Classes You DO Something In

It’s that time of year again, Hivers … time to whip out your laptop, procrastinate on your homework, and sift through the ginormous course catalog, dreaming about all the homework you could have next semester!

I always enter treasure-hunting mode this time of year, digging through every single department of interest until happening upon hidden gems as diverse as American Media in the Trump Era (MS 097) and Corporeal Mime (THEA013). But in my explorations, I always found one searchable category missing: classes you really DO something in!

Here at the Hive, we strongly value infusing some doing into all learning experiences, whether that means learning how to combat erosion in EA and then planting vegetation around Claremont or studying effective marketing campaigns and then helping a local nonprofit build their very own brand. I find that classes that bridge the gap between theory and practice lead to some of the most rewarding experiences at the 5Cs.

Because we want to share this incredible experience with you all, we’ve decided to bring this nonexistent course category to life by creating a list of classes that will be offered next semester where you really DO something … (yellow classes are slated to be taught at the Hive!)

ENGINEERING

• Human-Centered Design (ENGR 180) TR 2:45-4:00, F 10:00-11:50
  • This course introduces students to human-centered design approaches for innovative problem solving. Human-centered design begins with a deep understanding of people and social contexts. The course will include fundamental readings in design thinking, interactive design methods and processes, and hands-on projects. Students will learn how user research, synthesis, idea generation, and prototyping can be integrated into different phases of the design process
• Intro to Engineering (ENGR 004) multiple times
  • Design problems are, typically, open-ended and ill-structured. Students work in small teams applying techniques for solving design problems that are, normally, posed by not-for-profit clients. The project work is enhanced with lectures and reading on design theory and methods, and introduction to manufacturing techniques, project management techniques and engineering ethics. Enrollment limited to first-year students and sophomores, or by permission of the instructor.

MEDIA STUDIES

• Media Arts for Social Justice (MS 194) M 2:45-5:30
  • This course is a combination of analysis, theory, and hands-on service-learning experience of how media arts mobilize, educate and empower communities. The course will examine working models of media-based community collaboration projects. Students will be linked with non-profit community collaborators (media arts centers, social service and youth service agencies) who are using media as a catalyst for action in their community. Working with site hosts/collaborators, students will work with under-served populations to design, implement and produce unique media collaborations that provoke thought and action.
• Interactive Narrative Design (MS 131) MW 10:00-12:30PM
  • This course situates narrative writing as a key design practice for the creation of games and other interactive experiences. Learn how traditional narrative principles such as character, setting, and plot function within indeterminate and variable experiences that range from mainstream video game to tabletop role-playing and experimental digital/theatre works. Embark on creative writing and design projects that integrate narrative and algorithmic/rule-based play in digital and non-digital form

THEATRE

• Corporeal Mime (THEA 031) MTWRF 4:15-5:15
  • The basic vocabulary of mime: counterweights, figures of style, walks, triple designs. Developing mastery of the technique and improvisation with the form.
• Intro to Comedy Improv (THEA 009) MW 10:00-12:30
  • This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of comedy improvisation. Through games, coaching, and basic short-form scene work, students will develop active listening skills, learn how to create characters, and work up to creating fully improvised long-form scenes. This course fosters the power of spontaneity, trust, and cooperation in a fun and creative atmosphere and will culminate with a public performance. Course may be repeated for credit.
• Theatre for Young Audience (THEA 060) TR 9:35-12:05
  • A practicum-based examination of the theories and practice of creating dramatic work for young audiences. Working with local school groups, participants develop a script and mount a production for performances on campus and/or in a school setting. Prior theatre experience is desirable but not required

ART

• Zines, Creativity, Community (ASAM 105) M 2:45-5:30
  • This course examines do-it-yourself (DIY) politics through independently produced zines. We will focus on Asian American and queer zine subcultures to understand various aspects of contemporary media, including production and consumption, representation and self-expression, identity-construction and place-making, creativity and resistance, and the relevance of print in an increasingly digital world.
• Critical Design Studio (ART 179) WF 10:00-12:30
  • Critical Design Studio invites participants to consider how visual texts establish how information is understood, facts are revealed (or hidden), and how design, illustration, typography, and color impact how we perceive the world. In this hands-on studio class students will deconstruct, reconfigure, and critically analyze the methods of visual communication. An emphasis will be placed on the ability to use design to create forms which persuade, explain, make a claim, and invite the reader into a dialogue.
• Workshop in Hand Press Printing (ART 060) T 6-9PM
  • This workshop introduces students to the basic vocabulary and practices of typesetting, typography, and printing for and on an iron hand press. Work includes a skill-building project and a student-designed semester project
• Intro to Digital Art (ART 141) TR 4:15-6:45
  • This course is designed to provide students with a working knowledge of digital art through the use of digital art software. The curriculum is designed to assist students in approaching their artistic ideas from a fine arts perspective, to draw upon formal elements in art and conceptual issues related to art and technology thus influencing and informing their creative process, projects and goals. Fee: $75

ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

• EnviroLab Asia: Research Methods (EA 021) T 1:15-4:00PM
  • This course examines the relationship between the environment and political, social, economic and cultural issues in East and Southeast Asia. In particular, it studies this relationship within the country being studied by EnviroLab Asia in the academic year. The course introduces students to a cross-disciplinary approach to study this relationship by exposing students to methodologies in humanities and social sciences as well as the history of country. The cross-disciplinary training will prepare students for a Clinic Trip at the end of the semester in which the students will travel to the country being studied to carry out research on the ground where they will apply their learned methodology
• Design for Environmental Behavior Change (EA 185) TR 9:35-10:50
  • This course provides an exploration of Human-Centered Design (HCD) and also uses concepts from Systems Thinking, Social Marketing, and Environmental Education as tools for innovative and targeted environmental behavior change. The course will be taught with rotating environmental themes and related partner organizations, creating unique experiences for students while still teaching the same core concepts and strategies. The first iteration of this course will focus on behavior change in the realm of sustainable transportation in Southern California from the perspectives of a government organization, a business, and a non-profit organization. This issue has large-scale implications for decreasing GHG emissions, lowering the reliance on single occupancy vehicles, and improving the quality of life in Southern California. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: EA 010 PO or equivalent.
• Building Los Angeles (EA 174) F 1:15-4:00 + Saturday field trips
  • This course explores the complex network of urban communities in which we live in order that we might think more deeply about the relationship of the built to the natural environment. To complicate our conceptions of Los Angeles, we consider the city’s history and infrastructure and examine the social stresses and environmental pressures that result from planning decisions. We also focus on Southern California architecture and design as a profound expression of the relationship between the built and the natural, including new urbanism and the maturation of green design. As a required experiential component, the course features a substantial number of Saturday field trips. $50 fee to cover transportation costs.
• Environmental Education (EA 146) M 9-11:50
  • Students are trained in principles of environmental education and serve as instructors to children from elementary schools in Pomona and Claremont. Participants work in teams to develop and teach effective environmental curricula at the Bernard Biological Field Station. In addition to teaching environmental ethics, local ecology and critical ecological concerns, course participants serve as role models of environmental sensibility and community involvement. Enrollment is provisional until after the first class meeting when course applications are distributed.
• Visual Ecology (EA 144) TR 9:35-10:50
  • NatureWorks: Aesthetics and Praxis in the Anthropocene Our relationship with the world is impacted by the images we use to understand and express our place in nature. This course engages investigation and application of ecological concepts and how these are addressed through art. We experiment with conceptual approaches to art making and strategies for how artists can create positive visions for the future. In this combined theory & praxis course, we integrate studio art with scholarly analysis and engaged field research as we create socially and environmentally responsible artworks. The focus for fall 2019 is the completion of a Field Guide to the Claremont Wilderness Park; students with experience with graphic design, illustration, and natural history are particularly encouraged to enroll.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

• Healing Arts and Social Change (ONT 110) F 1:15-4:00pm
  • Students will engage in self-expression, self-discovery and community-building through creative writing, dance, music, art and meditation. Half of the course will take place on site at a local prison where students will engage in a shared educational journey with the inmates, thus exploring how our built environments (the prison and college campus) impact our resources, access and ability to negotiate practices for individual transformation and social change.
• Race in American Politics (POLI 124) R 1:00-4:00
  • This course examines the centrality of race in American politics. The course examines how racial and ethnic interest groups pursue political power and the relative success of their efforts. Thematically, the course will focus on how these groups interact with strategic political actors working within established political institutions. This course is an Inside-Out course. Inside-Out courses are regular college courses that are part of the international Inside-Out Prison Exchange Center model that “bring together campus-based college students with incarcerated students for a semester-long course held in a prison.”
• Research Methods for Comm Change (ONT 105)
  • Research for Community Change incorporates the study of diverse approaches of qualitative inquiry (i.e., ethnography, participatory action, project-based research) along with theoretical frameworks around community development and social change through research practicums with community change partnerships in Ontario. This class is centered around the intensive research internship and community immersion experience (130-hour commitment over the course of the semester) with grassroots organizations addressing a variety of issues in Ontario such as immigration, education, voter mobilization, environmental justice, and labor rights. Fully executed project-based and community-based action research projects by students will directly inform community development and policy reforms currently underway through multiple partnerships in Ontario.

OTHERS

• Africana Journal & New Media (AFRI 119) W 2:45-5:30
  • Students research conceptual frameworks toward creating and maintaining an Africana Studies journal. The journal may include new media formats such as blogs and podcasts, in addition to traditional article formats. Following the practices of Black feminist theory, the journal encourages writing that includes authorial experience and positionality
• Building an Internet of Things (CSCI 181) TR 9:35-1050, T 1:15-4:00
  • In this course, students will learn how to design and build a distributed network of devices that are connected in an ‘Internet of Things’. We will focus on simple devices that collect data through sensors and control aspects of their environment. The course will combine practical hands-on programming exercises (to build a working system) with an exploration of the key technical ideas that make it possible to build secure, distributed, networks of devices and applications that access the data these devices provide. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: CSCI062 PO or CSCI070 HM.