Technology with Communities: Community Engaged Work in San Diego and Israel

The Technion-UCSD Project (TUP) is an innovative effort that aims to advance a reciprocal learning process of students, faculty and residents by an exchange of knowledge and insights from two Service-Learning cases located in two global high-tech centers: Jisr az-Zarqa (Israel) and Logan Heights (San Diego).

TUP targets underserved communities’ accumulation of technological capital to overcome conceptual and geographical borders. The TUP involves students, supervised by faculty, working in interdisciplinary teams on projects identified by residents and social entrepreneurs in Jisr az-Zarqa and Logan Heights.

The teams work with instead of for the community, engaging local residents with students in action-teams that follow a circular model of co-planning – co-action – co-evaluation of planning processes and Human Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D). TUP is of great interest to a range of target audiences: academic scholars, experts, practitioners, marginalized communities, and officials.

The Tup project has a three-fold contribution: 1) Drawing on two case studies of underserved communities in Israel and San Diego for advancing Service Learning in two globally leading high-tech centers; 2) Developing a cutting-edge academic research and toolbox for successful long-term University-Community Partnerships and Service Learning; and 3) Benefiting students, teachers, and residents by a reciprocal learning process which draws on a collaboration and exchange of knowledge, ideas, and practices striving to advance underserved communities.