Social Impact Curriculum

The MS track in Social Impact equips students with skills in three areas:

  • Social Impact Foundations and Practice — Students learn development history and theory and review social impact projects at the intersection of technology and development (or human-need) across applications and technologies.  Through this students learn bottom-up, community-centered, sustainable design.

  • Professional Development- Students are introduced to a wide range of people and projects across the social impact and development landscape. They are introduced to various careers and industry leaders, working to focus on post-graduate career development and networking. The final practicum project uniquely equips students with a semester-long field experience in their area of focus. 

  • Technical fluency—Students develop a foundation in contemporary digital skills including coding and development, building a unique technical toolset to address social issues.

SemesterClass #1Class #2Class #3
Year One (Fall)Case StudiesGlobal Development  or
Design Methods

Introduction to Programming
*or*
Creative Code

Year One (Spring)Fieldwork MethodsCreative TechnologiesElective: Technical Focus or
Critical Perspectives
Year Two (Fall)Social Impact LabElective: Tech FocusElective: Critical Perspectives
Year Two (Spring)Practicum   

(This schedule assumes the program is completed in two years, but the completion time is flexible. Exceptions can be made based on student background. Most students in the program will not have a formal faculty advisor until their final semester. A small number of students come into the program with a faculty advisor and focus specifically on professional research. Exceptions can likewise be made for these students in consultation with the program co-directors.)

Descriptions

ATLS 5230 Case Studies in Social Impact 

3 credit hours

This course explores the challenges and opportunities in the evolving field of technology for social impact by evaluating case studies across a range of technologies and applications. Class sessions are interspersed with student presentations and lively discussions around best practices, implementation strategies, and technology's role(s) in development.

Students gain: 

  • knowledge of past and present Social Impact projects
  • characteristic of project success and failure
  • hands-on understanding of several technology platforms
  • the ability to match available technologies with human and environmental needs and resources

ATLS 5430 Design Methods OR CVEN 5919 Global Development for Engineers

3 credit hours

In this course students will learn design, deliberate observation (e.g. cultural probes, ethnography, etc); “problem finding” and “design thinking”; wicked problems; iterative design; alternative generation and assessment.

Students gain:

  • strategy and framework for design methodology
  • skills for collaboration
  • comfort with iteration
  • documenting process for portfolio
     

Introduction to Programming *or* Creative Code

For students with little to no programming experience, the Intro to Programming class gives students the coding experience needed for more advanced programming classes and many technical focus classes. For students with prior programming experience, Creative Code explores creative uses of software development, while focusing on developing the “digital plumbing” that supports our creative work.

ATLS 5650 Introduction to Programming

3 credit hours

Take if you have no experience in coding. 

ATLS 5660 Creative Code

3 credit hours 

Take if you have experience in coding.

ATLS 5410 Creative Technologies

3 credit hours

This course gives students hands-on exposure to a wide range of technologies, including 3D printing, laser cutting, microcontrollers, sensors and programming. Through physical computing projects, students gain technical fluency and competence while identifying technology skills they wish to develop further.

Students gain:

  • foundation in creative technologies
  • technical fluency and competence
  • experience working with microcontrollers and sensors
  • fabrication skills

ATLS 5250 Fieldwork Methods

3 credit hours

This course introduces the methods and models that can be employed in the design, development, and deployment of social impact projects. This class will examine the applications of participatory research, ethnography, ethics in developing-world context, community assessment, behavior change communication, monitoring and evaluation, study design, and quantitative and qualitative data collection and (preliminary) analysis.

Students gain: 

  • experience with multi-method approaches to “doing development”
  • a “toolbox” of useful and practical on-the-ground skills

Critical Perspectives or Technical Focus Electives

3 credit hours

Critical Perspectives: Based on interest (Public Health, Education, Energy, Gender, etc) students can select from a range of domain-specific courses offered within ATLAS and across campus.

Technical focus: Based on interest (e.g. mobile, product, etc), students can select from a range of technical courses offered within ATLAS and across campus. Students customize their skill set based on professional goals.  

Students gain: 

  • deeper theoretical understanding and sectoral expertise in the domain of their choice

ATLS 5240 Technology for Social Impact Laboratory

3 credit hours

In this studio course students learn to create technologies for underserved communities. Students work in multidisciplinary teams on projects in collaboration with community partners, field practitioners, and experts in relevant fields. Students learn the workflow for designing and evaluating user-centered designs, from need-finding to prototyping to evaluation. The Social Impact lab course is designed to bring everything that students have learned thus far about technology, development and methods together in one cohesive project. “Lab” is intended to be a dress rehearsal for the Social Impact practicum.

Students gain: 

  • hands-on project experience
  • project management experience
  • collaborative team learning
  • direct client experience
  • prototype development


Technology-focused Elective

3 credit hours

Based on their professional goals for the program, students build their skill sets by taking technical courses through ATLAS and have the unique opportunity to take courses across CU Boulder departments. There are many options, so your advisor will work with you to find the best fit for your individual goal. Here are some popular focus areas with courses that support that goal: User Experience and Human-Computer Interaction, Game Design and Development, Interactive Product Design and Development.

Students gain:

  • deepen technical skills and knowledge
     

Critical Perspective Elective

3 credit hours

Based on interest (Public Health, Education, Energy, Gender, etc) students can select from a range of domain-specific courses offered within ATLAS and across campus.

Students gain: 

  • deeper theoretical understanding and sectoral expertise in the domain of their choice

Practicum

6 credit hours with option to do 3 credit hours plus an elective

A hallmark of the Social Impact program is the practicum experience. Students spend a full semester working with a organization in a social impact specific role. Student develop a scope of work and list of deliverables and present on these at the end of the practicum. This semester- long experience positions students for graduation, as they have a project and on the ground experience to highlight on their resume.

As part of the completion of the practicum experience, students develop a video. This prepares them to talk about their work and contributions to audiences both aware and potentially unfamiliar with the field of social impact. This video collateral can be used on their websites/portfolios.

Students gain: 

  • hands-on social impact experience in the field
  • scope of work outline development and negotiation
  • communication and presentation digital media skills