Courses & Concentrations

Here you will learn more about the concentrations DTI is connected with and the additional courses we offer. For recommendations on course across the curriculum that integrate design and hands-on making schedule an appointment with Emily Norton to discuss.

Interdisciplinary Making Concentration

IMX, hosted by the Design Thinking Initiative, is for students who make things—who learn by doing. Concentrators explore making as a way to understand their disciplinary studies and reimagine their work in broader contexts. Concentrators learn to actualize ideas and both advance and diversify the culture of making at Smith and beyond. IMX provides the opportunity to understand the impacts of the made world, challenge definitions of making, model interdisciplinarity in action, and learn how to take advantage of the many making resources on campus.

Explore the Concentration

Courses

This course is a series of workshops that situate particular making techniques that take place in Smith’s many “makerspaces” within social, economic, ecological, historical and cultural contexts. Students connect their making practice to the ways making informs their liberal arts education. This course also serves to introduce students to the faculty and staff who facilitate making at the many different making spaces across the college. S/U only. Enrollment limited to 18.

This course covers woodworking fundamentals, focusing on safe and repeatable practices. In building a valet, students learn the basics of furniture making, including wood selection, design, milling, parts cutting, shaping, and finishing. The course covers techniques for modern woodworking tools and machinery with an emphasis on hand tools to build skills applicable to life without access to a fully functioning woodshop. Daily readings, writing, and discussion explore the role of craft and handwork in modern life and the history of gender and identity in the workshop. S/U only. Enrollment limited to 9. (E)

In this 1-credit, introductory course we explore what designing towards justice might look and feel like. Students will employ human-centered design, a process that centers the lived experience of people most impacted by a challenge in creatively addressing it. We will look at the implications of design in shaping the world around us and develop a critical lens on designs' role in making change. Students will explore what it means to re-frame challenges as opportunities, engage in humble inquiry, observe in new ways, synthesize qualitative research, co-generate ideas, prototype, and test their designs. 1 credit; S/U only. Course max: 16 students 

Whether you are starting your Smith journey, embarking on or returning from an immersive experience abroad, weaving your interests through a Concentration or self-designed major, or wrestling with expressing what a Smith education has prepared you to do, this is the class for you. Test different integrative paths of your own design, tell your own story, and create a digital portfolio to showcase your work. By the end of class, you will be able to articulate connections between your work in and outside of the classroom, and to explain how Smith is preparing you to engage with the world beyond. Enrollment limited to 12. (E)

This class is a hands-on introduction to the techniques and tools of the Design Thinking Initiative. This methods course teaches students how to make an idea tangible by starting with a sketch, translating drawings into physical models, soliciting feedback, improving designs, rendering designs using CAD software, and fabricating objects using 3D printers, laser cutters, and other tools. Additionally, students learn to approach tool and material use responsibly by considering the lifecycles of products. With this foundation, students are motivated to push the boundaries of these resources by looking at innovations in the field. The goal is that students leave inspired and confident to navigate resources, troubleshoot as a maker, and materialize your visions. S/U only. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. (E)