A class in user-centred design for engineers

This summer, I will be tackling a challenge that has thus far been unprecedented to me: teaching design thinking and user-centred design concepts to graduate level engineering students.

While this was daunting at first, I have to think of it as a two-pronged applied research endeavor.

The first is an ethnography on engineering students and how they perceive what we as designers do for a living, how they will react to this information, and to what degree are they already aware of the user-centred design world.

Second, it will be a true test to see whether or not this design thinking hullabaloo is actually sticky enough to be adopted by people who are so disconnected from it, and what is the language in which this will have to be described in for it to seem applicable to the most scientific of minds.

These two areas are going to be heavily documented and I will be publishing my findings, observations, and lessons for the world to see and use in, hopefully, a variety of contexts!

My class will begin next month, in May, and end in August, so I am titling this summer: My Summer Engineering Empathy.

Follow Projects by Charlie to stay up-to-date and receive updates on this class. This will definitely be a fun, but bumpy, off-road ride!