Ethical Communications

Funds are raised, preparation is done, your bags are packed, you’ve checked in online – wait, you’ve forgotten your phone.

Going on a short-term mission trip involves more people than just the ones who go with you. Family members, church members, friends and the school community are eagerly waiting to hear about your trip. And nowadays, thanks to social media they can see your trip as it’s happening!

But what we think we are communicating and what we are communicating can be different things!

We can unintentionally act as tourists, capturing and consuming the materially poor’s images and stories as if they were a show to be observed. Further, we can capture images as a way of getting an emotional reaction from viewers in order to manufacture a certain response (often to give money), turning the people featured into tools that we use to get a desired result. Or we can use images to show ourselves as the key focus – and as the key way of bringing change into a community.

All of the above dehumanises the people we meet, violating their dignity.

In this course, we will explore how we can take and use photos of our time in different locations with respect and without doing harm.

Timelines

In-Country | Preparation

Course Length

45 minute sessions

Education Stream
Mission Stream
Training and Development Stream

This course guides students through the complexities of communicating in and from another culture. Students are encouraged to evaluate the ethics of communication they encounter as well as their own and suggest how it could be improved.

Students are equipped to communicate ethically about their experiences in Cambodia ensuring people are treated with dignity and respect.

This course has curriculum links with the Australian Curriculum, providing content for Level 6 ICT outcome; all Level 6 Ethical Understanding outcomes; and Outcome 7 of IB CAS Program.

Just as teachers, pastors and other spiritual leaders are tasked with not just the “what” but the “how” of their message and ministry, so we need to consider how the stories we tell contribute to, or actively harm, the wellbeing of the people we meet, visit or want to help.

Extra resources in this session will look at the bigger picture of the stories we tell and how that can aid or hinder the messages we are trying to communicate.

This course is available as a stand alone workshop or can be made part of a tailored training package.

Alternatively, you can take this course as an individual.

Click on start this course, and work your way through the activities and quizzes.

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