these courses or the MAET program.
This project demonstrates many elements
about the MAET program. First, it was almost
entirely student produced after the first day; we
aim to give students control over their learning.
Students were picking their own topics
and designing their own solutions, with only
occasional guidance from the instructors (such
as that provided by a creative director in professional
settings). Second, the iterative design
process provided by the Stanford Design School
(2012) provided a framework for their progress;
that is, our projects are grounded in both educational
theory and ideas from other disciplines.
Third, students involved in this project did enter
it to a startup fund competition; at some point
this project stopped being an assignment and
became a real-world design project. Fourth, the
students enjoyed it and may have experienced
flow in their learning (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
One student commented, “This is as hard as
anything I have done in a class, but is the most
fun I have had