Calendar

Week	Topics	Key Dates
1	Icebreakers, Introduction to the Course and Way of Working Guest: Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell
2	Approaches to Design Topics: Thinking with technology Foundation and critique of design thinking Fundamentals of design ethnography Guest: Gabriel Mugar, Design Researcher, IDEO	Due (Journal): Personal reflection on the topic area and how you hope to approach the design process
3	Participatory Design (PD) and Codesign Topics: Power in design Trust and collaboration Participatory and codesign traditions Running public process guided by explicit values Listening and conversation methods Guest: Ceasar McDowell, MIT DUSP, on Civic Design methods	Due: Stakeholder Interview and insights Due (Journal): Where do you see opportunities to open up the design process? What needs to be changed or established?
4	PD in the Public Sector Topics: Application of PD methods in complex organizational settings Problem definition Policy coproduction Guest: Nigel Jacob, Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics	Due: Problem Definition Worksheet Due (Journal): What does policy codesign entail? Is participatory process enough?
5	Creativity and Scoping Topics: Project scoping Creative ideation User personas / journeys Design hypothesis Field scan Guest: Thomas Vogel	Due (Journal): Peer feedback on problem definition. This can take the form of an interview, focus group, etc. Assignment: Design a creative ideation exercise with your partners. Plan of the exercise is due next week. Plan to implement your listening exercise within two weeks.
6	Value Alignment and Partnership Agreements Topics: Aligning values Partnership agreements Integrating values into process and desired product	Due: Draft of plan for ideation exercise process. Documentation of process due next week. Due (Journal): Reflection on ideation process
7	Working with Data Topics: Critical thinking with data Role of data literacy in any process Representing data Privacy Guest: Catherine D’Ignazio, DUSP MIT Guest: Carl DiSalvo, Georgia Tech	Due (Journal): How are you thinking about data in your project?
8	Project Proposal Use seminar time to work with your team on Project Proposal.	Due: Project Proposal
9	Evaluation Topics: Process evaluation Rapid methods and communicating results Guest: Justeen Hyde, VA	Due (Journal): Open topic
10	Making Topics: Wireframes Paper prototypes Paper prototyping in a virtual environment	Due (Journal): Open topic
11	User Testing Topics: Focus groups Observations Documenting insights on use	Due (Journal): Open topic
12	Iteration
13	Use seminar time to work with your team on final projects.
14	Final Presentations	Due: Design book and final media or documentation.

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