HCI 440 Usability Engineering

Fall 2004

Instructor

Dr. Craig Miller
Office: 830 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

Thursday 5:45-9:00 and Distance Learning
1111 Lewis, Loop Campus

Text

Interaction Design, by J. Preece, Y. Rogers and H. Sharp. ISBN 0-471-49278-7.

Prerequisites

IT 130, HCI 332 or completion of prerequisite phase.

Overview

Students learn and practice user-centered design (UCD) towards the development of an interactive computer system. To practice UCD, students learn to apply each of its components, which include user and task analysis, conceptual design, detailed design and evaluation. This course introduces the basics of these practices and sets the context for further studying them in the program's core courses.

Proposed Projects

  1. Product research
  2. User and needs analysis
  3. Conceptual design
  4. Detailed design and prototypes
  5. Revised design with evaluation-based rationales

Grade Determination

5% (10 points) 1 Individual Project
40% (80 points) 4 Team Projects (20 points each)
20% (40 points) Midterm Exam
25% (50 points) Final Exam
10% (20 points) Group participation and Individual Summary Statement

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.

Policies

All projects will be completed in groups of three or four. Groups will be formed by the instructor. As much as possible, an effort will be made to arrange groups based on individual preferences and constraints. While the group may assign a primary role to each group member, all group members are jointly responsible for the entire assignment. Usually each group member will receive the same grade. However, in some cases, additional credit may go to those who make an exceptional contribution to a project and reduced credit to those who contribute little to a project. Such adjustment of credit would be made in addition to the grade awarded for group participation.

The group participation score is based on a variety of indications including the summary statement (submitted at the end of class), contribution summaries in reports, and student feedback at the end of the quarter. This form will be used to solicit student feedback. Scores of 17 and 18 (out of 20) signify a thoughtful summary statement and a solid contribution to the team projects. Scores of 19 or 20 signify an extraordinary contribution.

Exams can only be made up with a serious documented excuse (e.g. illness, death in the family). A make-up exam must be arranged as soon as possible and always before the student attends the next class meeting. Arrangements involving other excuses require prior permission from the instructor.

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.

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

Tentative Schedule

Week Topic Text Reading Exam or Due Project
September 9 Course overview, goals of HCI, user-centered design Ch. 1, 6 and intro to 7 Discuss project ideas
September 16 Functional requirements, user and task analysis Ch. 7  
September 23 Conceptual design Sect. 2.1 - 2.4, 8.3, Ch. 9 Individual Assignment
September 30 Interaction Paradigms and human factors Sect. 2.5, Ch. 3 Team Project 1
October 7     Midterm exam
October 14 Detailed design and Prototyping Sect. 2.6 , Ch. 8 Team Project 2
October 21 Usability testing Ch. 10, 11 and Sect. 14.1 - 14.3  
October 28 Conduct usability tests   Team Project 3
November 4 Review testing results; Implementation, emerging issues, ethics Ch. 4, 5, 15  
November 11 Design presentations (informal); Course Review   Team Project 4
November 18     Final Exam