Setting the Tone: Developing Effective and Culturally Sensitive Learning Resources to Improve the Integration Process of Migrants in France

Abstract

The handling of mass migration is subject to a great deal of public debate in the past few years, notably in light of the recent economic crisis, armed conflicts and changes in the geopolitical sphere. This migration is both a source of richness and subject of conflict for the countries that welcome these migrants. The cultural and economic benefits of such migration are highly documented. However, due to a lack of understanding of migration on local, national and international, overwhelming misconceptions that persist and that are often emphasised by social media and the wariness that can exist when the cultural practices of a country’s citizens and incoming migrants is diagonally opposed, the integration process of migrants is hindered by overriding tensions.Providing migrants with tailored educational resources can allow them to better understand the environment within which they find themselves, allow them to recognise the specificities of that environment, comprehend the complexity of the given society and in some cases provide them with arguments in order to anticipate and respond to potential conflict. MOOC “Vivre en France, vivre ensemble” (Living in France, living together), addresses the question of smoothening the integration process for migrants in France. We will explore how this MOOC was developed in order to respond to the needs of migrants through a considerable amount of planning in terms of both editorial and production practices. After briefly introducing the course context and the chosen structure to respond to that context, we will examine the importance of finding the right tone, managing the mass of content at learner disposal, handling the distribution process before emitting some recommendations in maintaining an optimal production process faced with the multiple validation processes that such politically sensitive courses are subjected to.