Deep Making: Maintaining Depth of Skill in Interaction Design Education

Evolving and extremely abbreviated interaction design curriculums pose a challenge to educators trying to orient students to the: 1) collaborative competencies necessary to be successful in interdisciplinary environments; and 2) the deep design-centric skills, methods, principles, and technical knowledge necessary to lead as visual communicators. This presentation will look at how various curriculum approaches and class projects impacted the balance of these two competencies and the resulting student outcomes. The presentation will follow my evolution in teaching interaction design over a fifteen-year period at four different Universities and an industry-based summer school. The case for maintaining depth in disciplinary skills through "deep making" will be presented with student outcomes and project comparisons. If you find yourself wondering just how you'll ever cover so much critical content in so little time (while maintaining student engagement), join me as I share some of my successes and failures navigating those same questions.