Course Title: Industrial Design Elective 4

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Industrial Design Elective 4

Credit Points: 12


Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

GRAP1048

City Campus

Undergraduate

315H Architecture & Design

Face-to-Face

Sem 1 2006,
Sem 1 2007,
Sem 1 2008,
Sem 1 2009,
Sem 1 2010,
Sem 1 2011,
Sem 1 2012,
Sem 1 2013,
Sem 2 2006,
Sem 2 2007,
Sem 2 2008,
Sem 2 2009,
Sem 2 2010,
Sem 2 2011,
Sem 2 2012,
Sem 2 2013

Course Coordinator: Malte Wagenfeld

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 5327

Course Coordinator Email:malte.wagenfeld@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 88.06.06

Course Coordinator Availability: by appointment (email)


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

As an Industrial Design student you must be in semester 5 or above except where an exception is granted by the program director. The electives offered by the Industrial Design program are also open to students from a variety of other programs; the Industrial Design program places no prerequisites on these students but as a student from one of these programs you are advised to check what prerequisites are required with your home program. Some electives may require certain knowledge or skills; in such a case the special requirements will be clearly expressed in any descriptions of that offering.


Course Description

Overview
Electives are 12 credit point courses that complement existing pedagogical streams such as communication, technology, design projects and studies. Electives are not essential learning areas but rather add to your body of knowledge and/or life experience. You may also chose an elective to catch up, strengthen or specialize in a particular area of learning or skills acquisition. The concept behind electives (and hence their name) is to allow you to freely choose courses that reflect your own interests, aspirations and learning needs.

Each semesters the Industrial Design Program will curate a diverse set of electives ranging from academic inquiry, mini projects, to skill based lessons. The offered electives typically involve “doing things” and might be advanced courses or specializations relevant or complimentary to designers or they might be designed to challenge established design practice. The number of offerings varies each semester and is dependant on student numbers. In semester one there may be 10-14 courses offered and in semester two the program typically offers 5-7.

Industrial Design is one of 5 programs that make up the School of Architecture & Design; as a student of this school you can also ballot from electives offered by the other programs within the School. As an Industrial Design student you are required to undertake 4x electives in order to complete your degree and at least one of these must be an offering made by the Industrial Design program. The remaining electives may be those offered by the School of Architecture & Design, university-wide electives or upon the discretion of the Industrial Design Program Director, appropriate courses within another university.

The structure of electives
Electives typically involve 3 contact hours per week for the 12 weeks of each semester although some electives may be run as intensive electives where the contact hours are condensed into a shorter timeframe. The workload for intensive electives is exactly the same as a 12 week elective, the difference is purely the condensed contact period.

By virtue of their diversity there is no single structure applicable to all electives and each offering will have slightly different requirements.

The first class is generally an introduction to the elective and guidelines or a course planner will be presented to you. These guidelines may manifest in the form of a calendar and/or some stated objectives: what you will be doing, what is expected from you, the assessment dates & criteria as well as other milestones such as project/stage completion dates, exhibition dates, etc. If the elective does not follow a traditional model, as in the case of industry based offerings, the guidelines will clearly articulate what you should expect from the elective and why it is different.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

The objectives underpinning various electives will vary between the various offerings but the overall objective behind all Industrial Design electives is to allow you to pursue your own interests, develop specialisations or to build on existing knowledge, skills or experiences; be this within the School of Architecture & Design or through courses offered by RMIT or other universities.

Completion of this course contributes to the development of the following graduate capabilities:

Analysis: Analytical, critical, lateral and strategic thinking skills and the capacity to deploy various approaches to problem solving and intellectual tasks, so as to handle significantly high levels of complexity within a rigorous and rational framework.
Collaborative: To operate effectively in a team, externalize design decision-making processes, and facilitate dialogue with a critical appreciation of the complexity of interdisciplinary contexts, issues, obstacles and opportunities.
Initiative: Initiative and leadership skills and the ability to: open up innovative interpretations and reinterpretations of design contexts by thinking critically and strategically to locate inquiry in relevant contexts; to manage projects toward a specific goals, and to execute tasks according to a plan with confidence and critical self-awareness.


Learning outcomes will vary according to the nature of each particular elective but will be clearly articulated at the beginning of the course by your elective lecturer.


Overview of Learning Activities

Electives may involve activities such as project-based learning, developing competencies or expanding your experiences; all will involve active learning where you are expected to “do something”. You may work in small groups or individually, with the lecturer generally directing the study topics/activities as well as offering their expertise and guidance.

Elective offerings vary each semester and are by nature very diverse, consequently you should refer to each particular elective/lecturer for more detailed information.


Overview of Learning Resources

These will be specified by each particular lecturer at the beginning of semester in the form of a printed document.


Overview of Assessment

Assessment
Assessment may be in the form of several submissions through the semester, one submission at the end or by lecturer, panel or peer review. The style of assessment will differ according to the nature of each elective. Submissions suit skill orientated courses while reviews are more suited to design projects. In the case of panel reviews, a continuing staff member and an invited guest should be involved while peer reviews function in much the same way but the invited guests are your fellow students.

Assessment (be it a final submission or by review) can be conducted in the last class or in the following non-contact week (Week 13). Reviews are often conducted on a specified date in Week 13.