Thu Apr 3 13:34:51 2014
| Approvals Received: |
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| Approvals Pending: | College/Dean > Provost > LE > Catalog > PeopleSoft Manual Entry | |
| Effective Status: | Active | |
| Effective Term: | 1149 - Fall 2014 | |
| Course: | CE 4571 | |
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Institution: Campus: |
UMNTC - Twin Cities UMNTC - Twin Cities |
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| Career: | UGRD | |
| College: | TIOT - College of Science and Engineering | |
| Department: | 11101 - Civil Engineering | |
| General | ||
| Course Title Short: | Design for Sustainable Develop | |
| Course Title Long: | Design for Sustainable Development | |
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Max-Min Credits for Course: |
4.0 to 3.0 credit(s) | |
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Catalog Description: |
Project-based course focused on designing venture solutions to global grand challenges related to environment, health, development. Identify specific social-environmental problem. Design financially-viable venture solution. Collaborate with professional mentors/technical experts. Create venture plan, may pitch for funding. Course is part of Acara program. | |
| Print in Catalog?: | Yes | |
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CCE Catalog Description: |
<no text provided> | |
| Grading Basis: | A-F only | |
| Topics Course: | No | |
| Honors Course: | No | |
| Online Course: | No | |
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Instructor Contact Hours: |
3.0 hours per week | |
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Years most frequently offered: |
Every academic year | |
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Term(s) most frequently offered: |
Fall | |
| Component 1: |
LEC (no final exam) |
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Auto-Enroll Course: |
No | |
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Graded Component: |
LEC | |
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Academic Progress Units: |
Not allowed to bypass limits. 3.0 credit(s) |
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Financial Aid Progress Units: |
Not allowed to bypass limits. 3.0 credit(s) |
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Repetition of Course: |
Allow up to 2 repetition(s) totalling up to 8.0 credit(s). | |
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Course Prerequisites for Catalog: |
upper division student | |
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Course Equivalency: |
CE4571/CE5571 | |
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Consent Requirement: |
Instructor | |
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Enforced Prerequisites: (course-based or non-course-based) |
No prerequisites | |
| Editor Comments: | <no text provided> | |
| Proposal Changes: | <no text provided> | |
| History Information: | <no text provided> | |
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Faculty Sponsor Name: |
Julian Marshall | |
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Faculty Sponsor E-mail Address: |
julian@umn.edu | |
| Student Learning Outcomes | ||
| Student Learning Outcomes: |
* Student in the course:
- Can identify, define, and solve problems
Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome. Students will work in teams developing sustainable business and technical solutions to address complex challenges in India. Teams may address a challenge related to an environmental or health issue. During the semester a product or service must be designed, and a sustainable business model must be created around it. Students therefore have to identify a problem based on their assessment of the community and Grand Challenge area. They are not given a problem in the class; they must identify one, using criteria discussed in class and readings (affordability, community need, and other social and business issues). Students will be taught discovery and design thinking techniques to help with problem and customer identification. Problem identification will be done via secondary research and primary research via collaborating staff in India and mentors. The course is set up to mimic real development and entrepreneurial situations so students must be resourceful in finding secondary research and interview candidates beyond the instructors, staff, and mentors provided in the course. Students will apply basic design thinking framework to create a value proposition (what is the product or service being offered). The design thinking framework consist of these steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Students will learn framing tools like empathy maps, value proposition, and business model canvases to use as aides in defining problems and defining solutions. Solutions are defined in terms of value propositions and business models. The final deliverable for students is a written plan and presentation that discusses the problem they have identified and their proposed solution. How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated. Students will be identifying problems in a community in India.They will identify and define problems, and propose solutions.Students are assessed at different points during this process. Students give 4 presentations during the semester: at week four - the problem they have identified; week 6 - the solution they have identified; a mid term presentation and a final presentation, both of which encompass all aspects of their project.They also do a final 10 page written plan.Assessment criteria is as follows:What is the problem?Is the customer need clearly identified?Has the customer need been identified and documented through research?Are the social and economic needs clearly identified and defined?Has the team verified the customers are willing to buy the product or service?What is the solution(value proposition)?Is the solution well connected to the problem?Is the solution validated by prototypes or existing examples?Is the solution realistic?Is the plan for implementation complete?Is the solution achievable by the team? Is the customer and customer segment clearly defined, and confirmed through research with potential customers?How will your venture make money?Will the revenue streams sustain expenses incurred by the business?Can the business plan maintain a competitive advantage over competitors? Has the potential for revenue been validated?What is the social impact?Does the venture have a substantial solution for goods/services penetration?Will a significant number of people be affected by the given solution?Will the venture create significant financial, social and environmental impact?How well does the team communicate their ideas?Is the written business plan well organized, well written and void of errors? - Can locate and critically evaluate information Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome. Students define the problem, not the instructors. Students must evaluate the information they discover in order to create a proper and acceptable problem statement that has the needs defined (customer segment, customer need, etc.). Information sources are varied. Instructor provides the students with at least one mentor per team, contact information of a collaborating instructor in India, and selected reading material. This is not fully sufficient for the students to identify a problem; students must locate appropriate information from reports and articles, books, websites of related organizations and personal interviews. The empathy portion of the design thinking framework is a focus on understanding needs of customers. The student will list the information they have discovered, partition and cluster it as appropriate, and use it to identify trends and key insights. They will present these insights, and how they used them to identify a specific problem, during their assignments of creating presentations and final plan. Locating information about on-the-ground practices in India is not easy, so this class is intended to call into play the skills students have learned in previous college courses regarding gathering and assessing information The focus on this class is more on critical evaluation of information and using that critical assessment in the identification of an appropriate problem statement. How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated. Students make multiple presentations during the term, plus a final written plan and final presentation, plus weekly discussions with instructors and mentors. Information presented by students must show appropriate, and adequate, referencing. Research must be shown that was used to define the problem. This must include information on similar problems and solutions (both academic and popular articles) and information that clearly defends the student⿿s hypothesis. The review panel at the end of the semester will include domain experts from India. The existing expertise of these reviewers is part of the final assessment of the student⿿s research. They will critically assess the accuracy of the research and subsequent problem definition. It is certainly the case that experts may not know if the student⿿s particular solution will work, but they will be able to assess the depth and quality of the research behind the problem statement. - Have mastered a body of knowledge and a mode of inquiry Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome. The body of knowledge for this course is the body of knowledge of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. There is no pre-requisite for this course but students must have a prior body of knowledge in their respective majors. The multi-disciplinary nature of the student teams requires students of diverse knowledge and backgrounds. Students will be able to describe and identify the nine parts of a business model canvas, the basic elements of a financial and social venture value proposition, the customer segment, and the theory of change for a given social venture. The other body of knowledge is the student⿿s knowledge of the selected Grand Challenge in India. For example, if they are investigating clean drinking water, they should understand, and be able to articulate, the positions of the key stakeholders, the environmental, financial and societal factors. How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated. In the second through fifth weeks of the course students review previous Acara business plans and do a written and oral summary. They must identify the major parts as related to the social and financial value proposition, customer segment and problem being solved. As the class progress they must apply this knowledge to their own business plan. An online business model canvas tool is used, and this must be kept up to date throughout the last half of the semester. - Understand diverse philosophies and cultures within and across societies Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome. The students are addressing challenges in India. In order to complete the core assignment of developing a solution to a problem that they identify, the students must gain an understanding of Indian society and culture. Students may potentially design interviews or surveys for collaborators to implement in India; and, students may be paired with mentors who have significant experience in India. Students will receive presentations from guest lectures and from UMN faculty with experience in developing country contexts, and India specifically. Students will use community resources, knowledge, and best practices. (Resources are diverse, and may include physical resources/infrastructure, human