SEMESTER: Fall 2019

COURSE NUMBER: EW290T.11

COURSE TITLE: Design Your Life

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2

INSTRUCTOR: Elizabeth Kovats

E-MAIL ADDRESS: kovats@haas.berkeley.edu

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Saturdays, 2pm – 5pm, Aug 24th, September 21st, September 28th, Oct 12th, Oct 19th, Nov 2nd, Nov 9th, Nov 23rd,  Dec 7th, Dec 14th

PREREQUISITE(S): Design thinking knowledge preferred.

CAREER FIELD: This course is well suited for those interested in learning how to apply the design thinking framework for professional and/or personal decisions. 

CLASS FORMAT: A blend of lecture and in-class activities, with the latter generally taking place in small groups and/or pairs.

REQUIRED READINGS: Non-fiction books and a course reader.

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:
Class Attendance and Prepared Participation: 30%
Homework Assignments: 30%
Final Paper and Project: 40%

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
Design Your Life offers students an opportunity to learn how to apply the design framework to personal and/or professional questions/pursuits. The purpose of this course is two-fold: to help you understand and develop a sense of agency, and enable you to understand the importance of problem framing.

This course provides an opportunity to think – and practice – through not only what kind of leader you aspire to be, though more importantly, what kind of person you hope to become. Through our readings, we’ll consult leading management theorists and philosophical scholars in order to help us deduce who we are, what kind of work we want to do, and the values we uphold.

DYL includes seminar-style discussions, role-playing, in-class activities, and short writing assignments. Small group discussions take place often. Some coursework is traditional – reading and writing, and other coursework is emblematic of the design process, such as a design sprint.
Please be prepared to foster an open and inclusive classroom community, the nature of which is defined by personal, respectful and generative qualities.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Elizabeth Kovats serves on the faculty of Berkeley Haas School of Business, within the Innovation and Design area. She also teaches at Berkeley Law and collaborates with Stanford University’s d.school community. Elizabeth’s particular focus is on adapting design principles for personal transformation, and the area of design and philosophy/ethics. She is interested in how products and/or services can be designed to advance the common good.