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BA concept seminar structure:

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Dr Joëlle Bitton
Dr Björn Franke
Dr Antonio Scarponi
Office hours by appointment

The module takes place over 2 weeks, from 08.01.18 to 19.01.18, from Monday to Friday, 9.30-17.00 -  see timetable below for detailed hours and classrooms.
Class sessions include lectures, discussions, mentoring sessions, in-class exercises, assignments and independent study blocks.
Projects are conducted individually or with team of two students at most.

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1) Overview and Objectives

Topic summary (a paragraph explaining the topic of the course)

Objectives set for the students: learning outcomes and expected deliverables

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(2) Course Outline

Brief structure of the course or module over the semester (how the module is organised week by week or if the course is designed in 3 parts, etc)

Students will develop a conceptual and practical exploration for their final BA thesis and present the experience they aim to create in the form of a 5-page essay, a blog documenting the 2-weeks progress and a prototype.

The concept seminar addresses notions in preparation for their final thesis work:

- what does it mean to make a statement, a contribution
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how to expand a thesis disposition

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towards a process of idea generation, translation

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and execution

Several exercices will allow to test out the scale of the thesis.

(2) Course Outline

The 2 weeks are divided into two parts: an investigative week with quick exercises and iterations, and a second week with more independent work where students can advance their prototypes, engage in field study and test out some ideas.

See below for a detailed calendar.


(3) Expectations and Grading

See Example below:

Grades will be based on

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class participation

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, documentation (journal), essay and final work. 
Contributing to constructive group feedback is an essential aspect of class participation. 
Regular attendance is required. Two or more unexcused absences will affect the final grade. Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.

Essay 40% 

Final essay 30% 

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Prototype 30% 

Journal Documentation 20% 

Class participation 10% 

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.  

(5) Deliverables

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See Example below:

  • Oral presentations

Students must independently prepare lectures on selected texts from the week. These can be presented in different formats. 
Possible presentation formats are:

    • Live sketching
    • Demo with prototyping
    • Slides presentation
    • etc.

The presentation should include a 3-pages written discussion, made available to the class and instructor by Friday 9am, prior to the day of the class to insure a general discussion.

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Additional sources can be added to inform the discussion if necessary.

  • Final Essay

The essay is a

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5-

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page essay with a diversity of sources and bibliography (classified by genre: book, book chapter, journal article, conference article, academic thesis, newspaper article, web article, etc). 

The

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essay expands the thesis disposition with observations and conclusions drawn from the two weeks BA concept seminar.

  • Prototype

The prototype is the manifestation of your ideas into a service, a product, a method, a user's experience, etc.

  • Journal/Blog

A separate 'Journal' is developed by each student that reflects on learnings from the seminar. It should be in the form of an online blog (ie. WordPress, Tumblr or other):

  • The journal should be structured in a generally comprehensible manner
  • The lecture notes, including annotations, are stored
  • Notes, sketches for each lesson should be included as well

Calendar


Week 1Monday 8.1Tuesday 9.1Wednesday 10.1Thursday 11.1Friday 12.1 
Morning

Brief Introduction about the module

Quick Round: Presentation of Intents / Ideas

Exercise 1: 20 ways of description

Exercise 2: 20 ways of investigation

Exercise 3: 20 ways of manifestation

Individual DiscussionsAd-hoc lecturers presentations based on student projects
Afternoon

Follow-up: Pick 2-3 and develop

Follow-up: Pick 2-3 and developFollow-up: Pick 2-3 and developIndividual DiscussionsExercise 4: Situate
Week 2Monday 15.1Tuesday 16.1Wednesday 17.1Thursday 18.1Friday 19.1
MorningMid-Presentation: where are you now? what is your road map?

Field / Practice Study


Field / Practice Study

Exercise 5: Presentations speed round

Final Presentations: progress and 'pretotype'


AfternoonField / Practice Study

Field / Practice Study


MentoringField / Practice Study17.00 5-page essay deliveries

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