In spring 2016, the Jacobs Institute will offer three new upper-division courses in design innovation. These interdisciplinary, highly collaborative courses are part of the new Design Innovation (DES INV) 190 series and are open to students from all majors. While the Jacobs Institute’s Design Innovation Suite provides entry points to design innovation for lower-division students, DES INV 190 offerings allow upper-division students to put design skills into practice and to go further in their design explorations, with a focus on societal impact.
Taking advantage of resources at Jacobs Hall and beyond, these courses will provide an opportunity for students to work collaboratively with each other, as well as with experts and community members, in tackling real-world challenges. Students who complete DES INV 190 courses will learn to apply theory, design processes, and hands-on skills to reimagining complex problems in society and in the environment.
DES INV 190-1: Navigating the Human Path
Dan Gillette, June Fisher, Patricia Moore | 3 units | CCN: 18403
How can design better facilitate affordable, healthy and meaningful aging in our society? This class, made up of both undergraduates and elders, seeks to answer this question through the lens of mobility and interconnectedness in a user-centered, co-design context. In this hands-on course, students will choose their own projects and work in intergenerational teams to create products, services and experiences. A subset of classes will be held off-site at senior centers, shopping centers and other public and private spaces. The course will be taught by a diverse team of industry and research veterans, with guest collaborators from the consumer, health and senior service sectors.
DES INV 190-2/ME 292C: Reimagining Slums
Sara Beckman & David Dornfeld | 2 units | CCN: 18406
This cross-disciplinary pilot course is focused on redesigning slums. The primary objective of the class is to allow students to apply their disciplinary knowledge in a collaborative cross-disciplinary effort that will teach design process, teaming and communications skills and their application to a truly “wicked problem.” Students will deeply immerse themselves in understanding the inner workings of slums, which will lead to the identification of specific project opportunities — such as improving sanitation, designing a birthing center, or creating new governance systems — on which multi-disciplinary teams will focus for the remainder of the semester.
DES INV 190-3: Solar Vehicle Survey Course
Instructor TBA | 1 unit | CCN: 19418
This course addresses all aspects of design, analysis, construction and economics of solar-powered vehicles. Students will work in teams to design, build and test a functioning single-person vehicle capable of street use. Enrollment priority is given to CalSol members, with other interested students admitted from the waitlist as space allows. For more information, contact calsol@me.berkeley.edu.
For more information about DES INV courses or other courses offered in Jacobs Hall, contact jacobsinstitute@berkeley.edu.