This course was my virtual study abroad with students from a university in the Netherlands! I had initially planned on spending a semester in Athens. I decided against it due to the coronavirus and because I realized I could graduate a semester early.
The goal of this class was to collaborate with the Dutch students to find a social innovation related to the pandemic. I worked with another Longwood student, Sarah, and two students from the Netherlands named Ilse and Thom. We ended up talking about more than just the pandemic, such as about university cost or travel times. We learned how to collaborate despite the time difference and despite myself and Sarah using an unfamiliar program, Microsoft Teams. We made a podcast, a trailer for our podcast, and an infographic, linked below. Our social innovation was related to the pandemic’s impact on small businesses. We suggested they start a raffle, either just within their own business or with a collaboration of multiple businesses. After a purchase, customers would be entered into the raffle to win a prize. This would encourage people to spend their money and stimulate the economy.
This infographic was made to accompany our podcast, which I was unable to get access to. We surveyed people in the U.S. and those in the Netherlands to find out how similar or different our experiences were, and we found that they were mostly similar. However, there were some differences, such as the distribution of vaccines. Our social innovation is explained on the infographic, as well.