Experience: 

            During Fall 2019, I completed an elective course called Global Engineering. In it, we explored how different cultures meet engineering objectives but also what communication and cultural skills are necessary to succeed in a global arena. Cultural, environmental, and political factors influenced how we found a solution together. The course is an approved experience for GCSP as a Silver rating. Additionally, I spent seven days during September 2019 in London representing UMBC in the Bi-annual Global Grand Challenge Summit. It was the fourth ever summit for the Grand Challenges and was sponsored by the National Academy of Engineers (NAE), Royal Academy of Engineers (RAE), and Chinese Academy of Engineers (CAE). During the first half, I was part of 300 students that worked together in a collaboration lab to innovate ideas towards solving the NAE Grand Challenges or UN Sustainable Development Goals. Within the lab, I directly worked with students from the United Kingdom and China. My group decided to develop an augmented reality game where children plant virtual trees and clean up the virtual environment. We designed MyOTHER Earth to instill environmental values into children.

          The second half was the summit with many expert speakers. During the entire trip, I met many fascinating professionals and students who provided nothing but support and optimism for individual growth, but also for creating a brighter future, two things I highly value. It was such a fantastic opportunity for all us students as well as a privilege to see Princess Anne and Lord Martin Rees speak about the future. The summit’s theme was Engineering in an Unpredictable World and had two sub-themes:

          1. Will AI and other transformational technologies change humanity for the better?

          2. Can we sustain 10 billion people?

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          Completing the course Global Engineering and traveling to London provided me with real-world experience working with other cultures that are in other countries. I learned about different education programs and can apply that knowledge to advancing personalized learning. The students I worked with in my Global Engineering class attend the Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia and just changed to have five, eight-week semesters every year. I never would imagine any college purposely having eight-week semesters, although only two classes at a time does sound nice. It reinforces the fact that every culture does things differently and each way has its advantages. It was surprising to me how much different the US and Colombia’s cultures are when we broke down our individual cultures using Hofstede's six dimensions. These dimensions include Power Distance, Masculinity vs femininity, and Individualism vs collectivism. I learned about the political structure of the Royal Highness in the U.K. and the House of Lords. It was enlightening and interesting hearing how that type of system operates and gave me more knowledge on how some politics work. This is beneficial to me because in order to change the educational system, policies need to be put into place and learning how other countries decide such important can be beneficial if I ever get into politics to try and change the education system.

          These experiences have instilled in me the importance in valuing other cultures and their methods of performing work, as well as decisions made. It has greatly helped me to keep myself from judging others for their decisions and actions. Regardless of which career I end up in, I am much more appreciative and understanding of other cultures and values. I understand more that it is okay for every person to do things their own way and will also help me be a better leader.

         The following is the Hofstede Insight six cultural dimensions for the countries included in my global experiences

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