Bhutan

Project Partner:

Gyelpozhing College of Information Technology (GCIT), Royal University of Bhutan

Main Tech Tools:

Website Development, Video Editing, Canva, Figma, HTML, CSS

Organization Needs:

Students need to be able to express themselves through digital tech in order to get closer to IT and CS academics. We work to diversify tech's traditional efficacies by tuning into the creative world and the personal experiences of each student.

Our Solutions:

Provide a month long student-led workshop that emphasize opening to learning, practical tech tools, and intercultural communication. In an online world where boundaries are limitless and connections are multiplex, collaboration and critical thinking becomes a change makers greatest skillset.

Project Outcomes

• Inter-organizational bond between UCSC & GCIT Bhutan

• Curriculum for the digital expression of Bhutanese & Californian undergraduates and potential rural youth

• Intercultural website created by the student participants of the DEW

Project Milestones

• 12 Bhutanese and 4 Californian students co-hosting the workshop in summer 2020

• Building a dialogue between cultures & overcoming implicit power dynamics

• Co-creating a digital expression workshop curriculum so that the future group can utilize it for youth tech training program

Main Lessons Learned

• Staying focused on a mission requires consistent updating and checking in. This fosters engagement, so that everyone is an active contributor to our momentum.

• Technical and social challenges are expected, but so are opportunities to innovate ways through adversity.

• Our personal experiences are diverse, so learning how to create a space for a discussion is the first lesson we all study in order to learn about others and share about ourselves