elseware

3-week creative technologies Intensive

Duke University

In the midst of the 2020 spring semester, Duke University leadership sent students home to reduce impact of Covid-19. At the time, I was working with Duke’s Innovation Co-Lab to develop inclusive STEM co-curricular programming.

In order to provide the distributed student body with engaging technology programming online, I developed and led a virtual 3-week Creative Technology-focused intensive, called ElseWare (or Co-Lab @ Home). Programming included workshops on creative coding, critical making, new media art, game design, 3D modeling, digital music composition, and circuit building. The courses were taught by a variety of Duke University professors, students, and staff, as well as recognized artists and educators from across the globe. It was a goal of the program to introduce the students to a variety of leading creative technology minds from across the world and to pay those artists and educators heartily for their time/experience during a financially unstable time.

The program was incredibly successful and celebrated by Duke’s senior leadership as a model for programmatic excellence. Over 400 students participated in ElseWare programming. Instructors introduced participants to a variety of new digital toolsets that supported creative experimentation and classwork. Due in part to the digital environment, participants rapidly built a robust community of like-minded creatives across campus and the Duke Kunshan Campus in China.

Selected images from the ElseWare Creative Technology Intensive: