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Design and Society

Winter 2009, 162B (main class), 165B (mentor sessions)


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Where and when:

  • Class: Cramer Hall 103, Tue/Thu, 9:30am - 10:45am
  • Mentor session 1: Cramer Hall 159, Tue/Thu, 11:00am – 11:50pm
  • Mentor session 2: Cramer Hall 159, Tue/Thu, 12:00pm – 12:50pm
  • Mentor session 3: Cramer Hall 159, Tue/Thu, 01:00pm – 01:50pm
  • Office hours: See here

Syllabus:

  • Syllabus, revision 2, Jan 5, 2009
  • The syllabus will be adjusted during the quarter.
  • This website will always be more up-to-date than the syllabus.
  • You are expected to check the course Wiki the day after every class.

Texts for Winter:

  • Required: see list above.
  • Required: Engineering with Lego Bricks and Robolab, Eric L. Wang. 2nd Edition, College House Enterprises, ISBN: 0-9723567-9-7. Don’t buy the 3rd edition, we need the 2nd edition! Available in bookstore.

Class description:

Designers influence the creation of products, images, infrastructure and environments surrounding us, both virtual and real. Acting in a deliberate manner, designers engage with the problems facing their communities, and act to solve them by developing pragmatic, creative and innovative solutions. This course will use designers’ activities as an analogy for individuals in other disciplines; in the end, everyone is a designer as they determine the context and direction of their life. Using design as our focus, we will explore individual responsibilities toward society: How can we act to bridge the gap between design and ecological sustainability? How can individuals acting locally compete within the global economy? Using hands-on activities, case studies, and historical investigations, we will explore techniques for design, visualization, and creative problem solving, and share our visions for a future where designing, and by extension all activity, occurs in harmony with natural systems.
While this course uses hands-on activities as part of the teaching and learning process there is significant amount of reading and writing expected.

Grading and assignments:

Please save your work throughout the year. You will need it for the preparing a cumulative portfolio each quarter. Your mentor records your mentor session participation and attendance and has direct input in your grade. Final grade is assigned by the instructor.

Work not turned in, unacceptable work or an absence from class when the work was done receives no credit. In addition if more than five classes (main and/or mentor) are missed the quarter grade will be reduced by one full letter grade. You will be marked absent for the day if you miss more than ten minutes of class. You will receive a failing grade if you miss a total of 10 instructor lead classes or mentor sessions or a combination thereof, despite your grades on work completed.

Readiness to learn means that you will come to class with questions and insights to offer to others and be prepared to discuss the assigned reading. We will be learning from each other and your voice is important. Your participation grade will include attendance, participation in class discussions, participation in online discussions, and group work in class on smaller design problems and case studies.

No make-up assignments for missed or bad grades are offered in this class.

Late submission policy (new this term):

  • Every assignment comes with a precise submission deadline, e.g., Tue, Jan 8, 2008, 5:00pm.
  • Assignments turned in late will not be graded.
  • This is not a punishment but a fairness measure.
  • Exceptions:
    • You are allowed to submit at most one (1) assignment per term up to 24 hours late.
    • You are allowed to submit at most one (1) assignment per term up to 2 hours late.

Classroom rules

  • Thou shalt respect your neighbors.
  • Thou shalt come prepared.
  • Thou shalt be on time.
  • Thou shalt use electronics moderately.
  • Thou shalt participate.

Useflul links:


Created by: cteusche Last Modification: Tuesday 28 of April, 2009 08:23:54 PDT by cteusche


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