Food. Talk. Texting. Home.
These taken-for-granted elements of our daily lives consist of strands of connection to other places, people, and communities, locally, nationally, and internationally. For example, much of the food we eat daily has been produced by farm workers on land or in water in other parts of the world, delivered to our markets and our tables by hundreds of hands along the way. We live in a multilingual and mobile world, constantly translating our experiences and giving them new meaning across different languages, contexts, and countries. We bring whole worlds – information, words, and images from widely scattered places and perspectives – into our hands via cell phones and digital technology. And home, for most of us, rarely refers to a single geographical space; we actively shape the memory and meaning of home as we build bridges between past and present, there and here, then and now.
Learning Without Borders grapples with these often invisible connections that we depend upon, asking what it means to be linked in myriad ways to others across the globe. What are our responsibilities as caring, ethical citizens given our interconnected lives? How do we imagine our place and purpose within our communities, closer and further away? How do we work toward a socially just global citizenship?
Inspired by the social advocacy focus of New College’s academic programs, Learning Without Borders offers four interrelated and interdisciplinary courses that address, in different ways, these key questions. Through the lenses of food, language, digital media and community, and learning across disciplinary borders, New One courses explore how we might build a more equitable and just society.
WHAT ELSE WILL NEW ONE CONTRIBUTE TO MY EDUCATION?
All New One courses will provide opportunities to develop research, writing, and oral communication abilities. Individual and group projects will encourage innovative and creative forms of inquiry, learning, and presentation of knowledge. The Program will build learning communities and collaborations among the participants as you set out on your university careers. It will also foster awareness of local community organizing initiatives and opportunities for involvement in social justice projects.
WHO SHOULD APPLY TO NEW ONE?
New One will bring together a motivated and intellectually engaged group of students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds and from across the sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts, and commerce.
- Are you intellectually curious, open to investigating new and challenging ideas?
- Are you interested in social justice issues and community involvement?
- Are you ready to collaborate with others to tackle challenging issues?
- Do you want to develop strong communication, critical thinking and research skills?
- Are you interested in looking at issues from different angles and perspectives?
If you answered “yes” to all or most of these questions, New One is a good fit for you.