IN9510 – Participatory experimental design
Course description
Course content
This course gives theoretical and practical knowledge of participatory design in line with the design tradition originating from IFI emphasizing user involvement in the design process. You will learn to design IT as an integral part of the use environments and activities with emphasis on tools and techniques for involving users in the design of an IT-based service or system. The goal is to design better technologies based on the users’ ideas and suited to their demands and needs, providing a better fit between the technology and the activity that it will be part of. In addition to lectures and exercises you will learn about participatory design through a large project work involving real users. The student project topics vary every year, examples from earlier years are home robots, public services, or welfare technology.
Learning outcome
After successful completion of this course, you can
- explain the basic principles of experimental and participatory design
- apply basic tools and techniques for collaborating with users in the design process
- provide a rich description of the use context and the user group
- design a prototype together with users and evaluate it with them
- analyze the design suggestion through theoretical concepts from the course and argue for your design choices
- discuss ethical perspectives concerned with designing with users
- plan and implement a participatory design process where mutual learning is a goal.
In addition, each PhD student will be given an extended curriculum within the field/research area of the course. The syllabus must be approved by the lecturer so that the student can be admitted to the final exam.
Admission to the course
PhD candidates from the University of Oslo should apply for classes and register for examinations through?Studentweb.
If a course has limited intake capacity, priority will be given to PhD candidates who follow an individual education plan where this particular course is included. Some national researchers’ schools may have specific rules for ranking applicants for courses with limited intake capacity.
PhD candidates who have been admitted to another higher education institution must?apply for a position as a visiting student?within a given deadline.
Overlapping courses
- 10 credits overlap with IN5510 – Participatory experimental design.
- 10 credits overlap with INF5722 – Experimental Design of IT (continued).
- 10 credits overlap with INF9722 – Eksperimentell design av IT (continued).
Teaching
There will be 2 hours lectures + 2 hours exercises per week. In addition, the project will require independent group work.
Mandatory assignments:
a project plan
presentation of a paper from the curriculum
mid-semester presentation of the project work
final presentation of the project work
In addition to the Master curriculum:
select a topic to explore that are not part of the curriculum
write a literature review where the extra readings are compared to the course curriculum
present the literature review orally ?
It is mandatory to attend the two first lectures since it will be given important information.
Examination
The mandatory assignments must be approved prior to the exam. The exam evaluation is based on a written report and an oral exam.
Written report: project report with individual reflections for each group member
Oral: project presentation and group examination of the curriculum.
The written report needs to be approved before the student can participate in the oral exam. Both parts must be passed and they must be passed in the same semester.
It will also be counted as one of?your three?attempts to sit the exam for this course, if you sit the exam for one of the following courses:??INF5722 - Experimental Design of IT (continued),?INF9722 - Eksperimentell design av IT (continued),?IN5510 - Participatory Experimental Design
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about?the grading system.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.