Postgraduate Course: Case Studies in Design Informatics 1 (INFR11094)
Course Outline
| School | School of Informatics |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Every time a design decision is made to pursue one course of action, other routes are closed off. In addition to intuition and experience, you need strong research skills to make meaningful decisions. In class, we will look at relevant qualitative research methods in the context of design theory. You will then work in groups of mixed skills to design a project to a very general brief.
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| Course description |
Students work in groups, supported by senior students (normally, those who are enrolled in CDI2), with a member of academic staff as mentor.
This course introduces students to research methods in the emerging field of Design Informatics using state of the art research projects and real examples. Students will learn to assess the limitations of the state of the art and critically appraise novel use of the latest theories and technologies.
The course is designed around one or two core case study domains, which are introduced via lectures, where a product or service is an important deliverable. Wherever possible, actual examples are taken from the ongoing or recent research at the University of Edinburgh. The case studies will be underpinned with lectures reviewing relevant theoretical background and classroom activities to ensure students develop the required skills. Formative feedback will be through class interaction and self- or peer assessed quizzes.
In parallel, each group works on its own, new case study, justifies its selection and scoping, produces a prototype and conducts a short experimental study based on that prototype.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | This course is open to all Informatics students including those on joint degrees. For external students where this course is not listed in your DPT, please seek special permission from the course organiser. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2020/21, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 147 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 14,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 14,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
168 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Group (50%):
Multimodal group presentation of the prototype at the end of the second section of the course and a group report about their completed case study.
Individual (50%):
The reflective piece about an ethical, legal, social, or design aspect of the completed case study that is the subject of the long group report. 1000 words.
Both group and individual marks may include one or more low stakes engagement assessment components. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Discuss the research and design processes behind Design Informatics projects.
- Describe, with examples, the practical limits of current technologies and theories.
- Analyse in groups problems and suggest potential solutions, which can or should combine computational and design thinking.
- Conduct ethical research in Design Informatics.
- Critically evaluate research literature in the field, taking into account legal, social, ethical or professional issues.
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Reading List
| Readings are provided by teachers. Each week students are asked to read one or more papers. The list varies from year to year. |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Maria Wolters
Tel: (0131 6)50 2732
Email: Maria.Wolters@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Lindsay Seal
Tel: (0131 6)50 2701
Email: lindsay.seal@ed.ac.uk |
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