BA concept seminar structure:
Instructors:
Dr Joëlle Bitton
Prof. Dr Karmen Franinovic
Office hours by appointment
- The module takes place over 2 weeks, from 07.01.18 to 18.01.18, from Monday to Friday, 9.30-17.00 in room tba - see calendar below for detailed sessions.
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.
(1) Overview and Objectives
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 2-page thesis project description, a blog documenting the 2-weeks progress and a pretotype showing the core aspects of the interactive experience they are aiming to design.
The concept seminar addresses notions in preparation for their final thesis work:
- what does it mean to make a statement and a contribution to the field of interaction design?
- how to identify the design, social and experiential opportunities within the topic of interest?
- how to define a space of potential design explorations?
- how to narrow down the topic following own personal positioning, approach and interests?
- how to test out the scale and the scope 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 where students can advance their pretotype, engage in field study and test out some ideas.
See below for a detailed calendar.
(3) Expectations and Grading
Grades will be based on class participation, 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 30%
Pretotype 40%
Journal Documentation 20%
Class participation 10%
Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.
(5) Deliverables
- Final Essay
The essay is a 5-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 essay expands the thesis disposition with observations and conclusions drawn from the two weeks BA concept seminar.
- Pretotype
The pretotype 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 1 | Monday 7.1 | Tuesday 8.1 | Wednesday 9.1 | Thursday 10.1 | Friday 11.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning 9.30 - 12.30 | Brief Introduction about the module Quick Round: Presentation of Intents / Ideas Exercise 1: 20 ways of description | Exercise 2: 10 ways of investigation | Exercise 3: 10 ways of manifestation | Individual Discussions | Ad-hoc lecturers presentations based on student projects |
| Afternoon 13.30 - 17.00 | Follow-up: Pick 2-3 and develop | Follow-up: Pick 2-3 and develop | Follow-up: Pick 2-3 and develop | Individual Discussions | Exercise 4: Situate |
| Week 2 | Monday 14.1 | Tuesday 15.1 | Wednesday 16.1 | Thursday 17.1 | Friday 18.1 |
| Morning 9.30 - 12.30 | Mid-Presentation: where are you now? what is your road map? | Field / Practice Study | Field / Practice Study | Field / Practice Study | Final Presentations: progress and 'pretotype' |
| Afternoon 13.30 - 17.00 | Field / Practice Study | Field / Practice Study | Mentoring (on request) | Field / Practice Study | 17.00 5-page essay deliveries |