Micro-courses are developed around emerging topics and research. We conceive of the weekend as a module. With five or six speaker sessions, each weekend module provides ample opportunity to illustrate differences in disciplinary approaches to a central issue. The micro-course structure helps address two emerging aims for general education at universities:
- Empowering students to engage in complex problem-solving
- Engaging with interdisciplinary perspectives
The multi-disciplinary approach to the course content is leveraged as a space where inter-cultural and global learning occurs by emphasizing perspective-taking, encouraging open mindedness, and promoting cultural awareness.
Micro-courses attract students across majors and colleges at our respective universities, which allows students who may not interact with one another or hear from other disciplines the opportunity to do so. The lower number of credits/units and the weekend schedule provides students the flexibility to enroll with minimal disruption to increasingly packed schedules.
Unless otherwise stated, students who register for and successfully complete a micro-course earn 1 credit. Please note that registration ends on the add/drop date each semester.
Fall 2026 Micro-course
Global Issues and AI: PS 1555
“Global Issues and AI” critically investigates the paradoxical impact of artificial intelligence on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through the lenses of health, labor, urbanization, and climate, students analyze AI’s potential to accelerate or hinder global progress. The course explores the promises and pitfalls of emerging technologies to bridge the divide between the Global North and South.
This 1-credit Fall 2026 module scrutinizes the relationship between the efficiency of Al-driven 'Smart Cities' and the risk of automated gentrification and surveillance in rapidly urbanizing regions. It challenges participants to determine whether data-driven urban planning creates inclusive, resilient communities or merely constructs digital exclusionary zones that render the world's most vulnerable populations invisible.
The schedule is as follows:
Friday, October 23, 2026, | 5:00 PM- 8:00 PM ET
Saturday, October 24, 2026, | 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM ET
Sunday, October 25, 2026, | 8:30 AM - 1:00 PM
To register email Veronica Dristas at dristas@pitt.edu for a permission number.
Spring 2026 Micro-courses
Technology, Humanity and Social Justice: Health and AI (Micro-Courses)
As the digital landscape intensifies our reliance on electronic devices, this sequence of weekend micro-courses confronts the urgent ethical questions surrounding technology, humanity and global justice. We examine technology as a powerful system that impacts humanity, exploring:
- Who controls global information networks.
- The inequitable impact of consumption and access across the globe.
- How technology enables and constrains human rights.
Spring 2026 Focus: The Digitalization of Human Health
This semester focuses specifically on the profound influence of technology on health, covering critical areas like:
- Mental Well-being amidst increased digital dependency
- Global Health Equity and accessibility challenges in technology-driven healthcare delivery.
- Privacy Dangers associated with the transition to digitized health records.
Spring 2025 Micro-courses
Technology, Humanity, and Social Justice Micro-course Series
As humans rely more and more on electronic devices to support their everyday activities, there are ever present warnings about the impacts such reliance has on human autonomy ranging from who owns and controls information networks, the inequitable impact of technology consumption on peoples and places, varying accessibility of technology around the globe, and the promises and limitations of technology in improving human health. By engaging in technology as a lens, this sequence of weekend micro-courses encourages students to examine technology as a system disproportionately impacting humanity by enabling and constraining human rights of groups of people around the globe. With a multi-disciplinary focus, the course invites researchers and practitioners from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, and relevant fields more broadly.
In this four-part weekend micro-course spanning four semesters, we will examine the power of technology on humanity and its implications on social justice in four areas: governance, environment, education, and health. Please note that students do not need to complete all four parts and are welcome to participate in any and all micro-course offerings.
Spring 2025 Technology, Humanity, and Social Justice Micro-course: PS 1555, "Technology, Humanity, and Social Justice: Environment and Sustainability."
Individual Micro-courses
These micro-courses are unique opportunities to engage in niche international topics, and may not be offered again. See each course below for details.
PIA 1111: Environment, Society & Policy in Global Appalachia