resources, schools, social institutions, faith-based organizations, NGOs, government structures, etc.) One primary intent of the collaboration with staff and instructors in India is to provide University of Minnesota students with the opportunity to learn from Indian staff and, via those staff, from community members. How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated. The assessment of final report and presentation of the students includes an outside review panel, which includes representatives from Uganda, and local experts from companies, NGOs and the university with experience working in India. During the second half of the semester, when UMN students are interacting regularly with Indian staff and with their mentors, this interaction is reviewed weekly in class. Students have a required textbook, Poor Economics, which covers various research and learning from across the developing world. Students⿿ weekly reports on the reading are part of the their assessment on cross cultural understanding. - Can communicate effectively Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome. Students will use FlipGrid (an online video recording tool developed by LT Media Lab at the University of Minnesota) to record short 1.5 minute videos to introduce them selves at the beginning of the course, and to review their weekly reading assignments from their text, Poor Economics. Students must be able to create a short and succinct summary of What, So What and Now What, for each reading. Students develop multiple in-term presentations: a five-minute presentation on the problem statement, a five-minute presentation on their solution, and a 15 minute midterm presentation. Students will create a fifteen-minute presentation suitable for funders and present to an outside panel. These steps require identifying the key points of their solution and the needs and interests of the projected outside panel. Students will be given a lecture on presentation best practices. Students will have to communicate regularly with their collaborating staff in India, including written and oral communication. Students will create a final 10-page final report and business plan. They will be asked to verbally present their status and progress weekly. Overall, communication is an extremely important part of this course. How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated. The previous paragraphs describe some of the assignments and work required by the students. Feedback on the formal presentations is both immediate, in terms of instructor critique, and written feedback it is also provided, critiquing content, style of delivery, clarity of message, as well as the fundamental knowledge presented. The FlipGrid video review assignments of Poor Economics are discussed in class. The final presentation is also scored on communication using sample questions such as: How well does the team communicate their ideas? Is the written business plan well organized, well written and void of errors? Is the presentation engaging and easy to follow? Were the speakers articulate and confident? - Understand the role of creativity, innovation, discovery, and expression across disciplines Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome. The course is specifically designed to be multidisciplinary. Enrolled students frequently come from CSE, CSOM, CDes, CFANS, HHH, and Public Health. With an emphasis on discovery, design thinking, and community assessment in the course, the different student perspectives are valued and included during every team discussion. For example, engineering students would focus on the technology or infrastructure issues related to something such as clean drinking water, while public health students would focus on the actual contamination and how the village uses the water. Both require the same discovery and innovation techniques but in a slightly different approach. How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated. The final assessment, described under the problem-solving objective (above) also applies here. Students will be actively recruited from multiple colleges, and multidisciplinary teams will constructed but the instructors. - Have acquired skills for effective citizenship and life-long learning Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome. Students work on real problems, with real communities. The course is purposely designed to replicate a ⿿real world scenario, where groups of people work to create venture plans to address a specific challenge. Students use the same tools and frameworks as they will use once they graduate. The class hopes to inspire students to pursue the very challenges that inspired them to come to the University in the first place, but sometimes gets lost in the every day pursuit of classes and assignments. How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated. Faculty will conduct interviews with students at the end of class on how the class changed, or didn⿿t change, their view towards the problems. Faculty will perform informal assessment through written work, online video postings, and presentations. Students will fill out a rubric on themselves at the beginning of the course, and then again at the end. This will form the basis for the interviews. | |
| Liberal Education | ||
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Requirement this course fulfills: |
GP Global Perspectives | |
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Other requirement this course fulfills: |
None | |
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Criteria for Core Courses: |
Describe how the course meets the specific bullet points for the proposed core
requirement. Give concrete and detailed examples for the course syllabus, detailed
outline, laboratory material, student projects, or other instructional materials or method.
