Data with a First-Hand Story: Designing a Blended Learning Course for Cross-Cultural Economic and Financial Data Literacy Education

Research has shown that university students, especially those not majoring in finance or business, often demonstrate medium to low levels of financial literacy (Mändmaa, 2019). The proper use and accurate understanding of economic and financial data, a crucial component of numeracy, is considered an essential dimension of financial literacy education (OECD, 2023). For journalism and communication students, insufficient financial literacy can hinder their ability to report on economic issues effectively, potentially affecting the quality of their future work in media. Furthermore, journalism students often lack exposure to global perspectives, limiting their ability to comprehend issues beyond their local context.

This paper proposes an innovative blended learning approach to enhance students' understanding of economic and financial situations in their home countries/regions and globally. The course, co-taught by instructors from Hong Kong and Indonesia, incorporates three modes of teaching to address different learning objectives. First, students participate in synchronous opening and closing sessions held in physical classrooms at their respective universities, connected via Zoom to facilitate real-time, cross-cultural interaction. This synchronous mode fosters a sense of community, which research suggests is more effective than asynchronous engagement in building interpersonal connections. Between these sessions, students complete asynchronous online modules on the KEEP learning platform (an online course management system), which integrates video content and interactive exercises such as discussion forums. These activities aim to develop students' competencies in evaluating economic data, discerning credible sources, and understanding global economic contexts. Thirdly, students from Hong Kong and Indonesia will be paired up in groups to conduct virtual interviews about each other's economic environments. This component allows students to contextualize economic data through personal narratives.

This blended learning approach, combining physical and virtual interactions, distinguishes this course from traditional data literacy programs. Moreover, the intercultural dimension offers students a unique opportunity to engage with global economic data through firsthand storytelling. This paper argues that combining data analysis with narrative skills is crucial for journalism students to effectively cover financial and economic topics. While critical data analysis is fundamental in the era of big data, stories provide a more accessible and memorable way to communicate complex information such as numbers. The paper recommends that future data literacy education should integrate both analytical and storytelling components.