Teaching Interaction Design: Matters, Materials and Means

TLDR: In this paper, the authors advocate a wider view on what a designer is and does by describing how we treat computational technology as any other design material and how we train engineering students and others into becoming designers in a technology-oriented environment.

Abstract: The designer works with people, with materials, with products. Designers are seen as people concerned with form, function and surface. But how often is the designer associated with technology? Still programming can be just as a creative activity as drawing. Deriving from experiences from the discipline of Interaction Design, we advocate a wider view on what a designer is and does by describing how we treat computational technology as any other design material and how we train engineering students and others into becoming designers in a technology-oriented environment. Our method to create an education in applied Interaction Design lends ideas from traditional design education, for instance open problems and exhibitions of results, but also incorporates high-fidelity prototyping and multidisciplinary projects carried out by heterogeneous groups, since this lies in the nature of the subject and the students.