Course Number: IAT 454
Course Title: Human-Centered Systems Design Studio IV
Credit Hours: 3 Vector: 1-0-4 (lecture-tutorial-lab)
Course Description
Focuses on the acquisition of relevant knowledge and skill in designing, implementing and evaluating human-centered systems. Each of the four Design Studio courses has a similar structure: workshops around key issues arising in the particular human-centered system being designed and a semester-long project with multiple milestones as the primary assessment device.
Prerequisite: Completion of 69 credits, including two of IAT 353, 354 and 453.
Recommended: None.
Corequisite: None.
Special Instructions: None.
Course(s) to be dropped if this course is approved:
None.
This is one of four core upper division design studio courses in the Technology in Arts and Design (TAD) Stream. Its aim is the acquisition of relevant knowledge and skill in designing, implementing and evaluating human-centred systems. Together with the three other design studio courses it provides students with repeated practice in such system work. Each of the four courses has similar structure: workshops around key issues arising in the particular human-centred system being designed and a semester-long project with multiple milestones as the primary assessment device.
Will this be a required or elective course in the curriculum; probable enrolment when offered?
This is a core required course for the Technology in Arts and Design Stream. It is an elective for other streams. The expected registration would be 30 students per offering.
Indicate Semester and Year this course would be first offered and planned frequency of offering thereafter.
First offering: Fall 2005.
Which of your present CFL faculty have the expertise to offer this course? Will the course be taught by sessional or limited term faculty?
V. Kumar, M. Hatala, P. Polydorou, V. Kyrylov, B. Ben Youssef, T. Calvert, B. Fisher, R. Woodbury.
Are there any proposed student fees associated with this course other than tuition fees?
No.
Is this course considered a `duplicate' of any current or prior course under the University's duplicate course policy? Specify, as appropriate.
No.
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?
No.
Does this course require computing resources (e.g. hardware, software, network wiring, use of computer laboratory space) and if so, describe how they will be provided.
The course requires access to labs with appropriate hardware and software. The purpose of the labs is to support students in designing, implementing and testing systems. The needed equipment will depend on the cases developed, but will include personal computers and servers, a network, visual, audio and physical interfaces and physical prototyping equipment.
The objectives of the studio courses are for students to develop the ability to work in a variety of human-centred system development roles, to understand and be able to deploy a range of technology and interface types, and to begin a process of maturation as designers of human-centred systems. The pedagogical structure of these courses is student engagement in a design case and formal instruction in needed material relevant to the design case – in essence, this is the well-known pattern of instruction used in design schools worldwide.
Each of the four courses has a different theme. The first three courses present different combinations of problem scope and definition, task environment, interaction type, technology type and work organization. The fourth course is a capstone course in which students have a significant role in all aspects of design, particularly project selection and scope.
Particular design cases will be developed for each studio to ensure breadth in students’ design experience. A case comprises a particular situation for which a system is to be designed, technology to be deployed in the system being designed and a team organization by which the problem is to be addressed. Examples of design cases include performance spaces, design environments, games engines, video conferencing systems and learning management systems. The program will seek advice from industry on current design cases. The following describes the dimensions that describe a design case. The cases for the first three studio courses will provide a wide variation across these dimensions.
Problem scope and definition specifies the structure of a design problem. Well-defined problems such as adding functionality to a solid modelling system provide an agreed structure within which a design varies, clear metrics for success and known design processes. Ill-defined problems require significant invention of design structure, success metrics or design processes. Scope describes the complexity of technological response to a problem, for example, from device to environment. Typically students progress from well- to ill-defined and from small to large scope design problems.
The task environment in which system users operate affects the range of feasible technical responses. Tasks vary in cognitive load (compare a building designer and a casual museum visitor), in goals (compare progressing through the levels of a game to the experience of a theatrical performance) and in processes of work (compare cataloguing to problem framing in design).
The type of user engagement varies across systems. For example engagement may be dominated by physical interaction, for example, in a ski simulator, by perceptual issues (a design review system for automobiles), or by linking internal to external representations (any authoring system), or by creating multiple representations (digital and physical models in design).
Contemporary systems display a wide range of solution structures. A ubiquitous environment puts a premium on sensors, effectors, controls and distributed communication. A learning environment typically has a client-server structure with use cases and interfaces that differ by user role. A web-based visualization system requires high performance networks, multiple processors and coordinated displays.
Studio courses are structured around the design problem addressed. They comprise working sessions and reviews on the students’ designs and workshops covering key topics relevant to the particular case at hand.
The initial cases for the studio courses other than the graduation studio are described in each studio course proposal. Each topic presents a full range of variation across the design dimensions above – the choice of cases provides a range of design experiences.
This fourth design studio is the graduation studio and may only be taken after successful completion of at least two of the first three studios. In it, students will work with faculty to devise a complete project, from inception to demonstration of prototype. Projects may be individual or team, by permission of the instructor.
Grading will be based on performance in a mid-term and final design reviews, quizzes on workshop topics and class participation; quizzes 20%, mid-term 30%, final design review 40% and class participation 10 %
None – A case document will be developed for each case used in a design studio course.