Core courses must meet the following requirements:
The Association of American Colleges and Universities defines liberal education as that which ⿿empowers individuals with broad knowledge and transferable skills, and a strong sense of value, ethics, and civic engagement, and is ⿿characterized by challenging encounters with important issues (AACU, ⿿Liberal Education Resources, http://aacu.org/resources/liberaleducation/). That definition reflects the goals of the course. Students in the course grapple with Grand Challenge problems facing communities in India, highlighting several aspects regarding the ethics of action (or inaction). Further, students work together in teams to identify feasible solutions and to put together a plan that would allow someone to implement that solution. That process requires broad knowledge of developing-country issues, and broadly transferable skills, including problem-solving, working on diverse teams, and a combination of brainstorming with empathy for others. Engaging students with doing the work in the field, not just reading about it, is why we started this class. We explicitly require students to say how they would implement a solution. Their semester-long project is to identify how to actually solve a problem. After the class ends, via the Acara Challenge and (in Bangalore) the Acara Summer Institute, we work with and assist students who wish to implement their ideas. Most of the course assignments are small group experiences because they are assignments worked on in groups. Some of the individual assignments, too, are connected with small group experiences because we will ask people to share and discuss what they learned via that assignment. The only prerequisite for the class is that students have advanced standing; other than that requirement, they can come from any department in the university. We require advanced standing so that students will have gained some expertise prior to taking our class. Students need some expertise, and some academic knowledge to draw on, to contribute effectively to the group project. (We teach a separate course for underclassmen.) Yes: the class is offered every Fall semester. If demand grows, we will offer it every semester. The class is taught by Professor Julian Marshall or Professor John Gulliver, in collaboration with Mr. Fred Rose (Institute on the Environment), Mr. Toby Nord (Carlson), and Mrs. Connie Rutledge (Carlson). |
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Criteria for Theme Courses: |
Describe how the course meets the specific bullet points for the proposed theme
requirement. Give concrete and detailed examples for the course syllabus, detailed outline,
laboratory material, student projects, or other instructional materials or methods. Theme courses have the common goal of cultivating in students a number of habits of mind:
Our motivation for offering this course is to connect knowledge and practice, and to foster a strong sense of individuals⿿ roles as agents of change. We accomplish that goal via the semester-long project that requires students to identify a solution to a problem, and to think through the implications of implementing that solution. Students recognize and grapple with the fact that there are not easy solutions, that understanding and diagnosing a problem often are not the same as solving that problem, and that real change is possible with hands-on effort, learning, and honesty about what works and doesn't work. Ethical discussions are central to students⿿ work on their problems and on their solutions. The problems that students work on have social justice as a core motivator, because the problems generally impact low-income but not high-income communities. Ethical discussions include whether, for example, clean drinking water is a human right, or instead is something better left to the free market. Sometimes, ethics and pragmatism collide ⿿ for example, if government programs designed to supply free water to everyone end up failing because of corruption or inefficiency, while free market solutions that are unconcerned with inequity end up serving more people. In-class ethical discussions about the problems also include contrasting conditions in India with conditions in the US. The ethical discussions regarding the solutions are equally important: how to design and implement solutions that are appropriate, respectful, and ethical towards the community facing the problem. Even the act of implementing a solution can be ethically fraught, if that solution has the potential to cause unintended harm. All solutions necessarily involve some learning-by-doing; in class, we discuss major ethical issues surrounding (comparatively wealthy) students from the U.S. carrying out experiments in low-income Indian communities. Those discussions further underscore a strong sense of our roles as historical agents, as students realize the power and authority they potentially could carry if acting in a lower-income community. In summary, students discuss ethical dimensions of the challenges India faces and also of solutions to those challenges. * Most