🦆 Interaction Nerds by UXA
This week from Investigation and Connection: Learning in Museums, accessibility and education technology with Darren Butler, and exploring different careers in UX with Christian Murphy!
👋 Announcements — UXA X Figma!
Two weeks ago, UXA partnered with Figma for an exciting new panel! Together, we demystified the design and research process and chatted with Figma designers and researchers. We had a great time learning the ins-and-outs of life and work at Figma, as well as insights into what designing at Figma looks like! 😎
If you would like to catch up with the event or get a quick recap, we compiled some notes for you to review some highlights and insights during the event! 😯
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🐒 Campus Compass — Ideate: Learning in Museums
How do you apply design thinking to spatial and physical environments? How can you shape the design process to cater towards in-person learning goals? What is it like working with actual clients? With Learning in Museums, students of all disciplines collaborate with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to develop and prototype learning settings in museums using design research methods and technologies. 🦕
💻 05292 IDeATe: Learning in Museums
🤔 What is Learning in Museums?
Learning in Museums brings together students from across the disciplines to consider the design of mediated learning experiences though a project-based inquiry course. Students will be introduced to a range of design research methods and associated frameworks that explore the cognitive, social and affective dimensions of learning in everyday contexts through readings, invited lectures, in-class activities and assignments. Students will conduct a series of short design research studies to define learning goals and develop supporting design concepts that improve learning outcomes for diverse participants in informal learning settings e.g. museums, after school programs, maker spaces or online. In concept development, we will look at how to position technology and question its role in the setting to engage and foster positive learning interactions. This course will culminate in a media-rich presentation of design concepts and a prototype to a stakeholder audience, and include an evaluation plan describing how learning outcomes for the project would be assessed.
🧐 What do you do in Learning in Museums?
Student learning and performance will be assessed through rubrics and participation in in-class activities, out-of-class study assignments, prototypes and a final team-based learning design project presentation and associated process documentation. Through a project-based design inquiry process students gain experience and learn methods to research, conceptualize, design and evaluate mediated informal learning experiences that focus on science communication and discursive engagement in Anthropocene topics with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
😯 Who should take Learning in Museums?
The course is meant for graduate or advanced undergraduate students in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Computer Science, Design, or related fields, who are interested in educational applications. There are no known prerequisites for the course, but students may choose to take Ideate micros in physical computing and e-fabrication to support their prototyping processes.
🤩 Student Spotlight — Accessibility and STEM Education with Darren Butler
How do you leverage diverse interests, experiences, and passions to make the world a better place? We talked to HCII Ph.D. student Darren Butler to learn more about his unique approach to HCI, his experience at an HBCU, and how he finds supportive communities on campus! 🤓
This technology revolution makes everything so much more accessible, and spurs us to look at how to make it easier for people to adapt and learn, so they can create new technologies that work for them.
— Darren Butler
🌟 Field Trip — Developing Your Career Each Day with Christian Murphy
How is working in the industry different from school? What skills will get you far? What are recruiters looking for? Interested in the answers to these questions? Check out our conversation with Christian Murphy as we find out how to make the most of your time at CMU and what it’s like working in different UX careers! 😆
I think it's really important to spend as much time as possible in different areas of the school and not to get caught up in who this person is, what they’re studying, or how much they’re going to make after they get out of school, because it's surprising to see how everyone that comes into CMU ends up doing something pretty amazing.
— Christian Murphy
🤔 Who’s behind the scenes?
Thanks for reading this week’s Interaction Nerds by CMU UXA! The editors behind this work are Sophie McGrady, Caleb Sun, and Rebecca Jiang.
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