uwloo

SYDE 261Culture of Design, Impacts

Units
0.50
Faculty
Engineering
Subject
Systems Design Engineering

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 2 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

This course will help students understand how others think about technology, and then use this knowledge to make better choices when designing. This impact course focuses on identifying, understanding, and analyzing the interactions and impacts among technology, society and the environment for current and emerging technologies using theoretical and evidence-based analyses. Connections among systems of systems engineering, impact analyses, evidence-based analyses, needs assessment, the design process, advocacy, and professional engineering will be discussed and applied.

Prerequisites

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Winter 2027 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 00145380 / 110T 14:30–15:50
Th 14:30–15:20
LEC 7011850106 / 9999Online or by arrangement
TUT 10145390 / 110Th 15:30–16:20

Reviewed on UW Flow

49% liked it82% easy37% useful

From 67 ratings and 9 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Utterly useless course. If you got accepted into SYDE, you already possess the abilities to analyze societal systems to the extent required in this class. You will walk away from lectures wishing you cared less about your grades (participation marks are awarded only in class). Professor loves disagreeing with every single statement made by students in lecture (in a poor attempt to encourage 'critical thinking', ends up making students feel as if they are always wrong or misunderstood). No critical discussion on technology & society is actually had in this course. There is no meaningful discussion on the ethics of being a researcher or engineer, no useful discussion on trending topics (in…

    Feb 2025 · didn’t like it · 3 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Useless as fuck. Did not attend a single lecture. Insane waste of time, making us do these bullshit assignments each week (sometimes making videos?). Feels like I'm in a highschool english / literature class. Not engineering.

    Mar 2024 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • I had to bulls*** for every report/presentation, absolute useless for engineers

    Aug 2023 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • A lot of work, but a really interesting class!

    Mar 2023 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Don't buy the textbook unless you want 90+

    Apr 2022 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

5 posts and comments in 4 threads mention SYDE 261, February 2015 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Winter 2023

is SYDE useless? 0 points, 16 comments

u/ExtensionBus5737: “… I choose syde electives such as SYDE 261 while being in the comp eng program, what benefit is there to syde? …”

u/intwhale: “what syde courses can you take as electives in ece?”

u/ExtensionBus5737: “From my understanding, it appears that the courses that make SYDE SYDE are: SYDE 162, 261, 263, 262 and the capstone projects in year 4. ECE has similarly described courses for most except 262. It also appears that ece has engineering projects in year 4”

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Winter 2022

Spring 2019

SYDE vs. BME 2 points, 11 comments

“I'm an incoming first year that got accepted to biomedical engineering, but I'm thinking of transferring to systems design engineering. …”

u/MindTheGap9: “… SYDE 161/162/261 were pretty rough times for me. …”

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Winter 2015

Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar