In Andalusia, in the south of Spain, lies the ancient city of Cordoba –
a site where Union liberal arts and engineering students are crossing paths with technology.
Through an innovative miniterm in Cordoba, Spain, Union students took an intensive course last summer, combining cultural study combined with technology. “The Scientific and Cultural Legacy of Al-Andalus” was taught by Pilar Moyano, chair of the Modern Languages and Literatures Department, and Tom Jewell, professor of civil engineering and interdisciplinary miniterm coordinator. The two created this interdisciplinary experiment, with support from the Christian Johnson Endeavor and the Keck Foundation. The experiment was so successful that it will take place again this summer.
Why Cordoba? Moyano explains that during a Golden Age of the Arab civilization, between 800 and 1200, while the rest of Europe was in the
Dark Ages, “this capital city
of Andalusia was the most important city in the West, not only because of its size and the quality of its infrastructure and services, but also because it was the center of science and culture.” Abu l'Qluasim Khalaf, one of the greatest influences on Western brain surgery, was born here. The earliest astrolabes used in Europe were imported from Cordoba, and it was here where new mathematical and astronomical theories were developed,
and where new concepts of irrigation and agriculture were implemented.
“There was also a feeling of citizenship and tolerance that helped encourage prosperous and harmonious relations among people of three different cultures and religions-Christian, Jewish, and Moslem,” Moyano adds. “There were many developments in literature, music, art, and intellectual activities. Modern technology was first introduced by the Romans and, later, applied and improved on by the Arabs, to provide running water, sewers, hospitals, paved and lit streets, and beautiful promenades, gardens, and fountains.”
The three-week course at the University of Cordoba concentrated on fieldwork at various historical and archeological sites (including a synagogue, a mosque, and Roman bridges, roads, and aqueducts) and intercultural study and dialog with professors and students. Information-gathering side trips took them to places such as Seville, Granada, Toledo, Merida, Segovia, and Lisbon, and sites in southern Portugal.
Engineering students paired up with liberal arts students looked at the elements making up the rich legacy of Cordoba, beginning with the Roman influence. All students lived on campus, alongside native Spanish students. They studied the history, culture, politics, and engineering infrastructure development of southern Spain and traveled to many historical sites in the area. Students kept journals-recording both academic and personal material.
The pairing of engineering and liberal arts students was valuable for all, says Moyano. “They had to be able to converse with their partners on technical issues as they worked together on their projects. They had to reach out to one another, and to learn to think in different ways.” And it wasn't just the students who learned: “I learned so much in the process of listening to the professors there, to Tom, to the students. It helps me, having this kind of exchange with an engineer, learning how my colleagues in engineering think.”
Doug Klein, director of the College's Center for Converging Technologies, says, “This is a good example of converging technologies-an opportunity to present our students with problems that cross disciplinary lines, especially when it involves any aspect
of science and technology.”
This year, preparing for a second miniterm to Cordoba, Moyano sought additional engineering perspectives, brainstorming with Klein and Cherrice Traver, professor of electrical engineering. This year's program will be organized around using geographic information system (GIS) software in various kinds of mapping. Explains Traver, “GIS is a methodology for representing and analyzing geographic information. It can be used to transform these representations into forms that help clarify trends, enable planning decisions, and do many other things.”
In Cordoba this summer, says Klein, “Students will be mapping and writing about history-producing a kind of historical guidebook to the city, with computer-generated visual layers like transparencies.”
Teams of students will look at historic layers, such as Islamic Cordoba, to see which parts of the modern city are relics from this culture. Then they'll document their choices by taking photos and doing research. When they return, they'll be able to turn this data into a web site or stand-alone map file.
This miniterm, in short, will demonstrate to students the potentials of GIS software.
Says Traver, “We would like students to come away with the same exposure to the history, culture, politics, and other social aspects of the region, but the technical aspect of the experience will be different. We will teach students the fundamentals of digital mapping, in this case, as a way of understanding the development of the city of Cordoba.”
The students will work on team projects to develop several historical map layers. One layer might show, for example, the original Roman roads and aqueducts, or perhaps all mosques that existed in the year 1000. They will do field research in Cordoba, taking digital photographs of historical sites, researching old maps in the library, and studying political boundaries for particular eras. The result will be a rich, multimedia “story” of how the city developed over a number of centuries.
Says Traver, “The mixture of engineering and nonengineering students should provide a balanced perspective to the projects. Engineering students, not to be too focused on the technical aspects, will be guided by humanity and social science students in the history, culture, and political context of the chosen theme. Likewise, engineering students will have an opportunity to apply their math and science background to a new technical area and work with their teammates in using the tools on real projects.”
“Converging technologies,” adds Klein, “is an umbrella large enough to incorporate this bringing of liberal arts and engineering students together to work on a technological project. This Cordoba project -producing an interactive historical guidebook – is much more engaging for students than thumbing through traditional guidebooks, and can be extended to any term abroad, to any country we send students to.”