A planned (approximate) syllabus for the course appears below. Quite a few changes should be expected.
Week Reading Topics 1 1-3 Introduction to field. Human capabilities. 2 9.1-9.3, 5 Formative evaluation. Questionnaire design. Observing users. 3 10 Usability specs. Experiments and studies. 4 8 Interpretive and predictive evaluation. User models. 5 6, 4 Task analysis. GUI builders. 6 9.4-9.9, 11, 13-14 Rapid prototyping. Generating design ideas. 7 15 Design principles. Graphic design. 8 12 Dialog design. Direct manipulation. 9 Handling errors. Documentation and help. 10 WWW, Internet. Agents.
The actual material covered in class is presented below. Reading assignments are in italics at the bottom.
| Date | Mon | Wed | Fri |
| Jan. 6 | - | Introduction and overview of HCI Ch. 1-2 |
Human capabilities GIF - PS Ch. 3 |
| Jan. 13 | Formative and summative evaluation Ch. 9.1-9.3 |
Questionnaires Interviews - |
Observing users GIF - PS Ch. 5 |
| Jan. 20 | ************ King Holiday ************ |
Usability specs Experiments - |
Experiments Data analysis GIF - PS Ch. 10 |
| Jan. 27 | Ethnography Heuristic eval. - |
Walkthroughs User modelling, GOMS Ch. 8 |
GUI builder dtbuilder demo - |
| Feb. 3 | Futuristic videos - |
Task analysis Design discussion Ch. 6 |
Project design briefings - |
| Feb. 10 | Rapid Prototyping Ch. 9.4-9.9 |
Design Metaphors Ch. 4, 11 |
Design principles and guidelines - |
| Feb. 17 | Graphic design - Ch. 13, 14 |
Dialog Design: WIMP systems Ch. 15, 12 |
Dialog Design: Command Langs. - |
| Feb. 24 | Dialog design: Direct manipulation - |
Dialog design: Speech Recognition - |
Development of GUI video - |
| Mar. 3 | Error handling and response - |
Help and documentation - |
WWW Cool URLs - |
| Mar. 10 | Software Agents - - |
Course evaluation and discussion - |
Final exam review - |
You are expected to purchase the required text: Interactive System Design, by Newman and Lamming, Addison Wesley, 1996. We will be skipping around in terms of reading assignments, so watch for class or newsgroup announcements to discover the assigned reading for the next class period. There is no excuse for ignorance of the assigned reading material.
Students are expected to do their own work at all times and to follow the university's codes of academic conduct and the honor code. Cases of suspected collaboration or cheating will be immediately forwarded to the Dean of Student Affairs, and will be pursued to resolution. This is an unpleasant process for all involved, so please do not put yourself in this situation.
Students are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner-this entails showing up for exams at the appointed time. Late make-up exams will not be given, so beware of circumstances such as "My alarm didn't go off," or "I thought the exam was Thursday." If some form of prior commitment does not allow a student to take an exam at the given time, PRIOR arrangements should be made with the instructor.
Extra work, after the quarter, is not allowed to "bring up" a grade. A student's grade shall be earned from their performance solely on the quarter's assignments.
Grading is determined by a quarter long accumulation of points, weighed in percentage as stated for each component as summarized below. Determinations of the individual category breakdowns will be determined by looking for gaps or clumps in the final averages.
A final examination is planned for the course. Most exam questions will reflect the material covered in lecture and assigned reading. The exams will consist mostly of short answer questions, with a few multiple-choice, T-F, and longer essay questions thrown in as well.
Short homeworks
ShHW 1 |
ShHW 2 |
ShHW 3 |
ShHW 4
Assignments
Project Info |
Ass't 1 |
Ass't 2 |
Ass't 3
Component Non-graduating Graduating HWs 18% 24% Small HWs 7% 11% Project part 1 15% 20% Project part 2 20% 25% Project part 3 15% 20% Final exam 25%