Olin Dream 2018

At Olin, students develop an understanding of how engineering can be a “people to people” process. The people who are undertaking engineering efforts and those who are affected by the outcomes are oftentimes part of complex social systems that do not serve all people equitably. DREAM students learn how to recognize and respond to inequalities in both “close-to-home” contexts and less-familiar realms. The course examines and extends “the maker movement,” with a critical eye toward addressing empowerment issues entrenched in maker cultures. The maker movement is, essentially, a growing community of people and resources aiming to support everyone feeling empowered to open and remake the engineered world around them (typically with the help of some computational, electronic, or mechanical tool). DREAM students will gain a deeper understanding of how the maker movement has some properties that can leverage hands-on learning to unify diverse sets of people and some properties that serve as a divisive forces between groups. The project-based course will prepare students to identify and harness properties of tools, activities, people, and spaces associated with the maker movement to enable a target group to feel empowered to make things, make a difference, and make their own way...