Course Announcements

Hello everyone,

This is going to be a long announcement, please take it step-by-step and be sure to get across it all!

Physical Workshop Induction Process

*If you are attending this week, make sure you do the preparatory work (UQ Innovate Area Induction https://student.eait.uq.edu.au/urite/index.wphp?act=show&schedule=752 & SWP document reading). Wear covered shoes (shoes that cover the whole of your foot, with no cutouts) to protect your feet from incidents. Wear clothes that you don't mind getting dirty.

*If you are not attending this week, there will be sessions scheduled Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Weeks 1 - 4 until we have had everybody inducted into that space.

*NOTE: sessions are capped at 20 participants. If you sign up and do not attend without informing someone that you can't make it, prepare to face the wrath of both myself and the UQ Innovate team (see rule 1 of the Slack team Smile).

*The other parts of the induction process (as described in the last announcement sent) will start in Week 1.

Communication

We have Blackboard. I will send out announcements to everyone on both Blackboard and in Slack.

We have Slack. For those who have not signed up yet, here is the invite link I am already signed in and responding to messages!

We have email & consultation time. This information can be found under Course Staff for me and will be there eventually for your tutors.

The Course

We have a lot to go through in the first week & with a deadline in Week 2, you won't want to miss a minute (see below for those caught up in the Coronavirus travel ban).

Before we get started I wanted to make a note about prerequisite requirements - this course relies heavily on the fact that you have successfully completed the prerequisites listed in the course profile. It also assumes that you are in your final year of study and that you will have the knowledge, skills and experience accumulated over your full degree. If you have not completed the prerequisites, or you are not in your final year of study, it is strongly recommended that you withdraw from the course as you will be unable to contribute effectively to your team during the project.

This course is a double-weight course - #4 units instead of the usual #2 - and as you have already seen it has double the contact hours and will require double the workload. Be prepared to spend 20 hours a week on this course - 10 hours required contact and an additional 10 of self-directed work. Participation in all scheduled classes is expected, required and monitored. Any absences need to be approved by me (course coordinator).

In the first week (both Wednesday and Thursday), we will introduce the course, carry out workshop safety inductions, cover some content and explore project domains & inspirations. This will form the foundation for your first assessment in Week 2, where you will present your project ideas/inspirations to the class. As we will be conducting workshop inductions in Week 1, you will need to make sure you wear (or have with you) covered shoes.

In the course, you will be exploring the potential that physical computing has for interaction design in given domains. You will be employing your user research skills to probe the given themes & your design/development skills to create playful, engaging and meaningful interactive technologies for the everyday that go beyond traditional keyboard/mouse/swipe/screen paradigms of interaction.

We will be working towards a public exhibit at on Tuesday 26th May at The Edge, State Library. Lock the date in with your friends & family as it is a great event for showcasing the work that you produce over the semester. Industry guests, academics and alumni are also invited to the exhibit (and we have strong attendance from these guests) providing you with an opportunity to network & showcase your work for future opportunities.

The Timetable

We have a split timetable that changes in Week 5 following proposal presentations in Week 4.

In Weeks 1, 2, 3 & 4

*You will attend BOTH CON1 sessions (Tuesday AND Wednesday 9:00 am to 2:00 pm) - workshops will start in Week 5.

Please note that the class is scheduled to start at 9: 00 am - and WE WILL BE STARTING AT 9:00 AM.

*For these 4 weeks, these sessions will be held in the Riverview Room of Emmanuel College. This allows for the whole DECO3850/7385 cohort to be in the one room at the same time, and is essential to the initial phase of the project ideation & team development. Emmanuel College is on the corner of Upland Rd and Sir William Macgregor Drive. I will update on where on the Emmanuel campus the Riverview Room is.

*At the end of Week 3, students will be placed into teams of 4 for the major project.

*Teams will present to the whole class in Week 4 before being allocated to one studio session (STU1 Tuesday OR STU1 Wednesday) and to one workshop session (WKS1 Thursday OR WKDS Friday 9 am - 2 pm). Preferences and availability will be taken into consideration where possible for workshop allocations only.

In Week 5 (and for the remainder of the semester):

*You will attend the studio (STU1) & workshop (WKS1) session your team gets allocated to.

*Allocations will be posted to the course blog, to Slack & to the course Blackboard site.

*At this point, all sessions will run in the ITEE Studio (78-209) and the Physical Design Workshop (78-207) throughout the week

Coronavirus Travel Ban & Implications for Weeks 1 & 2

For those of you affected, you will have seen the course checker identifying 9 March as the latest you can get on to campus for this course. There is no feasible or meaningful way of extending online alternatives to you beyond Week 2. I don't know yet who of you are affected by the ban, so I'm asking you to either send me a private message on Slack or to send an email to lorna@itee.uq.edu.au. This is so that we can facilitate the online alternatives for Weeks 1 & 2, and I can take you through the requirements for your Week 2 assessment item (yes, you still have to do this). If you have not registered with UQ at https://my.uq.edu.au/semester-1-arrival-information, please do so as soon as possible. This will provide evidence of extenuating circumstances in regards to Weeks 1 & 2 - and will keep you up to date with any ongoing information/support as it comes to light.

See you all on Tuesday 25 Feb at 9:00 am sharp!

Cheers,

Lorna