A culture of skill-sharing
At Jacobs Hall, students play an active role in shaping and leading opportunities for learning about design. Throughout the week, you’ll find a wide range of DeCals — student-taught classes — and other activities filling the building’s studios with new ideas.
From human-centered design principles to web design and 3D printing, Berkeley students can explore a wide range of topics through DeCals and programs run by student organizations. We dropped in on a few of these activities to see what design skill-sharing looks like in action.
FEM Tech, the first tech club for women of all majors at Berkeley, leads a weekly code workshop and co-working session called FEM Tech Share. We spoke to FEM Tech Share instructors about how they aim to empower their fellow students to learn and create with code.
Ezzy Sriram: “A lot of people who are not familiar with coding think, ‘I’m not a coder. I can’t do that.’ But it’s something you learn over time, and by making mistakes. The cool thing about FEM Tech is that it teaches web development with HTML, CSS, and Javascript…it’s all about building something.”
Maia Rosengarten: “Looking at the tech industry, it’s not very diverse. Part of this is about seeing how valuable it is to empower artists, social scientists, physicists, people who study biology — all these people who don’t necessarily or directly study computer science and can bring so many different perspectives to the field. Empowering them with coding skills is something we think can allow people to build things that can serve the community or bring new ideas that we don’t necessarily see otherwise.”
In the {design.} DeCal, taught by students from Berkeley Innovation, students explore human-centered design (“HCD”) methodology. When we stopped by recently, they were presenting ideas to problems they were interested in solving, such as “How might we track study space and table availability on campus?”, through methods of user research, need finding, and ideation.
Meet some of this DeCal’s teaching assistants, who shared a little bit about the course.
Kathleen: “Today’s the day for group presentations, and students are presenting what they’ve been working on, with their own prompts that they came up with at the beginning of the semester.”
Jess: “We try to have students use the human-centered design process to solve challenges that they’re interested in, which I think is super unique.”
Sonali: “I think that a lot of people are interested in learning HCD, and this is a good way for people to dip their toes in HCD principles. Also it’s not too much energy and time, so it’s very convenient. Take the DeCal!”
Another DeCal focuses on web design, allowing students to learn the basics of programming and design principles. We had a quick word with students and instructors of this popular course.
Q: How did you decide to take this class and what do you enjoy about it so far?
A: With DeCals, I feel that it’s definitely more casual and approachable to talk to people my age, who are just as enthusiastic as me about the subject…The DeCal teaches you what you want to learn and it helps you find people who are similarly passionate about the subject. I can talk to the people at my table for help, and you get a range of students at lower or higher levels who are all usually down to help you. It becomes a sort of community.
Q: How did you get started in the Web Design Decal, and what are the benefits of learning from other students?
A: I actually took this class in the spring of last year, and I had never coded before. Even just simple HTML was revolutionary to me. In the class, I put a lot into the final project we had and I got a lot out of it, and they brought in guest judges who ended up picking my design out of the class. And from there, I wanted to see where this went.
As for the benefits, design DeCals are a great way to get involved and learn about web design. I think people have this idea of code as this scary, abstract thing, and seeing other students teach it who’ve also started in this DeCal makes it feel accessible. In fact, some of the best projects come from people who have never coded before. Instructors are also super approachable, and you’re able to put in what you want to get out of it. We equip you with the tools to build a portfolio website, and from there you can look up resources on your own to take it even further.
Meanwhile, at the 3D Printing and Design DeCal, students are learning how to model a basic lamp shape. We talked to the instructors about the course, in which they help their fellow students gain skills in 3D modeling and printing techniques.
Q: What is a common misconception about the class that most people have?
A: People think that CAD has a steep learning curve, but you can actually start making some really complex things with only a few basic techniques!
Q: What do you enjoy about 3D Modeling and how did you first get started?
A: The ability to take an idea from your mind and pull it into the physical world is just super cool to me. I got started with 3D modeling by designing parts for my high school’s robotics team, where a 3D printer borrowed from our school’s science department made that thrill of bringing designs to life super accessible.
Q: Do you have any advice for someone who wants to learn but doesn’t know where to get started?
A: Take our DeCal! There are mechanical engineering classes and Jacobs courses that go over 3D modeling and printing, but our DeCal is Guaranteed Stress Free™ and great for people who’re just interested in trying it out, either as a hobby or a career skill. Learning from other students can be an awesome experience, especially because many of us have also learned recently and can really relate to the struggles people have.
If you don’t have time for a full-on DeCal, it’s also worth taking on a project and just attempting to model it! The software we use, Autodesk Fusion 360, is totally free, has great documentation, and is surprisingly intuitive once you spend a bit of time poking around in it.
Interested in DeCals, courses, and other learning opportunities at Jacobs Hall? Learn more about the Jacobs Institute and explore course offerings.
By Nicole Kim, Jacobs Institute student storytelling assistant
