Undergraduate Course: Design Identities: Roles and Ecologies (DESI10147)

Course Outline
School	Edinburgh College of Art	College	College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate)
Course type	Online Distance Learning	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	This course aims to broaden your awareness of the types of roles played within a design organisation, and of the ways a design organisation interacts with others to form an ecology of knowledge and production. Professional design is a dynamic field encompassing many different ways of working, and many different values. Some sectors of design change very quickly, while others depend on maintaining tradition. Understanding how different roles are defined, how they work together, and what leads them to change, is key to your ability to reflect on your place, and identity, within the profession.
Course description	This course is delivered through online distance learning. You will have regular points of online contact with your tutor. Teaching is through a combination of recorded/live lectures, online seminars/tutorials and virtual studio activities. You will learn to combine observational and desk research methods in a case study approach, and to use visual communication tools to explore and describe the organisation or movement you are studying. Visual communication is increasingly used as part of strategic ¿design thinking¿ across different sectors and is a valuable skill for graduates. Design consultancies often use tools like personas and the business model canvas to visualise intangible values and experiences to support these processes. While you will work independently on your research project, you will also benefit from being able to share experiences through debate on student discussion boards supported and moderated by members of academic staff.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: 72
Course Start	Semester 2
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 9, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1, Summative Assessment Hours 1, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 185 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Your final hand-in will take the form of an illustrated report of approx. 2500 words, including your own visualisations of roles and relationships within a design organisation, and mapping its relationships with other external organisations. This would normally be a pdf, but you may also choose to submit this in an animated or filmed format. The report will be submitted online via the standard VLE, LEARN. 100% coursework. LOs are equally weighted in the summative submission. The summative hand-in is uploaded to LEARN in week 11. Written feedback will be provided within 15 days.
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: Apply a case study approach to research. Develop visual methods to support investigation and communication in a short research project. Demonstrate a critical understanding of roles within a design organisation or movement. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the concept of design knowledge and production ecologies.