Design in Practice
How do designers envision better futures?
While the scientific method is a process for understanding the way things are, design is a way of thinking and doing to discover how things ought to be. Design in Practice teaches design thinking for innovation and entrepreneurship. Design thinking is a superpower that enables its practitioners to envision the future. This course will help students in all majors apply design thinking to become change agents in their own lives and careers. Expect an active, interactive, hands-on, project-based learning experience.
You can expect to
- Identify real-world design challenges
- Collaborate effectively in diverse, multi-disciplinary teams
- Communicate in ways authentic to the design disciplines with visual, written, and oral methods
Community Course
ARCH270: Design in Practice. How do designers envision better futures? Case studies and hands-on design projects ranging in scale from a product to a building to give students insight into the process by which architects work both individually and collaboratively to put disciplinary knowledge and expertise into practice to shape our built environment. (3 credit course; fulfills I-Series and Scholarship in Practice requirements for General Education)
Carillon Faculty
Madlen Simon, Professor with the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Architecture, leads the Design in Practice community.
Design thinking is Professor Simon's focus as a researcher and educator. While the scientific method is a way of discovering what is, design thinking is a method for envisioning what ought t
o be. Professor Simon puts design thinking into practice to envision better futures for people and communities. Her scholarship discovers the history and theory of design thinking and the education of designers. As an educator, Professor Simon teaches future architects design thinking as a methodology for engaging with people around the globe and she teaches design thinking to students from all disciplines as a methodology for innovation and entrepreneurship. As an academic and professional leader, she uses design thinking to engage colleagues in productive change, to advance undergraduate education at the University of Maryland, and to advance architectural education across the nation.