CS5340 - Human-Computer Interaction, Spring 2013



Course Description

This course covers the principles of human-computer interaction and the design and evaluation of user interfaces. Topics include an overview of human information processing subsystems (perception, memory, attention, and problem solving); how the properties of these systems affect the design of user interfaces; the principles, guidelines, and specification languages for designing good user interfaces, with emphasis on tool kits and libraries of standard graphical user interface objects; and a variety of interface evaluation methodologies that can be used to measure the usability of software. Other topics may include World Wide Web design principles and tools, computer-supported cooperative work, multimodal and "next generation" interfaces, speech and natural language interfaces, and virtual reality interfaces. Course work includes both the creation and implementation of original user interface designs, and the evaluation of user interfaces created by others.

Levels: Graduate, Advanced Undergraduate

Type: Lecture and seminar; project

Prerequisites

The course catalog lists "knowledge of C programming language/UNIX." In reality, the prerequisite is programming skill in some practical programming language such as Java (ideally), C#, Flash, or Processing. The course focuses on human-computer interaction and interface design and assumes that students will have the skills required to program prototypes of computer interfaces. Students without programming experience who wish to take this course should speak with the instructor before the second class.

Overview

This course provides an introduction to and overview of the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). HCI is an interdisciplinary field that integrates theories and methodologies from computer science, cognitive psychology, design, and many other areas. Course readings will span current theory and practice in interface specification, design and evaluation, as well as current and classic research papers in HCI. Students will work on both individual assignments and a team project to design, implement and evaluate computer interfaces. The course is open to students from all disciplines, providing them with experience working in interdisciplinary design teams.

There are two major components to the course, treated in parallel during the semester. The central focus of the course is a semester-long team project, in which students will design, implement and evaluate a user interface. Teams will be incrementally led through the phases of ethnographic study and requirements analysis, scenario-based design, paper prototyping, computer prototyping, and several methods of usability analysis and evaluation. The second component of the course involves exposure to current research in HCI, in order to provide students with an understanding of the range of issues addressed in the field, to provide them with practice reading, presenting and critiquing HCI research, and to provide ideas for team projects. This component of the course will be implemented in a seminar style, with students presenting and critiquing short HCI research papers each week.

A special focus of the course is on developing social user interfaces that address a health-related issue.

Course Objectives

By the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Design, implement and evaluate effective and usable graphical computer interfaces.
  • Describe and apply core theories, models and methodologies from the field of HCI.
  • Describe and discuss current research in the field of HCI.
  • Implement simple graphical user interfaces in their programming language of choice.
  • Describe special considerations in designing user interfaces for health.

Classroom Format

A typical three-hour class will consist of:

  1. Review of the previous week’s assignments, including presentation and discussion by randomly selected students.
  2. Lecture on an HCI practice topic.
  3. Discussion of next week’s assignments.
  4. Short break (10 min).
  5. Introduction to HCI research topic by instructor.
  6. HCI research paper presentations by students.

Some classes will be devoted to pilot testing of project ideas using low-fidelity (i.e. paper) prototyping and high-fidelity testing of prototype systems. A few classes may have invited guests.

Requirements

This course requires a significant amount of work outside of the classroom.

A typical week will consist of:

  • Reading approximately 50-150 pages from the textbooks and research papers.
  • Working on an individual homework assignment, encompassing ethnographic studies, evaluation of existing interfaces, and programming or design exercises, and writing a report on the results.
  • Working on part of a team project and writing a progress report.
  • Preparing to describe and discuss homework results in class and readings.

In addition, at least once during the semester each student will present and critique a short research paper from the HCI literature in class (see presentation instructions), as well as participate in the presentation of their team project results both orally and in a final written report.

The final project evaluation will consist, in part, of a user evaluation session naive users who have never tried the user interface before.

Required and Optional Texts

Required:

Human-Computer Interaction, Third Edition by Alan Dix et al, Prentice Hall (2004).

Additional readings will be provided on Blackboard.

Recommended:

Usability Engineering by Nielsen, J.

The Design of Everyday Things by Norman, D.

Grading Procedures and Criteria

Prior experience suggests that work in this course will generally fall into one of four categories:

  • A: Superior, striking, or unexpected pieces of work with excellent effort demonstrating a mastery of the subject matter and a thoughtful use of concepts discussed in class; work that shows imagination, clarity of presentation, originality, creativity, effort, and attention to detail.
  • B: Good work demonstrating a capacity to use the subject matter, with adequate preparation and clear presentation.
  • C: Work that is adequate but that would benefit from increased effort or preparation.
  • D: Work that needs more effort.

