D-Lab: Development, Design and Dissemination is a design studio course in which students work on international development projects for underserved communities. The class is focused on a participatory, iterative prototyping design process, with particular attention on the constraints faced when designing for developing communities. Students work in multidisciplinary teams on term-long projects in collaboration with community partners, field practitioners, and experts in relevant fields. Students will learn about their partner communities through the collaborative design process and be exposed to many hands-on fabrication and prototyping skills relevant to development at MIT and manufacturing in their partner community. The course will consist of hands-on labs, guest speakers, and a guided design process with review by experts and professionals in development and design. This course builds on SP.721, although that course is not a required prerequisite.

Microsoft® Excel software is recommended for viewing the .xls files found on this course site. Free Microsoft® Excel viewer software can also be used to view the .xls files. RealOne™ Player is required to run the .rm files found in this course.

Syllabus

About D-Lab

D-Lab is a course sequence in technologies for international development. For the 2004-2005 school year, D-Lab is a combination of two courses plus supplemental field trips. The fall class, SP.721, provides a basic background in international development and appropriate technology through guest speakers, case studies and hands-on exercises. This course SP.722 is the second in the sequence, and offers experience with product design, prototype fabrication and testing in a participatory development context.

Course Goals

• To develop technical solutions for underserved communities
• To practice creative design in a real-world context
• To learn hands-on prototyping and manufacturing skills
• To develop problem solving and critical thinking skills
• To recognize the potential impact of engineers in the world

Teaching Staff

In addition to lead instructors Amy Smith and Kurt Kornbluth, the following people assist as project mentors and teaching assistants:

Allen Armstrong

Stephanie Dalquist

Will DelHagen

Erica Fuchs

Leo Burd

Kate Steel

Matt Orosz

Required Text and Readings

The required text for this class is:

 Weisman, Alan. Gaviotas. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 1999. ISBN: 9781890132286.

In addition, several articles and readings from other sources will be distributed in class.

Group Meetings and Weekly Updates

The Friday sessions will be largely dedicated to group work and will begin with a brief report to the class on the week's progress. Each group will have three minutes to present and there will be two minutes for feedback from the class. Groups will also need to schedule time for meetings outside of the class session.

Grading

This is a nine-unit class: four hours a week will be spent in class and the remaining five hours will be spent doing the readings and homework and working on the design projects, both individually and in groups. Because much of the work for this seminar will be done during class time, attendance is essential. Students missing a class meeting should contact the instructors to make up the work. Students may not miss more than two classes during the semester. This seminar is graded on a A/B/C/F basis, furthermore it is a class where your work is impacting the lives of people around the world and we expect an appropriate level of commitment.

Grading Criteria

ACTIVITIES	PERCENTAGES
Class Participation and Attendance	10%
Weekly Updates	10%
Homework Assignments	15%
Design Notebooks and Assignments	25%
Final Design/Prototype	15%
Presentations	25%

Calendar

SP.722 meets three times per week. In a typical week, there are two full-class Lecture sessions, and one Project session in which students work in their teams on problem definition, design and fabrication tasks.

Course schedule.

Lec #	Topics	instructors	key dates
1	Introduction: Design for Developing Countries	Amy Smith
2	Design, Invention and the Design Process	Amy Smith	Homework 1 due
3	Design Challenge Project Presentations	Amy Smith and project leaders	Design assignment 1 due one day after LEC 3
4	Stakeholder Analysis	Amy Smith	Homework 2 due
5	Library Research Methods	Darcy Duke and Angela Locknar, MIT Libraries	Design assignment 2 due
6	Design Specification	Kurt Kornbluth
7	The Creative Process: Prototyping Lab	Kurt Kornbluth	Design assignment 3 due
8	Project: Brainstorming Techniques	Will DelHagen	Design assignment 4 due Design assignment 6 due Design assignment 7 due
9	Lab Modules	Various
10	Lab Modules (cont.)	Various
11	Team Status Reports Project: Brainstorming		Design assignment 8 due
12	Lab Modules	Various
13	Lab Modules (cont.)	Various
14	Concept Evaluation and Pugh Charts Project: Brainstorming and Evaluation	Amy Smith	Design assignment 5 due Design assignment 9 due
15	Project Planning and Management	Linda Plano
16	Graphical Representation of Information Presentation Skills	Amy Smith M. J. Morse, Museum of Science, Boston	Design assignment 10 due
17	Project: Detailed Design and Analysis
18	Design Review #1 Presentations
19	Design Review #1 Presentations(cont.) Guest Lecture: The Inventing Process	Dean Kamen, DEKA
20	Design for Affordability	Amy Smith
21	Gaviotas Discussion Haitian Agriculture	Stephanie Dalquist, MIT David Dougherty, ORE
22	Design for Reuse and Recyclability Project: Materials Selection	Amy Smith	Design assignment 11 due
23	Project: Final Concept Selection
24	Co-Evolutionary Design: Arsenic Water Filtration	Susan Murcott, MIT
25	Team Status Reports Technologies for the Poor	Job Ebenezer, Messiah College
26	Project: Design Task Breakdown		Design assignment 12 due
27	Case Study: Affordable Eyeglasses	Saul Griffith	Design assignment 13 due
28	Case Study: Intraocular Lenses in India	Joel Segre, Project Impact
29	Project: Fabrication and Testing
30	Economics of Production	Erica Fuchs, MIT
31	Project: Fabrication and Testing		Design assignment 14 due
32	Design Review #2 Presentations
33	Design Review #2 Presentations(cont.)
34	Project: Feedback from Design Reviews
35	From Prototype to Product: Kinkajou Case Study	Allen Armstrong
36	Design for Assembly	Amy Smith	Design assignment 15 due
37	Practice Museum of Science Presentations
38	Museum of Science Presentations
39	Wrap-up Discussion
40	Evaluations		Final report due