Role
Interaction Design Studio Tutor
Key responsibilities
- Run practical tutorials
- Undertake assessment marking
- Facilitate design studio
Process
- Review course assessments & set expectations of effort required with students
- Demonstrate how lecture & tutorial theory applies to their practical design tasks
- Provide hands on help with design tools
- Encourage design discussion within student teams
- Be inquisitive & give constructive feedback
- Prepare, practise & give presentations & practical tutorials
For the past two years (2014 & 2015) I’ve had the opportunity to give guest tutorials to design computing students at Sydney University. In 2015 in addition to guest tutorials, I joined the IxD student design studio sessions, spending 3 hours each week to work closely with a group of students completing their design tasks.
I aim to show students how to use the best tools for the job at hand, which tool to use depends on the design project. Last year I led lessons using Pixate and Invision app to prototype apps for their major project in different fidelities. We started with an Invision prototype to help experience the flow of the app. This was then followed by a Pixate prototype to experience bespoke interaction patterns and use of motion.
I enjoy giving a practical tutorial on designing for connected devices. Designing for the new and unknown can be tough. To help create a mental model for students to frame their thoughts I ask them to create personas for inanimate objects and then act out conversations between "things". It's a lot of fun, and it helps students explore potential use cases for human interaction with inanimate objects.
