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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2022/2023

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh College of Art : Design

Postgraduate Course: Dissertation: Design for Social, Technical or Environmental Change (DESI11108)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)
Course typeDissertation AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits60 ECTS Credits30
SummaryThe 60CR Dissertation is an independent, student-led body of work addressing key themes interrogated and addressed through relevant dLabs (Social, Technical and/or Environmental) during the taught component of the Design for Change programme in the School of Design.
Course description The Dissertation involves the analysis, synthesis and evaluation of key concepts, factors, and proposed outputs composed as a significant, individual, design-led project addressing and interrogating global challenge themes leading to propositions for change in the social, technical or environmental sphere. You will select from a variety of key themes, theories and principles discussed and interrogated during the taught component of your degree programme through the various dLabs, which have fostered a critical, strategic, tactical and creative perspective on significant global challenges facing the world's populations and communities.
Through an individual approach, you will analyze, synthesis and evaluate current states, and through appropriate evidence of reflection, iterative and generative design-led development, communicate in text, image and/or object propositions leading to changes, whether driven by consensus with others, through future speculation, or through data-driven approaches appropriate to your research question and domain of study.

A key objective here is to promote informed, innovative, experimental and purposive, generative research, iterative development, and communication that relates to academic study and creative practice at the forefront of the design field and its allied disciplines which are intended to foster change.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements At least two of three dLabs must be completed to sufficient academic standard in order to enrol for this
course.
Additional Costs The nature of studio courses is such that there is reasonable expectation of materials being consumed and deployed in the development of prototypes, models, and visualisations (including printing). For this dissertation, a reasonable expectation is that students may spend an average of £100, but these costs vary significantly across individual projects and with students' choices of materials involved with project execution.
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  24
Course Start Block 5 (Sem 2) and beyond
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 600 ( Dissertation/Project Supervision Hours 11, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 12, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 577 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 100% Coursework - must be passed at 50%.

One component of assessment involving a project portfolio that includes:

- A case-study report discussion of between
8000 and 10000 words, outlining the project
undertaken including analysis of the challenge
area and the synthetic activities leading to
change
- Concretised project outcomes in appropriate
media formats including (but not limited to)
sound, image, object, system maps, plans of
action, etc that exemplify interventions that
intend change
- A0 poster summarising and communicating
project intentions, ambitions, interventions,
outcomes and/or insights

The full statement of assessment including deadlines, hand in format, and other related logisitics will be communicated in advance through the relevant course handbook.


Feedback Formative feedback is regularly communicated through the course. This takes a number forms, including verbally through group and individual meetings where work and ideas are discussed with both peers and tutor.
A formal feedback event will take place at mid-point, details articulated through course handbook and VLE.
Summative feedback will occur at the end of the course, pending final submission of work.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. analyse rigorously and robustly relevant and appropriate global debates relating to circumstances, situations, and challenges that would benefit from change through appropriately identified design-led interventions
  2. synthesise data, information and evidence generated and captured through a variety of design-led, iterative methods, leading to insights and opportunities for design-led propositions outlining change, leading to new futures
  3. communicate clearly and disseminate appropriately evaluations of knowledge discovered, quality of propositions generated and viabilities of actions required which are intended to lead communities to new futures through design-led change
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Apply critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis to forefront issues, or issues that are informed by forefront developments in the subject/discipline/sector;
Identify, conceptualise and define new and abstract problems and issues;
Develop original and creative responses to problems and issues;
Deal with complex issues and make informed judgements in situations in the absence of complete or consistent data/information;
Communicate, using appropriate methods, to a range of audiences with different levels of knowledge/expertise;
Communicate with peers, more senior colleagues and specialists;
Exercise substantial autonomy and initiative in professional and equivalent activities;
Work in a peer relationship with specialist practitioners;
Demonstrate leadership and/or initiative and make an identifiable contribution to change and development and/or new thinking;
Manage complex ethical and professional issues and make informed judgements on issues not addressed by current professional and/or ethical codes or practices
Keywordsdissertation,design,change,social,technical,environmental
Contacts
Course organiserDr Arno Verhoeven
Tel: (0131 6)51 5808
Email: a.verhoeven@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Sophie O'Shea
Tel: (0131 6)51 5448
Email: soshea@ed.ac.uk
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