D-School Facilitates International Exchange and Community Engagement

As the new curriculum guidelines take effect, colleges and high schools have been actively working together to incorporate diversity into the curriculum. NTU D-School has collaborated with various local high schools to transform education and make social contributions. On December 30, 2019, NTU D-School Director Bing-Yu Chen (陳炳宇) hosted an international exchange event with participants from Wesley Girls High School, Jhih Shan High School, and Japan’s Toyooka Senior High School.

The event kicked off with a presentation by participants from Toyooka Senior High School on the famous Oriental white stork-friendly rice. “Stork-friendly rice is a way to ensure sustainable coexistence between animals and agricultural activities. Every step of this farming method, from the transplanting of rice seeds to duck farming and harvesting, is entirely environmentally friendly and does not involve the use of any agricultural machinery,” explained the representative. Li-Hsiu Chou (周麗修), President of Wesley Girls High School, expressed her approval of this farming method and commented: “The food we choose will impact the environment we live in and our future. The stork-friendly rice from Toyooka is a successful regenerative and ecological conservation practice that is well-known to the world and worth learning for schools and industry.”

This is the third semester since NTU D-School began its collaboration with Wesley Girls High School. The two schools have successfully designed five reality-inspired games that highlight sustainable development and circular economy. As students gained hands-on experience by playing the games, Chi-Ping Li (李紀平), the teacher in charge of the high school’s practical education curriculum, commented that the 18 months of collaboration between NTU and Wesley Girls High School have already given the students the opportunity to learn more about such important subjects as natural disaster prevention, food and agriculture, and game design. This project has also provided them with a practical understanding of how university social responsibility can be carried out.

Students from Jhih Shan High School shared their experience of working with NTU D-School to interact with residents of Daxi District and create new opportunities to learn outside the classroom. It is the goal of NTU D-School to change the current curriculum, increase student autonomy, and turn the entire Daxi District into an arena for learning. NTU also introduced the concept of timebanking to encourage students to learn life skills from community residents.

This event not only provided a rich opportunity for the students to learn from cultural exchanges and showcase the achievements of their collective efforts; it also inspired new ideas for interdisciplinary course design and demonstrated how colleges, high schools, and the community can work together to create human value.

This article is also featured in No. 76 of NTU Highlights (February, 2020).