proposal-nick-mason-veronica-seth

(See below proposal text for attached proposal and presentation files.)

**Nick Kunz | Mason Payne | Veronica Rascona | Seth Reeker** //Program Outline// In the interest of inclusivity and practicality, we would implement the Inventioneering program at ASU as a major, a minor, and a certificate program. By offering the program in these varying levels of commitment, we can allow students the flexibility to explore their interest in inventing without holding back those who have a more developed vision. For example, a student who has not declared a major, or who has declared a major he is unsure of, can enroll in the beginning survey and general classes without feeling compelled to then participate in the Inventioneering major, as he can decide to pursue only a few more credits for a certificate. A student who finds the early Inventioneering classes interesting, but is too committed to his/her current major, can instead choose to go with the minor. This will allow the student to be significantly involved in the Inventioneering program, but as a secondary subject to their major. And finally, for those students who really want to take on Inventioneering as their primary course of study, we will have the major. Due to the broad nature of “Inventioneering” as a concept, our major program will ideally include a choice of several concentrations. This provides the student with the ability to demonstrate a focus in a particular area (e.g. product design, fabrication technique), and gives the program a clear mechanism for expandability.  While the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies is a remarkable program, we feel that it has some aspects that may prevent students from taking the opportunity to participate in the program. For one, students must be willing to have a BIS major with two concentrations, so there is rigidity in the commitment level. Adding a BIS concentration so that BIS majors can take advantage of the Inventioneering program resources would fit well into our plans for expandability, though. Additionally, by using a more traditional, existing structure for our program (major/minor/certificate) we hope to decrease the likelihood that our hands-on approach is considered to be radical for the current state of the educational environment. Furthermore, for this reason we also include in our major design the basic tenants of a liberal arts education including all the general education requirements.  Our three-tiered program would instead break down as follows:  //Certificate:// 9 course hours, 1 capstone project  //Minor:// 21 course hours, 1 capstone project //Major:// 4 year program, 2 significant projects prior to senior year + 1 capstone project  //Courses// As a tentative outline for the Inventioneering major's required courses, we looks at the major map for Material Science Engineering major and made alterations as we felt appropriate. The following is a sample major map for a possible Inventioneering major (course descriptions follow): Semester 1: CHM114 or CHM113 + CHM116, MAT265, INV101, COM230 Semester 2: MAT266, INV102, PHY121 + PHY122, MSE215 Semester 3: MAT267, PHY131 + PHY132, BIO181/182 <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Semester 4: INV250, IND242, IEE380, DSC236 <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Semester 5: INV340, IND344 <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Semester 6: INV360, MSE355 <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Semester 7: INV430, TWC451 <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Semester 8: INV440 <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">All courses starting with the INV prefix, are not currently in existence. They would be created with the following basic features: <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">INV101 is the introductory course which provides a very broad idea of the field. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">INV102 continues the introduction provided by INV101 with additional detail and a greater focus on the past and current states of the field. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">INV250 is a 'survey' course that includes an overview of the significant learning to come within the major. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">INV340, 360, and 430 will each address a specific core topic within Inventioneering that needs to be expounded upon in great detail <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">INV440 will be the capstone course during which students prepare and present their final Inventioneering project.
 * Inventioneering Program Proposal**

