Meeting & Agendas

Discussion: Gail welcomed everyone. Each person introduced themselves. Gail spoke about the role of the Visual Communication Department as part of ACC’s workforce education, with the objective of serving the community by training for entry level career placement. She described the diversity of our student population, ranging from those still in high school all the way up to retirees looking for new careers. Gail then explained the important role that the advisory committee plays in guiding the curriculum.

Due to low enrollment, few graduates, and the desire to implement new ATCs in User Experience and User Interface, the department would like to sunset the existing Design Coder Advanced Technical Certificate. This certificate was put together in a partnership with the Computer Studies. It’s had fairly low enrollment, few completers, and some of the course offerings should be updated. An advanced skills certificate is designed for someone who already has a degree in a specified area and wants to update their knowledge and skills for workforce. Committee members reviewed the proposed new certificates for User Experience and User Interface. They discussed what the appropriate titles for the new certificates should be, based upon what’s happening in the current workplace, including where visual design fits in. It was agreed that they would wait until the course descriptions were complete and approved before reviewing and voting on the certificates. They did, however, agreed to sunset the existing Design Coder Advanced Technical Certificate. Action: John Neumann moved to approve the sunsetting of the Design Coder Advanced Technical Certificate. Erica Cruz seconded the motion. Vote: all agree, none opposed.

At 8:07 p.m. John Neumann moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Alexis Puchek. All voted yes, and the meeting ended.

Action: Michael Stewart was elected committee chair Erica Cruz was elected vice chair Michael called the meeting to order at 6:15 p.m.

David presented information about the progression from the old Web and Interactive degree to the current User Experience AAS, Level II certificate, and also the related Design Coder Advanced Technical Certificate.Slides were shown to compare the cost of earning an AAS in User Experience Design to similar degrees at other colleges, showing ACC being an affordable option.

Committee members viewed a brief slide show of student portfolios and quotes. David mentioned that several committee members are former students, and other recent graduates have internships at IBM and Pearson. He also described the ACAP (Austin Competency Analysis) process, in which industry professionals meet for a day to determine the skills currently needed in local industry. The ACAP report is then used to inform degree plan and curriculum development. He said that current committee members may be asked to participate in a future ACAP meeting.

1. Engage with the Cooperative Education & Partnerships group at ACC David had a short meeting this week with this ACC department which establishes partnerships with industry, mentorship programs, internship programs. 2. Engage with ACC Marketing Department to promote the UX degree. 3. Other possible articulation agreements with: a. Santa Monica College, BS in interaction design program b. Pursue local school relationships

Correa noted that at the moment we are possibly the only program in the whole country that's offering an associate's degree in UX design. This would not be possible without the help of our industry partners. Special thanks go to partners from IBM. IBM was our initial contact, and provided a lot of exchange and help. John Neumann wrote a research class last year and taught it, citing Michael Stewart, which is UI and a survey of UX. David thanked them for their help. David Correa discussed the need for a three‑year plan. What does UX design look like in a few years? This may cover: a. Faculty needs b. Staffing/support needs c. Equipment needs d. NEW SpaceHLC and floor plan e. Course scheduleday/evenings/weekends/online f. Course delivery methodsHybrid/High Flex/Fully online

Proposal: David explained that the User Experience degree has been in place since Fall 2015 and it’s time for updates. In order to allow more classes in the degree plan and stay within the 60 credit hour limit,it is proposed to reduce the number of credits for several courses from 4 to 3. Gail Bayeta dissected the course numbering system for the committee: Rubric/Course Title/level.credit hours.local needs designation. placeholder Alida McCullough explained how it is possible to lower the credit hours for a class, but still maintain the same number of contact hours, per WECM guidelines. Action: Alexis P. moved to reduce the credit hours from 4 to 3 for certain classes . Heather H. seconded the motion. Committee members voted to approve the change. The classes to reduce from 4 to 3 credits are: ● UXUI 1472 User Interface Design 1 ● UXUI 1473 Responsive Design 1 ● UXUI 2472 User Interface Design 2 ● UXUI 2473 Responsive Design 2 ● UXUI 2474 User Experience Design I ● UXUI 2475 User Experience Design 2 b) Proposal: David Correa explained that it would benefit the students by making it easier to schedule classes if all of the courses on the degree plan were 3 credits and also easier to share courses with other degree plans, so he asked that the 2credit courses on the degree plan be increased to 3. Action: John N. moved to increase the credit hours from 2 to 3 for certain classes. Alexis P. seconded the motion. Committee members voted unanimously to approve the change. The classes to increase from 2 to 3 credits are: ● UXUI 1271 Survey of User Experience Design ● UXUI 2279 Portfolio Design c) Proposal: Change the course title of UXUI 2279 from “Portfolio Development” to “Portfolio Design” to correct a clerical error made when first establishing the course. Action: Heather H. moved to change the course title of UXUI 2279 from “Portfolio Development” to “Portfolio Design” . James H. seconded the motion. All committee members voted to approve the change.

David provided the Committee members with a list of current and proposed courses. (See attached document). He explained that it’s now apparent that some of what’s taught should be divided up differently, and that by reducing all classes to 3 credit hours, there will be room to add some new classes. He began describing the proposed new/revamped courses. This lead to a discussion of what should be included in the updated degree plan. David Correa and Marc Bonasso ran through the list of current courses and proposed changes. UX Tools Course Correa discussed the introduction of a UX Tools course that would be a replacement for a straight up Photoshop or Illustrator course. The committee discussed the merits of which software should be taught, and how students should be taught flexibility on tools. The committee concluded that a good course curriculum would include Sketch, Illustrator and a handful of other commonly used industry prototyping tools. Coding Courses Correa brought up a discussion on coding and whether or not it should be an essential part of the degree. The committee agreed that coding classes were important to be able to work in crossfunctional teams. The committee discussed and agreed on the following: • emphasis should be placed on developing scalable, cloudbased enterprise level software versus apps for handheld devices, since enterprise is where more of the demand, and thus job opportunities, currently exists. • learning how to function as part of a team, share files, adhere to prescribed naming conventions, and understand tools for collaboration is very important • learning how to balance developing wireframing vs. completed polished comps (how far to go before the work falls into the Visual Design category) is something to consider • the importance of emphasizing a user centered design process and the role of research • the need for students to have opportunities to hone presentation skills • the importance to understand information architecture It was agreed to share a Google document with the committee, with course descriptions for all of the current and proposed classes, so that committee members can provide feedback. Action: Committee Members agreed to review the proposed course descriptions (attached) in a shared Google doc. Ten of the 12 members responded. After doing so, they approved all changes, as detailed below. (All courses were approved by a vote of 10 approving, 0 disapproving, 2 no response, except for UXUI 1370 with votes of 8 approving, 0 disapproving, and 4 no response.) UXUI 1370 Survey of User Experience Design (revision of UXUI 1271 Survey of User Experience Design) UXUI 1371 Visual Design (update existing course) UXUI 1372 User Interface Design 1 (update UXUI 1472 User Interface Design 1) UXUI 1373 Responsive Design I (update UXUI 1473 Responsive Design 1 ) UXUI 1374 Introduction to UX Tools (new course) UXUI 1375 Design Ideation (new course) UXUI 1376 User Centered Design (revision of UXUI 2474 User Experience Design 1) UXUI 2372 User Interface Design 2 (update UXUI 2472 User Interface Design 2) UXUI 2373 Responsive Design 2 (update UXUI 2473 Responsive Design 2 ) UXUI 2374 Portfolio Design (update/expand UXUI 2279 Portfolio Development) UXUI 2375 Introduction to App Design & Coding (new course) UXUI 2376 Design Research (revision of UXUI 2475 User Experience Design 2) UXUI 2377 Interaction Design (new course) UXUI 2378 Product Design (new course) UXUI 2379 Applied UX Lab (new course)

After discussion about the direction the UX industry is moving, and making note of the fact that there will be less work available for those developing apps for handheld devices and more for those working on enterprise applications, John Neumann moved to incorporate more cloud-native and enterprise application development into the curriculum. Alexis Puchek seconded the motion. Vote: all agree, none opposed.