I´m absolutely sure there is no possibility of agreeing on an universal curriculum for Interaction Design because each location has it´s particular market needs and cultural characteristics.
We can better direction this discussion by focusing on situated examples. In Brazil, for example, we have a high demand for communication technologies and so for highly communicative professionals. Our educational system is slighly different from US: - technological studies - focused on the market - undergrad studies (we call graduate studies) - focused on academy - specialization studies (we call post-graduate studies) - focused on market - master studies (we call master studies not graduate) - focused on academy We´ve stablished a specialization course on Interaction Design, drawing mainly from Sociology, Anthropology and Communication Studies. We don´t focus on Cognitive Psychology because we think it´s too much "scientific" for our market. It´s important to say that in Brazil, there´s a large gap between academy and market, because our intense social inequality. We think that by focusing on social and communicative aspects of technology, brazilians can compete in the global market, where technological innovation is dominated by more richer countries. Actually, we think that this is the greatest contribution of Interaction Design for Technology development. So, this is our curriculum for a 360 hours course running across 1 year and half. Comments and critics are highly appreciated: Module I – Technology and Society Interaction Design Foundations Broad view about theories of Interaction Design, principles, elements, methodologies, tools and process. New Media and Culture Web 2.0, interactive media, interaction society. Sociology of Technology Technology and society, artifacts policits, technology appropriation, accessibility. Design Research Methodology Scientific Paradigms, project methodologies, research techniques and methods. Module II – Reception of Artifacts Design, Art and Technology Artistic experimentation, interactive technologies, contemporary art, netart. Mobility and Pervasive Computing Sociotecnical networks, urban sociology, ubiquitous computing, technology in the quotidien. Visual Anthropolgy Ethnography, audiovisual documentaries, photography, participatory observation. Usability and Ergonomics Cognitive ergonomics, guidelines and heuristics, interface evaluation techniques. Module III – Production of Artifacts Interface Design Interaction design patterns, perception, information design techniques, iconography. Hypermedia and Language Seiotics, hypertext, language figures, reading/writing, communicability. Prototyping Techniques I Low-fidelity prototyping, creativity techniques, modelling. Prototyping Techniques II Hardware prototyping, introduction into electronics, circuit analysis, physical computing. Interaction Project Planning, creation and development of interactive artifacts. More details: http://www.faberludens.com.br/?q=en/node/198 -- . .{ Frederick van Amstel }. Curitiba ´´ PR ¶ ...''''''''''|| www.usabilidoido.com.br Instituto www.faberludens.com.br . MSN e Gtalk [EMAIL PROTECTED] \\................... ________________________________________________________________ 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
