What is The Role of Design Education in 2018 (and beyond)?
Denise A Heckman, Syracuse University, School of Design
What is Interaction design? Is that UX or UI that you are doing?
Let’s begin with that same queries but change the subject so we are addressing the following fields: What is the role of the mathematician, the architect, the engineer, or even the English major in the contemporary world?
None of the questions lead to concise or consistent answers but the legitimacy of these fields and their place in academe are not in question. Each of these areas of inquiry (while consistently in a healthy state of flux) is afforded legitimacy that is the result of years of history.
The purpose of this paper is not to answer the unanswerable “what is the role of” question as it relates to Interaction Design but to identify four areas that contribute to a healthy and prosperous home in contemporary higher and to propose ways to assure that the field develops a strong foundation for future growth.
As the first wave of Interaction design faculty and academic researchers we must accept our place as one that will need to better leverage existing resources in higher education and find ways to legitimize and formalize the field within the slow-moving taxonomic structures in the academy.
Writing Curriculum: Maintenance, Enhancement, or Development?
Faculty teaching interaction often find themselves working with an inherited curriculum from either an industrial and graphic design program and must learn to adjust (or enhance) the content. Adding a few new Interaction specific classes to analogous design or art programs is one of the key ways that this area has become a part of university-based curriculum. Making sure that there these new classes are required for an existing degree can be even more difficult to achieve. What is more likely to happen is the adjustment of existing learning objectives in design classes to move from product or graphic content to digital and interactive. While this is a more expedient way of effecting change it does not lead to the adaption of Interaction as a permanent degree program in the slow-moving university curriculum structure.
Along with university-based Interaction degrees there are many programs offered by art schools in both European and the US. The more fluid structures in these schools means they can adopt interaction programs much more quickly than in a University. In some cases, the taxonomies seem to be quite fluid as with the US based SCAD (Savanah College of Art and Design) offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Advertising, Design Management, Interactive Design and Game Development, and Service Design. This also does not lead to consistent taxonomies or nomenclature.
Where Should Interaction Make Its Home: Academe is Not Industry
Interaction designers thrive on working in diverse and rapidly changing groups but the very foundations that we celebrate the field are the opposite of what is required to make a case for resources. Universities find it difficult to fundraise for unknown or hard to define programs and external fundraising in necessary for both the long-term faculty lines not to mention technology, labs, and … buildings.
In industry a case can be made for developing in house Interaction expertise once it is recognized as helpful to the bottom line, but in academe it is more difficult to make the case. Interaction, a field known for combining design, engineering, and social sciences must either work to define itself by aligning with multiple programs or colleges.
In an art school setting Interaction has developed as a stand-alone degree but without the access to engineering and sciences. Neither of these options is ideal for long term stability and growth.
Tenure is Necessary to Build a Community of Researchers: Building a BoK
Is there a systematized body of knowledge that interaction designers and educators can build and build upon? How will professionals, academics, and students develop, and work within a uniform set of skills. We must globalize nomenclature in order to initiate healthy debate. An accepted dogma is necessary if we are to educate the next generation of dogma busting, canon breaking Interaction designers.
In addition to its intrinsic value, a research base codifies and collects the work of practitioners and shares those insights for a broad base of professionals. High quality self-regulation and peer reviewed academic output must be supported with high quality journals. A defined path the tenure (or fulltime employment) is necessary if Interaction is to leverage the resources in academe for the future.