Course Coordinator:Marni Stuart (mstuart@usc.edu.au) School:School of Business and Creative Industries
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
Design informs every aspect of our daily lives and influences how we think, act and communicate. Good design improves lives through practical, functional and aesthetic changes that can transform the world in which we live. This practice-focussed course introduces you to design methods and the way designers imagine, experiment and explore to produce creative solutions to the challenges we face, including connections with relevant global sustainable development goals (SDGs). Through research and practical activities, you will learn how design can play a critical role in shaping our future.
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – Interactive online learning activities. | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Scheduled face to face workshops. | 2hrs | Week 1 | 10 times |
| Seminar – Scheduled face to face seminar. | 2hrs | Week 5 | 2 times |
| Online | |||
| Learning materials – Interactive online learning activities. | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Scheduled online workshops (Recorded). | 2hrs | Week 1 | 10 times |
| Seminar – Scheduled online seminar (Recorded). | 2hrs | Week 5 | 2 times |
Design research
Design frameworks and methodology
Selecting and applying design methods
Critical design approaches and theoretical analysis
Engagement with different design disciplines
Design communication
Experience design
Inclusive and accessible design
Emotional design
Sustainable design
Generative design
100 Level (Introductory)
12 units
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Apply design methods and research strategies to inform creative outcomes | Creative and critical thinker |
| 2 | Critically evaluate and use problem-solving strategies and creativity to address a design challenge |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
| 3 | Use design principles to provide direction and flow and to show levels of importance within content. | Knowledgeable |
| 4 | Produce and present design outcomes in a professional and technically appropriate manner. | Empowered |
| 5 | Justify design decisions on the basis of how they impact social, ecological and economic outcomes, including sustainable development goals (SDGs). |
Ethical Sustainability-focussed |
| 6 | Interpret and reflect on design ethics and inclusive design practices to produce socially engaged, agile, relevant and impactful design outcomes |
Empowered Ethical |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
You should be familiar with working with computers.
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
During weeks 1-4 students engage in a set of tasks which will be discussed during workshops for peer and instructor feedback and development. Those tasks will be submitted for the first assessment after 4 weeks.
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | Individual | 30% | PDF portfolio containing research and documentation. |
Week 5 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 2 | Essay | Individual | 30% | 1500 words |
Week 9 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | Individual | 40% | Digital submission including PDF and video. |
Week 12 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Design study | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | To experiment with different types of design methods in different fields of design. |
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| Product: | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | Compilation of outcomes in digital form. See assessment brief on Canvas for further details on format and specific requirements for each design method. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Applying technologies |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Project proposal | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | To propose a project that connects conceptual and theoretical ideas in design and demonstrate an understanding of design methods. |
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| Product: | Essay | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | Written project proposal with imagery as needed. See assessment brief on Canvas for further details on format. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Applying technologies |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Creative project | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To develop a creative outcome from the project proposal in assessment two, demonstrating the application of design methods. Support your presentation with a reflective video. |
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| Product: | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | A designed artefact with accompanying video reflection. See assessment brief on Canvas for further details of format. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Applying technologies |
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A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Depending on project topic choice, students might have responsibility for obtaining fabrication materials or access to specialist software. In the latter case, use of student or free versions will be encouraged.
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: