Entry requirements

Passed the two preceding studio courses in Year 2 (Design and social innovation, Play and ludic interaction) or courses deemed equivalent – see programme syllabus.

Progression level in relation to degree requirements

The course can normally be included as part of a general degree at advanced level

Course contents

The focus of this course is design-based research, that is, academic knowledge construction including design activities. The course provides an introduction to the conceptual foundations for understanding design-based research, as well as the methodological tools for performing it.

Epistemological foundations for design-based research, including notions such as experiential knowledge, practical knowing, knowing-in-action and artifacts-as-knowledge. Implications for knowledge representation and communication in design-based research. The relations between design activity and research activity. Methodological foundations, including practice-based research, research-oriented design, research-through-design, and interaction criticism.

Learning outcomes

In order to increase precision, the generic types of outcomes are mapped to interaction design as follows.

Knowledge and understanding

• Students should through the course gain an understanding of the epistemological and conceptual foundations for design-based research. (1)

Skills and techniques

Students should after the course be able to:

• display ability to plan a design-based research process. (2)
• display ability to plan, execute, document and analyze design experiments pertinent to larger research interests. (3)

Reflection and criticism

Students should after the course be able to:

• display ability to engage in knowledge construction within interaction design research through criticism. (4)

Learning activities

The course is aligned with the Thesis project 2 course, in order to enable students to use the preparation of their thesis projects as cases for practical experimentation with the theoretical and conceptual “tools” provided. Specifically, learning activities in the course include design experimentation within the frame of the overall thesis research interests, and planning the thesis project as a research process. The course is structured as a series of seminars. Learning activities are further specified in a detailed Course Guide

Assessment

The learning outcomes are assessed through individual and small-group assignments that are discussed in plenary seminars. Learning goals 1 and 4 are assesed through writing an individual essay on the topic ”What is design knowledge?” (7,5 credits) Learning goals 2 and 3 are assesed through planning the research process of the thesis project in the format of a Research plan (7,5 credits)

Course literature

Extracts from:

• Krippendorff, K. (2006). The semantic turn: A new foundation for design. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis.
• Schön, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Further sources may be added according to the thesis project directions and individual learning needs.

• Rodgers, P and Yee, J (editors), (2014) The Routledge Companion to Design Research, Routledge

These readings will be complemented by resources available online.

Course evaluation

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

Interim rules

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

Additional information

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.