For First Year Students

This course will cover:

• Written and oral communications in the business setting.
• Written communications including technical reports and papers, memoranda, and electronic communications.
• Design and delivery of effective presentations.  
• Informal communication styles and techniques.
• Communication across cultures.

Overview

This introductory course is designed for students curious about how to unleash their creative spirits to solve big problems with innovative solutions. You will learn a variety of skills, including ideation techniques, design thinking and more to help stimulate brainstorming and creativity. You will apply these skills in rapid ideation workshops, where you will repeatedly challenge your brain to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to real world problems in startup, corporate, non-profit and government settings. You will develop creative problem-solving capabilities that can help you succeed in personal and professional settings.

Along the way, you will meet innovators and entrepreneurs, hear their stories, and learn how they apply these mindsets and skillsets to their work.

Enrollment requirements

All students are welcome

Learning outcomes and objectives

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion, students will:

• Have built confidence in their ability to generate and act on their own ideas
• Know how to apply best practices in innovation process for creative problem solving
• Be comfortable with common primary and secondary research techniques
• Know how to visualize and prototype product concepts in 2d and 3d
• Know how to collaborate with a team to innovate beyond their own ideas
• Be comfortable with pitching product and service solutions to a variety of audiences
• Understand how the creative / innovation process works in business
• Know how creativity and innovation can form the core of an entrepreneurial process

Course topics and objectives

• Learn and practice ideation and brainstorming techniques such as divergent/convergent thinking and the “yes, and” framework to generate and refine innovative ideas
• Embrace user centered design principles and practice applying tools such as personas, jobs to be done (JTBD), value proposition canvas and more
• Develop ability to conduct primary and secondary research to uncover user needs and goals
• Practice using drawing, sketching, wireframing and hand modeling to prototype product and service solutions
• Develop team collaboration skills through multiple 3-week-long projects
• Hone your presentation and pitching skills for products and services
• Explore how these tools and techniques apply in real life through guest speakers who are actively practicing product development and venture creation
• Understand how problem definition and solution development fits in new venture creation

Overview

Introduction to Making is an exploratory course that gives you the practical, hands-on skills to make working prototypes of your products. You will learn to make physical things, make them work, and integrate them with electronics/software.  Common fabrication techniques including foamboard, 3D printing, laser cutting, electronics, and  Arduino programming. You will be demonstrating your hands-on skills as well as your entrepreneurial spirit in a final project.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion, students will:

• Know that they can harness technology themselves through hands-on making without fear or prior physical making and coding knowledge
• Have developed confidence and proficiency in maker tools and techniques, such as concept drawing, hand modeling, 3d printing, laser cutting, electronics, and working with connected devices
• Know how to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams to design and build working prototypes
• Have acquired an entrepreneurial mindset by learning to apply the “build-measure-learn” loop through failing fast and doing rapid iterations

Course Topics and Objectives

• Develop Foundation Skills: Master the idea-to-prototype process through hands-on making, team formation, the entrepreneurial mindset of “build-measure-learn”, and navigating maker spaces with proper safety protocols.
• Learn To Do Digital Fabrication: Design and fabricate physical objects using CAD software, laser cutters for 2D projects, and 3D printers for complex geometries.
• Acquire skills in Electronics and Programming: Build functional circuits with electronic components and program microcontrollers using MicroPython, enhanced by AI-assisted code generation.
• Learn to design and develop connected devices: Create smart IoT devices that sense environmental data, visualize information, and enable remote monitoring and control through web interfaces.
• Understand the unique challenges and rewards for hardware startups: Apply hardware startup principles to iterate prototypes from v0 to v1, culminating in a showcase that demonstrates market-ready functionality.
• Collaborative Innovation: Work effectively in multidisciplinary teams to leverage diverse skills, resolve technical challenges collectively, and integrate different perspectives into cohesive prototype solutions.

(Cross-listed as TML 10) Theory and practice of leadership. Development and application of leadership skills across a range of contexts including startups, corporations, and nonprofits and across different stages of a business. Frameworks to navigate conflict and leadership challenges. Development of inclusive teams. Strategies for developing self-awareness and leading with authenticity. Alignment of actions with goals and intentions. Connection of life experience and strengths to leadership approach.

(Cross-listed as TML 11) Introduction to sound money management in personal and professional finance. Creation of greater financial awareness, and development of financial vocabulary. Financial requirements across life stages including student finances, purchasing the first home planning, and investing for life events and a comfortable retirement. Basic business finances, such as budgeting, accounting statements, and taxation.

(Cross-listed as TML 14) Exploring the skills and knowledge needed across an individual’s career. Planning for internships and placements, preparing for a job search and gaining the skills and confidence for interviewing and starting a job. Students will develop the skills and knowledge needed to plan for a successful and fulfilling career.

Development of effective verbal communications skills across a range of personal and professional scenarios, including public speaking, interpersonal communication, storytelling, public narrative, speeches, presentations, interviewing, and networking.

This course will explore the role of business in the modern, changing world by examining different types of business and different roles and functions within business. Students will become proficient in talking about businesses and business situations while learning how to participate in a business from the inside—whether as an essential employee, manager, business leader, or entrepreneur. Through case studies, debate, role playing, and guest speakers from diverse fields, students will consider social, cultural, organizational, and technological factors affecting business organizations. This course can be a stand-alone introduction for a student who wants to gain basic business literacy and be better prepared to enter a professional career, or it can serve as a starting point for further coursework in leadership, management, business, and entrepreneurship.

This course will cover:

• Written and oral communications in the business setting.
• Written communications including technical reports and papers, memoranda, and electronic communications.
• Design and delivery of effective presentations.  
• Informal communication styles and techniques.
• Communication across cultures.

Overview

This introductory course is designed for students curious about how to unleash their creative spirits to solve big problems with innovative solutions. You will learn a variety of skills, including ideation techniques, design thinking and more to help stimulate brainstorming and creativity. You will apply these skills in rapid ideation workshops, where you will repeatedly challenge your brain to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to real world problems in startup, corporate, non-profit and government settings. You will develop creative problem-solving capabilities that can help you succeed in personal and professional settings.

Along the way, you will meet innovators and entrepreneurs, hear their stories, and learn how they apply these mindsets and skillsets to their work.

Enrollment requirements

All students are welcome

Learning outcomes and objectives

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion, students will:

• Have built confidence in their ability to generate and act on their own ideas
• Know how to apply best practices in innovation process for creative problem solving
• Be comfortable with common primary and secondary research techniques
• Know how to visualize and prototype product concepts in 2d and 3d
• Know how to collaborate with a team to innovate beyond their own ideas
• Be comfortable with pitching product and service solutions to a variety of audiences
• Understand how the creative / innovation process works in business
• Know how creativity and innovation can form the core of an entrepreneurial process

Course topics and objectives

• Learn and practice ideation and brainstorming techniques such as divergent/convergent thinking and the “yes, and” framework to generate and refine innovative ideas
• Embrace user centered design principles and practice applying tools such as personas, jobs to be done (JTBD), value proposition canvas and more
• Develop ability to conduct primary and secondary research to uncover user needs and goals
• Practice using drawing, sketching, wireframing and hand modeling to prototype product and service solutions
• Develop team collaboration skills through multiple 3-week-long projects
• Hone your presentation and pitching skills for products and services
• Explore how these tools and techniques apply in real life through guest speakers who are actively practicing product development and venture creation
• Understand how problem definition and solution development fits in new venture creation

Multi-disciplinary perspective of innovative technology-based design process for societal and community influence. Elements and principles of design from product development process, thought and emotion, ethics and responsibility. Experiments to explore failure and iteration, reflection for self-discovery and innovation. Articulation and expression via written, oral and pre-recorded audio and video presentations showing measurable impact of solutions as societal benefits.

Introductory course that takes students through all phases of business creation for an actual small business. Students will survey their skills, interests, assets and resources, choose a target market segment and associated customer problem, and create a plan for a small business built around their hobbies or professional skills. Students will learn the in’s and out’s of primary market research, iterative solution development, marketing and sales, basics of small business finance, and legal and accounting considerations. At the end of the course, they will have a real business they can launch and run as a side hustle.

Overview

Introduction to Making is an exploratory course that gives you the practical, hands-on skills to make working prototypes of your products. You will learn to make physical things, make them work, and integrate them with electronics/software.  Common fabrication techniques including foamboard, 3D printing, laser cutting, electronics, and  Arduino programming. You will be demonstrating your hands-on skills as well as your entrepreneurial spirit in a final project.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion, students will:

• Know that they can harness technology themselves through hands-on making without fear or prior physical making and coding knowledge
• Have developed confidence and proficiency in maker tools and techniques, such as concept drawing, hand modeling, 3d printing, laser cutting, electronics, and working with connected devices
• Know how to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams to design and build working prototypes
• Have acquired an entrepreneurial mindset by learning to apply the “build-measure-learn” loop through failing fast and doing rapid iterations

Course Topics and Objectives

• Develop Foundation Skills: Master the idea-to-prototype process through hands-on making, team formation, the entrepreneurial mindset of “build-measure-learn”, and navigating maker spaces with proper safety protocols.
• Learn To Do Digital Fabrication: Design and fabricate physical objects using CAD software, laser cutters for 2D projects, and 3D printers for complex geometries.
• Acquire skills in Electronics and Programming: Build functional circuits with electronic components and program microcontrollers using MicroPython, enhanced by AI-assisted code generation.
• Learn to design and develop connected devices: Create smart IoT devices that sense environmental data, visualize information, and enable remote monitoring and control through web interfaces.
• Understand the unique challenges and rewards for hardware startups: Apply hardware startup principles to iterate prototypes from v0 to v1, culminating in a showcase that demonstrates market-ready functionality.
• Collaborative Innovation: Work effectively in multidisciplinary teams to leverage diverse skills, resolve technical challenges collectively, and integrate different perspectives into cohesive prototype solutions.

(Cross-listed as TML 10) Theory and practice of leadership. Development and application of leadership skills across a range of contexts including startups, corporations, and nonprofits and across different stages of a business. Frameworks to navigate conflict and leadership challenges. Development of inclusive teams. Strategies for developing self-awareness and leading with authenticity. Alignment of actions with goals and intentions. Connection of life experience and strengths to leadership approach.

(Cross-listed as TML 11) Introduction to sound money management in personal and professional finance. Creation of greater financial awareness, and development of financial vocabulary. Financial requirements across life stages including student finances, purchasing the first home planning, and investing for life events and a comfortable retirement. Basic business finances, such as budgeting, accounting statements, and taxation.

Practical examination of marketing from startups to nonprofits, including opportunities to gain hands-on, applicable experience, emphasizing the mindset and skillset to apply marketing principles. Consumer behavior, market research, audience targeting and segmentation, positioning, digital marketing, and the elements of the marketing mix. Importance of personal branding and the application of marketing principles in professional settings.

Development of effective verbal communications skills across a range of personal and professional scenarios, including public speaking, interpersonal communication, storytelling, public narrative, speeches, presentations, interviewing, and networking.