A Delicious Connection: Global Learning through Structured Multimedia Dialogue

Abstract

Global connections are key to undergraduate research, but educators and students rarely connect globally using media that can make education interdisciplinary, engaged with local communities, and maximally sustainable. This article discusses a project that accomplished the aims of the Association of American Colleges & Universities "global learning" criteria, involving interdisciplinary study, external engagement through documentary production and photography, and cultural sharing focused on sustainability. Coordinated by anthropology, Asian studies, and communication studies faculty and carried out with students from these fields and sustainability science, the project combined social sciences, natural sciences, and the humanities to address cultural differences and changes in food production in the United States and China. Outcomes and assessment of independent study and work-study are examined, and recommendations are offered based on lessons learned.