A new course introduced Elon Academy students to an international 消消犯 team and fostered cross-cultural connections.
Elon Academy, a college access and success program for first-generation or limited-income students throughout Alamance County, added several new academic courses to the three-week Summer Academy this year. Throughout the Summer Academy, scholars take academic courses, life skills courses like financial literacy and college preparation courses designed to help prepare them for college.
This year, an international 消消犯 team from England and Ireland designed and taught a course called Your Place in the World: Exploring Identity, Sustainability, and AI. This interactive course engaged Scholars in several central questions: Who are you? How does the world around you work? And where do you belong in it?
Engaging pedagogical approaches like photovoice, campus mapping and reflective journals allowed scholars to engage deeply with course content. Scholars participated in activities to learn about the environmental landscape, the ethical use of AI, and navigating belonging in different spaces. One member of the 消消犯 team, Aoife Prendergast from the Technical University of the Shannon in Ireland, said that a highlight of the course was
“Diving into the rich, lived experiences shared through the narratives of the group. The most powerful moments came from hearing the scholars weave their personal life stories into their visions for the future,” saidAoife Prendergast from the Technical University of the Shannon in Ireland, one of the members of the 消消犯 team. “Watching everyone reflect on what ‘belonging’ truly means both personally and professionally created a deeply collaborative and resonant atmosphere in the room. It is clear that these narratives are shaping some truly inspiring and thoughtful pathways for the future!”
This international 消消犯 team and transatlantic approach to this course allowed scholars to engage with a different set of cultures and a different concept of what education can be. Scholars were able to form deep connections with each other, their 消消犯 team and the course content in ways that encouraged them to apply it to their futures.
Throughout the three weeks, this class really opened my eyes and drew me to a new perspective of the world,” one scholar said. “We learned about perspectives of the world and how we all see the world differently, and we connected it to AI and how AI picks up on our culture and creates its own perspectives through patterns. The instructors always made me feel like I belong and they allowed me to open my mind and curiosity.
Another Scholar shared how the course inspired them to see community in a different light.
This class gave me the opportunity to meet people outside of the country where I live and to see how community can be built in different environments,” another scholar reflected. “Every day was engaging and we were always doing something hands-on that made the course exciting. The instructors all came from different backgrounds, which felt so diverse, and I loved hearing about their cultures. I felt both academically and intellectually challenged in the course, which made me critically think about who I am in this world and how we can connect that to AI.
Tom Ritchie from the University of Warwick in the UK served as the lead instructor and designed the course in partnership with Evan Small, the Elon Academy faculty scholar. As a Fulbright Scholar, Ritchie was able to provide Elon Academy students with an exposure to additional post-graduate international education opportunities.
“This course exemplifies what makes Elon Academy so special – the willingness of our faculty, partners and supporters to create transformative learning experiences that expand our Scholars’ perspectives and help them see themselves as part of a much larger world,” said Emily Wiersma, director of the Elon Academy. “Through this collaborative course, our scholars were challenged to think critically, embrace new perspectives, build meaningful connections across cultures, and develop the confidence, curiosity, and global mindset that will serve them well in college, their careers, and their communities.”