I will caveat my guidance in this area by stating that there are “soft skills” that all good user experience designers have: problem solving, empathy, communication skills, and collaboration. If a person starts out with a deficiency in one or more of these areas, they will not only have a more difficult time in the UX profession, but it is a real possibility that they are not suited to work in the domain in the first place. That being said…
How to teach user experience design? By combining the practical with the academic, and throw in a huge dash of DOING.
The foundational stuff – basic logic, psychology, design principles, art appreciation, software design processes – that is your “introductory” class – UX 101. Make sure that foundation is firm as you can make it.
The next class, UX 201… that’s where you introduce real-world design problems. In this class, I’d start by designing a “brand new” offering, and then after we cover all the bases I’d have the students focus on redesigning an product… which takes a different approach than a “green field” design process.
Start with detailing how to do user research to inform your understanding of a domain. Walk through analysis techniques that can be used to form concepts, personas and mental models from the user research data. Look at the different ways software development life cycles can – or can’t – align with a user-centered design process. Then I’d teach techniques in design testing, design prototyping, and design documentation… the practical real-world skills that takes concepts to reality. All this would be as hands-on and collaborative as possible.
Finally, in UX 301, I’d cover various case studies in UX design, and also review communication techniques and skills that effective designers need to use to get their design “across the line” with decision makers and business stakeholders… A vital skill that is undertaught and under appreciated.