Design and Society

1. Design and Society Winter 2008 Lecture 1 Tim Sheard

2. Welcome Back! • You survived the first quarter of your freshman year. • Congratulations ! • As we did in our first quarter, make the most of your time here at PSU. • Have an open mind. • Get to know people different from yourself. • Push yourself to try new things. • Be filled with goodwill, interpret other’s actions in the same light. • Have a positive attitude, look for opportunities not barriers.

3. What’s Happening this quarter? • Our study this quarter is broken into Units • Evaluation (1 day) • reflect on last quarter • Collapse (3 weeks) • Katrina (1 week) • Sustainable Design (2 weeks) • Lego Robots (3.5 weeks)

4. What Major projects will we do? • Group Presentations • Study a society from Collapse, research and prepare a group oral presentation. • Debate • Research and Debate a topic from our study of the Katrina Hurricane. • Term Paper • Write a term paper on the theme "Was Katrina a Modern Day Collapse“ • Turn in outline, bibliography, and several drafts. Each will be graded • Mini Portfolio • Construct an on-line portfolio illustrating your grasp of the UNST goals. We will learn about web-page design throughout the quarter. • Robot Project • Design and build a Lego robot to perform a task. First a task I will assign you, and then a task of your own choosing.

5. What other work will be graded? • Attendance • Write short 1-2 page papers • Read lots of articles. Quizzes and worksheets testing reading comprehension • Activities to test preparation for class (worksheets, first drafts, material for peer review). • Class participation

6. How will I be graded? 25% Class participation, including • Attendance (7%) • Reading Comprehension Activities (quizzes, work-sheets, etc) (6%) • Class Preparation activities (reading notes, 1st drafts, products for peer review, etc) (6%) • Class Participation in Discussion and in Mentor Sessions (6%) 75% Assignments and Projects including, but not limited to: • Group Presentation (15%) • Team Debate (15%) • Term Paper (15%) • Robot Project(15%) • Mini Portfolio (15%)

7. Retrospective 1 • Good things last quarter. • Almost everyone is back! • We developed a class identity • We learned to work in teams • A demonstrated improvement in writing • Some excellent Bridge Designs • Recognized improvement in computer skills and numeracy • The Daily Record!

8. Retrospective 2 • Things to be improved from last quarter. • More and better explanation of assignments • More discussion in class • More examples • More time to do things • Better student preparation for class

9. Some comments about me • Sometimes things were confusing and having the notes was very helpful • More explanations on assignments • Simpler explanations for class lectures. • More visuals. Allow others to speak more often • The instructor could give us more time to work on group projects • Provide us with more clear instructions in order to complete our projects • Give homework back quicker, if possible. • Give more physical examples, rather than explain on powerpoint • Explain what he wants on the assignments • Less talking, more hands on

10. Some comments about Liz • The mentor could work to assist every student in mentor session individually because it seems that sometimes all the groups or students are not getting the help that they need. • The mentor could help to relate the class more to the mentor session • I think she is doing a great job. Keep it up! • Liz is great! • There is nothing i would change about Liz, she is wonderful! • I just want Liz to keep doing what she's doing because it helps greatly. • She does good job • She's great! yeah! • She should have more activities • Liz shouldn't change. • Her always being there for us was awesome.

11. Some comments about yourselves • I can attend class more often and spend more time working on my projects and writing assignments outside of class. • I could spend more time with reading materials ahead of time. • I wish I had asked more questions • Working in groups helped me to communicate with other classmates • I learned how to get along with other schoolmates. • I should have studied more and Put ALOT of time into everything.

12. Improving • Make assignments clearer • Give a grading Rubric along with every assignment so you know what I expect • Give a study guide for reading assignments • Break every class into 2 – 3 “units”, at most 1 lecture, some other activity. • More discussions • More working in small groups • Try to use more hands on activities

13. Improving Class Preparation • I agree with the class’s self assessment that students are not always well prepared for class • Take attendance, to ensure people come to class. Attendance part of grade • Try and post assignments in advance so students know what’s coming up. • Provide graded activities to encourage students to come to class prepared.

14. What else can we do to improve the class? • Brainstorm and Discussion • What can I do? • What can Liz do? • What can you do?

15. Rules for brainstorming • Postpone and withhold your judgment of ideas • Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas • Quantity counts at this stage, not quality • Build on the ideas put forward by others • Every person and every idea has equal worth • http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/tutorials/brainstormingrules.html

16. Process for Brain Storming • One person is the facilitator. She writes ideas on the whiteboard or a piece of paper. • Participants call out new ideas • The facilitator writes down the ideas, she may not censor or alter ideas, only record them. • When the flow of new ideas ends, the group as a whole organizes the ideas. • This is the time for discussion • Several ideas my be the same, only in different words • Ideas may be grouped

17. Required Textbooks • Collapse, by Jared Diamond. # ISBN-10: 143036556 • Engineering With LEGO Bricks and ROBOLAB, by Eric L. Wang. 2nd ed 2004. ISBN 0-9723567-9-7 • They Say I Say, by Graff & Birkenstein. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-92409-1.

18. First Reading Assignment • Read "Collapse": • Prologue: A Tale of Two Farms • (pp. 1 - 25) • Due 01-09-08 • Read carefully, There will be a quiz on Wednesday. • There is a study guide, read it first, and then see if you can find the answers in the study guide as you read.

19. First Writing Assignment • This assignment is like the first assignment from Fall quarter. • 1-2 pages • Pick a UNST goal that is important to you • Devise 2 strategies you can use. • Due 1 week from today. • Hand in two hard copies. • 1 hard copy will be used in an activity in class. • Not having the assignment is not being prepared. • See the assignment and the grading rubric.

20. The 4 Freshman Inquiry Goals Students will acquire skills in the following areas • Inquiry and Critical Thinking • Communication • Ethics and Social Responsibility • The Diversity of Human Experience • for ways to measure if these goals have been achieved see: http://www.pdx.edu/unst/goals.html

21. Class Rules I expect everyone to participate in class discussions. To facilitate this we will follow these rules. • One person speaks at a time • but everyone is expected to speak • Honor all opinions • Respond to ideas, not people • Silence is Not consent • No put-downs • Be present. actively listen and respond • no texting, email, side conversations etc. • No rat holes • As the moderator, I reserve the right to cut off discussion on topics that deteriorate