Abstract:

The paper describes the teaching and learning experience in a Design Course dealing with Embodied Interaction (EI), a stance introduced by Paul Dourish to overcome the emergent physical-digital divide, since computers are shrinking and becoming ubiquitous in our everyday life. Technology enables objects to be autonomous in interacting with other objects and with people. Designers should be able to conceive new forms of interaction - mixing visual, physical, haptic, and auditory channels - comprehensible for humans and non-humans, allowing them to interact in different contexts.
The course uses a mixed teaching approach, considering methods such as ex-cathedra lectures, workshops, flipped classrooms, project-based learning, and peer-to-peer discussion.
Through ex-cathedra lectures, students could familiarise with the main arguments of EI. Two different modes of frontal teaching were applied. The lecturers presented the theoretical issues of the subject and, through the analysis of different case studies, the practical dimension of the project topics. Then, four guest speakers were invited, each with different backgrounds and expertise, to present the extent of the disciplines involved in conceiving, designing, and evaluating objects, interactions and user experiences. In addition, a one-day workshop was organised on data awareness - personal, behavioural, environmental, etc. - when using interactive and connected objects.
Through flipped classrooms, each week in the first part of the semester, a group of 3 or 4 students prepared a lesson based on scientific papers selected by the lecturers, introducing both theoretical content and personal reflections.
At the same time, students developed and iteratively implemented physical and interactive prototypes, to explore and reflect on perceptual, cognitive, tangible and social dimensions of the interaction between humans, artefacts and the environment and to reflect on the relationship between action and meaning.
Students explored the phenomenological and technical aspects of EI through a project-based activity on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG11 - sustainable cities and communities and SDG12 - responsible consumption and production.
The process included iterative phases, concerning the identification and exploration of the project topic, the definition of a concept and its interaction blueprint, a design loop, and open discussions with the experts and public. The latter phase was structured to test the prototypes and gather direct and indirect feedback about the usage, accessibility, acceptability, meaning and overall experience.
In this mixed teaching framework, the course faced EI's theoretical, phenomenological, practical, and technical domains. Active and experiential learning allowed students to understand, design, and reflect on the multiple dimensions, channels, and ways in which human and non-human artefacts can interact.
The paper presents the mixed teaching framework and the main features of the projects developed by the teams of students. As a result, it reports and analyses the development process and the evaluation and reflections on the prototypes. Finally, the role of the prototype is discussed, intended both as a practical experimental activity and as a tool to build new knowledge and awareness concerning the different dimensions of interaction between people and objects: functionality, usability, accessibility, acceptability, ethics.

Keywords:

Embodied interaction, project-based learning, physical prototyping, prototype role.