Course syllabus

Course-PM

DAT540 Emerging trends and critical topics in interaction design lp2 HT24 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Computer Science and Engineering

Contact details

Sara Ljungblad (Examiner) Sara.ljungblad@chalmers.se 

Morten Fjeld (Examiner) morten.fjeld@chalmers.se 

Sofia Thunberg (Teacher) Sofia.thunberg@chalmers.se 

Aris Allisandrakis (Teacher) Aris.allisandrakis@chalmers.se 

Invited guest teachers:

Samantha Hookway and Fredric Garneij Studio Alight 

Anders Håkansson

Wendy Zhou

Course literature

Scientific papers and news articles, some suggested by the teachers and some by the students themselves. 

Course design

The course is held in English. It consists of lectures and seminars, where students are expected to participate actively. It also consists of a mandatory, individual design project that runs throughout the course.

Changes made since the last occasion

Students will be active in contributing to which trends that are explored. Some of the trends in this course based on student own interests, others are research trends and societal trends suggested by teachers. We will discuss different types of technological and societal trends, relevant for interaction design. We will move back in time - to get historical perspectives of HCI and media technology and forward in time - playing with futuring and trendspotting methods. You will  practice to analyze a trend from critical perspectives, such as feminist perspectives and accessibility. Each student will do an individually selected project, a design workbook, illuminating a possible trend through sketches, photographs (from a real place), expert interviews and individual reflections. Your individual  work will be supported by peer feedback in small groups.

Learning outcomes

Skills and abilities
Analyze, discuss and sketch designs in relation to a certain trend.
Analyze, discuss and sketch the use of novel technical solutions.
Read, analyze and extract relevant content from academic literature.

Judgment and approach
Discuss societal and ethical consequences of a certain trend, design or technical solution.

Content

Current trends in interaction design.
Novel (emergent) technologies relevant for interaction design.
Different views and approaches in regard to novel trends and technologies.
Systematic and practical exploration and communication of ideas within a design space.
Reading and understanding of academic literature and search for the current state of the art and practice presented on the web and in the media.

Organisation

The course is held in English. It consists of lectures, group work and seminars, where students are expected to participate actively. It contains a mandatory, individual design project that runs throughout the course.

Literature

Relevant academic literature complemented with trustworthy web references and media concerning the actual topic.

Examination form

The course is examined partly by written and oral assignments ( Discussions throughout the course & presentation at Mini-conference) and peer-review, and partly via a continuous design project and the design workbook. In order to pass the course, both these parts must be passed.

Lectures, literature sessions and design studios are mandatory

If a student misses two or more teaching sessions, a compensation task should be submitted for those sessions. The task and the content will depend on what the student missed (e.g summary of literature for the literature session, summary of lecture or an individual task for and exercise.