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Curriculum
EDI is a balanced program: Students build on their undergraduate degree, gaining greater depth in a focused engineering discipline, but are also given the opportunity to gain breadth of knowledge in a self-selected field such as business, art or social science. Students learn rapid prototyping, model making and other hands-on tools while completing a variety of design projects.
EEDI is flexible. Students are allowed 5 units of elective credit: 3 units for the Engineering Theme requirement, and 2 units for the Breadth Elective requirement
EDI is efficient: one academic year of full-time study is all that is required.
Overview
Core Courses
7 core courses are required, totaling 7 units of credit.
DSGN 401-1 Human-Centered Design Studio 1 (Fall)
This course is part one of a year-long studio course, providing a project-based introduction to the design of products and processes that meet human needs. Students are given a problem area in which to innovate and will be led through the process of investigating cultural, emotional, technological and business factors to develop new concepts, creating and testing prototypes, and iterative design. Principal focus will be placed on understanding the interaction of people and products/services. Formal interaction modeling techniques will be introduced, and students will learn to prototype interactive systems. Teaching methods include lectures, labs, reading, homework assignments and projects.
DSGN 401-2 Human-Centered Design Studio 2 (Winter)
This course builds upon IDEA 401-1, continuing the theme of interaction design. In the first part of the course, students are given a problem area, but will be challenged to explore novel and multimodal approaches to interaction, including gestural, tactile, auditory, and others. Methods of prototyping interactive mechatronic systems will be introduced. In the second part of the course students are challenged to design an experience which grows out of the interactions between a person and a product or service. Personas, use cases and scenarios will be introduced for modeling experiences. Teaching methods include lectures, labs, reading, homework assignments and projects.
DSGN 401-3 Human-Centered Design Studio 3 (Spring)
This is the final course in the year-long sequence. It course builds upon both IDEA 401-1 and 401-2, exploring interaction in the context of services. Students explore the nature of “service ecologies,” which comprise a set of actors (people and interactive products) and the relationships among them. Students learn to map and analyze existing services, and to design new ones. Case studies will be drawn from areas such as retail, health, financial, and consumer services. Teaching methods include lectures, reading, case studies, homework assignments and projects.
DSGN 495-20 Design Research (Fall)
In this course, students learn the value of field research in the human-centered design process. The class covers an introduction to qualitative research, and provides an overview of existing methods. In addition to homework assignments and labs, students work on a cumulative team-based research and design project that includes generative research, analysis and synthesis, brainstorming, concept generation and concept evaluation.
DSGN 495-05 Differentiation by Design (Winter)
This course introduces students to a systematic “Differentiation by Design” strategy for enhancing the “customer-getting” experience within the New Product Development process (NPD). The course focuses on those elements of the traditional NPD progression that serve to differentiate a new offering from its competition. Students become aware of the many opportunities for differentiation available, and discover the methods and means of employing these. Successful completion of the course should enhance students' ability to add real innovative value as team members in the NPD “concept through commercialization” customer/product experience. Lectures are supported by case studies, readings, relevant outside experts and real world examples of the Differentiation by Design process, strategy and methodology.
DSGN 495-XX Sustainable Manufacturing (Winter)
The goal of this course is to explore how to conceive, design and develop a product or production facility using principles of Sustainability. Students start by evaluating the guiding definition and principles of sustainable design, engineering and development and consider a number of examples. Issues related to social equity are explored by looking at the business opportunities related to solving some of the world’s most intractable problems (e.g., poverty). Special attention will be paid to the challenges of improving energy efficiency and finding alternatives to oil. Finally, the course tackles the question of what it takes to make human life sustainable –technology or conviction? Why is the approach different in Europe than in the U.S? What is the role of business versus the government in paving this way? Will the change to sustainable practices occur through bottom-up or top-down demand? Will the path to sustainability be guided by a shift in values or will it simply make good economic sense?
The course is primarily discussion based. The first 2/3 of the class meetings focuses upon the readings and “the big picture”. The last third of the class is a skills sharing session focusing on practical aspects of environmental best practice, land recycling movement, green building, climate change, renewable energy.
DSGN 495-XX Innovation Frontiers (Spring)
Many historians and scientists believe we live in the greatest time of change in the history of our species. In any such transformational time a great skill thoughtful individuals should master is to learn to find patterns in the change. If you can find patterns, you won’t be blindsided by change, but instead able to anticipate shifts and then innovate effectively. In this class, students learn the emerging principles of innovation as a science so that they can approach the unfamiliar with a whole new level of curiosity, confidence and courage. The course teaches how to deconstruct anything innovative—from Apple’s iPhone to YouTube or Wii—and how to assess the structural causes of innovation success… or failure. Students discover how and why India and China are breeding grounds for entirely new innovation frontiers in order to understand why Lasik eye surgery can be profitable in India at $10 per eye (vs. $1,200 in the U.S.) and how the seventh richest man in China got that way manufacturing solar cell arrays to produce sustainable electricity.
Students in the course also practice applying the principles of innovation in a specific challenge, and produce defensible, clear proposals at the conclusion of the course. These should be of a nature and quality to merit publication in magazines such as Fast Company or Wired.
Electives
Elective courses can be scheduled for any quarter of the academic year; an example schedule is shown above.
Engineering Theme
3 units of Engineering Theme coursework are required.
Students work with an advisor to select three engineering courses that form a theme such as “manufacturing methods,” “biomechanics,” “mechatronics,” “embedded systems,” etc. At least two courses must be at the 400 level (graduate level).
Breadth Elective
2 units of Breadth Elective coursework are required.
Students may select two courses on design-related topics such as intellectual capital management, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, technology and social behavior, drawing, and design history. Students may choose these electives from the entire graduate course catalog of Northwestern University. Additional courses in the arts may be available from a partner school. Careful selection and the approval of the student’s advisor is essential.
Beyond Course Work
Design Boot Camp:
In addition to the above regular term course work, it is required that all incoming students attend a pre-term workshop called "Design Boot Camp". Boot Camp is a 3-week set of intensive training sessions that provides students the opportunity to strengthen their skills in selected tools of the design trade, including 2D visualization and communication, 3D modeling, and mechatronics.
Over the course of the Boot Camp, students will work on a simple project which allows them to practice their newly acquired skills. The boot camp sessions are primarily devoted to instruction, and therefore students will be expected to work on their own time to complete the project within the timeframe given.
For the 2008-09 academic year, Design Boot Camp will be start on Wednesday, September 3 and will meet on weekdays until Friday, September 19. Admitted students will receive a letter from the administration with further information.
Design Community Involvement:
Students in the MS-EDI program are expected to be leaders in the evolving design community at Northwestern. To this end, our students may be required to organize events such as seminars and field trips, and to supervise undergraduate design teams.