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Existing course descriptions: <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">IND 242: Materials and design <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Materials application in design. Introduces characteristics and properties of metals and organic materials, including plastics, and inorganic materials. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">IND 344: Human factors in design <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Man-machine environment systems; human characteristics and behavior applied to design of products, systems, and their operating environment. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">TWC 451: Copyright and intellectual property in the electronic age <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Explores issues related to copyright and intellectual property laws, with emphasis on electronic environment. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">GIT 210: Creative thinking and design visualization <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Fundamental methods, concepts, and techniques of creative thinking, design visualization, and problem solving, including communication and societal influences <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">DSC 236 : Introduction to Computer Modeling <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Computers in design, including software concepts, specific packages, and problem solving, illustration, typography, modeling, and animation. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">INT 131: Design and Human Behavior <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Applies conceptual design to issues of programming and space planning, user needs, and behavior. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">MSE 215: Materials Synthesis <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Introduces contemporary techniques for synthesizing both traditional and novel materials and the corresponding correlation to synthesized materials properties <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">MSE 355: Materials Structure and Microstructure <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Elements of the structure of metals and alloys, measurement of mechanical properties, and optical metallography. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">COM 230: Small Group Communication <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Principles and processes of small group communication, attitudes, and skills for effective participation and leadership in small groups, small group problem solving, and decision making. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">//Mentoring and Internship// <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">During the second year, Inventioneering major students will be provided with a mentor who is a senior from the Inventioneering program. Similarly, seniors will be required to mentor one or more sophomore Inventioneers. Our thinking is that this will provide an invaluable learning opportunity not only for the sophomores, but for the seniors who do the mentoring. Sophomores will be able to get an idea of the kind of end-product they can expect from their undergraduate experience. This gives them a more tangible concept of not only the value of their degree, but of the real skills they will leave with. Seniors, meanwhile, will have an opportunity to explain their skills and projects in a way that helps them gain a better understanding themselves and prepare for interviewing in the job market. Furthermore, during junior year students will be required to participate in a guided internship to gain real workplace experience. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">//Program Value-Added// <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">The hands on experience combined with another concentration makes for a more practical program. Students will learn the general process of design, the requisite background information, and have opportunity to focus in a particular area relevant to their desired career or industry. An Inventioneer would become attractive to an employer through an exhibit of works produced at the end of ones undergraduate experience. A resume or curriculum vitae is important, however a portfolio can be a very convincing way of articulating one's ability and objectives to employers. We feel strongly that there is a change brewing in industry and the education system whereby a traditional education is becoming useless and a new flavor of education is necessary, this is one solution to that problem. Rather than relying on a list of courses you have taken, in this case, a potential employer can rely on real work-product. In addition, we hope to give the Inventioneer the skills to be well-educated, prepared, and ambitious enough to create a job for him or herself should the need or opportunity arise. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">//Admittance// <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">We feel it would be in the best interest of the institution to introduce a very broad range of students to the Inventioneering program. This level of inclusion would allow us to take a bottom-up approach, whereby the most qualified and hardworking students make themselves apparent through their work in the earlier years. By this token, the less committed students are also “weeded out” as the program gets to a more serious level (i.e. upper-division course). This nearly-open enrollment policy, followed by a progressively more strict "filtering" process is the same process currently employed by the W.P. Carey School of Business, among other ASU programs. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">More broadly, as our economy moves from industrialization to information, it is imperative that the general populace be more educated and able to perform the jobs of an economy predicated on knowledge. In order to allow everyone an "equal start in the race" it would be appropriate to allow everyone to continue to seek the education that they most desire. Education could be the most important component in creating equalization in a society of social strata and a market place that is globally competitive. As a public institution, ASU and its programs owe it to the taxpayers to provide equal opportunity. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">//Facilities// <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">The success of the Inventioneering program relies on cooperation between high-tier research spaces, school administration, the facilitators of the program, and the students. All of these parties stand to benefit from the program. The high-tier research spaces will receive the benefit of new groups of interdisciplinary, creative-minded students bringing new and exciting research ideas into their labs, while students gain access to high-tech tools and processes that open up new avenues of research and opportunity. Administration and the University benefit from the Inventioneering program through additional visibility for research programs, additional grant money for research, and partnerships with companies for both research and recruiting purposes. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Evaluation depends on course structure, but due to the focus on the modules that we develop, evaluations for completion should include a metric for module completion based on starting and ending proficiency (the pyramid model). Since some students may come into classes with specific ideas or expertise, they may have the requisite knowledge to move down the pyramid from the beginning. Using a flexible metric like the one above would allow individuals to pursue their own education in their own way and customize their experiences to their own skills and learning style. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">From a business major’s perspective, classes in an Inventioneering major with a business focus should involve not only the creative process of inventing and research, but also the tools to develop and capitalize upon intellectual property and bring it to market. Programs such as Innovation Space offer glimpses of the types of projects and depth of involvement business students would engage in to meet the requirements for a concentration, certificate, or degree<span style="font-family: Helvetica,serif;">. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica,serif;"> (Proposal text document) <span style="font-family: Helvetica,serif;">(Proposal presentation)