Learn to Change project brought together more than 50 European higher education students and teachers to co-create digital storytelling for Finnish small town Loviisa in collaboration with local service providers.
Krea Spring School is a blended course and an intensive international week organized by Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland, annually in May. In 2022, Krea Spring School was integrated with Erasmus+ KA2 project Learn to Change. The co-creation challenge of the course was to promote local attractions and sustainable services of Loviisa, a small town on the south coast of Finland.
Sustainable travel with focus on friendly people and local services
The Krea Spring School blended learning event started with an international online module focusing on multicultural team building virtually and online. The students came from a dozen European universities and started collaborating by exploring and analyzing the needs and expectations of European young generations, Millennial and Gen Z, regarding sustainable travel.
On 7 April 2022, we organized an international stakeholder workshop where we discussed examples of sustainable travel, focusing on off-the-beaten-track destinations and their local services. Some 40 European higher education students shared ideas with teachers and travel industry partners about what younger generations value and appreciate when traveling.
Mr Geert Kroos from ResiRest, the Netherlands, gave an inspiring talk about the ResiRest business model of fair tourism. The presentation provided valuable ideas on how to approach local people and services responsibly and with respect – and how to gain wide impact as a social enterprise.
Ms Camilla Stenvall from the Town of Loviisa, Finland, introduced the small town’s local attractions, people, and cultural heritage to students. Camilla’s amazing digital presentation gave the audience a panoramic bird’s eye view to Loviisa in both summer and winter. During an active Q&A session with Camilla, the students got insight into our digital storytelling project challenge (pdf), which was to attract responsible tourists to Loviisa. When asked to describe Loviisa with one word, Camilla answered “friendly”.
Loviisa’s local flair won the hearts of younger (and older) generations
After two years of Corona restrictions, the 40 international students attending Krea Spring School intensive week in Helsinki on 16-20 May 2022 really enjoyed the creativity and fun of working together in multicultural teams face to face. In mid-week, we took a field trip to Loviisa to experience the unique flair of its local business, nature, culture – and people. This friendly and beautiful town won the hearts of both students and teachers!
During the rest of the week, the students worked on their images, video footage, interviews, and personal memories, finally to produce and present their Loviisa stories to Krea Spring School teachers and the Town of Loviisa representatives. According to Camilla Stenvall, the stories were so wonderfully touching that they made her want to cry tears of joy. According to the student feedback on the course, the feeling of joy was mutual:
- “I would absolutely recommend this course! Not only did we get to spend a week in Finland, but also made some international friends and gained valuable experiences about ourselves, the world and other people”
- “YES – I would recommend it! Learning how to work in a completely different team environment, in English with different people, is great. Exploring Loviisa was awesome!
- The course is great and a unique experience to develop and improve interpersonal skills as well as learn more about digital storytelling methodology.
The students were not the only ones happy with the experience. The natural beauty and local delights of Loviisa also appealed to the senses and preferences of older generations, the international teacher team.
All in all, the Loviisa experience was found unforgettable – especially by those international students and teachers who after a very hot sauna took a dip in the ice-cold sea at Loviisa Camping. The day was beautiful and warm (for May), but apparently the swimmers could not quite “feel their legs” afterwards.
Text: Tanja Vesala-Varttala, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Image: Learn to Change project archives
The Erasmus+ KA project Learn to Change – Collaborative Digital Storytelling for Sustainable Change is coordinated by Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences and implemented in collaboration with Budapest Business School, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, and Saxion University of Applied Sciences.
Read more about the Krea Spring School 2022 international team!