Learning objectives
"Technological Design Culture" is concerned with the knowledge and use of Demand-Performance Theory as well as the understanding of the technological feasibility and appropriateness of projects and their relationships to cultural, environmental and production contexts.
The teaching presents and analyzes the main forms of appropriate technology aimed at satisfying the basic needs of all people, especially in marginal, under-served or disadvantaged communities and territories. The basic tools to understand and develop appropriate, simple, small-scale, energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and community-controlled technologies are provided. Technologies that can improve the well-being of the citizens of an area with a view to inclusiveness, social cohesion and environmental sustainability.
Prerequisites
Course unit content
Technological Culture is a body of knowledge concerning the analysis and prediction of the impact that technology, seen as a global expression of a culture -spiritual and material- has today and will have tomorrow on human life (individual and society) in relation to the physical and biological environment.
In the expression "Technological Design Culture," the noun "Culture" refers to the production of a collectivity, defined in time and space and refers to the process of sedimentation of theoretical and operational knowledge. The adjective "Technological" refers instead, to that set of techniques based on understanding and exploiting natural phenomena for human utility.
The teaching embraces within itself the history of the evolution of the relationship between technology and culture that is codified in a given "design culture." The teaching provides conceptual, methodological and technical tools to deal with the project in the different stages from the ideation to the development.
Full programme
Bibliography
- Ciribini G. (1984). Tecnologia e progetto, Celid, Torino.
- Munari B. (1985). Da cosa nasce cosa. Appunti per una metodologia progettuale, Laterza, Bari.
- De Bono N. (1997). Il pensiero laterale, BUR Rizzoli, Milano.
- Burdek B. E. (2008). Design, Storia, teoria e prassi del disegno industriale, Gangemi, Napoli.
Teaching methods
The theoretical part of the teaching emphasizes the technological aspects of design and aims to provide knowledge of methods and tools necessary for understanding the feasibility of objects of use and their relationships with cultural, environmental and production contexts.
The practical part of the teaching involves an exercise in which students, divided into groups, will be asked to use the tools and methods covered in the course to develop qualitative research on a specific case study chosen in accordance with the Public Interest Design course.
Assessment methods and criteria
1. An individual, classroom-based, 60-minute written test consisting of open-ended questions designed to verify the acquisition of the content proposed during the lectures: textbooks indicated, topics covered in the lectures, any other texts provided. The exam will take place in the classroom under the supervision of the lecturers. The grade is expressed in thirtieths and is worth 40% of the final grade of the module.
2. A group oral examination, lasting about 20 minutes, in which the outcomes of the group exercise carried out during the teaching in collaboration with the teaching of Public Interest Design should be presented. The oral examination will tend to verify the students' ability to use tested tools and concepts illustrated in the teaching with reference to the research case chosen for the exercise, as well as the ability to systematize and communicate the research results. During the classroom interview, each group will present the exercise and receive a collective evaluation valid for each component of the group. The grade is expressed in thirtieths and is worth 60 % of the final module grade for each individual component.
The final grade for the teaching of Technological Design Culture will be expressed in thirtieths, will be the result of the average of the evaluation of the individual written test (40 % of the final grade) and the evaluation of the group oral test (60 % of the final grade). This may influence in approximating over or under the average final grade. The results of written and oral tests are announced on the teaching portal, along with the date by which students can ask for clarification.
Other information
