CREATE!

University Honors Colloquium

Fall 2014
Logistics

Tuesday, 4-6:00 p.m.

Merryman Learning Studio, 253 Moss Arts Center

Instructors

Derick Maggard
Liesl M. Baum
Benjamin Knapp

dmaggard@vt.edu
lmbaum@vt.edu
benknapp@vt.edu
Office hours by appointment via e-mail

Description

This course is designed to lead students through the process of creative inquiry, design, and collaboration to
explore the boundaries of the arts, science, and design. Through activities and discussions students will
build an understanding of the ties between multiple disciplines. To identify these ties, students will engage in
activities that build participation and questioning strategies for workshops and lectures, problem finding,
analogical and metaphorical thinking, and collaboration in multiple formats. The collaboration of students,
faculty, and visiting artists will encourage students to explore their own interests as they are situated within
the boundaries of disciplines and provide strategies to create and innovate within and among disciplines.

Objectives

The goals for students participating in this course are to:

identify characteristics of individual disciplines that can be connected with other disciplines;

identify ways in which individuals of a variety of disciplines learn and communicate;

develop communication strategies with classmates and instructors that allow for connections
between disciplines to be fostered;

identify problems or questions within disciplines and connections to problems or questions within
other disciplines;

ideate to develop possible solutions or approaches to address problems or questions;

identify ways to empathize with audience or recipient of solutions or approaches;

coordinate knowledge and skills of team members; develop a collaboration strategy;

collect resources and communicate with outside entities to collect and apply required skills and
information;

conduct periodic full-class review and evaluation of plans, prototypes, and information;

communicate ideas and present ideas to faculty, students, and artists for review and evaluation;

apply feedback from periodic reviews for product improvement;

develop planning documents, proposals, and implementation plans.

Final
Product

There are several products/deliverables for this course. In addition to smaller, weekly deliverables listed on
the calendar and in-class participation, the products are a.) the prototype or production plan of a product to
address a particular problem or question, b.) a video documentary of your process, and c.) a personal
growth reflection portfolio documenting the process from your perspective. The prototype or plan will include
an investigation and application of skills and knowledge from a variety of disciplines. The deliverables will
come in the form of public presentation and/or exhibition, written documents, and design booklet outlining
the proposed process and plans, and brief video. These will be defined more thoroughly as we move
through the semester.

Grading

Students will be placed in cross-disciplinary teams to combine skills from various disciplines. Teams will
attend class and class activities as outlined in the course calendar and convene for development work
during times outside of class, as decided by each team.
Students can expect to spend about two hours a week attending regularly scheduled class time as well as 912 hours outside of class engaged in course activities and assignments. Grades will be based on the

following:
Class participation/attendance
Short-term deliverables/critiques
Final prototype/plan
Final design document
Final reflections/portfolio
Schedule

15%
30%
15%
20%
20%

Please pay careful attention to dates, special events, and deliverables.

All classes will meet in MAC 253, unless otherwise noted.
* Dates, assignments, and topics are subject to change at any point throughout the semester. Please
be observant of these changes by attending class, reading email messages, and checking the
course Scholar page regularly.
** All assignments will be posted within 24 hours of class meeting. You will be notified via scholar when the
assignment is posted. Please be diligent in checking email and the Scholar site.
Date
8/26

Topic

Homework/notes

Course introduction and overview

What is at YOUR boundary of art, science, and design?

Due 9/2: Self- and Disciplinary

identity presentation

9/2

Self-identity and multidisciplinary exploration: presentations

9/9

Ideation

9/16

Ideation, cont.
Guest speaker: Steve Grant, head of strategy, MODEA

9/23

Documentation workshop
Guest speaker: Aki Ishida, School of Architecture and Design
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/photo-galleries/2013/062013-icatlantern/lantern-gallery.html
PIN UP #1

Due 9/30: prepare for pin

up/critique

10/7

Reflection and idea refinement; customer discovery

Guest speaker: Mike Abbott, director of new product
development, Adaptive Technologies

Due 10/14: documentation of

customer discovery/market
analysis

10/14

Reporting on customer discovery, market analysis,

documentation

10/21

Effective Presentations
Guest speaker: Adam Soccolich, Executive co-chair, TEDX
Virginia Tech
PIN UP #2

9/30

10/28

11/4
11/11

Critique reflection
Video documentation
Guest speaker: Joan Grossman, visiting assistant professor,
School of Performing Arts
http://www.icat.vt.edu/content/edge-i-have-jump-joan-grossman

Note: Guests will be

determined by direction of
individual projects.

