Interaction Design Education Research Articles

Three theoretical foundations for interaction design theory, practice and exploration

Purpose: This article reviews the theoretical foundations of interaction design to draw attention to three theoretical foundations of the field. It suggests that these three foundations endure even as the theory, practice and exploration of interaction design continue to evolve. Methodology: The article integrates and extends the foundational work of prior theorists to contribute novel responses to persistent questions about the nebulous nature of interaction design and its relationship with digital technologies as they continue to develop. It takes the form of a review, integrating the work of key theorists within the field, including Gui Bonsiepe, Kristina Höök, Jon Kolko, Jonas Löwgren and Erik Stolterman amongst others. Findings: An integrative review of the literature leads to a proposal for three foundations for interaction design, that it: (1) involves seeing the world as design for dialogues between users and complex artefacts; (2) pertains to particular kinds of design complexity and (3) is concerned with dialogues that extend across both the material and the virtual and involve control and representation technologies. Implications: The article discusses theoretical underpinnings of interaction design and makes a novel contribution to an ongoing discussion within the field about coherency. The work has particular significance for those involved in teaching interaction design. Originality: Three theoretical foundations for interaction design are suggested in this article. They are a synthesis of prior theoretical works leading to a novel perspective on the coherency between interaction design exploration, practice and theory.

Exploring the Impact of Learning Technologies in Teaching Interaction Design: A Case Study at First Technical University, Nigeria

Exploring the Impact of Learning Technologies in Teaching Interaction Design: A Case Study at First Technical University, Nigeria

Research on Teaching Interaction Design and Practice Innovation of Digital Media Technology

Research on Teaching Interaction Design and Practice Innovation of Digital Media Technology

Fostering Creative Confidence with SCD in Interaction Design Education

Creative confidence is a concept that has been popularly linked to design thinking in more generalist interaction design education. Based on an analysis of creative confidence, however, we propose that Speculative and Critical Design practices (SCD) can be a better perspective for developing creative confidence in aspiring designers. We present how we have taught two subsequent SCD courses as part of a short 2-year generalist interaction design master’s programme. Based on the outcome of selected student projects, course evaluations, and personal reflections, we articulate the promises and pitfalls of using SCD to foster creative confidence.

The anthropophagic studio: towards a critical pedagogy for interaction design

ABSTRACT The design studio is the standard approach for interaction design education in the Global North. Nevertheless, in the Global South, this approach is not directly applicable due to authoritarian educational systems founded on colonialist ideologies. This research reports on an attempt to appropriate the design studio and fundamental interaction design concepts in Brazil. Following the anthropophagy tradition of hybridization, the foreign concepts were not rejected but devoured and digested together with Global South concepts, such as radical alterity, mediation, and oppression to form what we call the anthropophagic studio. The process gradually revealed to students and researchers the role of interaction design in reproducing other historical oppressions beyond colonialism. This finding points to the need for a critical pedagogy that can aptly tackle technology-mediated oppression.

CHALLENGES FOR INTERACTION DESIGN EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH: A CASE STUDY OF BOTSWANA

AbstractIn a long‐term partnership between a university in the UK and one in Botswana teaching interaction design, the Botswana cohort of students consistently performed less well than their UK counterparts. To investigate this, we conducted a pair of design protocol studies: one in the UK and one in Botswana. Our findings show that designer behaviour differs in the two contexts in terms of process, use of ideation techniques and solution and problem focus, when approaching the task. More specifically, UK students follow the approach taught in the module, while this process conflicts with Botswana students' behaviours. However, we also find that Botswana students prioritise the external context of the designed product rather than its interaction characteristics, which is problematic as interaction is the key feature of interactive products. These results are significant because without leveraging indigenous knowledge to design interaction that supports local user characteristics and context, sustainable and equitable development through technological innovation will be suppressed. In this paper, we highlight challenges for interaction design education in Botswana, which include how to recognise and support a diversity of design approaches while providing suitable pedagogic scaffolding. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Designing interaction design education workshop

Designing interaction design education workshop

Designing interaction: How do interaction design students address interaction?

Interaction design is usually described as being concerned with interactions with and through artifacts but independent of a specific implementation. Design work has been characterized as a conversation between the designer and the situation and this conversation poses a particular challenge for interaction design as interactions can be elusive and difficult to describe. Moreover, current trends in interaction design introduce physical materials to a higher degree resulting in even more complex design situations. There is a lack of knowledge about how interaction designers, and especially students, address the very phenomenon of interaction. This study contributes by describing how interaction design students attempt to address aspects of interaction and by presenting an in-depth analysis in the context of an interactionary-type design exercise. The quantitative and qualitative findings showed that (1) the design students brought up aspects of interactivity and dynamics through talk and gestures but (2) a comprehensive design idea about interaction did not guide the design work and they were to a little degree engaged in planning sequences of interactions or interaction on a longer time scale, (3) using physical materials disrupted interaction design, and, (4) there was a lack of continuity when addressing interaction compared to how proposals about artifacts were pursued. As interaction is the core of interaction design, the findings are discussed in terms of how the immaterial design materials may “talk back” to designers. Practical strategies for how the observed phenomena could be constructively addressed within interaction design education are suggested.

Tangible Interaction Design: Preparing Future Designers for the Needs of Industrial Innovation

The last decade has seen a remarkable uptake of interactive systems, products and services. Their design requires a shift from the traditional skills of material product-focused designers. We argue that the creativity in designing these information-enriched products needs to stress both physical properties and interactivity. The challenge is finding an educational approach that can equip industrial design graduates with stronger creativity instead of overstating the awareness of new technologies. This approach should extend rather than replace the knowledge, skills and experience from traditional design education. Using Monash University as the test bed, Tangible Interaction Design Education (TIDE), the cornerstone of this pedagogical model, provides an approach that blurs the boundaries between tangible objects and intangible services.

