Foreward

This student-created PressBook was created at the end of an ambitious course, during difficult times, with extraordinary students and deeply invested community partners. This book was created as a reference and learning tool for all who were involved; to inform future projects, and to inspire future students to imagine new possibilities for collaborations.

The pandemic revealed opportunities for collaborating with global partners virtually this year rather than the face-to-face community-based coursework that I have historically engaged with.  Previously, I  worried that the level of engagement and depth of learning through virtual collaborations would be diminished, but our collaboration with the non-profit organization Pravah in India revealed several benefits in remote engagement.

A significant advantage was the sheer number of student interactions made possible by working remotely.   Organizing numerous face-to-face meetings with local partners is logistically challenging (scheduling conflicts and transportation issues), often only meeting 1-3 times/quarter.  Remote exchanges were surprisingly easier to organize, had higher participation, and facilitated numerous lines of communication for students to continue conversations, and deepen ties between partners.

This collaboration asked both American and Indian student groups to create virtual interdisciplinary arts festivals.  They were given full control over the festivals; organizing, designing, advertising, and running the festival prior to creating this book –a tall order for any class to undertake.  Pravah focuses on developing youth leadership skills and enabling students to take ownership and fully control the festival did just that.

The highlight of this experience was witnessing the student growth and seeing what they were able to achieve, even when the bar was set so high and they were asked to tackle so many new tasks.     The hidden reward of this quarter for me as an educator was learning to turn control over to the students.  It sounded easy enough—but it revealed my tendency to micro-manage to achieve specific outcomes rather than turn control over and allow students to learn more independently.   It has inspired me to put more trust in students’ ability to be inventive, to collaborate (esp when unsure of outcomes), and to take pride in the outcome as well as the lessons that were learned so deeply.