Hello, World: An Internationalization at Home Project for Computing for Social Good

Information technology has connected our world and its citizens in incredible ways. Despite this connectedness, students are often isolated within their “online bubbles” of their own university, city, or country. Technology provides a great opportunity to connect them to a broader global experience. We have developed and piloted a cross-institution activity as part of an Internationalization at Home (IaH) initiative to expose first year computer science students to the concept of computing for social good in an international context. We explore how differences in culture can influence students’ perceptions and approaches to computing for social good. Specifically, we had students from a Mexican and Canadian university discuss how computing for social good could be used to solve issues they faced in their communities. Students participated in surveys where they proposed and ranked applications for social good. The students also participated in a videoconference discussion with the students of the other school to discuss their choices. Thematic analysis revealed that the students had much more in common with each other than they had differences. Both groups not only focused on similar areas of interest, but they also tended to focus on solving issues faced by their local communities. The majority students felt they were more similar to their peers of the other culture than they were different. Finally, while our report shows the students had much similarity, the students reported that the experiences in participating were surprising and new. Faculty Mentor: Cameron Macdonell Department: Computer Science