Associate in Science and Certificate of Achievement in User Experience and Interaction Design

The Associate in Science and Certificate of Achievement in User Experience and Interaction Design Program approaches UX and other forms of product design through a human-centered approach, placing users and their needs as the focus of the work. This includes everything from creating effective and enjoyable user experiences to ethical and safe interactions between the user research and the product. The course begins with the foundational concepts of good design: human-computer interaction, usability, user experience, and user research.

Students will conduct user research to gain insights into real users; their backgrounds, goals, and behaviors. Customer insights will be used to develop scenarios and storyboards to formulate early visuals of the design concept. Students will have the opportunity to use leading software tools to bring the design concept to fruition, gaining applied design skills in real-world UX, UI, and product design.  At the end of the certificate program, students will have a high-fidelity prototype which can be incorporated into their design portfolio to demonstrate an advanced representation of their UX design skills.

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

1. Understand and apply principles of human centered design into effective design solution.
2. Examine user behavior and transcribe its impact on the product design.
3. Experience the effectiveness of storytelling and be able to envision the problem of the product and its solution in a visually interesting storyboard.
4. Learn numerous techniques to improve wireframe sketching skills in order to more clearly convey design ideas.
5. Conceptualize and develop a user interface design concept to better envision how your users will actually interact with your design
6. Create interactive prototypes for their design concept: a paper prototype, a and a high-fidelity software prototype. They will also make iterative improvements to their prototypes using rapid evaluation methods, relying on different design principles and heuristics.

The number of projected students per year: 

• Certificate of Achievement: 35
• AS Degree: 30

Program Goal: 

The goal of this program is Career Education for occupational purpose. This program will prepare students for the job opportunities such as UX Designer, UX Researcher, Visual Designer, Product Designer, Interaction Designer, Creative Director, Motion designer and similar jobs. 

Objective:

The Associate in Science and Certificate of Achievement in User Experience and Interaction Design Programs are designed to prepare the students to enter the workforce with the knowledge they need to acquire an entry-level UX Design or similar position. After completion of the Certificate of Achievement program, students may obtain an AS degree by completion of the required electives and general education courses to meet a 60-unit total.

The goal of this program is to increase diversity in the UX industry by providing an education platform for entry-level UX artists. This program aims to develop the quality and quantity of design professionals to fulfill industry needs and generate greater economic impact in the Bay Area region. 

The Certificate program includes 8 hands-on courses, for a total of 24 units. 

The AS program includes 8 hands-on courses as CORE for a total of 24 units, additional 12 units of ELECTIVES, and 24 units of GE courses for a total of 60 units. 

CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT:

Course	Title	Units
ART 012	2D Design	3
ART 024	Beginning Drawing	3
DMA 001	Introduction to Digital Media Arts	3
DMA 003	Introduction to Typography	3
DMA 004	Fundamentals of Web Design	3
DMA 011	Design Thinking and Digital Storytelling	3
DMA 012	Principles of User Experience	3
DMA 013	Interaction Design and Prototyping	3
	Total Units	24

ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE:

CORE Courses	Title	Units
ART 012	2D Design	3
ART 024	Beginning Drawing	3
DMA 001	Introduction to Digital Media Arts	3
DMA 003	Introduction to Typography	3
DMA 004	Fundamentals of Web Design	3
DMA 011	Design Thinking and Digital Storytelling	3
DMA 012	Principles of User Experience	3
DMA 013	Interaction Design and Prototyping	3
	CORE COURSES: Total Units	24

ELECTIVE Courses	Title	Units
PHOTO 022	Beginning Photography	3
PHOTO 079	Beginning Digital Photography	3
ART 013	3D Design	3
ART 014	Color Theory	3
ART 055A	Life Drawing I	3
DMA 002	Introduction to Graphic Design	3
DMA 005	Motion Graphics I	3
DMA 007	Digital Video Production	3
DMA 022	Animation for Web and Media	3
CIS 047	Introduction to Web Development	3
	ELECTIVE COURSES (Choose 4): Total Units	12
	General Education Requirement	24
	Total Units	60

At San Jose City College, our current Art program does not cover any of the newer technology in Computer Graphics and Digital Media. Our new Department - Digital Media Arts plans to cover the gap by offering these newer programs. With these programs we want to create a pathway for our students to be able to learn necessary skills for today's job market, and also be able to transfer to a 4 year college. This program proposal has been established in consultation with our industry advisory board. Our industry advisors are from various bay area entertainment companies such as Pixar, ServiceNow, Google, Electronic Art and Sixense Games. For employment prospects in various areas within Media Arts, they recommended few programs for better job opportunities - User Experience and Interaction Design is one of them. Our industry advisors worked with us in creating specific courses, with skills they need for hiring within their own companies and others. As the only Community College designated a Hispanic-Serving Institution in the city of San Jose, we believe a program of such kind will benefit our students greatly. We have felt the need for a program of such kind for many years based on student demand and workforce requirements in our area. Our program is unique in that it can be completed fully online, and also features complementary skill sets such as Web Design, Graphic Design, Digital Storytelling, Animation and Motion Graphics that are needed for current employment opportunities. What makes us unique is the integration of Motion Graphics in our program, as well as focus on Digital Storytelling and Interaction Design instead of Interface Design, which is not covered in this program.

We contacted every college in our service area that has a similar program. We made every effort to reach out to colleges even those that were not listed in the LMI. Details below: Foothill: Teresa Ong, Associate Vice President, Workforce & Career Education De Anza: Randy Bryant, Dean, CTE & Workforce Development Canada: Hyla Lacefield, Dean of Business, Design and Workforce (Interim) Ohlone: Sara Goldware, Director, Strong Workforce & Career Pathways West Valley: Brad Weisberg, Dean, Career Programs and Workforce Development Mission: Jeffrey Pallin, Dean, Business/Technology Service San Mateo: Alex Kramer, Director of Workforce Development Gavilan: Susan Sweeney, Interim Dean, Student Success & Workforce Pathways. After contacting colleges in the Silicon Valley sub-region with similar programs, Canada and Mission College reached out to us expressing interest in discussing more about our program to ensure ours is not identical to theirs. We have spoken to Dean Lacefield of Canada in person, and she has no objection with our program. No further communication has been received from any other college. Based on the LMI report, and the advise from our Industry Advisory board, we remain convinced that our program is unique and does not duplicate any existing program in colleges in our service area. Our program is different from the others in nearby colleges mainly because of the integration of Motion Graphics in our program, as well as focus on Digital Storytelling and Interaction Design. And none of our courses cover Interface Design, which seems to be one of the main components of the existing programs in our area. In our analysis, although there are overlapping areas of expertise, our program specializes in a different niche.