Social Innovation in Context
This course is no longer being offered.
Course Description
This 3-week summer program offers immersion into Turkish culture, introduces students to the world of social innovation in Turkey, and teaches students to think like an innovator. The program curriculum draws from Turkish culture and society, language, anthropology, social change theory, social innovation, and design thinking.
This course is designed to allow students to learn skills and concepts in an integrated way. The fundamental goal is to create an experience where teaching and learning happen in the same space. While students are experiencing a different culture, they will also learn how to read social terrains in general, and how to see contexts through the eyes of social innovators. The particular sociocultural context for this course is specific to contemporary Turkey, but the skills (ability to understand cultures, ability to see and think like an innovator) are applicable to other cultural contexts.
Students participate in seminars, lectures and field exercises during site visits to local social innovation ventures. Related excursions include visits to archaeological sites and historical landmarks to allow students to tie the present practice of social innovation to ancient practices and evidence of social change in Turkey, one of the planet’s most fascinating crossroads of civilizations. During the entirety of the course, students will have the opportunity for meaningful exchanges with the people of Turkey.
By the end of the 3-week course, students will know how to view and understand social and cultural contexts through different disciplinary perspectives; they will understand how innovation happens and how innovators see the world; and they will have introductory in-depth knowledge and understanding of Turkish culture and contemporary society.
This course is only open to students enrolled in Pre-College Global Programs.