Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
Can I just add that I didn't mention anything at all about research or lack of it at UCL, I simply sent the link to the original discussion I was involved with. I'm sure UCL has a very record of research! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39626 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
Tim, I'm currently studying the HCI-E Masters at UCL, and I am enjoying every moment of it. Ok, maybe not every moment, but I'm really happy I decided to go with UCL instead of City (my other choice). I've put up some thoughts of my experiences on my blog, which might give you a flavor of what it's like: http://boonyew.com/interaction/category/uclic/ Another review, not done by me, is from Kevin Cheng of OK/Cancel. He took the course in 2004. http://www.ok-cancel.com/archives/article/2004/09/a-review-of-uclic.html A bit about my background, I've been working in software development for 7 years, and fell into UX work when I picked up Cooper's About Face 3 and kickedstarted a project using his Goal Directed Design methodology. That inspired me to switch gears towards more HCI work, and that led me to the Masters. UCL has a lot of good research, and a lot of ex-students I've met now work in established UX companies like Flow Interactive, Serco, Systems Concepts, Webcredible and well-known tech companies like Google. The ergonomics component provides solid grounding if you're interested in doing stuff in human factors, industrial design, etc. This module is quite practical and UCL regularly brings in practitioners from the field, which can help with networking and getting a feel of what's out there. An intensive 2-week design work is aimed at getting your hands dirty with the methods commonly applied in industry. In response to David Little's comment about the lack of research at UCL - this is totally untrue. There are a good group of strong researchers here, and some only focus on doing research alone. The lectures encourage heavy reading of literature from CHI and other established high-profile HCI-related academic conferences, and our coursework is graded against a similar quality. I would say that City offers a more hands-on, practical perspective of the field, whereas UCL gives you a very broad, historical, but essential parts of the practice. We have a fair number of practitioners here, both part-time and full- time, and I think because UCL focusses a lot on the integration and critical application of theory and practice, you may find it challenging because it causes you to see UX work in the light of many contrasting perspectives (psychology, ethnography, design, ergonomics, etc.), even with considerable amount of UX experience. While I agree that UCL's website is not as flash, it really doesn't do it justice. If you're keen to find out more, I'd be happy to help answer any queries you have. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
On 9 Mar 2009, at 15:48, James Page wrote: If they don't there is an issue. Academic research is about finding evidence for or against a theory. I would hope that somebody teaching interaction design would have enough evidence to convince the powers that be that the departments website should be usable. Having dealt with some UK university web folk I can say with confidence that they'll sometimes ignore you no matter what the evidence you give :-) Sometimes for "valid" reasons - available budget / skill sets for example. The people who understand the value are often three or four layers of management away from the folk who make the decisions about the web site. In one instance I'm aware of the UX folk weren't even aware that a redesign was happening until it had been released. At that point, of course, the budget has been spent on that oh-so- wonderful design company... Cheers, Adrian -- delicious.com/adrianh - twitter.com/adrianh - adri...@quietstars.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
Hello and thanks to everyone has taken a moment to reply. Thanks to David for the link to the past discussion [1]. If anyone else is following this thread and thinking about a further degree I'd recommend reading that. It's certainly stoked my interest. >From my (web)site visits so far, Kingston Uni is most visually appealing [2] and I think has benefited from the most recent update. I haven't taken the time to deconstruct it, but it also seemed the easiest to use. They are also the only uni holding a virtual open evening which I think is an interesting experiment. UCL, being the university with (I think) the best rating, has the least welcoming website IMO. @James, I studied Psychology at undergraduate level, and although it was some 13 years ago... I'm hoping I will have retained a fair amount of it. ;) Clearly many areas will need to be revisited... Following some preliminary research, none of the lecturers at the institutions listed above are known to me, so I guess it's a question of Googling them. I'm quite interested in the inclusion of Ergonomics at UCL [3]. I think being able to study human interaction away from the screen would be fascinating. Nothing at all to do with the fact I wanted to study it as an under-graduate but didn't get the grades... ;) Cheers, Tim 1. http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=39584 2. http://cism.kingston.ac.uk/ 3. http://www.uclic.ucl.ac.uk/courses/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39626 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
