1 CONNECTED 2010 – 2ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DESIGN EDUCATION 28 JUNE - 1 JULY 2010, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA Experiments with Design Education in IT—a Longitudinal Study Andrew Scott and Michael Docherty Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, 4001, Australia KEYWORDS: CROSS-DISCIPLINE, DESIGN, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, GAMES ABSTRACT Project based, experiential learning is widely accepted within the design education community. How well does it translate to other disciplines and traditions? Since 2007, first year Bachelor of Design and Bachelor of Games (IT) students have been learning about design principles within a cross-disciplinary learning environment. Both courses are well subscribed and numbers can be as great as 700 per year. This programme serves as a foundation experience for students at the commencement of their studies. It aims to provide them with a model of design learning that can inform their subsequent years of studies using an accelerated intensive-delivery format consisting of four weeks of lectures followed by three day field trip practical sessions. Working in cross-disciplinary teams students design, execute and evaluate a number of design projects in this off-site context. Learning objectives include understanding drawing as communication, iteration and reflection within the design process. The intensive practical sessions immerse students in the learning experience and involves teamwork, collaborative learning, interactive problem solving, presentations, and peer review. Over three years of the programme, disciplinary combinations have been varied from fully integrated, partially integrated and fully segregated groups of design and IT students. The relative outcomes are discussed using student surveys, consisting of numerical data and written comments, as well as comparisons of results broken down by discipline. The programme structure, content and process is also presented. The data offer a range of interpretations, and the question of the relevance of project based, experiential learning in IT education is discussed. INTRODUCTION How well does the use of project-based, experiential learning translate to non-design disciplines and traditions? In Stein, et al, (2003), the process of making design explicit within an Information Technology course was explored. The paper presented a study of the students understanding of design in a first year course that was part of an IT degree (Docherty, et al, 2001). While the course was successful in developing a students’ knowledge of design, the opportunity for the students to reflect more widely on the nature of designing and design knowledge was lacking. The study concluded that explicitly identifying aspects of design knowledge, and reflecting on the commonalities between design disciplines, would offer a means whereby the student could build a foundation from which more complex understanding of design would evolve. The course described here attempts to fulfill that role, within a degree structure that combines traditional IT subjects and computer based ‘game design’ subjects. The importance of 'design' and designerly thinking within information technology education has been recognised for some time. (Winograd, et al, 1996). Building IT systems was seen as not just an engineering process, although as the discipline developed in the 80s and 90s, the rigour of a scientific approach was attractive. However, real-world problems and the attendance scalability issues of an engineering approach soon highlighted that the creation of IT systems was not a 'tame' problem. For example, a design- focused, studio-based IT degree was established at the University of Queensland in 1999; the Bachelor of Information Environments. This degree programme integrated core subjects from the existing IT degree with design based subjects. Each semester students undertook open-ended IT design projects, within a design studio setting. (Docherty, 2000). Although the Bachelor of Games and Interactive Entertainment (coded IT04) is a degree that does not wholly fit in the traditional curriculum model for IT courses, it is also not studio based as was the UQ degree. Within the degree, four majors are offered; Software Technology, Game Design, Animation, Digital Media. Students undertake approximately one-third of their course in core IT units (Programming, Networks, Systems, Professional Practice), and choose the remainder of their course from the list of majors and electives. Currently, the majority of students undertake the Game Design major followed by Software Technology. How then to teach design to game designers, and programmers who want to program games? It was decided that collaboration with the School of Design would help achieve this goal. The School of Design, and its predecessor institutions, have a long history of introducing new students to the study of design through an immersive orientation field trip (Scott, et al., 2001). For the introduction of the new Bachelor of Design degree (coded DE40) it was decided to continue this tradition but formalise it in a discrete subject of it’s own, common to the four design disciplines in the programme (architecture studies, industrial design, interior design and landscape architecture). The subject was named DEB101 Introducing Design and positioned in the first semester of First Year.