Full name: Brandon Julio Hadisaputro

University: The University of Hong Kong

University Contact

Full name: Audrey Chung

Email address: laidlaw@hku.hk

Title of LiA project

Boston Design Academy: Elevating Agricultural Technology

The organisation/charity

Timothy Smith Network-Boston Design Academy

Organisation/charity contact

Full name: Nona Cheeks

Email: nkcheeks@timothysmithnetwork.org 

The need or cause being supported

Timothy Smith Network is an NGO that aspires to bridge the digital divide in the Greater Roxbury Area. By providing access to technology tools and resources, they enable people from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue opportunities in the technology field.

As summer interns at TSN Boston Digital Academy, the students will join a team of local instructors teaching  3 different disciplines in 3 separate programs which are Elevating Agricultural Technology (EAT), Tech Your Health (TYH), and Digital Design Intensive (DDI).

The Elevating Agricultural Technology (EAT) program focuses on promoting awareness regarding food insecurity in the Greater Boston Area and current issues in modern agriculture, and how to face these issues with the help of technology.

Goal

The goal of this LiA project is to bridge the digital divide in the Greater Roxbury Area, especially toward the youth population which has limited access to information regarding educational and career opportunities in the discipline of focus in each program.

In the Elevating Agricultural Technology program, the aim is to build awareness among our students about food insecurity and agricultural issues which occur even in the Greater Boston area, in addition to providing knowledge about basic agriculture beginning from household gardening and fundamental plant science knowledge.

The next aim is to provide these students with fundamental knowledge and skills in coding, Arduino, and 3D modelling which are essential for them to build an innovative agriculture technology prototype which is the end goal of this program.

We hope that this knowledge transferred to our students can inspire them to continue to innovate and become young entrepreneurs in the field of agriculture and applied technology.

Objectives

1. Raise awareness about local food insecurity issues and global agriculture issues
2. Knowledge transfer of basic gardening knowledge, Python coding, Arduino circuits, Arduino components, and 3-D Modelling
3. Providing guidance in improving public speaking and product pitching to our students
4. Help students in the ideation process of their agriculture technology prototype design
5. Expose students to explore higher education and career opportunities via exposure to guest speakers and company visits

Barriers or risks to achieving your objectives

1. Lack of initial engagement or interest due to agriculture being a niche subject
2. Varied levels of prior knowledge and experience with coding, Arduino circuits, and 3D Modeling
3. Time constraints within the six-week program to cover all necessary material and complete prototype assembly for all students.
4. Matching expectations between the students as interns and the scholars as instructors
5. Class conductivity issues due to the small age gap between scholars and interns and sanctioning limitations.

Ideas to overcome barriers or challenges

1. Stimulate interest by easing into the agriculture content by introducing local, current, and relatable issues in agriculture to gain awareness 
2. Create a structured curriculum covering all essential topics and skills, mainly the ones required or related to prototype design
3. Set a clear goal and objective for each week for the class to ensure that the progress is on track 
4. Create a flexible learning environment which makes the program not seem like school and create objectives and tasks for the students to finish in between our knowledge-sharing/teaching
5. Leading by example and maintaining conductivity as scholars/instructors in class, while building a rapport with the students to ensure that mutual respect is developed naturally and does not seem forced

Milestones per week