SAD in Education and CHEER in Practice: A Case Study of DTIT Program at NTUA

Abstract

Recently, the growth of Taiwan's graduate education in design fields has boomed. There are a number of well-established design programs in universities ranging from undergraduate to postgraduate and even doctoral level. In the past, the main concern was about the "capability" of design rather than the "power" of design. Currently, there are projects in Taiwan involving academia, industry and government agencies, which is an encouraging phenomenon. By blending Science, Arts and Design (S.A.D), we can bridge the gap between academia and industry to reach Collaboration, Humanity, Empathy, Ecology and Renaissance (CHEER). Therefore, this study intends to explore the relationship between SAD in education and CHEER in practice through a case study of the DTIT (Design Team In Training) program at National Taiwan University of Arts (NTUA). Results presented herein help us create an approach to examine the manners designers transform S.A.D as well as the interwoven experience of CHEER in design process. In addition, this study presents a paradigm to integrate ergonomic considerations into human performance in "pleasure" for keyboard design. In a word, we suggest that S.A.D in education and CHEER in practice through the DTIT program would be validated through more testing and evaluating in further studies.