The Final Reflection
Dear Future CORE 2096 Students,
If you are reading this, you’ve just stepped into a course that isn’t about passively memorizing terms, it’s about rebuilding how you see the digital and global structures around you. As I sit down writing you this blog I remember the first time I walked into this course feeling very confused because I actually didn’t know what I applied to. I just wanted any course that would meet my 3 credit requirements, but now I can tell you what this course is about. I’ve compiled my own learning, artifacts, and critiques into a “survival guide” to answer the core elements of our journey.
Here is my honest, fully-unfiltered reflection on what this semester truly meant.
Starting with Myself: I learned that I was a passive consumer of technology, it’s not that I kept absorbing information and believing directly, but rather I just didn’t believe anything whatsoever because the only way I could think of figuring out whether something is true or not was through the very unreliable technology itself. I realized that my skepticism came from thinking that everything on the web is unlawful where all context is detached from content, but learning about legal and ethical frameworks has changed that from creative commons, open licensing, and digital authorship to even simple patents for proof of innovation.
In my Academic Life: I gained the skill of identifying general structures and bias which allowed me to treat automated platforms as flawed tools rather than the objective truth. In most university courses, academic success is framed in centralized textbooks as absolute truths. Equity Unbound completely flipped this structure by treating the classroom as an open, connected ecosystem where knowledge is co-created across borders. Making everything possible educational, preventing the belief of simple bias.
In my social life: I developed a far deeper empathy for cross-cultural communication, realizing that language dictates how we perceive human agency, memory, and blame. Watching Lera Boroditsky’s TED Talk, “How language shapes the way we think.” In social settings, I no longer project my own language’s views onto others and instead focus on cultural intent.
In my career: As a computer science major learning about AI discrepancies and AI usage is a given, therefore the most valuable career skill I learned is virtual cross-cultural facilitation. In my career choice we tend to forget that the most valuable skill isn’t necessarily problem-solving or coding skills. We are usually put in teams in order to cover for each other, speed up time consumption and improve project efficiency. Making Soliya experience a valuable skill that will be of use in virtual team meetings when made.
My Learning:
I got to have a deeper understanding of behind the scenes of AI from avoiding legal liability, to earning a bunch of profit, to hiding an overworked – underpaid workforce for the purpose of AI continuation under the influence of preventing AI takeover.
I got to understand AI’s influence on my major whether it be in the current moment or the near-far-future. Taking professional perspectives from both the academic board as well as the professional field who use AI first hand in their work.
This game creates a realistic simulation of how systemic corruption functions in the real world. By forcing players into high-stakes scenarios, it tests their self-awareness under pressure. Every choice demands a brutal compromise between maintaining innocence, protecting family, or risking both.
Things I would change:
Hand-on AI identification biases: While we got to see examples on how AI shows political bias or structural limitations I think it would have been more interactive/useful if we did that ourselves using any AI chatbot and identifying its biases. Sadly not enough time.
Intercultural Timeline Change: Moving from the highly active Tahrir trip directly into intensive online dialoguing felt heavily condensed. I would space out these modules by at least two weeks to allow students time to compose deeper, less-rushed reflections on their blogs.
This course in one sentence would be…
This course is designed for any student who wants to stop blindly consuming digital media and instead learn the critical, cross-cultural literacy needed to command technology rather than being controlled by it.
Digital Tools Reflection
Slack: I may have not used it often, but I do like having to avoid the usual Email and waiting for a reply way to a more modernized peer to peer interaction making the class feel more casual I also like how slack is one of the few platforms that have full end-to-end encryption which matters a lot to me.
WordPress: I’m not one for it really, however, I like having a public portfolio where I could visually design my thoughts. I have not taken full advantage of it though.
Class Tech: I do like how we are surrounded by screens. Each has its own activity which was sort of nostalgic to my first year in university, interesting experience and very organized.
Intercultural Reflection
To be completely honest, I usually dread group discussions, so looking at the Soliya Connect Program and the Tahrir Square field trip on the syllabus initially felt pretty intimidating. However, actually doing them pushed me out of my comfort zone in a way that regular lectures never could. Soliya forced me to realize how much I use my screen as a shield to avoid real, messy conversations with people who see the world differently. Then, the Tahrir trip took me out of the classroom entirely, proving that you can’t truly understand a community’s history or culture just by scrolling through online articles you have to actually show up and experience it in person. It was nice seeing things through other people’s eyes, not just my own.
Soliya was nice. It was just that at the beginning it felt like they were rushing to begin conversations which was a bit overwhelming and they never really divided our team to smaller rooms for a short time to get to know one another more deeply and openly which would have been nice. As for near the end it felt like they were rushing us to finish and they kept forcing the talk out of us, but overall, was a pretty nice experience
As for Tahrir, it was actually lovely having seen people learning your language, a hard and rare one to find foreigners to learn was very entertaining. I got to see the Arabic language in foreign eyes which I have not seen in my life before, surprisingly. Teaching one another what we cannot define in another language while still understanding inter-cultural complications.
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