Undergraduate Course: Product Design: Electronic Things (DESI08084)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course offers an introduction to the design of products that use electronics and software to sense and respond to their environment. |
| Course description |
Through a series of lectures, design studies and workshops, students will be introduced to the use of digital technology to create objects that engage with their social and physical settings. The course provides an understanding of how designers are increasingly required to work with electronics and microprocessors in order to create products that are responsive and agential around their human counterparts.
Through an introduction to hardware and software platforms, students will be supported in the designing of digital artefacts. Digital artefacts are capable of sensing the world around them, interpreting and re-presenting the data to the people with whom they co-exist. Creation of these artefacts combines the social science goal of collecting information about the use and the users of the technology in a real- world setting, the engineering goal of field-testing the technology, and the design goal of inspiring users and designers to think of new kinds of technology to support their needs. A combination of a series of lectures that reflect upon current creative electronic practice, and workshops that provide technical and creative will support students to develop their own electronic artefacts for deployment in settings informed through their own interests.
This course will:
1. Introduce students to the use of electronics in creating physical products.
2. Develop student skills in the use of software and hardware for sensing, recording and reacting to data.
3. Develop student skills in the analysis of data toward the iteration and evaluation of electronic devices.
4. Introduce students to designing technological products in a user-oriented manner.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | This course is open to ALL STUDENTS and enrolments are managed on a first come first served basis until the course is full. The course will be open to enrolments from Wednesday 11th September at 11.00 am. Please sign up for the course through your own School (they will advise if this is done via your PT, SSO or Teaching Office). We do not currently keep a waiting list. |
| Additional Costs | Small electronics purchases, typically less than £50 |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 17 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
| Course Start Date |
13/01/2020 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 8,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 4,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 18,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 5.5,
Formative Assessment Hours 0.5,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
160 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The semester long combination of review, reflect and make will result in two distinct outputs:
1. The development of a technology probe that captures data about its environment. 40%
2. The design and development of an electronic artefact that functions within a specific social setting. 60%
Relationship between Assessment and Learning Outcomes:
Learning outcomes will be assessed through presentations at midway point and a final presentation / submission in week 12. Students will be expected to give an overview of the research and studio practice that led to these outputs.
Learning Outcomes will receive the same assessment weighting (33.33%), with 40% of each LO being determined by the first assignment, and 60% by the second assignment. |
| Feedback |
Formative spoken feedback will be provided during weekly tutorials and mid way assessment of the 1st output, with written formative feedback after the 1st output.
Summative written feedback will be provided following both outputs. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate skills in the development of technical devices that collect and/or respond to data.
- Apply design research skills to a social setting to inform a design context for electronic devices that interact with users.
- Test and evaluate electronic devices through deployments and analysis using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data..
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Reading List
Nussey, J. (2013) Arduino For Dummies, Wiley. ISBN-13 9781118446379
Platt C Make: Electronics, (Maker Media Inc, 2009, ISBN: 978-0596153748)
Dawes B Analog In, Digital Out, (New Riders, 2006, ISBN: 978-0321429162)
Maeda J Creative Code: Aesthetics and Computation, (Thames & Hudson, 2004, ISBN: 978-0500285176) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and Enquiry, Technical/practical skills, Communication |
| Keywords | Electronics,Software,Arduino,Sensors,Empirical data |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Bettina Nissen
Tel:
Email: bnissen@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Georgia Dodsworth
Tel: (0131 6)51 5712
Email: georgia.dodsworth@ed.ac.uk |
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