The Garage Experience

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Catalogue Description

Why is American higher education in 2016 so similar to what it was 10, 20, or even 50 years ago? If Steve Jobs was right when he said “It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing,” why do we see so little innovation in places where liberal arts has the home field advantage? Why do faculties, administrations, and students take too long to change too little? Why is so much of the "new" just a digital form of the old?

This course aims to challenge that status quo. It is an introduction to design thinking with a focus on innovation in higher education. By innovation we mean creative solutions to important problems and the translation of ideas into value. The course will teach design thinking as a discipline, human centered design as a mindset, and innovation as an ethos along with substantive background in the history of innovative education and the sociology of innovation.

In the course you will develop your capacity to identify important problems and to work effectively in a design team. You will learn to cultivate empathy and use anthropological techniques to research user needs. We will attempt to inspire your creativity and help you be the kind of person who can inspire creativity in others. You will learn a range rapid low resolution prototyping techniques and value of deploying them iteratively.

This course is for students with a diverse range of strengths and aspirations; visual artists, social scientists, rabble rousers, entrepreneurs, policy innovators, coders, future teachers, budding business persons, hell-raisers, creative writers, and laboratory scientists. Our goal is simple: to motivate and equip you to be an education innovator, the kind of person who looks at higher education as currently practiced, thinks "why not?" and then makes it happen.

Learning Outcomes
You will

• learn what design thinking is, where it comes from, what it's good for
• enhance your creativity skills
• get better at working on a team
• learn a little about innovation in higher education
• have an opportunity to improve your oral, written, and mediated communication
• learn the value of rapid prototyping
• use ethnographic techniques of observation, listening, probing
• enhance your capacity for empathy
• structure effective team meetings
• synthesize creative solutions through unconventional juxtapositions
• and you will be to think about education as something other than a student or at least something other than YOU as a student.

Course Notes

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Assignments

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Grading Summary

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Grading Detail

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Assignments and Grades

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Course Structure

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Academic Conduct

Plagiarism – presenting someone else’s ideas as your own, either verbatim or recast in your own words – is a serious academic offense with serious consequences. Please familiarize yourself with the discussion of plagiarism in SCampus in Part B, Section 11, “Behavior Violating University Standards” policy.usc.edu/scampus-part-b. Other forms of academic dishonesty are equally unacceptable. See additional information in SCampus and university policies on scientific misconduct, http://policy.usc.edu/scientific-misconduct.

Support Systems

Student Counseling Services (SCS) – (213) 740-7711 – 24/7 on call
Free and confidential mental health treatment for students, including short-term psychotherapy, group counseling, stress fitness workshops, and crisis intervention. engemannshc.usc.edu/counseling

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1 (800) 273-8255
Provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Services (RSVP) – (213) 740-4900 – 24/7 on call
Free and confidential therapy services, workshops, and training for situations related to gender-based harm. engemannshc.usc.edu/rsvp

Sexual Assault Resource Center
For more information about how to get help or help a survivor, rights, reporting options, and additional resources, visit the website: sarc.usc.edu

Office of Equity and Diversity (OED)/Title IX Compliance – (213) 740-5086
Works with faculty, staff, visitors, applicants, and students around issues of protected class. equity.usc.edu

Bias Assessment Response and Support
Incidents of bias, hate crimes and microaggressions need to be reported allowing for appropriate investigation and response. studentaffairs.usc.edu/bias-assessment-response-support

The Office of Disability Services and Programs
Provides certification for students with disabilities and helps arrange relevant accommodations. dsp.usc.edu

Student Support and Advocacy – (213) 821-4710
Assists students and families in resolving complex issues adversely affecting their success as a student EX: personal, financial, and academic. studentaffairs.usc.edu/ssa

Diversity at USC
Information on events, programs and training, the Diversity Task Force (including representatives for each school), chronology, participation, and various resources for students. diversity.usc.edu

USC Emergency Information
Provides safety and other updates, including ways in which instruction will be continued if an officially declared emergency makes travel to campus infeasible. emergency.usc.edu

USC Department of Public Safety – UPC: (213) 740-4321 – HSC: (323) 442-1000 – 24-hour emergency or to report a crime.
Provides overall safety to USC community. dps.usc.edu

Schedule

Weekly Schedule

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