Theories and practice of design for information systems: eight design perspectives in ten short weeks

ABSTRACT

Students come to design education with different goals. Some seek to acquire expertise in design, others to learn specialized methods tailored to a research domain. Furthermore, students in the area of information system design confront a large literature of diverse perspectives on design, all of which are potentially useful. To disentangle this literature and to develop students' knowledge and know-how for design, a ten-week course, titled Theories and Practice of Design for Information Systems, was developed. Pedagogically, this introductory course is neither a studio course nor a methods course. Instead, it takes a "design perspectives" approach where students engage a number of substantial perspectives on design through conceptual and experiential study. This paper introduces this pedagogical approach and describes eight design perspectives including readings, key questions, and activities. It concludes with lessons learned for positioning students to engage the interplay between the theory and practice of information system design.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
curriculum, design education, design patterns, design rationale, hierarchical decomposition, learning to design, participatory design, personas, reflective practice, scenario-based design, social processes in design, value sensitive design