Service-Learning as a Means to Teach Design Carla Zoltowski EPICS Conference 2007

1. Service-Learning as a Means to Teach Design Carla Zoltowski EPICS Conference 2007 http://www.purdue.edu/epics

2. Many definitions of design… • Design is art • Design as problem solving • Design activity as applying scientific knowledge • Design is a social process in which individual object worlds interact, and design parameters are negotiated. Source: Dr. Robin Adams ENE 696G course notes

3. Characteristics of Designers Good designers have the ability to: • Tolerate ambiguity that shows up in viewing design as inquiry or as an iterative loop of divergent-convergent thinking • Maintain sight of the big picture by including systems thinking and systems design • Handle uncertainty From Dym, Agogino, Eris, Frey, and Leifer (2005)

4. Characteristics of Designers Good designers have the ability to: • Make decisions • Think as part of a team in a social process • Think and communicate in the several languages of design From Dym, Agogino, Eris, Frey, and Leifer (2005)

5. Newstetter and McCracken (2001) described the following features of novice design that they found as follows (p. 67-68): • Ideation without substance • Design arrogance • Design shutdown • Design jumps • Design routinization

6. Design Process Traditional Course • The Design Process as a full cycle • Phase are often skipped in traditional courses • EPICS provides an opportunity forstart-to-finish design • Problem definition • Users different from themselves • Design for x-ability • Working designs for fielded projects • Support for fielded projects • Redesign for secondgeneration systems

7. Problem Identification Specification Development Redesign Retirement Conceptual Design Detailed Design Service Maintenance Production The EPICS Design Cycle Disposal

8. Seeking and Selecting Diverge Seek Possibilities Problem Identification Converge Narrow Choices Diverge Seek Possibilities Specification Development Converge Narrow Choices Diverge Seek Possibilities Conceptual Design Converge Narrow Choices Each phase of the design process requires creative solutions and has a divergent component where ideas are sought and a convergent component where options are selected

9. Project Charter • Description – Describe and summarize what you or your team will be doing. • What is the problem that you will be solving and for whom? • What is the mission of the project partner? • Objectives- List the project objectives. • Why are you doing the project (i.e., what is the motivation or desired need for the project?) • What will you or your team achieve? • What issues is your team addressing that would not be addressed otherwise? • What are the problems you are solving with this community partner? • Do we know what our community partner needs or are we just relying on what they said they want?

10. Project Charter • Outcomes or deliverables • What are going to be the project results? • When the project is finished, what will be left behind by you and your team? Be specific. When you have achieved these outcomes, everyone should understand you have completed the project. • Duration • When will the project be started, and when will it meet the objectives and deliver the outcomes? • Community Partners • With whom are you serving on this project? • Who will benefit from the project? • Who will receive the project outcomes or deliverables? • Stakeholders • Who will be affected by your project other than your customer? • Who has a vital interest in the project’s success? Stakeholders are others who will need to be kept informed of the project’s progress, outcomes, and results.

11. Project Specification • User and beneficiary analysis: Who will use the product and who will benefit from it? What are the users’ backgrounds, capabilities, etc.? How will they benefit from the project? • What are the customer/user requirements? Requirements can fall under several categories and include: • Functional performance – what do they need it to do? • Human factors • Physical – weight, size, color • Reliability • Cost • Standards • Service and maintenance • Ease-of-use

12. Project Specification • Is the design constrained by the following design considerations? • Economic • Environmental • Ethical • Health and Safety • Manufacturability • Political • Social • Sustainability • Aesthetics • What quantifiable and measurable criteria that can be used to evaluate preliminary designs and pre-existing (benchmark) products? • What are the design targets for each of the criteria?

13. Conceptual Design • Functional Decomposition: • Identify the functions that your design has to accomplish. Start with the overall purpose of your design, which is the primary function. If possible, break down this function to sub-functions. Continue until each task or function is at the most basic level. Then brainstorm on ways to meet each of the basic sub-functions. • Decision Matrix of requirements: • A systematic way to evaluate alternatives in your design. Each criterion is weighted and each idea is evaluated based on how well it meets that criteria. When completed, evaluate the results and make sure they make sense.

14. Conceptual Design • User interface: • How will the user interact with the project? What controls or input will they have? What options will be available? What information will be required of the user? What information will be provided to the user? • Prior Art research: • Are there potential solutions that are already available that would satisfy your project partner’s need? If not, what attributes make your project unique? Are there patent opportunities?

15. Conceptual Design • How is the design influenced by the following design considerations? • Economic • Environmental • Ethical • Health and Safety • Manufacturability • Political • Social • Sustainability • Aesthetics • Design Decision Table: Include a Design Decision table to summarize your design decisions. In most cases, a decision should reference a Design Record.

16. Reflection on design and process • Emphasis that communication is key to successful design!! • With community partner • With each other • With the artifact that you are designing