MUXD 5203 / Design Lab: The Industry ChallengePython

Java Python Course Syllabus

MUXD 5203 / Design Lab: The Industry Challenge / 4 credits

Course Dates: July 2 - August 20 2024

COURSE DESCRIPTION

MICA’s industry partners are engaged throughout this course and present students with challenges faced by professionals in the UX industry. Students work in teams and are provided with access to the professional world they are about to enter. UX professionals provide feedback, insight, encouragement, and critical analysis to students as they execute their projects.

Course Learning Outcomes:

1. Learn how to strategically apply discovery learnings to a tangible product

2. Understand how to balance user needs with business needs, as well as consider and leverage the technology being used to build the product

3. Learn how to give and accept critique

4. Learn how to apply feedback (peer, user, or client) to your work, iterating to make a stronger product

5. Gain practical experience in presenting your work, and making a case for your decisions

By the end of the course, students should:

· Know how to gather, analyze, and take into account the user’s needs when designing to solve a problem.

· Demonstrate adequate Project Presentation Skills.

· Be able to pick up on work started by someone else and have a seamless transition

Course Structure:

· This course will be delivered entirely online through Canvas, MICA’s learning management system. You will use your MICA account to login to the course. The course will take place over the duration of 8 weeks, each week there will be a synchronous Zoom meeting, accompanied by asynchronous work.

o We recommend using Chrome as your primary web browser for the best performance of both Zoom and Canvas.

· In Canvas, there will be a module for each week of the course which will have course materials, required readings, resources, assignments, etc.

COURSE RESOURCES (text, software, etc.)

Recommended Reading (not required):

· Optional Text 1: Universal Methods of Design - Expanded and Revised: 125 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions - December 3, 2019
Author: Bella Martin and Bruce Hanington
ISBN-10 : 1631597485
ISBN-13 : 978-1631597480

· Optional Text 2: Laws of UX: Using Psychology to Design Better Products & Services - May 12, 2020
Author: Jon Yablonski
ISBN-10 : 149205531X
ISBN-13 : 978-1492055310

Software:

· Microsoft Office/Google Docs for presentations

· A subscription to Adobe’s Creative Cloud software, specifically InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

· InVision, Sketch, or other software for wireframes and prototyping

· The ability to capture interactions via a screen recording program.

Websites:

· http://uxmastery.com/resources/techniques/Links to an external site.

· https://www.uxmatters.com/Links to an external site.

· https://www.usertesting.com/blog/essential-ted-talks-for-ux-design/Links to an external site.

LIBRARY GUIDE RESOURCES

Students can find additional resources for this course and the program at http://libguides.mica.edu/uxd (Links to an external site.)

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

Please email [email protected] as the first level of technical support. This includes questions regarding Canvas, Zoom, or other online learning tools. A staff member will be in contact within 24 hours and will escalate your request to the appropriate party if necessary.

Attendance and Participation

The live (synchronous) class takes place every Thursday from 7:30- 10:00 pm ET.

· Students are expected to attend all meetings of each class.

· Unexcused absences from as few as two classes will result in a failing grade.

· Students must notify faculty prior to being absent or as soon as possible after an absence.

· Students will be responsible for all activities and assignments during their absence, including watching the live lecture recording.

Regular, informed class participation is a weighted portion of the Overall Course Grade (see below). The minimum expectation is that students attend all live sessions and participate meaningfully in the sessions through the chat feature or audio.

By meaningful participation/contribution, the student is expected to add to or build upon, and ultimately further inform, the class discussion through research, experience, and/or access to resources that are appropriate to the topic of discussion and beneficial to the entire cohort. Please see the participation rubric for more detail. Discussion questions, wiki or glossary entries, or any other assignment that benefits the entire cohort may also be graded individually and/or as part of your participation grade.

Students are expected to display professional classroom etiquette, where common courtesy drives all policies. Courtesy means being available for every class, arriving for live sessions on time, handing in well-prepared assignments on time, and participating in class discussions in a cooperative, collegial spirit.

Assignments and Grading

Students will be expected to upload documents into the Canvas learning environment, not via email. All assignments should be uploaded using the following naming convention:

YYYY-MM-DD_Last_AssignmentTitle

· Readings, resources, and assignments will be available for most course weeks.

· Students are responsible for completing on time to ensure their ability to participate appropriately and progress successfully in the program.

· Course assignments should be completed using the software program cited in the assignment description.

o Assignments completed using word processing software (Microsoft Word, Google Drive document, etc.) should have 1-inch margins on all sides and the document should be double-spaced (see the MLA model.) The assignment heading will be in the upper left corner of the page and should include the student’s full name, assignment name, and due date.

o Assignments that use software other than word processing should include a title page or heading with the student’s full name, assignment name, and due date.

o Students will be expected to upload documents into the CANVAS learning environment

Late Work Policy

You are responsible for submitting assignments on or before the day/time they are due. Because of the nature of this online course, please be advised that “I had a computer problem” or “I was not connected” —and so on—are not valid excuses for not having an assignment on deadline, so please plan ahead.

