CPE/CSC 486-S09 Human-Computer Interaction Theory and Design Syllabus

General Information

Instructor: Dr. Franz J. Kurfess, Cal Poly Computer Science Department (http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~fkurfess/)

Office Hours: Starting in Week 2, my office hours are tentatively scheduled for Tue/Thu 15:10-16:00, and Wed 14:10-17:00. My office is in building 14, room 218.

Course Description

The Cal Poly Catalog 2005-07 describes the CSC 486 Human-Computer Interaction Theory and Design course as follows:

Application of the theories of human-computer interaction (HCI) to the task of user-centered design. Survey of techniques for studying and involving users in different aspects of the design process, and demonstration of where and when applicable. Combining of theoretical understanding with practical experience to design solutions to problems facing interactive systems designers.

This course in its current incarnation does not have an official lab component. It is listed as 4 seminars in the catalog.

Prerequisites: CSC/CPE 484. In particular, students should be familiar with the following topics:

• Introduction to the field of human-computer interaction (HCI)
• Human aspects of HCI:
  • Cognitive frameworks for HCI
  • Perception and Representation
  • Attention and Memory Constraints
• Reviews of Interface Designs
• Data Collection and Analysis Techniques
• Interaction Design Methodologies:
  • Interaction Styles
  • Input/Output Techniques
  • Principles and Methods of User-Centered Design
  • Formal Methods for Usability Testing

If necessary, these topics can be reviewed by looking at the lecture notes of the CSC 484 course at (http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~fkurfess/Courses/484/W09/Administration/Schedule.html).

Students should be familiar with basic Web design and programming. Experience in the usage of the following Web design tools and technologies is advantageous:

• Design tools such as Frontpage, Dreamweaver.
• Advanced markup languages based on XML.
• Web scripting and programming methods such as Javascript, CGI, PHP, ASP, JSP, Ajax.

Goals and Objectives

Through this course, students are expected to:

1. understand and analyze the fundamental concepts and strategies of user-centered design in the context of computer-based systems
2. learn how to read, understand and summarize the literature of human-computer interaction
3. learn how to communicate and critique user-centered aspects of a variety of software applications
4. apply this knowledge, understanding and analysis to a particular problem domain
5. learn how to evaluate the results of the project activities

Overview of Topics

Since this is a seminar course, the selection of the topics depends to a significant degree on the choice of topics for the student presentations.

• Introduction
  • Review of fundamental themes in User-Centered Design (UCD) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
  • Components of UCD and HCI
• Human Subjects Research and Approval
  • General Guidelines
  • Adaptations to Tasks, Organizations, Participants
• Mental Models and Metaphors
  • The System as seen by the User
  • Influencing Emerging Mental Models
• Groupware and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
  • Collaboration and Computer Technologies
  • Social and Cognitive Aspects of Collaboration
• User Interaction for Learning and Teaching
  • Methods and Techniques for Content Presentation
  • Interaction Styles
• Technology Aspects of UCD and HCI
  • Input and Output Devices and Methodologies
  • Interaction Methods and Styles

Textbooks

This course uses the same textbook as in CSC 484. It will serve more as a reference than a textbook; especially for material on the presentation and research paper, other sources will be needed.

• Interaction Design by Jenny Preece, Yvonne Rogers, and Helen Sharp. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons: New York, 2007. ISBN: 0470018666.

For further reading, here are some more suggestions:

• User Centered Web Site Design, by D.D. McCracken and R.J. Wolfe. Pearson Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2004. ISBN: 013041161-2.
• The Web Wizard's guide to Web Design, J.G. Lengel, Addison-Wesley, 2002. ISBN: 0201745623.
• Human-Computer Interaction, Alan Dix, Janet E. Finlay, Gregory D. Abowd, Russell Beale; 3rd ed., Prentice Hall, 2004, ISBN 0-13-046109-1.
• Things That Make Us Smart: defending human attributes in the age of the machine, D. Norman, Perseus Books, 1993.
• User-Centered System Design: new perspectives on human-computer interaction, D. Norman and S. Draper (eds.); Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986.
• The Psychology of Everyday Things, D. Norman; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986. Re-issued in paperback as "The Design of Everyday Things" by Currency Books, 1990.
• Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer-Interaction, B. Shneiderman; Addison Wesley; 4th edition, 2004.
• From Computing Machinery to Interaction Design, T. Winograd. http://hci.stanford.edu/~winograd/acm97.html.

