Study Abroad: Greece:Design and Social Innovation Location and coursework
Coursework is based on a 6 credit 400 level studio
Learning objectives
o To apply and expand methods and practices of interaction/service design and branding + to specialize in particular skill sets and interests.
o To effectively research, strategize and present in a real-life design context.
o To learn and apply co-design (Sanders) and participation along with social innovation (Manzini).
Learning outcomes- students will:
o Develop and produce work that successfully combines physical and digital interaction where appropriate.
o Demonstrate initiative and ability to learn independently, especially outside of classroom instruction.
o Develop ways of incorporating multiple users in complex social contexts into their design solution.
o Develop ways to work flexibly with other peers and coordinate workflow.
o Synthesize current ideas and research, and speculate with design proposals that meet a design need in the community.
• Students work with individuals and institutions to assist them through design services.
• Students further their research abilities, and developed design solutions working with participatory design principles.
• Experience design, journey maps and methods of story telling through design solutions were emphasized, along with other ideas and methods based on design and social innovation, as well as participatory design case-studies and methods.
• Implementable design solutions are created as prototypes working on site with stakeholders in institutions.
Short seminars are taught prior to departure. We emphasize a particular service learning perspective through local stakeholders and the framework of Manzini’s design and social innovation ideas (Milan Polytechnic) with a broader context of participatory design methods.We do this in conjunction with actual stakeholders with the expectation of providing design solutions at the end of the course in areas that fall into educational materials, interpretive displays for museums, online presence and branding, information visualization and mapping, photo-documentation, etc. Final solutions are contingent on working with and assessing user and institutional needs through research.
