Does a post-COVID-19 Digital Cultural Exchange course improve students' multicultural literacy in Taiwan's remote areas?

Multicultural education (ME) is an emerging concept to fulfil society's demands to perform effectively in culturally diverse environments. Students in remote areas have little opportunity to be engaged in ME due to geographical barriers and the COVID-19 effects. This study proposed a Digital Cultural Exchange course in Taiwan where remote students as tutees were paired with diverse tutors to expose them to ME in the post-COVID-19 era. A quasi-experimental design was conducted with 62 tutees. The questionnaire and reflective journals were used for data analysis. Results indicated tutees increased their multicultural literacy after joining the course, with the posttest score being higher than the pretest score. This study also compared the difference in tutees' multicultural literacy regarding educational levels. No significant difference was noted in their multicultural literacy among educational levels. The results implied the effectiveness of reflective learning. This study contributes to tutees' development of multicultural understanding, bridges the gap among different cultures, and better equips tutees with the requisite skills to overcome their future intercultural obstacles and to be well-prepared for democratic citizenship in a pluralistic society. These results offer curriculum designers suggestions for technology-supported ME, serving as a valuable reference for ME-related studies, especially in remote areas.