Teaching

This course is intended to give students a background in theory and practice surrounding online interaction environments. For the purpose of the course, a community is defined as a group of people who sustain interaction over time. The group may be held together by a common identity, a collective purpose, or merely by the individual utility gained from the interactions. An online interaction environment is an electronic forum, accessed through computers or other electronic devices, in which community members can conduct some or all of their interactions. We will use the term eCommunity as shorthand, both for communities that conduct all of their interactions online and for communities that use online interaction to supplement face-to-face interactions. There will be two main treads that weave through the course, based on the two main texts. One tread will be concerned with the practical issues of design and use of online tools to support communities, and how choices that must be made in design can impact the function and style of the resulting community. The second thread will focus on the sociological theory that provides a frame to better understand communities in general. These theoretical pieces will provide a lens for better understanding the implications of choices made on the more practical level.

This course will introduce interdisciplinary ethics theories and frameworks and apply them to current issues in artificial intelligence, social media, cryptocurrency, and more. Students will learn to think critically about how to ethically plan, design, and evaluate new technologies when there are often no simple solutions.

In this course, students will examine recent and current global events featuring information technology, and through both discussion and introspection, construct their own personal hypotheses of technology and society. Along the way, students will hear about the way in which information technology is touching the remotest places in the world, gain an introduction to formal theories of technology and society, and stress-test their critical thinking skills.

The UX Research and Design mastery course prepares students to demonstrate mastery of applying design theories, concepts, and principles to defining valid problems; uncovering user needs; articulating service requirements; documenting UX research results; proposing, refining, and prototyping design solutions; and communicating with stakeholders effectively.

UMSI Mastery courses are special types of courses that allow students to demonstrate synthesis of the major theories, methods, and approaches to inquiry and/or schools of practice necessary for entry into a particular career in the information professions.

Students have opportunities to integrate methods and theories about user experience design in this course by engaging in the whole process, from identifying design issues to developing design solutions. Students work on a single project end-to-end during the semester in small groups. Most projects are chosen and designed by students from scratch, motivated by instructor-selected topic areas.