or all of the materials in the course focus on India, or on relevant insights gleamed from other developing-country contexts. (For example, the book Poor Economics is relevant for understanding conditions in India, even though it contains examples from other developing countries.) While many of the problems students study are not unique to India, students are required to learn about the Indian context regarding these problems, and to identify solutions that reflect and respond to that local context. * The course focuses in depth on India. * The semester-long group project is that students reflect on how private individuals (i.e., the students themselves) or small groups can help address the problems we study. * Students discuss and reflect on the implications of issues raised by the course materials for their own lives. In a real and immediate way, our course challenges every student with the question of whether they feel strongly enough about their topic (their problem; their solution) to travel to India to implement their ideas. As instructors, we explicitly ask each student that question. Whether or not a student decides to try to travel to India to implement their ideas, their decision requires personal reflection. For many students, that reflection is a deep, personal conversation with themselves about what are their goals in life and their place in the world. The group discussions happen in class, in one-on-one conversations between instructors and students, and in each student⿿s group as they discuss as a group how they might implement their solution. In the end, some students do travel to India but most do not; for the latter group, thinking through their decision in an Indian context helps them practice thinking through other decisions that will reflect their goals and their views about the world. |
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LE Recertification-Reflection Statement: (for LE courses being re-certified only) |
<no text provided> | |
| Statement of Certification: |
This course is certified for a Core, effective as of
This course is certified for a Theme, effective as of |
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| Writing Intensive | ||
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Propose this course as Writing Intensive curriculum: |
No | |
| Question 1 (see CWB Requirement 1): |
How do writing assignments and writing instruction further the learning objectives
of this course and how is writing integrated into the course? Note that the syllabus must
reflect the critical role that writing plays in the course. <no text provided> |
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| Question 2 (see CWB Requirement 2): |
What types of writing (e.g., research papers, problem sets, presentations,
technical documents, lab reports, essays, journaling etc.) will be assigned? Explain how these
assignments meet the requirement that writing be a significant part of the course work, including
details about multi-authored assignments, if any. Include the required length for each writing
assignment and demonstrate how the minimum word count (or its equivalent) for finished writing will
be met. <no text provided> |
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| Question 3 (see CWB Requirement 3): |
How will students' final course grade depend on their writing performance?
What percentage of the course grade will depend on the quality and level of the student's writing
compared to the percentage of the grade that depends on the course content? Note that this information
must also be on the syllabus. <no text provided> |
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| Question 4 (see CWB Requirement 4): |
Indicate which assignment(s) students will be required to revise and resubmit after
feedback from the instructor. Indicate who will be providing the feedback. Include an example of the
assignment instructions you are likely to use for this assignment or assignments. <no text provided> |
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| Question 5 (see CWB Requirement 5): |
What types of writing instruction will be experienced by students? How much class
time will be devoted to explicit writing instruction and at what points in the semester? What types of
writing support and resources will be provided to students? <no text provided> |
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| Question 6 (see CWB Requirement 6): |
If teaching assistants will participate in writing assessment and writing instruction,
explain how will they be trained (e.g. in how to review, grade and respond to student writing) and how will
they be supervised. If the course is taught in multiple sections with multiple faculty (e.g. a capstone
directed studies course), explain how every faculty mentor will ensure that their students will receive
a writing intensive experience. <no text provided> |
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| Statement of Certification: | This course is certified as Writing Internsive effective as of | |
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Readme link.
