Engineering students are now offered a new class that looks at the profession from a different angle. Taught by Professor Mauro J. Caputi, the world of design class called “Designing the Human-Made World,” delves into television, movies and more to create a new perspective of a broadly creative field.
Caputi, who has always had a passion for comedy, modern TV shows and movies, turned his Design 15 class into a live TV show on its own fictional television channel, WDSN 15, to make class more exciting for first year students. He said the old way was boring and explained he didn’t want engineering students, “to do the same old stuff that they do in physics, chemistry and math.”
Caputi teaches the class as if it were a live television show. With clips from Toy Story, Monsters University, Star Trek and Burn Notice, along with songs from the 1960s and‘70s, Caputi designed a new method of teaching.
This year, the class is set up for 18 episodes including a season premiere and finale. At the beginning of each semester, Caputi gives his students a “TV guide,” which is a schedule of when all assignments and projects are due.
The class has three main projects that develop throughout the semester, ending with a final project of designing and making a pinball machine.
“It takes a little bit more time to do [this] but it adds to the fun and the sense that the class is like a live television show,” Caputi said.
During the lab section, students work in teams to answer questions and complete tasks in a manner that is similar to the gameshow “The Price is Right.” Caputi calls this, “The Design is Right.”
In order for the students to form a team that works best for them, Caputi set up an interesting way for students to get to know each other. First, they fill out an Affinity Group Assessment which consists of 20 questions with one word answers that describe the student. This assessment is used to form the preliminary teams. Then students undergo what Caputi calls “speed teaming” which mirrors speed dating. During this, two to three students alternate getting to know each other to figure out who they feel comfortable working with. “Speed teaming” is used to form the final teams.
To offer incentive to work diligently in the lab and to make the lab a little more interesting, Caputi sometimes rewards students with gift cards when a team wins or answers correctly. Students have largely responded positively to Caputi’s unique teaching methods.
Danielle Silin, a freshman engineering major and student of Caputi’s, said she felt like she learned better with this class structure and explained that it compelled her to want to attend class.
Professor Caputi first got the idea to structure his class in this way from teaching his electric circuits class.
He thought, “you know what would be wonderful? If I could go to the board, touch it and … you would see a movie clip that would instantly come up.”
Caputi wanted to adapt this method of teaching to “move the information forward a bit and to add some comic relief.”
While the class took a lot of hard work and dedication to put together, Caputi saw the potential benefits and continues to get positive results. He said, “I really pour my heart out into doing [this] class because I think students are really looking for professors to reach out to them, care about them and bring them in to what we are trying to do in the class.”
