OVERVIEW
'Intercultural dialogue is the best guarantee of a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world.’ - Robert Alan Arthur
We live in a time of complex, 'wicked' global challenges that have no easy solutions: climate change, social inequalities, forever wars, cyber threats, pandemic threats, and so on. These challenges require unprecedented levels of innovation, entrepreneurial thinking and radical collaboration - not only between different sectors of the society and disciplines of knowledge but also across different cultural contexts. To create new ways of living and working together, in harmony with one another and the Planet, we need to learn how to engage in intercultural empathy and how to harness our cultural diversity as a source of collective strength and well-being.
In this module, teams comprising students from University College Dublin (UCD) and students from Vietnam National University in Hanoi (VNU) will be working together, developing their intercultural competencies and entrepreneurial skills, under the guidance of international facilitators and mentors.
The first part of the module will focus on Intercultural Empathy. Students will work on a video challenge related to the ‘wicked problem’ found at the intersection of two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the process, they will learn about SDGs and the related Inner Development Goals (IDGs), build their intercultural collaboration competencies, and practise the three steps (Empathy, Defining a Problem, and Ideation) of the Design Thinking process, a problem-solving framework, focusing on multicultural contexts.
The second part of the module will be dedicated to the ‘Innovation Beyond Borders’, a UCD-VNU collaborative project. Each team of students will be tasked with solving the same global innovation challenge, but focusing on different cultural contexts. Each team will matched with a facilitating Mentor. While further improving their intercultural collaboration competencies and the use of Design Thinking methodology, students will also learn how to design solutions that best fit different cultural contexts.
During the final session, each team will present their innovative solution (a product, a service, a campaign, a for-profit business, a social enterprise, etc.) and showcase how it addresses a chosen global challenge in a culturally appropriate manner.
*** Special Academic Trip to Vietnam: We are excited to offer students enrolled in this module for the 2024-25 academic year the opportunity to apply for an academic trip to Vietnam. This immersive experience will allow you to work with local communities on impactful projects, engage in cross-cultural exchanges, and apply your skills in real-world settings. This is an exceptional chance to enhance your portfolio and gain invaluable international experience.
Please note that assessment for this module largely takes place during class time - with the exception of a small amount of pre-work, and the individual reflective report which is typically due within two weeks of the module finishing.
UCD INNOVATION ACADEMY
At the UCD Innovation Academy, we are Educator Practitioners with extensive real-world experience as academics, business and social entrepreneurs, tech thinkers, creative professionals and design thinking practitioners.
Our teaching is grounded in academic rigour. Our focus is on ‘learning by doing’ in a real-world context. Classes include a combination of individual and team tasks and activities, along with discussions, presentations and reflection.
Enrolment on an Innovation Academy module means a commitment to active participation and engagement, which necessitates attendance at all scheduled classes.
Notes:
Class Size : We limit our class size to 36 students or less. We require a minimum of 16 participants to ensure enough people for teamwork and a dynamic classroom environment. On very rare occasions, if fewer than 16 registered students register, we will offer students the opportunity to join another class.
www.innovationacademy.ie