Course Syllabus requirement section begins below
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| Course Syllabus | ||
| Course Syllabus: |
For new courses and courses in which changes in content and/or description and/or credits
are proposed, please provide a syllabus that includes the following information: course goals
and description; format;structure of the course (proposed number of instructor contact
hours per week, student workload effort per week, etc.); topics to be covered; scope and
nature of assigned readings (text, authors, frequency, amount per week); required course
assignments; nature of any student projects; and how students will be
evaluated. The University "Syllabi Policy" can be
found here
The University policy on credits is found under Section 4A of "Standards for Semester Conversion" found here. Course syllabus information will be retained in this system until new syllabus information is entered with the next major course modification. This course syllabus information may not correspond to the course as offered in a particular semester. (Please limit text to about 12 pages. Text copied and pasted from other sources will not retain formatting and special characters might not copy properly.) CE 4571: Design for Sustainable Development Fridays 9:00am ⿿ 12:00pm 4 credits Fall 2014, Location: SSTS 512A Instructors: Julian Marshall (CE), julian@umn.edu Toby Nord (CSOM), nordx019@umn.edu Connie Rutledge (CSOM), rutl0006@umn.edu Fred Rose (IonE), rosex122@umn.edu Office hours are by appointment. Course Description: Students will work in teams developing sustainable business and technical solutions to address an environmental or social challenge in India. Teams may address a challenge related to water supply, energy availability, food/agriculture production or distribution/marketing. During the semester a product or service must be designed, and a sustainable business model must be created around it. Typical UMN team size is 4-6 students. Each UMN team will be associated with a collaborative team from the Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB) in Orissa. Technical and business development professionals based in the US and India will be available as mentors to provide advice to each team. Each team will have one US-based mentor and one India-based mentor. Strong involvement of all team members and communication between UMN and XIMB teams, mentors and outside experts is critical to success. The teams are expected to use a discovery process, design thinking, ideation and input from field research in solving the challenge. A primary focus of the course is up-front work to identify the "right" problem to solve. Teams must then develop a product or service, and corresponding financially sustainable business model for delivery of the product or service. A sustainable business model means the venture delivering the product or service can do so by generating revenue. The business model could be either for-profit or non-profit, but in either case the same evaluation criteria would be used. The model should be built around the customer⿿s needs and wants, as they will need to pay for the product or service to achieve a scalable model. Presentations will be required on the preliminary and final solutions. Each team member is expected to participate in the preparation of the business plan and presentation. The final course deliverables will be a well-designed business plan and presentation before a panel of business professionals. Students must be graduate students or advanced undergraduates. There are no prerequisites, other than a strong interest in the topic. Instructor permission is required to register for the course. Required Reading: Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. Human Centered Design Toolkit: Can be downloaded at: http://www.ideo.com/work/human-centered-design-toolkit/ Emerging Markets, Emerging Models: Report from the Monitor Group. Can be downloaded at: http://www.mim.monitor.com/downloads/emergingmarkets_full.pdf Other, shorter, readings will be assigned during the semester. Recommended Reading: A collection of relevant readings can be found through dropbox at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0fhlypse2b9oltt/5GuyxWNUsE Teaching Methods: In-class presentations by instructors, practicing professionals and other invited speakers. Ongoing communication with collaborative teams from XIMB. Weekly interaction between mentors and team members. Feedback on written documents from instructors and mentors. Feedback on oral presentations from instructors, mentors, and audience. In-class discussion on written and oral communication of technical material. Credits and Workload Expectations: 1 credit is defined as equivalent to an average of 3 hours of learning effort per week (over a full semester) necessary for an average student to achieve an average grade in the course. A student taking a 4-credit course should expect to spend at least 12 hours of effort per week. This amount is the minimum effort expected in this course. Thus, a total effort of about 180 to 190 effort hours per students is expected during the semester. You will spend more time as you develop your solutions and business plans. Time must also be spent communicating with your mentors and Indian partner teams. Educational Objectives: The course is designed so students will be able to demonstrate An ability to apply core knowledge of the student⿿s major to problems, Teamwork skills, An ability to identify, formulate, and solve