The structure of conventional courses at the college level does not allow for this kind of engagement with real life scenarios. In a time like now, in a country like ours, on the one hand our institutes of design and technology throw up thousands of qualified professionals more people who can make more aerodynamic cars…build bigger buildings etc. On the other hand you have a nation faced with acute water
problems. The intersection of ‘products’ with our lives has to be examined and more meaningful ways of product creation need to be explored. Educational institutions need to investigate these intersections, so that students have the opportunity to engage with such questions. Srishti plans to conduct this course, on a continual basis as a part of its curriculum.The course Design that Matters rests on the premise that when people from diverse backgrounds work together on a project, the entire process is more enriching and useful. This kind of collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning can be more of a social activity than an individual endeavor. Its success depends not only on the ability and experience of the participants, but integrally on the social aspects of the interaction. The course proposes to leverage the potential of this kind of interaction.It is modelled along the lines of an experiment design studio, MIT Design that Matters, conducted at MIT.
It was initiated with a two-day workshop held at CSIC auditorium. IISC
supported by NIF, held on the 16th and 17th of Feb, 2002.