Interaction Design Education in the Information Technology Age - Focused on the Visual Expression of Interactive Multimedia Design Curriculum -

Interaction Design Education in the Information Technology Age - Focused on the Visual Expression of Interactive Multimedia Design Curriculum -

Grading in interaction design education using design practitioners’ conceptions of process quality

The designed product is often assessed in interaction design education, but there are also courses that focus on learning the design process. It is then necessary to develop criteria for grading in such courses. To make a successful transfer from theory to practice, students also need to learn the criteria practitioners use, rather than the criteria that academically oriented teachers use. To do this, one approach is to align criteria with the conceptions practicing interaction designers have of process quality in design. Therefore, the research questions for this study are what those conceptions are, and how they can be utilized in grading criteria for interaction design projects in education. Interviews were made with 10 interaction designers. The interviews were qualitatively analyzed. The results demonstrate that practicing interaction designers conceptualize the quality of the design process in three ways: it is good if established methods are used and the design is managed within resource constraints, and within organizational and technological limitations, while also meeting stated objectives; it is even better if the design has a thought-through rationale; and ideally, the design should also be inspirational. These conceptions were transferred to points on a criteria-referenced grading scale which was used to develop course specific grading criteria. The criteria were evaluated in terms of comprehensibility and reliability. The evaluation showed that most of the students who also attended lectures understood the criteria. A high and significant covariation and a high level of agreement between the two teachers who graded the projects were shown. Further, the developed criteria should be generalizable to other process-centered interaction design courses and to assessment in other design disciplines.

Crafting a delightful experience

research-article Share on Crafting a delightful experience: teaching interaction design to teens Authors: Carmen Dukes Project: Interaction Project: InteractionView Profile , Katie Koch Project: Interaction Project: InteractionView Profile Authors Info & Claims InteractionsVolume 19Issue 2March + April 2012 pp 46–50https://doi.org/10.1145/2090150.2090162Online:01 March 2012Publication History 5citation700DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations5Total Downloads700Last 12 Months282Last 6 weeks86 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Digital Access to the Education of Interaction Design: A Novel Way for Teaching Interaction Design to Industrial Design Students

Digital Access to the Education of Interaction Design: A Novel Way for Teaching Interaction Design to Industrial Design Students

Standardizing interaction design education

The objective of this paper is to which extend the didactic format of studio-based group-work is applicable for creating a common-ground for Interaction Design Education in European Perspective. The current debate on design education shows us a landscape of different initiatives. So far difficulties have arisen in the area of accreditation and validation of interaction design as an educational field. This in contrast to all the EU agreements and strategies. In this paper we will closely look at these difficulties from the perspective of the intensive EU-funded summer-course on Interaction Design with four participating institutes coming from four different EU countries. The course facilitated learning through the usage of the didactic format of studio-based group-work. This approach enabled blended learning and provided a commongroud for intercultural learning through design. A qualitative assessment conducted on the learning format by the 40 multi-cultural group of students and staff provided insightful guidelines into the appreciation and value of the format. The evaluation results showed that the studio-based group-work is an efficient method to overcome cultural differences in design methodology, teamwork and personal skills.

Enhancing human–computer interaction design education: teaching affordance design for emerging mobile devices

The evolution of human-computer interaction design (HCID) over the last 20 years suggests that there is a growing need for educational scholars to consider new and more applicable theoretical models of interactive product design. The authors suggest that such paradigms would call for an approach that would equip HCID students with a better under- standing of the social context of technology design and development. An intrinsic part of the proposed pedagogical model is the concept of affordance or that which implicitly suggests to the user a particular kind of functionality of the product. According to cognitive theory, people approach multi-functional mobile devices by building mental models of their functions, starting with physical appearance. A case study of an HCID teaching strategy, based upon the primacy of affordance, highlights how students can be taught a range of knowledge domains for product design to support creative problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

Teaching Gameplay Design is Teaching Interaction Design

This paper describes the benefits of integrating gameplay design in interaction design teaching since this allows students to practice designing for unusual situations, considering ethic and aesthetic issues as well as issues of use and abuse, often all in the same project. Some examples – ranging from a three week group project to a half day exercise – are described, each together with aims and noted learning outcomes related to interaction design, as well as with a general discussion. In addition, a few student projects are described together with learning outcomes. Finally the pros and cons of this approach are discussed, and educators willing to try it, but inexperienced in games, are getting some useful information on what to look into.

Business-driven assignment for teaching HCI

The purpose of this paper is to offer a reflection on some of the challenges of teaching interaction design. A proposed solution to address these challenges is through a business- driven problem which has been translated into a research question to be tackled by students in their learning context. The case study outlines and evaluates the six stages of this process. Apart from providing the company with research solutions that can be used to improve its profitability, other benefits consist of better teaching/learning process which emphasises learning by doing and involves applying research knowledge and skills in an industrial project. The paper also highlights the lessons learned and the understanding gained into how this approach can be successfully replicated.

Perspectives on user interface design training by Scott Berkun

Scott Berkun, design and usability training manager for Microsoft Corporation, may be familiar to many as the interlocutor for the first CHI conference Interactionary. At CHI2002 he is the organizer of two workshops, one on Web navigation, the other on teaching interaction design. I chatted with him about user interface design training at Microsoft and popularizing design with activities at the CHI conferences. As both a practitioner and an educator (with Las Vegas potential!) Scott has a great perspective on the field of HCI, user experience, and interaction design. Want to know what's on his agenda next? Read on…