problems, Self management skills, Leadership skills, Inter-cultural skills, An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility, An ability to communicate effectively, in writing and orally, Recognition of the need, and an ability, to engage in life-long learning. Course Foci: Problem Solving: o Address a real-world problem. o Synthesize knowledge from various courses. o Design thinking, discovery and ideation skills. Teamwork: o Interact with international team members, peers and mentors. o Collaborate across disciplines and cultures. Communications: o Concise, thorough professional report. o Concise, thorough, and persuasive oral presentations. Project Management: o Project planning. o Financial planning. o Time management. Liberal Education and Global Perspectives Requirements This class is consistent with the University of Minnesota⿿s Liberal Education (LE) requirement and Global Perspectives (GP) requirement. The Association of American Colleges and Universities defines liberal education as that which ⿿empowers individuals with broad knowledge and transferable skills, and a strong sense of value, ethics, and civic engagement, and is ⿿characterized by challenging encounters with important issues (AACU, ⿿Liberal Education Resources, link). That definition reflects the goals of the course. Students in the course grapple with Grand Challenge problems facing communities in India. Doing so highlights several aspects regarding the ethics of action (or inaction). Students work together in teams to identify feasible solutions and to put together a plan that would allow someone to implement that solution. That process requires broad knowledge of developing-country issues and broadly transferable skills, including problem solving, working on diverse teams, and a combination of brainstorming with empathy for others. The Global Perspectives requirement is that students have ⿿at least one significant academic exposure to the world beyond U.S. borders, and the opportunity to consider the implications of this knowledge for the international community and their own lives. Consistent with that requirement, this class focuses on how, in the Indian context, individuals and small teams can make a difference on Grand Challenge problems. Students discuss and reflect on the implications of issues raised by the course material for the international community, India, and for their own lives. In their research and written reports, students explore the local and national contexts for the problems they study and the lessons learned from prior national and international efforts to address those problems. Students evaluate implications for their own lives by considering whether, after the course ends, they would implement the solutions they propose. Final Report: The final report is a significant effort, and includes a written and an oral portion. The written portion is up to 10 pages, including figures and tables. Appendices outside of the 10 pages are allowed. The report needs to be concise yet provide sufficient detail so that the solution can be demonstrated. The report will be reviewed by instructors and by professionals from outside the University, and will need to make a strong case for the proposed solution. Technical competence, numerical accuracy, documentation, neatness, organization, timeliness and clarity of presentation will be considered in evaluating students⿿ work. The oral presentation requires a concise, persuasive pitch to audience members from inside and outside the University. The oral and written reports must answer, concisely and persuasively, these questions: 1. What problem are you addressing? Why is it important? Why are you passionate about solving it? 2. Why do you think it is a problem, and what evidence do you have? A ⿿problem is not one to the student, but to the customer or group you wish to engage. 3. What is your solution, and how does it work? What gap or opportunity have you realized? What is the value proposition? 4. Why do you think your solution will work / what evidence do you have? Why hasn⿿t someone else done it already? Who are your customers and key partners? 5. How will your solution be sustainable and scalable? What is your financial model? Key Course Dates: Sept 6, 2013, 9am-noon ⿿ Course introduction Sept 9, 2013, 5pm-7:30pm ⿿ Acara Open House (IonE) Sept 13, 2013, 9am-noon ⿿ Team selection Nov 8, 2013, 9am-noon ⿿ Mid-term presentations December 6, 2013, 9am-noon ⿿ Final business plan, grunt fund, online business models due December 13, 2013, 9am-noon ⿿ Final presentations Grading: The overall course grade will include the following components: Individual Assignments (4) 10% Team Evaluation (includes Grunt Fund) 15% Business Model Canvas Online 10% India Reviews 10% Presentations (3: problem, solution, midterm) 20% Final Plan 25% Final Presentation 10% The University of Minnesota⿿s Uniform Grading Policy is: A Achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements. B Achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements. C Achievement that meets the course requirements in every respect. D Achievement that is worthy of credit, even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements. F Represents failure and signifies that the work was either: 1) completed but at a level not worthy of credit, or 2) not completed and there was no agreement between the student and instructors that the student would be awarded an Incomplete. Miscellaneous grade contributions: attendance, punctuality of document