Course work falling into these categories correspond roughly to A, B, C, and D grades. The final grade for the course will be computed by weighting the results from each assignment according to the following formula:  

  • Class Participation (participation in in-class discussions and exercises, contribution to team assignments, etc.) (10%)
  • Research Paper Presentation (10%)
  • Individual assignments (30%)
  • Team assignments (25%)
    • each assignment contributes equally
  • Final Report, Interface, & Presentation (25%)
    • 25% = 20% assignment grade from the instructor + 5% final peer evaluation

Expectations of quality work showing mastery of course material will increase with every assignment, culminating very high expectations for the final project. Class and Piazza contributions where students have clearly made efforts to help other students will weight heavily in borderline grade decisions.

Class Participation
Full participation in this course is a critical part of your learning experience. Your contributions to class discussions, exercises, and your classmates' projects is essential. As such, you are expected to come to class fully prepared (e.g., having read all course readings, being an active contributor to your team project, critiquing others' projects, etc.). Your research paper presentation will also be a significant portion of your class participation grade.

Re-Grade Requests

Students can request a re-grade of any assignment. To do so, submit a written justification for the request to the instructor via email, indicating which aspect of the grade you disagree with, describing succinctly and clearly why you believe the grade is incorrect. Please be aware that re-grade requests could result in a lower grade being assigned. Any request must be made by the end of the class following the date that the instructor returns the graded material, regardless of whether the student is in attendance. For example, if the instructor returns the material on Thursday 3/14, then the student has until the end of class Thursday 3/21 to request a re-grade. Please be aware that re-grades will not be discussed in person on the date that they are returned.

Classroom Policies

Students are expected to demonstrate qualities of academic integrity: a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values:  honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.

Actively engaging in verbal exchanges of ideas and concepts will be a major component of learning in this course. This will be stimulated by readings and class presentations and discussions. Therefore everyone will be expected to actively and positively listen to others and to communicate their ideas during class. Some students are less comfortable speaking in class than others, but open discussion of ideas and even disagreement is essential.  Therefore, all students are expected to read course materials prior to class and will be called upon at times even if they do not raise their hands. Participation does not result from talking a lot, but as a result of critical thinking and articulation of ideas.

University policy dictates that students must seek the instructor’s permission to tape record class lectures.  I will always allow the use of tape recorders to support your learning.

To facilitate discussion and learning, electronic devices including laptops and tablets should be used minimally. They should only be used to support in-class activities (e.g., taking notes). Students found to be using their devices for other off-topic purposes (e.g., checking email, social media, etc.) will not be allowed to use these devices in class for the remainder of the semester. Phones should not be used during class and should be placed on silent.

Slides shown in class will be available on the course website after each class.

Despite the dinnertime meeting time of our class, students should not eat in class out of respect for others.

Writing/Presentation Policies

Assignments that involve writing and presentation will be judged on clarity of presentation as well as content. Students who are having difficulty with writing will be referred to the Northeastern University Writing Center.

Late Policy

Well prior to an assignment due date, a student may request an extension with a reasonable explanation.  It is the discretion of the instructor to permit late assignments.  Unexcused late assignments (those that are turned in after the date & time specified on the course webpage) will automatically be lowered by one grade (10%), for each day they are late. Assignments will not be accepted more than one week late. Because the team project activities each week build on the prior weeks’ results, teams are strongly encouraged to turn in their work on time in whatever state it is in.

Academic Honesty

All students are expected and encouraged to discuss the topics raised by this course with each other. Ideas incorporated from an outside source or another student must be documented appropriately in write-ups or presentations. Students must abide by the NU Code of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity Policy. Acts of academic dishonesty will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution.

Academic honesty is fundamental to the learning process. As a reminder,

  • Students are expected to present as their own only that which is clearly their own work in tests and in any material submitted for credit. Students may not assist others in presenting work that is not their own.
  • Purchasing term papers from commercial firms or individuals is a serious violation of University policy. Offenders are subject to disciplinary action (Office of Judicial Affairs). (Undergraduate and Graduate Student Handbook, 2000-2001, p.108)
  • Any member of the academic community who witnesses an act of academic dishonesty should report it to the appropriate faculty member or department chair (or equivalent). The charge will be investigated and if sufficient evidence is presented the case will be referred to the Northeastern University Student Judicial Hearing Board.
  • Plagiarizing includes: representing someone else's work as your own, insufficient acknowledgement, receiving or giving unauthorized help on choosing a topic, analyzing data, or drawing conclusions. Students should not use the same paper or portions of a paper for two courses without explicit permission from professors of both courses.

Any student found cheating on an assignment will receive a zero on that assignment. A second offense will result in a failing grade for the entire course.

Accommodation

Students who have a disability are encouraged to seek accommodations though the University Disability Resource Center and to speak privately with the instructor about needs for accommodations and strategies to support success. This information will be kept confidential.

Course Evaluations and Trace

The instructor will distribute optional mid-term and final course evaluations, to be returned anonymously. Responses to the questions help to improve this course during the current semester and for future students.

All students are also strongly encouraged to use the TRACE (Teacher Rating and Course Evaluation) system near the end of the course to evaluate this course. A reminder about TRACE should arrive via email about two weeks before the end of the course.