About the Class

A restaurant chef is a designer in that he needs to have a methodology, know his audience, conduct a hazard analysis to ensure people aren't going to be allergic to the food, create and test his creations to ensure that people like them and then refine the product over several iterations. In addition, a good chef cares also about the way the restaurant looks, how readable the menu is, the name of the restaurant and about the quality and smell of the soap in the bathroom.

And like chefs who see how a bad waiter can effect a diner's enjoyment of a meal, a student who understands that an idea poorly articulated can sabotage the ability to get support for their concept will be able to overcome that problem. The class forces students to focus on written and spoken language; seeing how the written word ("If you do not wish to sit in an exit row...") can sound more natural when spoken, simply by making several subtle changes ("If you don't want to sit in the exit row...")

Students get to see the ideas they dream up actually work by using a simple programming language that allows them to quickly make proof-of-concept speech-recognition applications as well as full-featured applications that can do such amazing things as provide dictionary definitions, or turn on and off actual appliances in the student's apartment.

But the course goes beyond the design and production phases of the process and delves into the business angles as well. Students need to make sure their ideas are grounded in solid business practices, answering questions like: would a caller actually want this system? Would a company choose to deploy this system to save money or enhance their brand? Will a person who knows nothing about my concept be able to use it, and if not how do I change it to make it clearer and more streamlined? Finally the students present their work in a public forum -- this year we had representatives from the largest and most important speech-recognition technology companies, including Edify and Nuance as well as other industry professionals from Orange Imagineering and Speech Technology Magazine. And like an episode of Nova, the students have to explain complex ideas in a simple, elegant presentation (simple enough that my mom understands the most intricate ideas) all while capturing and holding a diverse audience's attention.

The student who sees this lifecycle of creation and communication is armed with powerful techniques that can be applied on day-1 of a new job, and if we're lucky, will understand they are all designers and that every decision they make can be an important one.

And while we know what we try to do, it's always interesting to get an insider's perspective. Below are some observations about the class from Mike Sparandara, the creator of this website, and the teaching assistant for the '05 class.

From Mike Sparandara's final report:

The students of the Tufts Speech Recognition class (EXP-12) are obviously an integral part of the class. But, you may ask, "In which class are students not an integral part?" To this I would reply, "In more classes than you think." If you were to take an in-depth look at a typical first or second-year seminar, you might walk away unenthused. You might see a professor lecturing to a class, in a stadium-seated lecture hall, and using an overhead projector and microphone. You would look around to see the room filled with students who were neither interested nor paying even a modicum of attention. I am speaking from experience here, but I will mercifully spare those unnamed professors any further embarrassment. The students in this type of class have little involvement in their learning. Indeed, their only forms of assessment are often two multiple-choice exams, one given in the middle of the term, the other at the end.

The students of EXP12 are completely involved in almost all aspects of their class. From the very first day, it was made clear that no matter what your academic background, you were a part of a whole. EXP12 has consistently benefited from enrolling students from all different graduation classes and major backgrounds. Whether a pupil is a French/Philosophy double major, a Human Factors student, or a Computer Science scholar, he or she can succeed in this class. This diverse energy is one of the reasons why the class is as interesting as it is; there is a breath of fresh air each time a student contributes.

One of the more important teaching techniques used by Blade and Joe is that they made the class very business-like, while still keeping it student centered. Blade and Joe, who both have contemporary knowledge of the speech recognition business, treat midterm individual projects like project proposals, and final group projects like major product developments. Paul Graham, in his recently published book entitled Hackers and Painters¹, speaks of the importance of having real world-like experiences in educational systems, instead of the obfuscated and abstract models with which Americans have become familiar. Graham details the move away from practical hands-on teaching and education and shows how this is making things increasingly difficult for students to adjust to real world jobs and to realize the importance of their education after graduation.

A student who completes EXP12 will have gained knowledge from many areas. He or she will not only be well versed in the design and technical aspects of speech recognition, but will also understand how business is conducted. Regular interaction with professionals in the field is par for the course, and students may not recognize the direct benefit of this until after graduation. Maybe because Blade and Joe are not too far removed from their college experiences themselves, they are able to teach what they wish they had been taught. Whatever the case may be, the students ultimately benefit by gaining a great deal of important and relevant business and design knowledge.

Hands-on experience is one of the best ways to teach students a concept. The interaction between students spurred innovative and different design ideas, thoughts that only come from bouncing concepts off other people. Proof that group work results in great design ideas is found by looking no further than the final projects, which are, in many ways, superior in design to the individual projects.

¹ Graham, Paul. "Hackers and Painters" Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc. Sebastopol, CA. 2004