Caroline, > That presupposes that the interaction design academic team has influence > over the design of the web site. May be true, may not be If they don't there is an issue. Academic research is about finding evidence for or against a theory. I would hope that somebody teaching interaction design would have enough evidence to convince the powers that be that the departments website should be usable. Tim, I would also look at Anthropology and psychology as subjects to study. All the best James http://blog.feralabs.com 2009/3/9 Caroline Jarrett > James Page > > I would look at Sussex as well as City, UCL, Middlesex, and the > > interaction course at the Royal College of Art. > > It may be worth asking the question is do they practice what they > > teach? How good is their web sites? > > That presupposes that the interaction design academic team has influence > over the design of the web site. May be true, may not be. Some > combinations: > > - brilliant teachers but bad at influencing colleagues > - rubbish teachers and rubbish on the web site > - brilliant teachers, have redesigned the web site, web site not yet > launched > - brilliant teachers, spend their time teaching, too busy to get involved > in > the web site > > And many others. > > Cheers > Caroline > > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org > Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
James Page > I would look at Sussex as well as City, UCL, Middlesex, and the > interaction course at the Royal College of Art. > It may be worth asking the question is do they practice what they > teach? How good is their web sites? That presupposes that the interaction design academic team has influence over the design of the web site. May be true, may not be. Some combinations: - brilliant teachers but bad at influencing colleagues - rubbish teachers and rubbish on the web site - brilliant teachers, have redesigned the web site, web site not yet launched - brilliant teachers, spend their time teaching, too busy to get involved in the web site And many others. Cheers Caroline Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
I would look at Sussex as well as City, UCL, Middlesex, and the interaction course at the Royal College of Art. It may be worth asking the question is do they practice what they teach? How good is their web sites? I have done a quick scan and most of them fail such basic questions such as :- Do the web sites deal with basic questions such what facilities do they have? How much does the course cost? What are modules, and the learning outcomes? The most important question is who is teaching each module. Do they have any experience in that field? Have they contributed anything major to the subject they are teaching in. Surprisingly it is quite common for somebody to lecture in a field they know nothing about! Have I left out any question that there websites should answer? James http://blog.feralabs.com 2009/3/8 Nick de Voil > Tim > > I can't tell you whether it's better than the other two, but I can > tell you that the course at UCL is first-rate. Why not study the > syllabus for the 3 courses and come back with some more detailed > questions? > > Nick > > > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > Posted from the new ixda.org > http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39626 > > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org > Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
Tim I can't tell you whether it's better than the other two, but I can tell you that the course at UCL is first-rate. Why not study the syllabus for the 3 courses and come back with some more detailed questions? Nick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39626 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
Hi Tim, First of all I would like to say i have no experience to those universities you mentioned but i have experience @ Middlesex university as a post - graduate Interaction Design Student. 1) It is not possible to say what is better than other becoz it is mainly based on the course content and etc. My personal opinion is its better if you could do Interaction design course at a reputed university where it carry a strong course content. if you look at interaction design disciplines It covers HCI , Usability Engineering, Industrial design , Information Architecture, Human Factors, User interface Eng, Communication design also Interaction design in a part of User experience design. To get a basic idea i would suggest you to read Designing for Interaction by Dan Saffer . Madu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39626 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
Hi Tim, I was in exactly the same position as you in August last year. I chose to do the HCS course at City, I'm just coming up to the end of it very soon. It's a great course but not sure how it compares to the other 2. If you have any questions fire away,,, Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39626 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
Hi Tim, Can't answer your question directly I'm afraid, but thought you might be interested in a similar thread where this kind of thing's being discussed: http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=39584 PS, as a London-based web person maybe in a similar position to you I found it interesting that these institutions offered degrees in these areas. I was aware that City was involved in HCI research, although not UCL and Kingston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39626 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Post-graduate degree advice (London, UK)
Hello, Possibly a question for my UK colleagues only, but I know there are some distinguished list members who might be able to offer their insight. I'm currently researching three post-graduate HCI/Usability/Interaction degrees at three institutions in and around London UK, at: City University, UCL and Kingston. 1. Is it possible to say one is better than another? I'm a front-end designer with around nine years experience, who has responsibility for usability and interaction design but am trying to move further into an IA-type role. Which leads me to my second question: 2. Maybe I'm better off finding a junior IA role and doing it full-time rather than studying? Clearly the answers to these questions could easily come down to a personal preference and the quality of my final degree is possibly more dependent on my ability and willingness to study for it... but if anyone has any advice or suggestions or personal experience of degrees at these universities I'd be very happy to hear them. Thanks, Tim Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
