MDIA 1007 - Digital Platforms

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2020

In recent decades, much of the world has witnessed a transformation from manufacturing to knowledge-based service economies. There is growing awareness of the economic benefits that innovative user-oriented services can bring to nations and organisations. The United States is home to the leading multinational companies in this arena, such as Apple and Google. The latter's Google Search, Google Maps and YouTube are illustrative of how intrinsic to our daily lives innovative media services have become. The service sector in China, which is still in the midst of such a transformation, is increasing in economic importance. Tencent's WeChat, a digital application of this Chinese premier Internet service portal, supports location-based social plug-ins, allowing users to befriend and chat with nearby strangers using the service through a simple shake of their smartphones. These companies' service systems did not exist in the pre-digital era. User experience innovations, in particular, are fundamentally changing the way in which product and service systems are designed and operated. This course introduces you to the emerging trends related to information, engagement and entertainment of user experience design, and teaches the basic practical capacities required to visualise the flow of a user-oriented service innovation. Through small group discovery, you learn to apply principles to practice and to become more creative and effective communicators in response to the rise of a media-driven, technology-oriented economy worldwide.

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Course Details

Course Code	MDIA 1007
Course	Digital Platforms
Coordinating Unit	Media
Term	Semester 1
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Restrictions	Available to BMedia, BCtveArts, BMus and DipMus students only
Assessment	500 word skills assignment (15%), 1500 word theory assignment (25%), 2000 word e-activities (50%), participation (10%)

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Aaron Humphrey

Dr Aaron Humphrey
Department of Media
School of Humanities
The University of Adelaide
SA 5005, Australia
aaron.humphrey@adelaide.edu.au

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Learning Outcomes

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able:

CLO 1: To master knowledge of the basic principles and concepts of digital photography, graphic design and user experience design

CLO 2: To sharpen your sense of aesthetics and skills in designing and visualising the flow of a user-oriented service innovation

CLO 3: To demonstrate your creativity and originality in effectively ideating and presenting a digital platform project

CLO 4: To communicate and critique project ideas with team members and peer learners

CLO 5: To enhance your passion in service innovation design as a profession and as an interest

University Graduate Attributes

No information currently available.
Learning Resources

Required Resources

The objectives of the course require the learning to be taken place in a laboratory equipped with computer suites and design software applications. Each student needs access to one such computer suite. The Department of Media has two Media Laboratories at Schulz 408 (30 computers) and Schulz 407 (15 computers), which provide the required facilities and resources.

Recommended Resources

There is no set course book. A list of multimedia/references will be provided by the Course Coordinator during the semester.

Online Learning

All the course materials will be made available on MyUni over the semester. Various functions of MyUni will be in use, which include but are not limited to announcements, content areas, blogs, online assignment submissions, external web links, etc. Students on the course will also have access to online tutorials of research tools, design software applications and mobile applications.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

This course focuses on small group discovery, through which students will learn by research and learn by innovation. In their classwork and assignment tasks, students will apply theories into practice and learn to create solutions to address different design problems. They will learn to become effective independent learners and team workers.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

1 hour lecture per week = 12 hours per semester

2 hours laboratory per week = 24 hours per semester

3 hours reading per week = 36 hours per semester

3 hours research per week = 36 hours per semester

4 hours design tasks per week = 48 hours per semester

TOTAL = 156 hours per semester

Learning Activities Summary

Week 1: Introduction to the Course; Team Building

Week 2: Digital Photography 1; Creative Thinking and Practice 1

Week 3: Digital Photography 2; Creative Thinking and Practice 2

Week 4: Digital Photography 3; Creative Thinking and Practice 3

Week 5: Creative Design 1; Digital Production 1

Week 6: Creative Design 2; Digital Production 2

Week 7: Service Innovation Design Projects

Week 8: Layout and Composition; Digital Production 3

Week 9: Service Innovation; Service Innovation Design Projects

Week 10: User Experience Design; Digital Production 4

Week 11: Reflection on Learning Process

Week 12: Service Innovation Design Project Presentations

Specific Course Requirements

N/A

Small Group Discovery Experience

This course has a strong focus on Small Group Discovery Experience. Students will be working in pairs and in teams to learn by research and to learn by innovation. Students will maintain regular interactions with each other and with the Course Coordinator in class and through various online platforms during the semester.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assignment 1: Learning by Research (25%)

Assignment 2: Learning by Innovation (65%)

Attendance and Participation (10%)

Assessment Related Requirements

Any of the assessment tasks which carries a weighting of 20% or higher will be a hurdle requirement.

Assessment Detail

Assignment 1: Learning by Research (25%)
   Task 1: Small group discovery task 1
   Task 2: Small group discovery task 2
   Task 3: Peer assessment

Assignment 2: Learning by Innovation (65%)
   Task 1: International case study
   Task 2: Service innovation design
   Task 3: Service innovation presentation
   Task 4: Peer assessment
   Task 5: Reflection on learning

Attendance and Participation (10%)

Due to the current COVID-19 situation modified arrangements have been made to assessments to facilitate remote learning and teaching. Assessment details provided here reflect recent updates.

Attendance and participation in tutorials now take place in Zoom tutorial groups, and through online discussion boards.

Deadlines for the first three assignments in this course are extended by a few days to give students extra time to adjust to the changes in remote learning. The Week 4 quiz has moved from Friday, 27 March to Wednesday, 1 April. The draft of the website proposal has moved from 30 March to 4 April, and the final version of the proposal has moved from 8 April to 11 April.

Submission

All assignments of this course will be submitted online, either via MyUni or other digital platforms. For assignments that involve large size files, students will be asked to submit them during the class.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator