Aims

To give students an advanced understanding of Interaction Design practice in a variety of application areas.
To give students an understanding of relevant Design theories.
To give students an advanced skill-set in practices of Interaction Design.
To give students hands-on experience in prototyping interactive technologies (from lo-fi to high-fi techniques including the use of relevant development toolkits).
To give students experience of and to develop skills in working in collaborative design teams.

Outline Of Syllabus

Design Theory
Models and Frameworks of Interaction
Fieldwork for design
Methods for designing with and for users
Prototyping techniques and materials
Design-led evaluation of systems
Qualitative data collection and analysis
Specification application areas for Interaction Design

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures will be used to introduce the learning material and to prepare for the practical and seminar sessions and for demonstrating key concepts by example.

Students will be expected to read suggested material or engage with suggested online media resources in preparation for seminar sessions. Students are expected to widen their knowledge beyond the content of lecture notes and seminar material through wider self-directed background reading.

Practical classes will develop skills through hands-on experience of interaction design techniques and will promote group working. Students will be expected to spend significant time in completing work between practical classes, which will be used towards their coursework.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The assessment consists of an individual report, a group presentation, a group design project, and participation in practical sessions’ activities to assess students’ practical design and development skills and their ability to work in collaborative design teams. The group presentation provides an opportunity for students to receive early feedback on their design ideas to have a chance to iterate and develop their ideas further before building a working prototype. The feedback on the prototype provides a second opportunity for the students receive feedback which they are expected to reflect upon and respond to in their final individual reports. The assessments are designed to give students as much feedback as possible before submitting the final report which constitutes the largest percentage of the overall mark.
The hands-on practical nature of interaction design practice necessitates a coursework based evaluation, rather than a written exam. The assessment is designed to support the development of professional skills in interaction design.