‘Creative Interaction Design’ Summer School by UVA and FORTH
 
Creative Interaction Design will be an immersive, hands-on experience in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). The program will expose students to the creative process of designing interactive products for public spaces of cultural & touristic interest. Students will work in a fast-paced environment, identifying real-world problems and designing and prototyping innovative solutions in a group setting. The summer school is implemented in the context of an International Program of the Computer Science department of the University of Virginia (UVA) in cooperation with the Institute of Computer Science of the Foundation for Research & Technology - Hellas (FORTH).
 
This program is designed to be a highly immersive, hands-on experience with limited traditional instruction time. Students will be working in groups, with some facilitation by the program director and a host instructor from FORTH, and will include producing artifacts which will be used for assessment (i.e., contextual inquiry data, models, designs, prototypes, evaluation results, etc.). Creativity workshops and activities will be conducted throughout, including creativity assignments and challenges, to help students unleash their creative side. More than anything else, this is a real-world experience on UX design, including intercultural interactions.
  The summer school will run from 7 – 28 June 2020, every day except Sundays, which will be dedicated to optional social activities and excursions. Every day (Monday - Saturday) the summer school hours are 9:00 – 19:00 with a 1-hour lunch break. Lectures and project work will be hosted at Comeet Creative Space, Petraki Louka 3, Heraklion, Greece.

 

The course awards 6 ECTS as was decided by the General Assembly of Computer Science Department of the University of Crete. To be able to claim the credits, students are required to participate in the full course schedule every day and successfully complete project work and assignments.
  The summer school is open to both under- and postgraduate students from the Computer Science Department of the University of Crete. Based on an application and review process, up to 5 students will be selected to participate for free, including the cost for admission to the cultural sites visited in the context of project work. Postgraduate students will need to request approval for participation by their supervisor.
 
Being able to communicate, study and work in English is an absolute requirement. Although not a prerequisite, it will considered as an advantage having successfully fulfilled ΗΥ-364 (Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction) or having relevant professional experience (through course projects, internships, etc.) Students who are selected without the pre-requisite skills, will be required to review a textbook and/or take an online course on HCI/UX.
 
If you are interested in participating please send an e-mail (in English) up to April 3, 2020 to the program director and host instructor:
Panagiotis Apostolellis, Assistant Professor of CS (UVA) panaga@virginia.edu
cc: Dimitris Grammenos, Principal Researcher (FORTH): gramenos@ics.forth.gr.
 
In the e-mail include a document (PDF preferred) with the following information:
 
Academic Information
1-1 Academic Information: Level (graduate/undergrad) and year of study; anticipated graduation date
1-2 Current Coursework: Courses you have successfully completed (grade) and ones currently taking
 
Applicable Skills: UVA in Greece
2-1 Applicable Skills: What coursework or other related skills to the program topic do you have?
2-2 English proficiency: Level of proficiency in English (include degree and any relevant experiences)
 
Personal Statement
3-1 A short statement explaining why you want to participate and what you expect to earn from it
3-2 Any other relevant study/life experiences that you believe make you a qualified candidate; make sure to include groupwork and intercultural experiences (either for work or leisure)
 
 
For any questions please contact: gramenos@ics.forth.gr
 
Link to the program brochure at UVA:
https://apps.educationabroad.virginia.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=11247