Photo by Krisztina Papp on Unsplash
Have you ever roamed through the streets of your city and thought: “I wonder how many people know the history behind this secret pathway?” Or even asked yourself: “How can this cool street with local businesses attract more attention?” Whatever it is that might have caught your eye as a hidden gem in your city, you also might have been left scratching your head about the right approach to give attractiveness to such places.
As part of our Erasmus+ project, DiOtherCity, we have created a free online course as an Open Educational Resource (OER) to provide professionals working in the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) with the tools and resources they need to answer those very questions. We especially want to reach those who are unemployed, in short-term employment, or looking to develop their digital skills, so that they can use their passion as explorers of their city to create innovative experiences for visitors, both foreign and local.
Our course is divided into 5 modules that cover a myriad of topics relevant for those looking to create alternative city tours in post-COVID Europe.
- Module 1 introduces the main concepts of the course, with an emphasis on contextualising to learners the clear trend of tourists looking to the outskirts of a city for a more ‘authentic’ visitor experience. This module also contains case studies with examples of good city tour practices in Europe.
- Module 2 focuses on the research process which sets into motion every great city tour. This module will help you understand how you can shape and give life to your innovative ideas.
- Module 3 dives into the fundamentals of storytelling and gamification. Here, users of the course will learn how to use different communication strategies to exploit the popularity of digital storytelling methods to engage audiences.
- Module 4 showcases the practical uses of digital tools such as QR codes, virtual reality, podcasts, and many others, that can serve as helpful resources to mediate, amplify and personalise any city tour
- Module 5 strives to develop entrepreneurial skills by helping learners craft a sustainable and inclusive business plan, and gain an understanding on how to identify and position their city tour offer on the market.
We’ve also included a final section in the course titled “Sample Tours”, in which you will find tours created by professionals in the CCIs coming from varied backgrounds in Europe, following their participation in a week-long training program in Gliwice, Poland on how to exploit the project resources. This section will be enriched with more sample city tour examples for the cities of Mons, Dresden, Barcelona, Paris, Bologna, and others!
So, if you’ve got a keen eye for the ‘off’ points of your city and would like support on how to harness your out-of-the-box thinking to spark visitor interest or to simply apply a new method for experiencing these sites, explore our e-learning course at the link below: https://oer.makingprojects.org/oer/diothercity/.