Part of your grade is how well you adhere to deadlines. You are responsible for submitting assignments on or before the day they are due. Assignments not received on time will receive a 10% deduction for each day late. No assignment will be accepted more than 5 days late. Unless otherwise noted, assignments will be due by the start of the following week class.

OVERALL COURSE GRADING

· Assignments – (25%)

· Attendance and participation – (25%)

· Final project –  (50%)

Grading Notes

· Assignment grades will be completed and posted in the grade book no later than 1 week after the assignment due date.

· Points you receive for graded activities will be posted to the Canvas Grade Book. Click on the My Grades link on the left navigation to view your points.

· Final course grades will be available via the MICA Portal Unofficial Transcript. no later than 2 weeks after the course end date.

If you find that you have any trouble keeping up with assignments or other aspects of the course, make sure you let your instructor know as early as possible. As you will find, building rapport and effective relationships are key to becoming an effective professional. Make sure that you are proactive in informing your instructor when difficulties arise during the semester so that we can help you find a solution.

Topic Outline/Schedule

Weeks	Topic	Goals/Objectives	Learning Outcome
Week 1	Discover	The goal of this week is to meet each other, understand the course, the project and what we MUXD 5203 / Design Lab: The Industry ChallengePython expect to be working on for the rest of the course, what the final outcome is, and in general creating a timeline for the work you'll be completing. We will also plan to create groups (4-5 students per group).	Students will 1. Understand the various design thinking processes and methods. 2. How to plan and conduct research 3. Understand some of the basic design principles 4. Deciding on features to design for the project 5. Creating a project plan 6. Understanding the Agile Methodology 7. Creating user stories
Week 2	Research	We will talk about research and interviews and we summarize research results. Students are expected to identify research findings and provide recommendations to help with moving forward with a potential design direction. With research findings, we will learn how to create a vision and identify possible functionalities to be designed	Students will: 1. Understanding what research is and what it might be like 2. Reporting on results to a client 3. How to create personas and journeys 4. How the final presentation should look like
Week 3	Design	As groups start to think about their app design, we'll discuss what user scenarios are based on some of the functionalities and tasks that needs to be accomplished within the app. We will also cover task analysis through an exercise that will help them identify tasks for design. Starting with low fidelity, teams will design wireframes/wireflows to validate the flow of their tasks ahead of focusing more on the detail.	Students will: 1. Learn how to write user scenarios and storyboards 2. How to create wire flows 3. Learn the importance of annotations 4. Learn how to create wireframes and incorporate opportunities in the design flow. 5. Learn about Micro-interactions and where they can be applied 6. Understand the different types of annotations
Week 4	Design	Teams will start sharing their wireframes and we will discuss the fidelity of the work that we need to focus on this week. We will discuss what needs to be prototyped which should be focused on the features that are being designed within the app. Students will learn some design best practices in order to apply within their designs and prototypes. We will also discuss what would need to be tested at a high level.	Students will: 1. Review of various wireframes. 2. Understand the various types of design fidelity 3. Think about all the possibilities of a feature. 4. Understand when and what to prototype. 5. Review some design best practices 6. Start thinking about testing their application
Week 5	Prototyping and Interface Design	We will review the work completed so far and the progress made in design before teams move into prototyping. Focus this week is on prototyping	Student will: 1. Learn how to take feedback and apply it to their designs. 2. Start considerations for prototyping and testing 3. Understand how to communicate their design ideas with the rest of their product/application development team
Week 6	Presentation of Findings and Design Recommendations	As teams start creating their prototypes, we will review any progress made on prototypes and talk about presenting to clients. Clients have different expectations and project teams should understand how the presentation should be delivered.	Student will: 1. Review of projects and feedback. 2. Learn what they need to consider when preparing for client presentation 3. Have the opportunity to see other teams projects and provide any feedback as well as take feedback from other teams
Week 7	Final Reports and Presentations Review and Feedback	Teams will share what they will be presenting on Week 8. All can be in a rough format as students are working on finalizing their work. 1. Presentation Deck 2. Prototype 3. Case Study The idea is for teams to get some feedback and validate their approach for the final presentation.	Student will: 1. Share their draft presentation and get feedback on areas they need to focus on. 2. Share an outline of their Case Study 3. Practice, Practice, Practice
Week 8	Final Presentation	Teams will present their work by summarizing all the work they've done to complete their project, They will demo their app prototype and share their completed case study	Student will be ready to work on real world examples. The process we used and followed in class replicates the process used at companies to deliver their client work. Student will learn how to collaborate better on projects and follow a process and a timeline