Exchange Program

The “Technology with Communities” exchange program is based on an original interdisciplinary CEL course, named ‘Technology with Communities: Facilitating Technological Capital in a Collaborative Process’. The exchange builds on ongoing work conducted with the Palestinian community of Jisr Azzarqa and the Black and Latinx communities of Logan Heights, and serves as the basis for an ongoing research about Community Engaged Learning (CEL) initiatives.

The course targets underinvested communities’ accumulation of advanced and situated technological capital to meet their dynamic needs on-the-ground and advance independence. It emphasizes the integration advanced and local technology, academic and situated knowledge, interdisciplinary approaches, and the co-existence of multiple narratives. This unique module has received multiple funds, which have enabled the execution of its final products and deliverables, and current operation. During the last two years it has awarded the Irwin and Joan Jacobs Research Grant, Yankelovich Center Partnership-Building Grant, and the Changemaker Faculty Fellows at UCSD. With this generous aid, the class produces local deliverables and outputs, and enables a fully funded students’ travel for CEL knowledge and learning exchange.