Description of the course
The course teaches responsibility in design. It focuses on high, low, and user interface design concepts. Topics addressed include responsible design, security, safety, privacy, and other usability-related concepts such as architectural design, object-oriented design, and interface design.
Description of the participants
The course is an elective for Master’s students. In the spring 2023 semester, it was attended by 35 students in the final semester of their studies enrolled in all departments of the School of Computing, namely Software Engineering, Data Science, Cyber Security, and AI. The course was further attended by 1 PhD student.
Description of gamified design thinking activities
Students were introduced to design thinking principles through a workshop. Later during the course students were encouraged to use design thinking to identify a research problem and propose its solutions ideas. The students were allowed freedom to choose any design problem from their domain of study related to aspects such as architectural design, usability, security, safety, or privacy. Most students opted to work on issues relevant to large language models (LLMs). For instance, the bias in LLMs or how to cater to privacy issues in social media applications.
Students worked on a semester-long project, which was organized around design thinking principles and steps.
Step 1. Identify a research problem and develop a problem statement definition.
Students identified a research problem based on their early literature review and developed a problem statement.
Step 2. Develop a research design.
Students were asked to develop a research design to solve the problem in focus. To achieve this, they extended the literature review.
Step 3. Solution synthesis.
Students were asked to synthesize a solution to their research problem and demonstrate it through any possible method. Students opted to present their solutions through position papers and mock experiments.
