Hunches, Problems, Technology, and Understanding “Innovating”
In this level:
- You’ll learn about the skills we’ll hone throughout the semester, and you’ll do your first assignments to discern and “negotiate” the meaning of concepts like technology, problem, impact, that we too often use without realizing that we rarely share the same definition.
- You’ll practice a mini-iTeams with previous year projects
- New concepts: exploration, technology malleability, combinatorial innovation, and technology repurposing
Discussion Questions
- On Problems, Technology, Impact
- What’s Expected at the Start?
- On the Relative Merits of Ideas
- The Start Is a Hunch
Schedule
Week 0: Course Overview, Innovating as a Skill, Scoping Problems and Technologies
During this week, you’ll learn about the skills we’ll hone throughout the semester and do your first assignment: “scouting” for problems and technologies. New concept: exploration.
Week 1: How Do You Select a Technology Project? A Hunch?
During this week, you’ll practice a mini-iTeams with previous year projects. New concepts: technology malleability and technology repurposing.
Level Up: Defining your exploration
Week 2: Technology Selection Week and Outreach
We pause content development to allow you to begin gathering field data. Your job is to establish a fact-based “wish-list” of what you imagine your technology accomplishing.
- Report back: Team contract and new Problem Statement Checklist (PDF)
- Team milestone: Talk with 10 people outside MIT about your problem space.
