DEVELOPING CULTURAL HERITAGE INTERPRETATION SKILLS IN STUDENTS THROUGH THE CREATION OF DIGITAL TOURS: A CASE STUDY OF JAPAN AND CHINA

Abstract

The article examines the pedagogical potential of having students independently design digital tours of historical and cultural sites in China and Japan. The study’s relevance stems from the growing digital representation of monuments, coupled with the need to shift from the rote acquisition of information to a deeper understanding of the meanings, contexts, and values associated with cultural heritage. The aim of the work is to provide a theoretical rationale for the content and stages of developing students’ ability to create well-reasoned cultural-historical interpretations of sites through multimedia tours. The methodological framework incorporates competence-based, activity-based, culturological, project-based, and interpretive approaches, enabling the analysis of case studies and the refinement of methods and source materials. As a result, five components of cultural heritage interpretation skills are identified, and a seven-stage process for creating digital tours using resources from China and Japan is proposed.