Syllabus
Table of contents
- Course Description
- Student Learning Outcomes
- Required Course Materials
- Course Format/Structure
- Assignments and Graded Components
- Grading Policies
Course Description
What should you do when hateful content is published on a platform you created? Is it ok to use design patterns that will make users say they feel addicted to your app? If you design new surveillance technology, what will the real-world consequences be?
How can a designer make ethical choices as they create interfaces that could potentially affect people around the globe? This is the central question of “Moral Reasoning and Interaction Design.” In this course, we will examine a variety of perspectives that attempt to articulate what is good and what is problematic. Through a mix of studio and seminar sessions, we will discuss how to translate ethical principles into design principles and create new interface designs of our own. By the end of the class, you and a team will robustly define the design of a new technology, transforming something unethical into something you are proud to promote.
Student Learning Outcomes
Throughout this course, you will learn:
- The defining characteristics of seven ethical frameworks
- Known UX patterns for manipulating, exploiting, and deceiving users
- Concrete techniques for incorporating ethical questions into your design practice
- How to design new technologies you define as good and evil
Required Course Materials
The majority of the course readings are provided in files. In addition, you are responsible for obtaining a copy of “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?” by Michael Sandel.
Course Format/Structure
The course is divided into seven modules, each covering a different moral reasoning framework. Each weekly module includes:
- A Tuesday seminar: Students will complete readings in advance, submit a reading response, and participate in discussions to make sense of the week’s framework. Working in small groups, students will submit a summary of the framework.
- A Thursday studio: Students will then practice connecting the week’s framework to questions of design through a weekly studio session. This will begin with a warm up activity at the end of class on Tuesday, involve an at-home assignment to prepare for studio, and conclude with a group studio session in class.
- A weekly Fireside Chat with an industry guest: Each week, we will end with a casual interview with a member of industry. Students will have the chance to ask our guest about their career, products, and ethical decision-making.
Beginning in the second half of the quarter, students will work toward a final project design concept, which they will share via a presentation in class and a final report.
Assignments and Graded Components
Course Modules (8% per module, 56% total)
The course will be divided into seven modules, each covering a different ethical framework and worth 8 possible points. It is not required that you work with others, but you are strongly encouraged to do so! For each module, you will be expected to:
- [Optional!] Watch a short (~10 min) video introducing key concepts in the reading (ungraded)
- Complete an assigned reading (ungraded)
- Post an individual reading response on the Canvas discussion board (2 pts)
- Working in groups in class, submit a synthesis of the framework (2 pts)
- Complete an at-home activity to prepare for studio (2 pts)
- Complete a group studio activity in class (2 pts)
Design pattern presentation (12%)
Once during the quarter, you will present a UX design pattern that can be used for evil. You choose the date and the team, and the pattern will be assigned. You are responsible for giving a 15-minute presentation (plus up to 5 minutes of Q&A) describing the pattern and showcasing concrete ways in which it can be used to do evil. See the assignment page for more details.
Final Project (Presentation 12%, Report 20%)
You will identify an existing evil product, conduct a principled design critique to explain the source and manifestation of this evil, conduct user-centered design work to invent a new version, and create a design spec that presents a redesign of the product. The final project will culminate in a virtual showcase and final report describing your redesign. See the assignment page for more details.
Grading Policies
Assignment Weighting
| Group | Weight |
|---|---|
| Design Technique Presentations | 12% |
| Final Project | 12% |
| Reading Responses | 14% |
| Studio Preparation Activities | 14% |
| Framework Summaries | 14% |
| In-Class Activities | 14% |
| Final Project Report | 20% |
| Total | 100% |
Late Assignments, Make-up Work, and Extra Credit
To promote equity, all students may drop eight points worth of module activities (i.e., 4 assignments) with no penalty at any time during the quarter. This buffer is intended to provide a stress-free way to accommodate minor illness, travel, competing commitments, and personal challenges. To help ensure all students receive this support, this is a blanket, no-questions-asked policy. To help ensure all students are held to a consistent standard, beyond this buffer, late or incomplete module work will receive no more than half credit and after one week will not be accepted at all, except in the event of extraordinary circumstances. Please reserve the eight-point buffer for times of need.
Students who do not dip into this buffer will receive extra credit for their additional efforts. There are 28 module assignments; students will can earn up to 150% of the credit (i.e., 3 points instead of 2) for any module assignment they complete beyond 24. This means that students can earn a maximum of 60 points for module work if they complete all assignments for all modules.
It is at the instructor’s discretion to accept late work for larger assignments (the Design Technique Presentation or components of the Final Project). If it is accepted, late work will receive a grading deduction of 10% of the total grade per calendar day.
Group Work
You are not required to work in groups this quarter. However, you are encouraged do so, as this will likely help you learn more while doing less work! If you need help finding a group to work with, contact the instructor. A few tools for designing collaboratively are listed here.
For your final project, you are welcome to submit an optional individual write up describing the way your team divided the work, your contributions to the team, and the contributions of your teammates. This statement should be no more than 300 words. At the instructor’s discretion, these statements will be used to adjust individual team member grades by as little as 0% or as much as 10% from the grade that a team member would have received. If no team members submit a statement, all team members will receive the same grade.