HUB-XCC’s Spirit of Wonder Course allows students to learn the Spirit of Wonder (SOW) research model, including interviewing, video blogging and essay writing. This course provides students with the opportunity to study and practice social cross-cultural research methodologies, including designing qualitative research questions, connecting and engaging with targeted populations, collecting data through SOW’s storytelling interviews, analyzing data, and presenting their findings in written and visual formats. Students receive the tools they need to interview candidates, analyze their stories and develop narratives, comparative analysis and presentations on various themes. This course also requires students to work effectively in teams to develop creative strategies for presenting their research to a broader public and to recommend additional research strategies and uses of the data. Initially, students will work individually to practice the skills needed to succeed in the class. Subsequently, students will work with their peers to process the interview data as a team. Each team will choose a target population locally or internationally. Students will be supported by the SOW project team as needed.

T 3:00 pm-5:45 pm

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Urban areas have specific challenges when it comes to rising temperatures. With less tree cover and more asphalt and blacktop, cities can have spots that are 20-50 degrees warmer than the nearby countryside. Lower-income populations without air conditioning are particularly impacted, as are older and chronically ill populations. Trees also sequester carbon dioxide and release oxygen during photosynthesis, and provide aesthetic benefits to urban human populations. Like climate change in general, the presence of tree canopies is an issue of environmental equality and racism. In this course, students will learn about trees and tree cover, as well as preconceptions and misconceptions about them. Then, students will conduct in-person surveys to assess tree cover in specific Boston neighborhoods. Students will also interview residents to get a sense of what they know and think about tree cover and to chart the history of tree cover and growth in that neighborhood. Ultimately, students will arrive at a recommendation regarding tree cover and will work with the City of Boston Parks and Recreation to request tree planting.

T 12:30 pm-3:15 pm

The Spark! Innovation Fellowship program supports student innovators passionate about solving problems through technology. The course provides a structured process where students advance a technology project of their own creation, or an innovative solution for a problem sponsored by an external partner. The goal is to design, develop, and deploy a working prototype in one semester with the support of industry mentors. Students can participate as part of a pre-formed team or they can be assigned to a team. There are two participant tracks for each team: developers and designers. Effective Summer 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Creativity/Innovation, Research and Information Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration.

*Permission and application required for this XCC section.

Skill-based prerequisites:

• Developers track:

Proficiency in any major programming language (Python, Java, JavaScript, C++, C, etc.). Prior Software Engineering project experience (through classes, internships, hackathons, or personal projects) preferred but not required.

• UX Designers track:

Competency in any of the following: knowledge of graphic design principles and proficiency in design software programs e.g. Adobe XD, Sketch, Figma, etc.

M 2:30 pm-5:15 pm

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Investigative journalism is an interdisciplinary endeavor. The Justice Media Computational Journalism Co-Lab will provide students from diverse disciplines an opportunity to work with and publish investigations in professional news outlets including GBH, the Boston Globe, CBS Boston, NBC Boston, the Associated Press, the Baystate Banner, and more. The investigative journalism news stories will be focused on issues of justice and accountability and have both written and visual components. This course will bring together students from journalism, computer science and other disciplines guided by veteran faculty practitioners in journalism and computer science/ engineering. Teams are encouraged and given the support to publish their written news stories, as well as any radio, television or visual media.  Since publishing in one semester is not always possible, projects are graded on progress toward a publishable written data-driven,  investigative story with visual elements.

F 11:15 am-2:00 pm

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Great cities contain great stories – and Boston has more than its share. In this course we will excavate some of those stories and craft short documentary films that bring them to life. We will bring a deep-time perspective to these stories by linking places and buildings to comparable remains in one of the great cities of the classical past, either Athens, Rome, or Istanbul (ancient Constantinople). Films will be produced in collaboration with the City of Boston’s Office of Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment, with final versions made available to the city for promotional and instructional projects.

Great cities are places that bring people of disparate backgrounds together. They thrive over centuries, even millennia, thanks to inherent geographic advantages and continuing economic imperatives. In City Stories, we explore how landscapes, buildings, and even objects can stand for moments in time, and how they allow inhabitants to see themselves as players in their city’s history. We combine the power of place and the immediacy of film to connect Boston’s stories with those from other great cities of the past.

In this course you will:

• analyze city monuments and landmarks via form, material, setting, and historical context;
• learn to articulate a range of narratives and messages on the ground and on the screen;
• develop skills for evaluating the impact of a place, and a story, on a range of viewers;
• gain sensitivity to the ways that place catalyzes individual and social identity;
• create digital films that deepen Boston’s story by linking places across time and space.

COMMUNITY PARTNER: City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment

F 11:15 am-2:00 pm

Social change is an integral part of a vital society. Social change is driven by problems — for example, racial injustice, global warming, poverty, and inequitable health care. “Tools for Social Change” will equip students with a deep understanding of today’s compelling problems and the political tools to address the problems.

M 2:30 pm-5:15 pm

Zero Waste initiatives are some of the most important things we can do to reduce our environmental impact. As part of the Boston University Climate Action Plan, which will make the University carbon neutral by 2040, BU is committed to achieving Zero Waste by 2030. In this experiential, project-based course student groups will be directly impacting the BU Campus, by better understanding the problem, and by collaboratively creating solutions to help BU achieve this goal.

What is Zero Waste? From the Zero Waste International Alliance, here is the goal: “The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.”

TR 11:00 am-12:15 pm

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This project intends to have teams work with the leadership of cannabis industry organizations in Massachusetts as they seek to promote entrepreneurial interests among social equity applicants. Teams will design and develop marketing plans, materials, and other wrap around services, for approved applicants. As part of this course, XCC student teams will conduct market research, develop strategies, and offer creative solutions around what those clients can do to generate awareness and market for those new businesses.

R 9:30 am-12:15 pm

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F 11:15 am-2:00 pm