DEA 1110 Making a Difference by Design

Course description

This course provides a broad overview of design applied various disciplines, scales, and problem contexts, and how design can offer an alternative, and often more human-centered perspective towards solving the problems around us. With a focus on designing with a human-centered mindset in this age of technology, we will examine topics on the role of design in wearable computing, virtual and tangible interfaces, robotics to biology. We will also apply the lens of design to issues on sustainability, healthy environments, diversity and inclusion, and designing for social good. Each week, through case studies and familiar examples, DEA 1110 explores how designing is part of every discipline.

Outcome 1: Comprehend disciplines and fields: Develop an understanding of design applied across a wide range of disciplines to make a difference; learn to appreciate design at different scales and applied across problem contexts.

Outcome 2: Apply multi-disciplinary perspectives: Identify and examine the relationship between design, technology, and other disciplines and proactively apply interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives to problem-solving.

Outcome 3: Write, speak, and use visual communications effectively: Demonstrate the ability to develop and communicate one’s creative ideas effectively through writing, visuals, and tangible prototypes.

Enrollment priority given to: DEA majors.

Summer 2021: Online course

Nooshin Ahmadi

Architect and researcher, Department of Design and Environmental Analysis, Cornell University

Robert Brooke Hollis

Professor of the Practice in Policy Analysis & Management, Executive Director, Sloan Program and the Institute for Healthy Futures, Cornell University

Heather Kolakowski

Lecturer, Operations, Technology and Information Management, Cornell University