EPN-V2

MAPD4300 Design for Experience Course description

Course name in Norwegian
Design for Experience
Study programme
Master's Degree Programme in Product Design – Design in Complexity
Weight
10.0 ECTS
Year of study
2023/2024
Curriculum
SPRING 2024
Schedule
Course history

Introduction

This course aims to introduce the students to the complexity and conception of an experience. As such it is the series of complex interactions between humans and their technological, social, and natural environments that people interpret into a general impression. This course tackles this complexity by introducing multifaceted approaches to designing for experience of products and/or services.

The candidates will be therefore invited to explore social and interface interaction, phenomenology of experience, as well as theoretical approaches for engaging users in a practical context. These explorations will include applied experiments, and design iterations through testing, and scenario building. To create more meaningful experiences the issues of mastery, resilience, motivation and well-being will be revisited and discussed.

Required preliminary courses

Admission to the Masters program

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this course the students are expected to have these learning outcomes acquired:

Knowledge:

The candidate can

  • discuss and describe an experience through phenomenological as well as behavioral theoretical concepts
  • choose relevant methods for exploration of design for experience

Skills:

The candidate can:

  • plan and organize design process using phenomenological, and behavioral methods.
  • implement experiments, user testing and probing in a lab and in the field.
  • design product features and service components that consider experience as a key factor.
  • critically assess their designs, product features, and service components and the implication of the design intervention for the experience.

General competence:

The candidate can:

  • critically assess wider societal perspective on experience of products and services.
  • practice evaluation of ethical issues and cultural relevance when conceptualizing and developing design for experience.

Content

  • Emotional factors in design/psychological mechanisms in design
  • Experimentation and fieldwork
  • Service experience
  • User behavior
  • Task analysis
  • Human to human, human to product interaction
  • Mastery, resilience, motivation
  • Different forms of user engagement

Teaching and learning methods

None

Course requirements

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

Students will gain insight into

  • the fundamental ideas of the environment as provider of economic goods and services, and of pollution as being the unintended byproduct of economic actions
  • a range of important environmental problems caused by economic activity, and their economic characteristics
  • different economic types of regulation addressing pollution
  • the importance of context in economic analysis of the environment
  • different methods to investigate the impact of pollution and regulations

Skills

The students will learn how to

  • use economic analysis and modeling to assess pollution
  • use economic analysis to assess environmental regulation
  • understand empirical evidence regarding environmental problems and potential solutions
  • critically assess economic analyses directed at environmental problems

General competence

The student is more able to

  • use English as the professional language in Economics
  • use environmental economics insights in a professional setting, for example for cost-benefit analysis or concerning sustainability issues

Assessment

The following coursework requirements must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam:

  • Coursework 1: Written assignment. Group work. Maximum 5 pages.
  • Coursework 2: Written assignment. Group or individual work. Maximum 5 pages.
  • Coursework 3: Written assignment. Individual work. Maximum 5 pages.

The group work will be carried out in groups consisting of 2-5 students, depending on the number of participating students in the course.

The coursework is part of the active learning experience for the students and helps prepare students for the final exam. It also serves as useful feedback about the effectiveness of the lecturer's teaching.

All required coursework must be completed and approved by the given deadline in order for the student to take the exam. If one or more coursework requirements have not been approved, the student will be given one opportunity to submit a new or improved version by the given deadline.

Permitted exam materials and equipment

The exam in the course is a supervised exam of 4 hours.

Grading scale

The following aids are permitted:

  • One dictionary (Native language-English/English-native language or English-English)
  • Calculator (see regulations for the use of calculators in the programme description)

Examiners

Grade scale A-F