New Course Proposal - CMNS 354 Communication and Social Issues in Design

Calendar Information

Course Number: CMNS 354

Course Title: Communication and Social Issues in Design

Credit Hours: 4 Vector: 2-2-2

Course Description

Prerequisite: 60 credits, including any one of the following: CMNS 253, CMPT 275; KIN 201, KIN 205, or ENSC 100.

Corequisite: N/A

Special Instructions: N/A

Course(s) to be dropped if this course is approved: N/A

Rationale for Introduction of this Course

Scheduling and Registration Information

Indicate Semester and Year this course would be first offered and planned frequency of offering thereafter.

Which of your present CFL faculty have the expertise to offer this course? Will the course be taught by sessional or limited term faculty?

Are there any proposed student fees associated with this course other than tuition fees?

Is this course considered a `duplicate' of any current or prior course under the University's duplicate course policy? Specify, as appropriate.

Resource Implications

Note: Senate has approved (S.93-11) that no new course should be approved by Senate until funding has been committed for necessary library materials. Each new course proposal must be accompanied by a library report and, if appropriate, confirmation that funding arrangements have been addressed.

Provide details on how existing instructional resources will be redistributed to accommodate this new course. For instance, will another course be eliminated or will the frequency of offering of other courses be reduced; are there changes in pedagogical style or class sizes that allow for this additional course offering.

Does the course require specialized space or equipment not readily available in the department or university, and if so, how will these resources be provided?

Does the course require specialized space or equipment not readily available in the department or university, and if so, how will these resources be provided?

Course Outline

This course can be used as an upper division elective in Communication, and has been approved as an upper division elective in Computing Science, Engineering Science (as an approved complementary studies elective in the "OTHER" category), and Kinesiology.

It is recommended for:

• Communication students interested in technology and society;
• Kinesiology students in the human factors/ergonomics stream;
• Computing Science and Engineering students interested in usability and the social implications of their work.

Topics will include:

• arts, craft, innovation and design;
• the design process as a social and communicative process;
• cultural factors in design;
• communicating across disciplinary boundaries;
• the use of representations in the design process;
• universal design;
• sex, gender and design;
• environmental considerations in design and green design;
• ergonomic constraints in design;
• user involvement in the design process.

The course will consist of weekly 2-hour lectures, and 2-hour labs. Lectures will be used to introduce students to a range of topics. Labs will be used to give students practical experience addressing the topics introduced during lectures. Students will work together in small groups (ideally 3 students, though 4 may be permissible) during labs, and they will complete a variety of exercises designed to complement lecture topics.

Students will be evaluated on a combination of individual and group assignments.

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to "Intellectual Honesty" and "Academic Discipline" (see the current Calendar, General Regulations Section).

The objective of final papers and projects is to design or modify a technology. Students do not require previous experience, as the lab exercises and readings will lead them through the steps required to complete their final projects and related papers. All of the assignments are intended to assist students in completing their final projects and papers. Detailed instructions for completing the final projects and paper will be given to students at the beginning of the term.

The in-class mid-term will encourage students to synthesize materials introduced in lectures, readings and labs. It should be viewed as an opportunity to demonstrate that you have kept up with assigned readings and attended labs and lectures regularly, as well as a creative exercise. It will consist of a few short answer questions, as well as one or two extended essay questions.

Each week during the lab time students will be given one or more exercises to complete during lab time, in small groups. Part way through the semester, in their small groups, students will have to complete an extended lab exercise (a design brief), and submit it for evaluation. This assignment builds on work completed in all of the labs that preceded it.

One of the lab exercises included in your lab manual consists of obtaining information about how a technology is used, from those people who use the technology. Your lab exercise will consist of collecting information from users about their use of a technology, and presenting what you have found. You will be given more guidance about methods you can use to obtain user information (e.g., direct observation, interviews, focus groups, etc.) in class and labs. Your lab manual will provide further detail about how to write up your lab exercise.

Working in small groups, students will invent, modify or design a technology. (Some lab time will be set aside for students working in groups to work on their projects.) Groups must submit a paper that provides a rationale for the invention, modification or design of the technology that the group has focussed on, and charts decisions made during the design process, including social and cultural aspects of design. In addition, each student must hand in an additional short paper that addresses how social, cultural and disciplinary issues were addressed in their group’s design process, and how material from assigned readings and lectures was incorporated into their group’s project.

It is expected that students will attend both lectures and labs regularly, and will come to class prepared. Class participation will be based on contributions to lectures and labs.