submittals, participation, etc. Attendance at all sessions is mandatory. Participation in class discussions is also required, including reading assigned materials before class (see class schedule). If you cannot make a date, you are required to notify the instructor in advance via email, and to supply a written note from a doctor stating that you were unable to attend class. Late assignments may not be accepted. This class aims to be a real-world experience in the needs and solutions for sustainable development. The mentors should be treated with respect, as future offerings of the course will depend on their continued involvement to make it a success. Readings must be done before class, as preparation for that day⿿s lecture and discussion. Students should read business plans from prior years, available at http://acara.umn.edu under the Acara Challenge menu listed by year. A detailed course schedule is attached. University Policies Persons with disabilities that require accommodations will be assisted on an individual basis. Contact Disability Services (626-1333) and the instructor in advance to arrange accommodations. Cheating is not allowed in the course and will not be tolerated. Anyone found cheating will immediately receive a grade of zero on that assignment. If such behavior occurs more than once, the student will receive a grade of F in the class. Harassment and disruptive and disturbing behavior will not be tolerated; students will be asked to leave immediately if such behavior occurs, as defined in the Student Conduct Code. Grading: http://policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education/Education/GRADINGTRANSCRIPTS.html Student conduct code: http://regents.umn.edu/sites/default/files/policies/Student_Conduct_Code.pdf Makeup work: http://policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education/Education/MAKEUPWORK.html Student responsibilities: http://policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education/Education/STUDENTRESP.html Sexual harassment: http://regents.umn.edu/sites/default/files/policies/SexHarassment.pdf Equity, diversity, equal opportunity and affirmative action: http://regents.umn.edu/sites/default/files/policies/Equity_Diversity_EO_AA.pdf Academic freedom and responsibility: http://regents.umn.edu/sites/default/files/policies/Academic_Freedom.pdf |
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Readme link.
Strategic Objectives & Consultation section begins below
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| Strategic Objectives & Consultation | ||
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Name of Department Chair Approver: |
Joseph Labuz | |
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Strategic Objectives - Curricular Objectives: |
How does adding this course improve the overall curricular objectives ofthe unit? This course provides a rare opportunity for students to consider conditions outside the US, to work on interdisciplinary teams, to design solutions to global Grand Challenges. In addition, the class involves problem-based learning, open-ended project work, and tackling problems that lack a single, ⿿neat, well-defined solution. These are important skills and experiences for our student⿿s curriculum. |
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Strategic Objectives - Core Curriculum: |
Does the unit consider this course to be part of its core curriculum? No: The class is not a required part of the curriculum. |
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Strategic Objectives - Consultation with Other Units: |
In order to prevent course overlap and to inform other departments of new
curriculum, circulate proposal to chairs in relevant units and follow-up with direct
consultation. Please summarize response from units consulted and include correspondence. By
consultation with other units, the information about a new course is more widely disseminated
and can have a positive impact on enrollments. The consultation can be as simple as an
email to the department chair informing them of the course and asking for any feedback
from the faculty. Our class has been offered for the past 5 years as a 5xxx-level course that accepted advanced undergraduate students; the current shift is to offer an undergraduate (4xxx-level) cross-listing designator. We contacted Professor Tom Fisher, the dean of the College of Design, regarding the questions asked. Here are his replies: ⿿(1) Do you feel that this course duplicates other, existing courses? I don't think it duplicates anything we have in our college; we have nothing like this here and I think there would be some students very interested in taking it. (2) Would you help disseminate information about this course to your students? Yes. I have copied two of my dean colleagues (Lee Anderson, Kate Maple) who can help spread the word about the course. Kate Maple, assistant dean in the College of Design, sent the information to Professor Barry Kudrowitz, College of Design. Here is Professor Kudrowitz⿿s reply: "Oh this is great! We should include it in the PDES minor elective options." Within the College of Science and Engineering, we contacted the department chair and the director of undergraduate students in Mechanical Engineering (Professors Uwe Kortshagen and Tom Chase, respectively) regarding the same questions. They mentioned that our course does differ from MechE classes; they too offered to help advertise information to their students. |
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