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Course Notes

D-Lab's Nathan Cooke took notes during most class sessions.  These notes are provided in a single file, and the pages about each class session are referenced in the following table.

Selected lecture slides and other notes are provided in the Other Resources column.

See also the Flickr photo collection of various classes and activities.

WEEK # SES # TOPICS CLASS NOTES OTHER RESOURCES
1 1 Introduction: design for development pp. 3–4 Slides (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 5.4MB)
2 2

Design, innovation, invention, and the design process

Case studies: Q-drum, LifeStraw, Freeplay radio, solar cookers, treadle pumps, iDE drip irrigation kit

 pp. 5–6 Slides (PDF - 3.5MB)
3

Case study discussion

Charcoal press case study

Introduction to Mini Projects

 pp. 7–9 Slides (PDF - 4.3MB)
3 4

Mini Project

  • Idea generation
  • Experimentation
  • Prototyping
 p. 10  
5

Mini Project

  • Concept evaluation
  • Detail design
  • Fabrication
 p. 11 D-Lab News writeup
4 6

Mini Project

  • Testing & evaluation
  • Repeat
    
7

Mini Project

  • Presentations

Graphical representation of information Presentation skills

 pp. 12–13  
5 8 Project presentations and selection pp. 14–15  
9

Build-It modules

  

From D-Lab Resources collection:

Cast Corn Sheller (PDF - 1.2MB)

Sheet Metal Corn Sheller (PDF)

Charcoal Press (with Teaching Notes) (PDF)
6 10 Build-It modules (cont.)    
11

Phase 1 Design Review

  • Project background
  • Problem statement
  • Design specs
 pp. 16–17  
7 12

Manufacturing in the developing world

Design for Manufacture

Film: No Spare Parts. Director, David Springbett. Asterisk Productions, 1990. 22 min.

 pp. 18–19

Slides (PDF - 3.8MB)
13

Phase 2 Design Review

  • Idea generation
  • Experimental results
  • Concept evaluation
 pp. 20–21  
8 n/a Spring break — field trips, no classes    
9 14 Human factors p. 22  
15

Design for [X]: usability, affordability, sustainability, reuse, failure

Case studies: wheelchairs & cookstoves

 pp. 23–24

Slides (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 2.4MB)
10 16 Guest speakers: Paul Polak & Shawn Frayne pp. 25–27 D-Lab News writeup
17

Phase 3 Design Review

  • Detail design
  • Analysis
  • Experimental results
 p. 28  
11 18 Green Engineering 1 (with guest speaker Ben Linder) pp. 29–30  
19 Green Engineering 2 (with guest speaker Ben Linder) pp. 31–32  
12 20

Phase 3 Design Review

  • Prototypes (with guest mentor Ralph Hotchkiss)
 p. 33  
13 21 Guest speaker: Suprio Das pp. 34–35 D-Lab News writeup
22 Guest speaker: Bernard Kiwia pp. 36–37 D-Lab News writeup
14 23 Scaling up (with guest speaker Sarah Bird and Gwyn Jones) pp. 38–40  
24 Practice session for MIT Museum presentations    
25 Presentations at MIT Museum (D-Lab Spring Showcase event)   Photo collection of the Showcase event
15 26 Penultimania p. 41 Slides (PDF - 3.7MB)
27

What next…?

Evaluations