Due 10/28: prepare for pin

up/critique
Note: Guests will be
determined by direction of
individual projects.

11/18

Video storyboarding

11/25

Thanksgiving Break No Class

12/2
12/9

12/16

Work time and preparation for final presentation

FINAL PRESENTATION

Due 12/2: Completed

storyboard for final video

Note: Guests will be

determined by direction of
individual projects.

FINAL DOCUMENTS DUE BY MIDNIGHT

Feedback

Students will receive regular and consistent feedback. This feedback will be used to make continued
improvements and progress toward the final product. Students are expected to consider all feedback in their
efforts to complete the course assignments, make individual and team decisions, and team/whole group
discussions. Failure to consider feedback from instructions and classmates will result in deductions on
evaluation components of the course assessment.

Honor
pledge

The Virginia Tech Honor Code will be strictly enforced for all students. All assignments and course
participation shall be considered graded work, unless otherwise noted. All aspects of your coursework are
covered by the Honor System. Any suspected violations of the Honor Code will be promptly reported to the
Honor System.
According to the Constitution of the Virginia Tech Honor System:
"The fundamental beliefs underlying and reflected in the Honor Code are:
(1) that trust in a person is a positive force in making that person worthy of trust,
(2) that every student has the right to live in an academic environment that is free from the
injustices caused by any form of intellectual dishonesty, and
(3) that the honesty and integrity of all members of the university community contribute to its quest
for Truth."
(see http://www.honorsystem.vt.edu/)

Special
needs

Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a disability. We are happy to work with
you and the SSD office to accommodate you. Students should contact:
Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD)
310 Lavery Hall
Mail Code (0185)
Blacksburg, VA 24061
(540) 231-3788 Voice
(540) 231-0853 TTY
(540) 231-3232 FAX
E-mail: ssd@vt.edu
"Students with disabilities are responsible for self identification.... To be eligible for services, documentation
of the disability from a qualified professional must be presented to SSD upon request. Academic
adjustments may include, but are not limited to: priority registration, auxiliary aids, program and course
adjustment, exam modifications, oral or sign language interpreters, cassette taping of text/materials,
notetakers/readers, or assistive technology." Please visit the SSD website for additional information.

Management
Policies

Final Grade
A grade of "I" will only be given for documented medical emergencies or extreme unforeseen emergencies
(no exceptions).

Attendance
Attendance at all scheduled meetings is expected. Illnesses (with written verification from the health center
or a doctor) and religious holidays shall be considered excused absences. Personal matters may be
excused at the instructor's discretion. Any unexcused absences will be considered toward the class
participation and attendance portion of the final grade.
Class Work
All work submitted must be the work of the student and must be unique to this class (not turned in to another
class for a grade), unless explicitly approved as otherwise by the instructor before the work is undertaken.
There will be exceptions to this policy with some assignments.
Activities & Design Constraint
The instructor reserves the right to abort any activities or designs that are deemed inappropriate for an
educational setting (e.g., sexual or violent content). Using such material in any assignment will result in a
zero (0) for that assignment. There are an infinite number of possible designs with appropriate material for a
higher education setting, so this should not be an issue.
Studio and Classroom Conduct
You must act in a professional and safe manner at all times, without distracting others from their work. This
includes any profane language or boisterous behavior.
Mobile & Laptop Devices
Mobile technologies, including laptops, tablets, cell phones, and the like, may be used in class for only classrelated purposes. Please respect your fellow students and the instructor by silencing cell phones and
reducing the volume on other devices before class begins and refrain from using these devices for personal
use (checking email, updating status, etc.) until break or after class.