Alan Dix > 2007

Alternative Design Brief for Teaching Interaction Design:
Finding New Aplications for Existing Technologies

Corina Sas and Alan Dix

Computing Department, Infolab21, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

< Corina on the Web > < Alan on the Web >

Paper at HCI Educators 2007. Creativity3: Experiencing to educate and design. Aveiro, Portugal, 29-30 March 2007.

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Abstract

This paper offers a critique of the design brief as it is currently used in teaching interaction design and proposes an alternative way of developing it. Such a design brief requires the exploration of alternative application domains for an already developed technology. The paper presents a case study where such a novel type of design brief has been offered to the students taking part in a collaborative design project and discusses how it supported divergent thinking and creativity as well as helped enhancing the learning objective.

Keywords: Design education, creativity, novel technology, HCI, collaborative design project

REFERENCES

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  2. S. Howard, User interface design and HCI: identifying the training needs of practitioners, SIGCHI Bulletin, 27(3), 17-22 (1995).
  3. C. Kehoe. Supporting Critical Design Dialog, Ph.D. Dissertation, Georgia Institute of
    Technology, 2001 (unpublished).
  4. G. Strong, J.B. Gasen, T. Hewett, D. Hix, J. Morris, M.J. Muller, and D.G. Novick, New Directions in HCI Education, Research, and Practice, Washington, DC: NSF/ARPA, 1994.
  5. D.A. Wroblewski, in: Taking software design seriously, edited by J. Karat (Academic Press, Cambridge, 1991), pp. 1-19.
  6. C. Sas, Learning Approaches for Teaching Interaction Design. Proceedings of HCIEd.2006-1 inventivity, Limerick, Ireland, 23-24 March, 2006.
  7. D. Schön, Educating the reflective practitioner (Jossey Bass, London, 1987).
  8. R. Donnelly, and M. Fitzmaurice, in: Emerging Issues in the Practice of University Learning and Teaching, edited by G. O’Neill, S. Moore, and B. McMullin, (Dublin: AISHE, 2005) pp. 87-98.
  9. P.L. Phillips, Creating the Perfect Design Brief: How to manage design for strategic advantage (Allworth Press, New York, 2004).
  10. D. Benyon, P. Turner, and S. Turner, Designing Interactive Systems (Addison-Wesley, London, 2005).
  11. A. Dix, J. Finlay, G. Abowd and R. Beale, Human-Computer Interaction, 3rd Edition (Prentice Hall, London, 2003).
  12. A. Dix, T. Ormerod, M. Twidale, C. Sas, P. Gomes da Silva, and L. McKnight. Why bad ideas are a good idea. Proceedings ofHCIEd.2006-1 inventivity, Limerick, Ireland, 23-24
    March, 2006.
Full reference:
C. Sas and A. Dix (2007). Alternative Design Brief for Teaching Interaction Design: Finding New Aplications for Existing Technologies. in HCI Educators 2007. Creativity3: Experiencing to educate and design. Aveiro, Portugal, 29-30 March 2007. http://www.hcibook.com/alan/papers/ HCIed2007-alt-design-brief/
more:
Alan's pages on Research and Innovation Techniques and essays on imagination and rationality and related topics
related papers:
A. Dix, T. Ormerod, M. Twidale, C. Sas, P. Gomes da Silva, L. McKnight (2006). Why bad ideas are a good idea. in Proceedings of HCIEd.2006-1 inventivity, Ballina/Killaloe, Ireland. 23-24 March 2006    abstract and paper
C. Sas and A. Dix (2006). Exploring the Design Space. in DIS 2006 Workshop: Exploring Design as a Research Activity, Penn State, USA. 25 June 2006 abstract and paper

Figure 3: PinDoctor physical prototype

http://www.hcibook.com/alan/papers/HCIed2007-alt-design-brief/

Alan Dix 1/3/2008