one way we look at this in our programs is to concentrate on *practice* at the masters level, and unique academic contribution at the PhD level.
in this way, the background of the candidate will make the greatest difference on the evaluation of their exegesis. to explain: our masters of design by research is *usually* done by project, and usually attracts people who already have an existing practice (disciplines may & do vary). Candidates will make things, and reflect on that making/crafting/learning/process etc and are examined on an exhibition of their *things* + an exegesis tying them all together wrt design practice. This is usually done in a 1-2 hr presentation/crit/aural exam at the end of either 2 yrs full time or 4 yrs part time. for PhD the stakes go up wrt unique contribution and academic relevance, but the model can be similar, although some do opt to make a thesis, this is pretty rare. and yes, finding people who can assess this kind of research (with a good level of critical insight) is always a challenge. Being in the antipodes, we usually fly people in for our graduate research conference every 6 months, (a weekend where all candidates present work in progress, and exams are done) This tends to acculturate them to the sensibilities of the programs, and the process we've developed. http://www.rmit.edu.au/ad/grc hope this makes sense in this thread... cheers jy On 14/12/2007, at 4:10 AM, David Malouf wrote: > Let me be more concise: > > If you don't have a final "thing" that you can interact with; you > haven't > completed the design process. > > I understand that design is more than craft (I shouldn't have been so > absolute), but I do not believe in "design thinking" in so far as > you can't > design without craft. Modeling, simulations, prototypes, etc. are > required. > Narrative text and flat images are not good enough when it comes to > learning > how to do interaction design. > > Even if the master's thesis is looking at something precise, that > precision > should be about the interaction and thus should require the right > level of > modeling that presents the foundations surrounding that interaction > at whose > core is TIME! If you can't experience over time, then you didn't do > interaction design. Maybe the masters degree is not in interaction > design > and thus this requirement is moot. ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
