Syllabus

Learning to make and making to learn - this course challenges students to engage in both by being situated in the Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab. Hands-on introductory activities provide the surprisingly minimal level of comfort and background required to produce prototypes of interactive technology products. These tangible experiences are leveraged to prompt students to reflect on factors and strategies that impact effective learning. For example, developing a music box parallels the cycle of self-regulated learning, while designing a greeter robot grounds discussion on the role of belongingness in a learning environment.

This course will engage you in reflection and discussion around topics from inclusive and effective pedagogy, including: self-efficacy, mindset, self-regulated learning, sense of belonging, active listening, emotional intelligence. To help prompt reflection around how you learn, you will work with tangible projects founded in basic electronics (circuits) and microcontroller programming (JavaScript via MakeCode).

Your learning will be supported through a variety of activities, including:

In-class activities

Topic discussion and reflection.
Design challenges in small groups.

Out-of-class activities

Weekly projects (a tangible prototype with associated reflection), for about the first half of the course.
A final project of your choosing (a tangible prototype and associated relection), for about the second half of the course.

Requirements

Attendance

This course is most effective when we can construct a community of learning. Consistent engagement with your peers will support a climate where we can dig into discussions around what impacts our capacity to effectively support learning in ourselves and others. Learning new skills (e.g., basic electronics, microcontroller programming, safety training for tools in Fimbel) as a class will give us shared experiences to ground discussions and reflection.

Therefore, it will be hard to succeed without attending each meeting time. As a general guideline, missing more than 1 class in a 4-week period, or more than 3 in the entire semester, will negatively impact your grade. Individuals with flexible attendance can miss up to 2 additional class sessions across the entire semester.

If you do end up needing to miss some or all of a class, you remain responsible for any material or announcements covered during that meeting time. Your best strategy is to check with a peer to see what you missed. Except in extraordinary situations, we (the instructor, TAs and Fimbel staff) will not be able to provide support for missed class sessions.

Engagement

Active engagement, particularly during class meetings, will support your learning and contribute to the overall classroom climate. Many of the in-class activities will be with a partner or in small groups. Beyond contributing your own perspectives and sharing your experiences, consider engaging as a facilitator for your group:

- invite folks to contribute their perspectives (and always give the opportunity to pass)
- identify other modes of communication (e.g., drawing on the whiteboard, writing individually before sharing out)
- actively listen and mirror what you heard; highlight common themes or salient differences

Be aware of the space and consider when to step up to take up space, and when to make room for more voices

Logistics

You will submit your work by creating a web site (you can choose any platform, such as a google site or wordpress).

Grading

Your grade will be calculated as follows:

Regular class attendance and engagement 15%

Design challenges 10%

Tangible projects & reflections 55%

Final project & reflection 20%

Tangible projects & reflections

Projects are a chance to experience and reflect on your learning process in a tangible way. Each project has two components:

the tangible project itself
You will be given requirements for the project as well as creative freedom. Document your project's process (successes and failures) with pictures and videos.
a reflection prompted by the project experience, tied to 1-2 topics that you have engaged on during class
You will be given prompts to reflect on how the project and associated topics factor into your own learning strategies and journey. After the first week, you can decide whether to engage in the reflection through a written process (4-6 paragraphs) or through a video (3-5 minutes).

Your project (product and reflection) will be graded according to this rubric (and points scaled according to the distribution above).

Final project

You will use the resources of the Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab to complete a tangible interactive tech project. This final project will be graded on:

- (15%) Presentation of a 90-second elevator pitch
- (50%) Design, development and documentation of the project
- (35%) Final demo and reflection

I will use this rubric:

Lateness Policy

I recognize that sometimes unpredicted situations arise that may prevent you from making a deadline. Therefore, you will have 2 additional days (48 hours) to submit work without a consequence to your grade. After that, the credit you receive will be reduced each day.

Your grade will be calculated according to this timeline:

≤ 2 days (48 hours) after the due date: full credit of your earned grade, or

≤ 3 days (48 - 72 hours) after the due date: 70% credit of your earned grade, or

≤ 4 days (72 - 96 hours) after the due date: 40% credit of your earned grade, or

> 4 days after the due date: 0% credit of your earned grade

Honor code

Mount Holyoke College is a community of students, faculty, staff, and administrators committed to free inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge in the tradition of the liberal arts. The decision to join this academic community requires acceptance of special rights and responsibilities that are essential for its effective functioning and the realization of its mission. All members of the community share the responsibility to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity.

I expect all your work to abide by the MHC Honor Code: “I will honor myself, my fellow students, and Mount Holyoke College by acting responsibly, honestly, and respectfully in both my words and deeds.” Any work that does not will be reported to the Academic Honor Board. For more detail on what constitutes an academic violation of the Honor Code, please see the College Academic Rights and Responsibilities webpage.

Do:

Talk to your peers about the labs, projects and topics
Organize study groups
Consult other books or the internet for inspiration and clarifications
Ask the instructor or TA to help you find bugs in your code
Acknowledge peers or TA that you worked with for anything you turn in
Since I expect that you will use the internet heavily for tutorials from the “makerspace” community, you MUST acknowledge any tutorials/resources you consulted or followed for your projects by providing a list of URLs. If you used or adapted code, place a comment at the top with the source of the original code.

Don't

Submit work that isn't yours: it is against the honor code to have somebody else do work for you (including TAs or tutors) or to copy it from somewhere else (including books or the internet).

If you are at all unsure about what is acceptable, just ask!

Accommodations

Disability Services is the office on campus that determines academic accommodations for students with disabilities. If you need official accommodations through Disability Services, you have a right to have these met and kept confidential. Please contact Disability Services, located in Mary Lyon Hall 3rd Floor, at 413-538-2634 or disability-services@mtholyoke.edu. If you are eligible for academic accommodations, you will be provided with an accommodation letter. Once you receive your accommodation letter, I would like to meet with you and discuss these approved accommodations and our class. For more information on who might be eligible for accommodations and the application process please see the Disability Services website (https://www.mtholyoke.edu/disability-services).

Title IX/Responsible Reporter

If you or someone you know has been a victim of discrimination, harassment or violence based on sex or gender and you would like to talk to someone about our resources, please contact the Title IX Coordinator, Shannon Da Silva at titleixofficer@mtholyoke.edu.

As a faculty member, I am a responsible reporter for any information I learn that may be a violation of our Gender-based and Sexual Misconduct Policy. This means that I will need to share this information with our Title IX Coordinator, Shannon Da Silva. This could be anything related to sexual assault, dating violence, stalking or sex or gender-based harassment. If you are experiencing any of these things and you want to talk with someone who is not a responsible reporter, I can help direct you to private and confidential resources on campus (Counseling Service, Health Services, and Alcohol and Drug Awareness Project. These offices have a legal mandate for confidentiality. These offices are not required to turn over identifying information to the Title IX coordinator but may provide anonymous data to the Title IX coordinator for reporting requirements of the Clery Act).

Audio/Visual Recording Policy

To encourage active engagement and academic inquiry in the classroom, as well as to safeguard the privacy of students and faculty, no form of audio or visual recording in the classroom is permitted without explicit permission from the professor/instructor or without a letter from AccessAbility Services, signed by the faculty member, authorizing the recording as an accommodation. Authorized recordings may only be used by a student who has obtained permission and may not be shared or distributed for any reason. Violation of this policy is an infraction of the Mount Holyoke Honor Code and academic regulations and will result in disciplinary action.

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