Design in the Classroom Syllabus

Instructor:

Michelle Cheng, Professional Development Manager, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum 

Contact information

For questions relating to technical issues or course materials, contact us at smithsonianxcourses@gmail.com

Course Description: 

Design in the Classroom is a self-paced, online course that has been developed to train teachers to use design thinking in the classroom to find creative and innovative solutions to everyday community problems. It is based on Cooper Hewitt's national workshop series, Smithsonian Design Institute (SDI), an application-based innovative and in-depth professional development program. During the course, you'll learn about the design process, how to implement the design process in your own classroom, and how to teach other educators how to use the design process in their classrooms.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives: 

After completing this course, we expect learners to be able to:

• Define design and determine why design thinking is critical for the K-12 classroom
• Use the design process to identify an issue, brainstorm a solution, and create a prototype of that solution 
• Create a design process lesson plan for a target subject area and student age group
• Evaluate design-based lesson plans for target subject areas and student age groups
• Assist other instructors in creating and implementing design-based lesson plans in their own classrooms

Grading: 

This course will be graded based on the following criteria:

Assessment Type	# of Assessments	% of Final Grade
Unit Activity Checklists	5	10%
Ready, Set, Design!	1	20%
Midterm Assignment	1	30%
Final Project	1	40%

Handouts and Readings: 

All handouts and readings for the course are available within the course materials. They are also available for download on the course Home page on the right hand side bar titled Course Handouts.

Discussion Board:

The Discussion Forum is used throughout the course as a way for you to interact with other learners taking the course. Just as in the physical classroom, interaction is one of the best forms of learning and is instrumental to a successful educational experience in an online course. While participation in the discussion board isn't mandatory, we highly recommend that you visit the discussion forum often. Read and respond to your peers' postings. Follow up on your own postings with new ideas and insights. That being said, one thing that is not encouraged, and will not be tolerated, is abusive or disrespectful communication with your peers. The Discussion Forums are intended as a place for you to interact with our EDDesign1.1 community, so let's also all ensure we make it a positive and constructive place to learn together. Please note: Since this is a self-paced course, the discussion board is not actively monitored by Cooper Hewitt or Smithsonian staff.

Course Schedule:

Click on any topic below to be brought to that topic's section in the course.

UNIT	TOPICS	ASSIGNMENT
1	Course Introduction What is Design? Design in the Classroom Ready, Set, Design! Unit Review	Unit Activity Checklist (2%) Ready, Set, Design! (20%)
2	Defining the Problem Brainstorming & Selecting a Solution Prototypes and their Importance Unit Review	Unit Activity Checklist (2%)
3	Analyzing Prototypes Presenting and Evaluating Prototypes Case Study: Irrigation in India Unit Review	Unit Activity Checklist (2%)
Midterm Project	Using the Design Process in Teams / Team Video Presentation	Midterm (30%)
4	Using Pieces of the Design Process Applying Design to Required Curriculum Identifying Resources Unit Review	Unit Activity Checklist (2%)
5	Creating Design-Based Lesson Plans Evaluating Design-Based Lesson Plans Case Study: Design in a Kansas City Classroom Unit Review	Unit Activity Checklist (2%)
Final Project	Creating a Design-Based Lesson Plan for Your Classroom	Final Project (40%)