Course Work

The main work in this class consists of a presentation and accompanying research paper, and a term project. Participation in class will also be a factor in the grade.

Presentation and Research Paper

One of the major activities in this class is an in-depth investigation of a topic related to the class theme of Human-Computer Interaction. Each student has to select a topic, present it in class, and write a research paper on the topic. Students may coordinate their topics, but they will have to do individual presentations, and write their own papers.

Examples for Presentation Themes

• Development of interactive systems
  • case studies, culture, gender and physical ability differences, globalization/localization issues, collaborative work environments
• Psychology and human factors
  • experimental design, user-centered data collection and analysis, human subjects issues, modeling the user, mental models
• Novel or unusual I/O devices
• "chorded" keyboards, gesture-based interfaces, 3D navigation devices
• Novel or unusual user interaction methods
• Research frontiers
  • brain-machine interfaces, human-robot interaction, virtual environments, educational technology, hypertext and multimedia, cyberspace
  For inspiration on recent research, check out the contributions to the conferences on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), especially the "Best Paper" awards and nominees. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a systematic way of listing the best paper awards over the years; the ones for CHI 2006 in Montreal, Canada, are at http://www.chi2006.org/bestofchi.php.

Term Project

The term project has two options. One is the design and development of a component or system with specific emphasis on user-centered design principles, including user analysis, requirements gathering and design decisions derived from the analysis and the requirements. The other option is a comprehensive usability evaluation of an existing system.

In contrast to the project in the CSC 484 class, where user requirements, usability evaluation data and feedback were gathered mostly from class mates, both variations of this project will involve outside clients. Ideally these will be real users of the system to be evaluated or developed. If this is not feasible, participants can be recruited from the general Cal Poly student body.

Examples for Project Themes

• Dynamic Information Visualization
  • interactive, graphical display of data
• Universal Access and Technology Usage
  • culture, gender, age and/or physical ability differences and their impact on technology
• Educational Technology
  • interactive tutorial development (multimedia and/or web-based)
  • technology toolkits for special education
  • distance learning
  • instructional design agents
• Human Cognition and Performance Studies
  • study of mental models and their impact on learning
  • human attribution of social factors to computers
• Virtual Environments
  • virtual reality
  • cyberspace
• Extended Usability Evaluation Techniques

Class Presentations and Participation

This class will rely on interactive classroom activities, such as participation in group discussions, presentation of ideas and results, leading discussions on selected readings, providing written summary materials, etc. Success in this class depends on regular attendance, preparation of assigned readings and homework exercises, as well as a level of professionalism in the class presentations. Peer and self-evaluations may be included as part of the grade. We will try to establish more concrete evaluation criteria for participation in class.

Policy on Late Work and Extensions

Much of the graded work in this class depends strongly on presentations. Once a team or individual has committed to a date for the presentation, extensions or changes in the dates will only be permitted for documented medical or documented emergency reasons. With my approval, students may swap presentations. Unless an extension is granted, late submissions may be assessed a penalty of 10% per business day.

Grading Policy

The table gives an outline of the calculation of the grades. The formula will be discussed in class, and possibly be adjusted based on input from the class.

The project will usually be done in teams. My evaluation will consider the performance of the team as a whole unless there is a clear disparity in the contribution of the individual team members. Should this be the case, I may ask for additional documentation like work sheets, email messages, or draft copies of documentation to evaluate individual contributions.

For the team grades, feedback through peer evaluations will also be considered.