Teaching design from a distance: the deviantArt case of Virtual Design Studio

For over 70 years studio-based learning (SBL) continues to have a powerful influence on the creation of environments for teaching and learning in art and design on an academic level. A similar philosophy is followed by the Virtual Design Studio (VDS), a form ofvirtualworkshop that addresses the needs of online design education. The increasing exploitation of social network platforms (SN) as instruments of learning has also lead to their integration into VDS, due to the fact that these technologies transfer communication, teamwork, social engagement, responsibility, and classroom interaction away from the design tutors to the participants. The present paper discusses a pilot use of thedeviantArtplatform - an open and dynamic online community that promotes artisticexpression,facilitates cross-culturaldialogue,and features work in a variety of disciplines - as a VDS environment. This allowed design work to be posted and commented on a public platform as a means to facilitate peer learning and distance assessment. The conducted study facilitated a distance learning course in Graphic Design of the Hellenic Open University (HOU). At the end of the academicyearan evaluation was carried out in order to assess its validity as a distance teaching method for design and identify its weaknesses, strengths and improvement opportunities

Delivering elder-care environments utilizing TV-channel based mechanisms

In this paper, we present a smart environment for elderly. What makes the development of such system challenging is that the concept of smartness for elderly brings to the extreme the idea of invisibility of the technology. In our experience, elders are well-disposed to new technologies, provided that those will not require significant changes - namely, they are invisible - to their habits. Starting from this consideration, 200 caregivers responses were collected by questionnaire, so as to better understand elders' needs and habits. A system was subsequently developed allowing elders to access a number of "modern web services" as standard TV channels: at channel 43 there is the health status, at channel 45 the photos of the family, at 46 the agenda of the week, just to mention few of the available services. The content of such services is automatically generated by the smart devices in the environment and is managed by the caregivers (e.g., family members) by simple web apps. Fourteen families were asked to install the system in their house. The results of these experiments confirm that the proposed system is considered effective and user-friendly by elders

Scenarios for Educational and Game Activities using Internet of Things Data

Raising awareness among young people and changing their behavior and habits concerning energy usage and the environment is key to achieving a sustainable planet. The goal to address the global climate problem requires informing the population on their roles in mitigation actions and adaptation of sustainable behaviors. Addressing climate change and achieve ambitious energy and climate targets requires a change in citizen behavior and consumption practices. IoT sensing and related scenario and practices, which address school children via discovery, gamification, and educational activities, are examined in this paper. Use of seawater sensors in STEM education, that has not previously been addressed, is included in these educational scenaria

Teaching Design from a Distance: A Case Study of Virtual Design Studio Teaching via a Social Network

Design Studio teaching has been an established method in art and design academia for over 80 years. In design studio, theoretical knowledge and practical skills mix. The design process is taught by living through it, thus accessing deeper levels of cognitive, technical, and social skills. Studio facilitates experimentation, exploration, and synthesis, along with team working and peer-learning. Virtual Design Studio (VDS) addresses the same needs in online design education, but has three significant differences: geographically distributed participants; teaching and learning via digital objects; and asynchronous or/and synchronous communication. Asynchronous increases schedule flexibility, but written communication is more time-consuming than discussion. Additionally, the large amount of data to be processed and the required feedback increases one’s workload. VDS feedback is not immediate and is limited to only uploaded designs, thus affecting subsequent developments of student drafts. Since interaction between participants depends on practical and psychological constraints and ICT skills, it may not be as focused, rich or immediate as in the traditional studio. Although several VDS solutions have emerged in the past two decades, yet there is no single established design-teaching model that replicates the design studio method. Nevertheless, most current ICT technologies, including social media, share several common core features: emphasis on cooperation, reliance on a common set of tools, merge of synchronous and asynchronous communication, easy remote access etc. As people’s skills are constantly evolving in the use of digital tools and social media, the integration of the latter into VDS gradually moves design tutors from teaching and makes them facilitators of learning, while all participants become stakeholders of classroom interaction. The current paper explores the aforementioned notion through the use of the deviantArt (dA) platform (a dynamic online studio) in a design teaching method. The study reports on experiences from a distance learning MA course in Graphic Design, with 50 mature distant students per year. At the end of each of 3 consequent academic years, an evaluation was carried out so as to assess its validity as a distance teaching method for design and identify its weaknesses, strengths and improvement opportunities. dA displayed visuals without the navigation overload of online collaborative virtual environments. Each year 5 main assignments were created and more than 700 images were posted, with more than 6000 page views. Feedback from peers and tutors was seen as an important part of the design studio process, however due to several factors, it was not practiced in full extent. The opportunity to have an overview of design portfolios and to compare one's work with another’s was favoured. This practice was particularly beneficial for weaker students and those without an art/design background, as it improved their understanding of assignment requirements, and made them aware of quality and assessment criteria. Since teaching design to a multi-disciplinary group of distant learners is a challenge marked by the lack of an established physical community and by limited opportunities for face-to-face tuition, the paper discusses how the use of social media as a VDS teaching method encouraged a sense of community and provided an overview of the work of peers, and therefore enabled creative stimuli and peer-review comments

