argues forcefully that for such skills to be acquired by students they need to be integrated into the syllabus and enable students to acquire them while preparing multimedia content as part of their assignments. This panel will elaborate on this with reference to concret examples and cases studies from Kosovo and Cairo and highlight the benefits to be derived for student learning.

Student-centered teaching and learning has gained tremendous popularity among faculty and students during the last two decades and many courses seek innovative ways in which students can enhance their own learning experience and gain new skills at the same time. The emergence of new and innovative learning technologies has also contributed to this process and there is now a plethora of academic courses that make use of several such technologies in the teaching process. Furthermore, higher education is also acutely cognizant of the importance of the various new skills required by students in order for them to secure rewarding employment after graduation. Skills such as digital literacies, digital design and familiarity with Web 2.0 tools have become additional requirements for students to acquire, especially as we recognise that we now live in a global digital universe.

In addition to the above benefits providing students also with the opportunity for global education experiences is currently a major initiative in higher education. The benefits of preparing college students to become global citizens through international contacts are obvious. Thus, communication technology and multimedia content production produces also real benefits when students are unable to travel abroad. True global learning excitement takes place during multimedia collaboration between countries and cultures students are quite moved by the personal life stories, experiences and academc interpretaions of their peers in other societies. It highlights the importance of stepping out of their comfort zones and explore and understand other cultures and socio-economic systems. Sometimes, when the place is dangerous or remote, a digital handshake is a viable path to global learning for college students.

This panel will argue and show, through conceret case studies and examples that collaborative faculty/IT Staff/librarian support for student multimedia content production is a teaching strategy with potential for engagement and learning which also generates a variety of benefits for student learning. The panel will also argue for the geater dissemination of this innovative pedagogy, the technical support required and the forms of faculty/IT staff/librarian collaboration throughout the AMICAL consortium. In fact, it will seek AMICAL support and sponsorship where possible for this collaborative and student-centered pedagogy to become a key component of collaboration between AMICAL consortium memebrs for the greater benefit of student learning.