IDEA Courses
Designed for UMD students
We believe that anyone, regardless of major or discipline, can be an innovator! Our IDEA courses are designed to help students from across campus build their creative problem solving abilities and use design and innovation mindsets and skills to reframe how they work, approach problems, and collaborate.
All of our courses are highly experiential. This means students learn by doing, collaborate often with their classmates, and are prompted to actively make connections to their own contexts and interests. No previous experience is necessary to participate - all we ask is that students show up with a willingness to learn, try new things, and apply their skills in the real world.
Try on the behaviors of a creative problem-solver and leverage the methods and tools of design through a human-centered lens in this highly experiential -- and experimental -- introductory course. You will try on the behaviors and mindsets of a designer and reflect and build upon your own creative agency.
Modes:
- Asynchronous online: Offered Fall & Spring
- Hybrid: Offered in Spring
- In-person: Offered in Spring
Credits: 1
Learn with: Brooke Smith, Christina Hnatov, and Mira Azarm
Semesters offered: Fall, Spring
What do you want to do once you graduate? What about with your life? These are the big questions we begin to tackle in this course. Use design methods and mindsets to explore your personal and professional development goals and explore potential career paths. Using empathy, brainstorming, and prototyping techniques, you'll imagine potential futures for yourself and test them to see if they are a good fit for you.
Modes: Asynchronous online
Credits: 1
Learn with: Christina Hnatov & Brooke Smith
Semesters offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Try out and learn improvisation skills to help you interview more effectively, land a job, and meet and exceed your professional goals. This class is for any student looking to improve their professional interpersonal skills, think faster, expand their creativity, and turn into a fantastic teammate at work. No experience with theatre or improvisation is necessary. All disciplines encouraged!
Mode: In-person
Credits: 1
Learn with: Mira Azarm
Semesters offered: Spring
Connect with others – and yourself – with intention and play to bring more [choose one: interest, fun, fulfillment, creativity] into your life. This course will feel like a book club and playdates with fieldwork mixed in.
Throughout the semester, you will explore how the designed environment influences your connections; reconnect with the power of play (doing something just for the enjoyment of it); and actively experiment with design skills like noticing and experimentation to build your curiosity, confidence, and connection in ways that matter to you.
Mode: In-person
Credits: 3
Learn with: Christina Hnatov & Brooke Smith
Semesters offered: Spring
Use human-centered design practices to develop performance-based and curricular experiments for future implementation at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F) at UMD. Students will have the opportunity to connect the work we do in class to their own interests related to the visual and performing arts. Experience with classical music performance and/or human-centered design practices is optional. The class is highly experiential, collaborative, and reflective. This work is done through a partnership between (NOI+F) and the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to create innovation-related experiences at the festival every year.
Mode: In-person
Credits: 3
Learn with: Mira Azarm & Christina Hnatov
Semesters offered: Fall, Spring
Graduate students from any unit or department at the University of Maryland can join the semester-long Innovation Fellows program to learn innovation mindsets, tools, and processes and explore how they're relevant to their professional, academic, and personal lives. The Fellowship can be taken for credit using the Independent Study course, IDEA698.
Mode: In-person
Credits: 1-3 credits
Learn with: Mira Azarm, Erica Estrada-Liou, & Brooke Smith
Semesters offered: Fall, Spring