Creative Narration as a Design Technique

Creative narration is a structured ideation technique based on storytelling. It has the potential to enhance the initial design process of ideation in terms of collaboration and creativity. People from various disciplines, following specific steps, collaborate to create a story. Afterward, inspired by their stories, they create products and services. In this paper, two case studies are presented and compared, where the technique of creative narration was used in the contexts of two creative workshops. An initial assessment of this process, highlighting the strong and weak points of the technique, is discussed in this paper

Έννοιες, μοντέλα, εργαλεία, διεπαφές για την ενδυνάμωση της αυτονομίας και δημιουργικότητας των χρηστών σε περιβάλλοντα διάχυτης υπολογιστικής ισχύος

This thesis explored, through an interaction design process, aspects of enabling end user creativity inubiquitous computing environments and has defined related conceptual and methodological tools toenable a vision of user empowerment and independence within pervasive computing environments. Concepts, models, tools and user interfaces are explored by use of a scenario based design approach. Research presented in this thesis has made some headway in the effort to empower people to activelyshape Ambient Computing environments. It has demonstrated the feasibility of letting end-users shape their ubicomp environments. Experience from system implementation case studies, as well as evaluation of expert and end-user trials, all suggest that an architectural model, where users act ascomposers of predefined components, is a worthwhile approach. Evaluation results show that people understand the split in the dual nature of artifacts: their tangible and sensory characteristics and their connectable software counterparts. Conceptual models and alternative information visualizations are needed to support people in creating their own applications. Such visualization methods should combine different syntax styles that act complementarily to eachother, thus allowing people (including non-computer experts) to use different ways to describe to thesystem what they want to achieve. More intuitive/natural ways to express user wishes should beprovided in parallel with more formal structures that enable more detailed descriptions and advancedcontrol. A framework can act as an abridging tool, providing a conceptual basis and theoretical foundation, as common ground for the communication and cooperation between the disciplines involved in user focused ubiquitous computing research. Theoretical and methodological constructs are presented here, towards the definition of a broad framework that can facilitate the design of ubicomp systems supporting end user development.Η διατριβή αφορά τα Συστήματα Διάχυτου Υπολογισμού (Ubiquitous Computing Systems - Ubicomp), και προωθεί την συμμετοχή στην διαμόρφωση και τον έλεγχο τους από τους τελικούς χρήστες. Διερευνώνται από την σκοπιά της διαδραστικής σχεδίασης μέθοδοι, μοντέλα και μηχανισμοί διεπαφής, έτσι ώστε οι τελικοί χρήστες να αποκτήσουν ένα μεγαλύτερο βαθμό προσβασιμότητας στα οικιακά περιβάλλοντα διάχυτου υπολογισμού. Τα αποτελέσματα της παρούσας έρευνας ισχυροποιούν την άποψη πως η πρόσβαση των χρηστών με στόχο τον σχεδιασμό εφαρμογών διάχυτου υπολογισμού είναι μία προσέγγιση έγκυρη, η οποία πρέπει να διερευνηθεί περισσότερο, και να υποστηριχθεί από κατάλληλα συστήματα και πλατφόρμες Διάχυτου Υπολογισμού. Προωθείται η αντίληψη πως ο σχεδιασμός του συστήματος οφείλει να συμπεριλάβει την προσβασιμότητα από τους τελικούς χρήστες. Στο πλαίσιο αυτό της αναγκαιότητας δραστηριοποίησης των χρηστών δίνεται μια επισκόπηση σχετικών εργαλείων και μεθόδων διάδρασης. Τέλος, η έρευνα αυτή προσδιορίζει σφαιρικά τις διαστάσεις ενός εννοιολογικού και μεθοδολογικού πλαισίου για το σχεδιασμό συστημάτων διάχυτου υπολογισμού, τα οποία υποστηρίζουν τη δραστηριοποίηση των χρηστών και την ενδυνάμωση της δημιουργικότητας τους