Hey Andy. I%u2019m in both a perfect and lousy place to answer. Perfect because I%u2019ve been thinking a lot about it since I begin teaching a course in Interaction Design at the California College of the Arts here in San Francisco next week. I%u2019m in a lousy position because I actually haven%u2019t taught it yet and have no practical idea if my ideas will work. But I%u2019ll float the core thread out there and see if it helps.
I recall one of the best learning experiences of my undergraduate experience was from a drama professor in an acting class, who approached us to discuss every scene we did%u2014whether it was Shakespeare or Durang%u2014with the same question: What%u2019s the backbone of this scene? What are you fighting for? (I think he modified it from Shurtleff, but that%u2019s neither here nor there.) The point is, he gave me a technique that I was able to apply to every theatrical experience thereafter. Now I left the theatre behind some time ago, but his technique is kind of thing I want to give the students: a memorable framework with which they can approach most any interaction design problem, and from which they can branch out and investigate the giant bodies of knowledge that touch on it, including current tools, and best practice principles. So, short answer, I think that technique is the most fundamental and lasting thing to teach, and from which you can introduce tools and principles. For more detail, here are the topics we%u2019re hitting and the order: 1. What is interaction design? (As a practice, historically, & as a profession.) How do you approach interaction design challenges? 2. WHO ARE THE USERS? How do you research and model users? How do you use these models in design? 3. HOW DO THEY USE IT? How do research and model prospective technology? How do you specify and demonstrate its use? 4. How do we connect users to the technology they are using? (Practical interface design considerations.) 5. DOES IT WORK? How do we evaluate our (and others%u2019) work? I%u2019m also augmenting my class with discussions and exercises around systems thinking and professional processes. But it%u2019s those three capitalized questions, which I developed while I was at marchFIRST, that will form the structure that we%u2019ll return to, and form the basis of a consistent approach. So this is the structure I%u2019m proceeding with and my two cents. I%u2019ll see how it works over the next several weeks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=34437 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
