Logistics
Important Links
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All lecture slides will be posted to Canvas shortly before lecture
Grading
This is a studio/project-based class with time devoted to lecture, group activities, student presentations, and design crits. Grades will reflect project performance, process documentation, and team participation. Throughout the quarter, interactions with AIs and online crowds will provide students an external source of feedback. Students should allow these interactions to shape their design concepts.
Students are expected to attend most lectures. Please arrive on time and be ready to turn on your camera and interact with peers. During crits, students are expected to offer constructive criticism on their classmates' work.
Grading breakdown:
10% A1: Generating ideas
15% A2: Discovering competitors
20% A3: Creating scenarios
20% A4: Launching probes
20% A5: Pitching your innovation
5% Reading reflections
5% Participation
Team peer evaluations will be conducted for assignments A2-A5 and can influence an individual student’s grade by +/-5%. Teammates should take great care to communicate with each other and to equitably contribute to the project!
Participation:
Students are expected to attend and participate in most lectures and studios. We will be keeping attendance through a digital check-in process. Please arrive on time and be ready to interact with peers as much as possible. If students must miss a class for a good reason, please let your team know in advance. Students can miss up to 5 lectures or studios (out of 30) with no negative impacts on the overall grade. For each lecture or studio missed beyond 5, students will lose points on the Participation grade. Additional activities — such as taking surveys, filling out peer evals, participating in crits, etc. — will be tracked and counted as part of your Participation grade. We hope this policy allows for flexibility, but also creates the right incentive to show up and participate in this highly interactive class.
Late Assignments
It is vital to keep up with course assignments and discussions in order to participate fully. For instance, if you are late on a reading reflection, it means that you’ll be unprepared for lecture and discussion in class. Late assignments and projects will receive 5% deduction per day for the first week, and 50% deduction if more than a week late. Late assignments will also get feedback slower, which will be important for doing well on the next assignment. Work with your team to stay on schedule.
Teams
Teamwork is complicated. We appreciate that part of the challenge in this class will be figuring out how to work with people that have different work styles, skills, backgrounds, and experiences. Keep in mind these points as you develop a relationship with your team.
Collaboration can thrive through differences. Some people may be better at ideating and leading, others contribute more through detailed-oriented creative work. Try to understand your team's skills and proclivities, and allocate work accordingly.
Teams take time to develop. Give your team a chance to grow and learn together. It’s normal to disagree at times, but listen to each other and move on from those disagreements so that you can learn how to perform together.
Team obligations. Everyone on the team is responsible for knowing and being on top of the steps of the assignment.
Team leaders. Your job is to corral, organize and motivate your team to take the next steps. Communicate regularly with your peers. We appreciate that this is extra work. If you have a busy week, turn over leadership to someone else on your team to step in for you.
Team reporting. At the end of each project phase, each of you will submit a report sharing an analysis of your own contribution and the work of your team members. Your overall grade on the project will be adjusted based on your individual contributions.
We expect teams to iron out any interpersonal differences that arise. The same will be expected in real-world work settings, including startup companies. You do not usually get to choose your co-workers. That said, our syllabus will provide one opportunity (after the first team assignment, A2) to seek changes to your team or to request a new team. We will do our best to accommodate, but not all change requests can be honored. Teams will be "locked in" after A2 for remainder of the quarter.
References and Cheating
In all your work in this class, you should utilize and cite any sources of information you can: search results, news sources, scholarly papers, GPTs, personal contacts, and outside experts. Acknowledge them with specific footnotes or hyperlinks. Specify each source well enough that a reader can find it. We will reward you for using/citing sources and penalize you for using none. If you cut and paste content from elsewhere, use quotation marks and footnotes. Not acknowledging your citations is an ethical failure, but failing to seek help puts limits on your effectiveness.
Should any student be found guilty of cheating on an assignment, the University will be notified. Additionally, depending on the circumstances, and at the discretion of the instructor and the Department Head, a student could fail the course and may be expelled from the University. A student can appeal any faculty decision to the UC San Diego Academic Senate.
Special Needs
If you have a special need, or will be missing class regularly for any personal reasons, let us know during the first two weeks of class. If you have a disability and wish to request an accommodation, please contact the Office for Students with Disabilities. We will be happy to work with you to support your success in the class.
We know this is complex time for students as they work from home, and/or may be called upon to care for family and friends, near and far. Some students might be dealing with grief or loss, depression or feelings of being overwhelmed. UCSD Wellness offers services to help with issues that might arise in these uncertain times. We recommend that you turn to CAPS for support, guidance, or advice in navigating these unprecedented times. Students should call CAPS (858) 534-3755, 24/7, for assistance.