HCI 594 Human-Computer Interaction Capstone

Winter 2008

Instructor

Dr. Craig Miller
Office: 745 CTI Building, 312-362-5085
Email: cmiller@cs.depaul.edu
Web page: http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/cmiller
Office Hours: Announced on Web page

Course Meeting

Tuesday 5:45-9:00
436a CTI Building
Loop Campus

Readings

Selected readings, mostly from the ACM Digital Library. Access to these articles are free from DePaul computers and from any computer using DePaul proxy servers through the library Web site.

Prerequisites

HCI core courses or instructor permission.

Overview

Students build and reflect upon skills, methods and techniques learned in previous HCI courses. Course meetings generally involve discussing and critiquing ideas and methods from assigned readings. Teams of students will be assigned a week and will be responsible for selecting articles and running the discussion on their assigned week.

The course project involves applying a set of ideas and methods discussed in class and reflecting on their effectiveness. The project may involve the creation of a real application or the implementation of a research study. In either case, the final report must include a reflective component that assesses the methods used for the project. Students may choose their projects with the advice and consent of the instructor.

Goals

Overall, the goal is to learn how to investigate and apply new ideas in human-computer interaction. This includes the following:

• Reading about new HCI methods and evaluating them
• Learning how to apply new HCI methods
• Experimentally evaluating methods
• Discussing and presenting research results

Grade Determination

Students receiving more than 90% of possible points are guaranteed at least an A-, more than 80% at least a B-, more than 70% at least a C-, and more than 60% at least a D.

Reading summaries are 1 to 2 page reports that highlight the main ideas of the assigned readings. Students are also expected to discuss the contents of their summaries during class. Turning in a summary without attending class will receive two-thirds the credit. We will discuss what constitutes a good summary on the first day of class. Reading summaries must be prepared before the beginning of class. Late summaries will be accepted for two-thirds credit if turned in by 2pm the following day.

The course project may be done individually or with a team. However, the final report must include individual reflective statements. Late projects will be accepted without penalty until 2pm the day following the due date. Projects turned in later than 2pm the day following the due date will not be accepted.

Course participation includes activities such as proposing readings, leading discussions, presenting work and running exercies.

School policies on instructor evaluation, email, plagiarism and incompletes.

Tentative Schedule