Senior Design Courses Passed

“Design Thinking: Creative Problem-Solving Workshop” and “Social Innovation” will be offered to seniors next year. They are two new design courses which are modeled after and inspired by design courses at a selection of colleges in California.

Last summer, science instructor David Gulick traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area with history instructor Meg Foley and science instructor Erik Janicki to observe the design curriculum of schools in the area. The group accompanied Jen Holleran, one of the Academy’s trustees. At two of the schools, the Nueva School and Stanford’s d.School, students practiced design thinking. They built new products, observed how they were used and then implemented changes to make their products even better.“Even while still in California, we were having amazing conversations about how what we were seeing could apply back here at the Academy. The outgrowth of those conversations is the Senior Studies course,” Gulick said.

“All Senior Studies courses are interdisciplinary in nature. In the future, I would be interested in offering such courses to more students, not just seniors.”

Foley concurred with Gulick’s thoughts and emphasized the importance of using previous knowledge and skill to create an original invention. “Giving students who specialize in different disciplines opportunities to design products is definitely something we want to bring to Exeter,” she said.

Gulick wrote the proposal for “Design Thinking: Creative Problem-Solving Workshop.” It will be offered during spring term, labeled SRS453 in the Courses of Instruction. Gulick explained the concept of design thinking as problem-solving process that has led to many innovations in everyday life that it undoubtedly benefits Exeter students to understand. “Some of the key ideas within the method are designing with a human-centered approach, using prototypes to facilitate design decisions and embracing design refinements based on feedback,” he said.

This course, contrary to the already existent 3-D design class, will focus on giving students opportunities to design solutions to fix issues. The course description states, “At the start of the term, students in this class will learn about and apply each of the aspects of design thinking in a series of small projects in which they will work together to create solutions to real-world needs and problems. These teacher-specified projects will ask students to interview others to learn of their needs; to ideate with their peers to identify possible solutions; to build prototypes early and often and to incorporate feedback to improve their design solutions.”

The course is not a judgement of previous designing knowledge, but rather a trial, error and improvement process. “The students will try out techniques of design on several smaller projects, and then apply what they have learned on a larger capstone project of their choice,” Gulick said.

Gulick encouraged rising seniors at all interested in the prospect of designing products or creating innovative solutions to real-world problems to enroll in the course. “The course is intended to embrace the many varied strengths of our students, for there will be teamwork on many of the projects,” he said. “Students will design and build prototypes, learn to embrace a ‘fail forward’ philosophy and work through to a final product that will then be presented.” Gulick was passionate about the course because it will push students to collaborate in order to achieve tangible solutions. “It’s exciting to envision a course where students can visualize and then carry out a multi-week project where the outcome is a physical product,” he said.

In the “Social Innovation” course, offered fall term, students will spend the first half of the term discussing case studies of social innovation projects. The course description states, “Social innovation is often defined as the creative pursuit of solutions to social or environmental problems. These case studies, along with texts like ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ by Daniel Kahneman and ‘Insightout: Get Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the World’ by Tina Seelig, will provide us with a working vocabulary for creative problem-solving methodologies and a historical understanding of successful endeavors from the past.”

The course splits time between academic research and project development. The second half of the course will be devoted to student-designed group projects that tackle real-world problems: “The class will operate at this stage as a laboratory for collaborative problem solving and will explore the range of strategies that can be used to tackle what social planners refer to as ‘wicked problems.’” At the end of the term, some student groups may decide to enter their project in the University of New Hampshire’s Social Venture Innovation Challenge.

Director of Studies and English instructor Brooks Moriarty composed the proposal for the “Social Innovation” class. Both were approved in faculty meetings last week after a presentation. It will be called SRS452 in the Courses of Instruction. “PEA has established some exciting relationships with faculty at Stanford such as the fruit fly science course and several summer school opportunities. ‘Design Thinking’ is a problem-solving methodology that lots of educators have been excited about exploring,” he said.

Although the courses have not been announced, students are still interested in what they have to offer. “I can’t take it next year, but it sounds like something I might consider doing as a senior,” lower Megi Topalli said.

Prep Ahlam Ibrahim, currently taking ART201: “3-D Design: Tech + Firm + Fashion,” found this addition of the senior design courses a wonderful opportunity in the future. “The new classes sound really interesting!” she said. “[They] seem to connect and expand fashion and design to other aspects of our lives. Infrastructure is really important, because these designs make it so that people's lives become easier.”

Moriarty expressed hope in providing these unique opportunities for more students. “All Senior Studies courses are interdisciplinary in nature. In the future, I would be interested in offering such courses to more students, not just seniors.”