Assignments
This page provides an overview of the work that contributes to your final course grade, and connects you to descriptions for those projects and workshops through the links below. (Note that no descriptive detail appears on SVSU Canvas for any of these assignments.) I activate assignment pages as we need them, so do not worry if you cannot access all of the descriptions at the beginning of the semester.
Your course grade is computed from the points you earn on 2 projects and 9 workshops. Combined, these assignments total 1300 possible points.
You can read more about grading and what factors might influence your grade on the Policies page.
Projects
I use the term projects to categorize assignments that are significant undertakings that require development and refinement time that may span several weeks of the semester. You will complete 2 projects this semester that collectively contribute 800 possible points to your course grade.
Both projects connect to the same core topic, which itself ties to the challenge of communicating professionally relevant knowledge. You will identify a topic of study no later than the end of week two. Because I emphasize communicating from a position of expertise in this course, you must identify a topic of study with which you have expertise, and that is in some way relevant to your professional development or career objectives. This expectation will make more sense as we go. The selection of an appropriate focus for your work is a topic of early emphasis in the course.
Each project description details several elements of the work, including design requirements, hints and tips, and submission guidelines. Use the links below to access those descriptions.
- Design Assessment (DA). 600 points. The DA project focuses on examining a professionally relevant object of study (e.g., app, web site, tool) with the purpose of assessing its quality of design and usability. This project develops through 3 research phases that result in 4 writing and design milestones (each of which represents a section of the complete Design Assessment report). The DA is challenging because it demands a balance of 3 kinds of research and design vision.
- Neutral, objective examination of an object of study (OoS).
- Disciplined, data-driven evaluation of the same OoS.
- Experience-based insight into the design and function of the OoS.
- Design Pitch (DP). 200 points. The DP results in a 7 to 10 minute screencast video that presents your proposal for a design that improves upon or replaces your chosen object of study (OoS). The DP project is challenging because it requires you to distill knowledge gained from observation, experience, and research to support a concretely detailed description for a new or improved product design.
Workshops
I use the term workshops to categorize assignments that are smaller scale than projects, work that can be completed in the space of a single class session, or within the space of a single class week. The concepts, strategies, and practices examined through workshops build and reinforce your working knowledge for the course. You will complete 9 workshops this semester that collectively contribute 500 possible points to your course grade.
Each workshop description details several elements of the work, including design and discussion requirements, and submission guidelines. Use the links below to access those descriptions.
- Document Design. 50 points. Using Microsoft Word, you design a 1-page profile that discusses your professional development interests, and your experience with information design.
- Screencast Design. 50 points. Using Techsmith Capture and the Screencast.com streaming service, you create and share a screencast focused on the profile document you created during the Document Design workshop.
- Artifact Analysis. 50 points. We examine the practice of artifact analysis in preparation for work on the Design Assessment project.
- Heuristic Analysis. 50 points. We examine the practice of heuristic analysis in preparation for work on the Design Assessment project. Your ultimate goal is to understand the HA process well enough to conduct your own study of the OoS you select this semester.
- UX Scenario. 50 points. We examine the practice of scenario-driven think-aloud protocol in preparation for work on the Design Assessment project. Your ultimate goal is to understand this UX process well enough to conduct your own study of the OoS you select this semester.
- UX Scenario Design. 50 points. You construct a set of UX scenarios that you can use to study the OoS you have selected for your work this semester.
- Editing 1. 50 points. This workshop provides an opportunity to apply strategies for document-level editing to a working document.
- Editing 2. 50 points. This workshop provides an opportunity to apply strategies for sentence-level editing to a working document.
- Peer Review: Design Assessment. 100 points. You prepare for and engage in peer examination of your Design Assessment project draft, and participate in the review of two peer projects.