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I have recently opened a dialog with the Dean and Department Chair of our Digital Media department regarding my University's lack of User Experience classes.

I want to make a solid argument towards convincing them of their need to begin building a User Experience / Interaction Design emphasis in the Digital Media undergraduate program.

I know that convincing a local University to add new courses is no easy task, especially considering the many faceted issues involved, (new staff, budget, student interest, etc) however, none of my local Universities have such a program.

What industry studies, expert panels, market research, etc, etc could I use to make a strong case for building a User Experience / Interaction Design emphasis?

(I believe I have one good piece so far, a video from IXDA.com where Jared Spool states that there will be a need for 10,000 new Interaction Designers in the coming years: http://tiny.cc/b3spc)

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Anything else...? – Aevum Design Aug 2 at 18:14

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Quote some User Experience Supply / Demand figures ?

http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/user%20experience%20design.do

( Warning: I have no idea how reliable this data actually is ! )

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Excellent. I had never heard of "itjobswatch.co.uk". I see this as relevant; hopefully they won't argue that UK statistics are indirectly related. (My university is in the state of Utah, USA) However, I have just come across some statistics on "indeed.com/…; – Aevum Design Jul 29 at 13:52
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I think in many ways you really need to build a business case where you show how this is inline with the school visions/mission and meets a current need that the school has.

The fact that no other local schools offer it is a very good thing for you.

Also make sure that they see you not only understand the financials but even have a draft of what it would cost. An initial Cost-Benefits analysis is almost a must. In the end you are asking for money that could go to some english class or teach a future medical student anatomy or a CS student what the best way to sort is. Why should UX have it more then them?

I guess maybe this just gave rise to more questions but I hope it still helped some.

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Excellent points. I've never had the opportunity to approach a university department regarding their curriculum, so this will be an interesting experience, to say the least... – Aevum Design Aug 3 at 15:00
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Collect testimonials from prominent businesses in your area?

My plan is to contact and gather testimonials from local, prominent businesses in my area. My hope is that the Managers / Executives from these businesses will share insights into how important their existing UX / IX designers are, and how vital new Designers will be in the future.

Perhaps video-testimonials and quotes from these companies would be a direct motivation for the University to provide the education that its local (and perhaps affiliated) companies would desire to have instilled in the future work force?

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Is there a need for an interaction design program?

I agree that more programmers need to think in terms of use cases. More buisness people need to understand programming and aesthetics. More graphic designers need an understanding of the technology.

But why a dedicated program instead of more interdisciplinary education and projects? Instead of a UX/IX program, one could also consider regular collaborative projects where students from different backgrounds work together, and the occasional forced situation where individuals have to work outside what they normally do.

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@sgnewson I must admit, I think you have a very good point. If I were to apply your idea, I can imagine a cross-department course, perhaps applicable to Computer Science, Graphic Design, Digital Media and Information Architecture courses... we could have a series of interdisciplinary courses that would involve all of them... I like it! – Aevum Design Aug 6 at 14:53

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