Re: [IxDA Discuss] Teaching IxD through design challenges: Which challenges?
Hi JD, That sounds like a really good exercise, certainly meaty enough and realistic enough to teach some valuable truths. And it gives me one thing I hadn't previously considered for the list of lessons worth learning: * Content is often imperfect and inconsistent. Thanks for sharing John On 29 Jun 2009, at 22:00, JD Vogt wrote: Hi John, I designed and instructed a class last Spring at Virginia Tech, Designing UX for the Web, and it was meant to be a very hands-on sort of class. One of the assignments (mid-term) was for the students to assume that they had landed an architectural firm as a client who wanted a redesign of their website - with a particular emphasis on improving the portfolio section. My objective was to get the students thinking about the flow of moving from the home page to detailed information about a particular building project. Something we as professionals are often asked to do - move people from broad content to details so that decisions can be made. The content was based off of a real architectural firm's site with about 60 building projects of varying detail. However, they had to accommodate the fact that sometimes there was a page of info on a given building, sometimes there was only a paragraph. Sometimes there was one photo, sometimes there were 6. Imperfect content, just like the real world. 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] Teaching IxD through design challenges: Which challenges?
Hi all, I am interested in teaching interaction design through problem setting. I've seen a lot of books with titles like Programming challenges and it makes a lot of sense to learn programming through hands-on problem solving. I consider that the same is true of Interaction Design. That being the case, my questions are: 1. What graded list of problems or challenges would constitute part of a good IxD course? 2. What underlying lesson(s) does each problem illustrate for the student? I envision giving these problems out so that the Student works on them in their own time, then meeting to discuss their solutions and approach and try to draw out the underlying lessons. John 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] Teaching IxD through design challenges: Which challenges?
John wrote - I am interested in teaching interaction design through problem setting. I envision giving these problems out so that the Student works on them in their own time, then meeting to discuss their solutions and approach and try to draw out the underlying lessons. Hi John, Just wanted to say that within the field of design, where the designer is involved in reflective practice, the problems are set by the designers themselves. Even when designers are given a problem by their clients, they do not accept the problem as given. Instead, they view the problem given as an ill defined problem which is then solved by setting and resetting the problem. In this process, the design problem as well as solution evolve together. In fact, while the activity of design involves problem solving, it also involves finding the 'right' problem (in designer's opinion) to solve. I have used this process to teach interaction design at the University of Limerick, Ireland for last four years and I have seen very encouraging results. I'll be happy to discuss more on this should you have any questions or comments. regards, parag 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] Teaching IxD through design challenges: Which challenges?
Hi Parag, Many thanks for your response Just wanted to say that within the field of design, where the designer is involved in reflective practice, the problems are set by the designers themselves. Even when designers are given a problem by their clients, they do not accept the problem as given. Instead, they view the problem given as an ill defined problem which is then solved by setting and resetting the problem. Sure, problem setting is as much a part of design as problem solving. In practice, I spend more time defining and understanding the problem than I do in solving it. But that doesn't change what I'm looking for. I would like to compile a set of design challenges that people can undertake in the context of a design process, including problem setting. I'd also like to define the sorts of issues the challenge illustrates, so that discussion of the challenge can be an opportunity to learn more than just what one solution to one instance of a problem might be. This is akin to an IxD pattern library, although not exactly the same thing. Each pattern in a library sets out a common problem and discusses potential solutions. I'd like to do the same thing, but not provide a solution – just set the problem, and I'd like good notes on what sorts of common interaction design issues each challenge poses. Does that make sense? A good example of the sort of thing I have in mind is the problem set in Cooper's Interaction Designer recruitment aptitude test (http://www.cooper.com/documents/Careers_Exercise_IxDG.pdf ), where applicants are asked to look at a poorly designed interaction in MS Word and redesign it. If I could compile a list of challenges of that sort of scale, with good notes as to the nature of the Interaction problems encountered in each challenge, that'd be ideal. I have used this process to teach interaction design at the University of Limerick, Ireland for last four years and I have seen very encouraging results. I'll be happy to discuss more on this should you have any questions or comments. Sure, I'd be happy to talk to you off list on this. regards John 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] Teaching IxD through design challenges: Which challenges?
Hi John, Call it what you will, case-based, scenario-based or project based learning, they're great for teaching analytical and critical thinking skills using real world challenges. The key to doing this well is to carefully consider what outcomes you wish to achieve. Coming at this from an instructional design perspective, you need to figure out the learning objectives for your students which are measureable, observable results. Rather than what lessons do you want them to learn, what identifiable skills do you want them to learn? I'd be willing to talk to you about this offline if you're interested. Developing learning objectives isn't always as straighforward as it seems. Cheers, pat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43246 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] Teaching IxD through design challenges: Which challenges?
Hi Pat, I suppose defining learning objectives is a more precise statement of Part (2) of my project. I do need to engender some observable change in behaviour, and I know that defining and measuring such things is a specialist task. To give you some context, I'm creating a mentoring/professional development programme at work, so the goal is to get people to a good level of competence in IxD even if they are principally IAs, usability experts or some other flavour of UX professional. So there's no formal assessment here. However, I do see the benefits (and pitfalls) of creating good learning objectives and I'd be pleased to get your advice on the development of these when I get that far. I'd be most interested, though, in what you and others on the list think these objectives should be? Maybe I should kick off with a few examples, I'll have a think about it and post again. kind regards John Hi John, Call it what you will, case-based, scenario-based or project based learning, they're great for teaching analytical and critical thinking skills using real world challenges. The key to doing this well is to carefully consider what outcomes you wish to achieve. Coming at this from an instructional design perspective, you need to figure out the learning objectives for your students which are measureable, observable results. Rather than what lessons do you want them to learn, what identifiable skills do you want them to learn? I'd be willing to talk to you about this offline if you're interested. Developing learning objectives isn't always as straighforward as it seems. Cheers, pat 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] Teaching IxD through design challenges: Which challenges?
Hi John, I designed and instructed a class last Spring at Virginia Tech, Designing UX for the Web, and it was meant to be a very hands-on sort of class. One of the assignments (mid-term) was for the students to assume that they had landed an architectural firm as a client who wanted a redesign of their website - with a particular emphasis on improving the portfolio section. My objective was to get the students thinking about the flow of moving from the home page to detailed information about a particular building project. Something we as professionals are often asked to do - move people from broad content to details so that decisions can be made. The content was based off of a real architectural firm's site with about 60 building projects of varying detail. However, they had to accommodate the fact that sometimes there was a page of info on a given building, sometimes there was only a paragraph. Sometimes there was one photo, sometimes there were 6. Imperfect content, just like the real world. The students made sketches, revisions, wireframes, tried them out on each other, and then we video taped a paper wizard of oz simulating clicking from the home page, through galleries, and eventually to building details. (with real content and real interactions on high-def paper prototypes.) The students then made comps of their pages and presented them to the class. This was a pretty big assignment, but the students really enjoyed seeing the fruits of their labor and gained skills in creating navigational systems, information architectures, and interaction designs. JD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43246 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
