For Faculty & Staff

Do you want to integrate creative methods in your classroom and research? Design and hands-on making can be valuable to academic pursuits in all disciplines. We’re here to partner with faculty to support learning goals through the collaborative opportunities listed below.

Please complete a Google form to request any type of support you see below. Applications received at least four weeks before classes begin each semester are given priority. Even if the semester is underway, please reach out—we would love to connect with you. You are always welcome to email Alix Gerber at agerber@smith.edu or make an appointment to discuss your ideas and brainstorm ways of working together.

Class Tours & Introduction to DTI

An introduction to the tools and materials, including laser cutters, a vinyl cutter, 3D printers, and how to use the studios safely, can help students see the possibilities for making available to them at DTI.

Please visit our Studio Use & Hours page for more information on our space use policies.

Forms of Course Support

Invite us into your class to facilitate hands-on creative workshops that explore your curriculum through design and making.

We can practice:

  • Iteration and prototyping– making ideas real in quick, scrappy ways to test and inform future versions
  • Techniques for mapping, modeling, or visualizing concepts
  • Designing experiences and the touchpoints that make them real
  • Investigating people’s needs and dreams through reflection, observation, and co‑creation
  • Making artifacts from future and alternative worlds to provoke discussion and debate

We can facilitate workshops in your classroom or invite your class into our space at Capen Annex (maximum of 16 students). With advance planning, we can invite visiting artists and designers from off-campus to connect with your class’s learning goals.

Want to bring your class to a creative space? Reserve our flexible design thinking classroom. We offer:

  • Moveable and adjustable height tables
  • Whiteboards
  • Brainstorming materials such as sticky notes and markers
  • Access to many lo-fi-making supplies

Limit of two meetings per course in the classroom, per semester, to ensure that the space is generally available for making. Please note, the room functions best with a maximum of 16 students.

You are welcome to check out tools and use our supplies for making activities that can take place in your own classroom or to support a class project beyond the use of Capen Annex. We can’t promise everything requested—we may suggest alternative supplies that are more readily available.

If you’re not sure what supplies or materials you might need for an intended project, simply schedule a meeting with Alix Gerber to discuss.

We’re eager to explore how design and making can help us open up questions, explore hypotheses, and support sense making in Smith faculty research. Please email Alix Gerber (agerber@smith.edu) to discuss how you could investigate your research interests through design and making.