Interactions - November/December 2014

the outcome of the final thesis. As with the previous example, the four waves theory does not necessarily characterize everything covered in these courses.

As in the previous example, Table

6 shows the faculty core competences in terms of their present research and scholarship foci, as ascribed by the prior acting program director. The faculty below the line in the table are visiting faculty, and those above the line are appointed. Looking only at the appointed faculty, the emphasis is on first and second wave paradigms.

Looking at all the faculty, there is a
very balanced representation of the
their primary and secondary foci over
time. All but one of the faculty in the
program are appointed.

Table 4 shows how the four wave theory can be useful for organizing a curriculum. Combining Tables 2 and 3 allows one to see the likely way in which courses may be assigned to the faculty, how many faculty are qualified and/or inclined to teach each course, and where the system is brittle in terms of dependence on particular uniquely focused faculty.

INTERACTION DESIGN
AT THE HONG KONG
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF DESIGN

The four wave theory described here was not specifically used as an organizing structure for the Master of Design (MDes) Interaction Design program at the School of Design of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Nonetheless, it is possible to apply a post-hoc analysis of the program similar to the Indiana University example. Doing so highlights some of the differences and similarities between the two programs. The PolyU program occurs in a single year, with three semesters. There are approximately 16 to 20 students in a cohort.

Table 5 shows the courses that make up the MDes degree, and for each course, the emphasis in terms of the four curricular waves. The data in the table was supplied by a past acting program director based on

T

his knowledge of the content of each course and descriptions by the present program director and a senior rank administrator. From the diagram, one can see that all of the waves are represented in the curriculum; however, in keeping with the production-oriented design-orientation of the program, the technical wave is more prominent. For example, every demonstration project at the PolyU is required to have some sort of significant prototype, whereas in the IU program it is a regularly occurring practice to accept design-ethnographic research, or a strategic design plan, or design-theoretic scholarly writing as