L&S Curricular Connections

It is often said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” But how do you ignite and harness your imagination – the inspiration for your dreams? And once you have a dream, what does it take to innovate – to turn the dreaming into doing and bring it to life? The class explores these topics and provides practice in innovation as not only a mindset, but also a process involving a series of tools and steps that can guide us in making ethical change in the world. Through hands-on, project-based exercises, this course will teach students to put their imaginations into action to better observe, frame, critique, make, and reflect upon their ideas for change.

Envisioning and making change in the world is a complex, multifaceted, and interdisciplinary process that calls upon a wide array of skills including creative and critical thinking capabilities. For that reason, this class is part of both the Big Ideas and Berkeley Changemaker curriculum. The course objectives include: (1) teaching students to access and build upon their creative potential, and, (2) guiding students in developing both a team and individual frameworks and processes for change. Both of these objectives will enable students to think both creatively and critically about what could be, rather than what is, in order to bring to life what can be imagined.

Whether your goal is an art project, start-up, a new approach in the lab, an AI application, or just to make the world a better place, this course will provide methods to activate your entire mind and body, as well as the techniques and skills you need to innovate and create change. The class instructors will co-teach, and we will invite guest lecturers and students from different parts of the campus into the class for inspiration and to open new avenues for exploration.