HCI: Human-Computer Interaction (Level 11)
Welcome to Human-Computer Interaction!
Course Overview
Designing and implementing efficient, effective and engaging technologies requires a deep understanding of both technology and the people who use it. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) explores how to create technologies that fit people’s needs and contexts of use. Bringing together methods, perspectives, techniques and tools from interaction design, psychology, sociology and computer science, HCI provides students with the concepts and practical skills needed to design and evaluate human-centred systems. Through a combination of research and design activities, students learn how to translate insights into interactive technologies that are not only usable, but meaningful and responsible in their social and technical contexts.
This course introduces the principles and practices of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) – the study of how people interact with digital and physical technologies, and how those technologies can be designed to meet human needs. The course explores how human-centred research and design, prototyping, and evaluation inform the creation of usable, accessible and engaging technology systems. Students will learn key methods for understanding people and contexts, generating and testing design ideas, and assessing usability and user experience. Through lectures and hands-on tutorials, students will apply these methods and techniques in a group project that follows the full HCI design cycle. By the end of the course, students will have gained a strong foundation in HCI and the practical skills to design and evaluate interactive systems in real-world contexts.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Describe key theories, principles, challenges and current areas of research in HCI and their relevance to the design of interactive technologies.
- Apply HCI research and design methods to study people and technologies in real-world contexts and to design, prototype, and evaluate interactive technologies.
- Integrate insights from different disciplinary perspectives on HCI to analyse and address complex design problems.
- Communicate research and design processes and outcomes effectively, using appropriate formats to articulate research findings and design rationale.
Course Structure
The course is structured around a combination of weekly lectures and tutorials, with tutorials designed to give you an opportunity to apply the concepts, methods, and approaches introduced in the lectures directly to your coursework.
Lectures: The lectures for HCI are on Wednesday 10:00am - 12:00pm from Weeks 1-11. The lectures are in-person in Basement Theatre - Adam House. Lectures will introduce the key concepts, theories, methods and practical approaches that underpin the course and the human-centred design process.
Tutorials: From Weeks 2-10, you will also attend a weekly 50-minute tutorial. Tutorials are practical, activity-based sessions in which you will apply the material introduced in the lectures to your own research and design project. Many tutorial activities will directly support the development of your coursework, allowing yourself and your group to progressively work through the different stages of the project with guidance and feedback from your tutor.
You are expected to attend your assigned tutorial each week. Coursework 1 is a group-based assessment, and tutorials provide dedicated time for your group to work together, make decisions about your project, and develop material that will contribute to your final report. Regular attendance is therefore important both for your own progress and for ensuring that work is shared fairly across your group.
Tutorials will assume familiarity with the material introduced in the lecture the week before. Tutorials are intended to build on the lecture rather than repeat it, moving from learning about HCI concepts and methods to actively applying them within your coursework.
The materials for each week can be found under HCI: Schedule and Material.
Assessment Structure
HCI is 100% coursework and marked using the University of Edinburgh’s Common Marking Scheme. This means that a grade of 80 and above is outstanding, a grand of 70-79 is excellent, a grade of 60-69 is very good, and a grade of 50-59 is a pass. Below is an overview of the coursework assignments – please see the detailed coursework assignment briefs on Learn for further information.
CW1: Report (50%)
The aim of this assessment – as a group – is to conduct human-centred research and to present the outcomes of that research as a report. The report will contain detailed insights into the problems and needs experienced by people in a real-world context, as well as specifications to inform the design of an interactive technology for Coursework 2.
CW2: Design Pictorial (50%)
The aim of this coursework is – for each student individually – to develop an interactive technology prototype based on the design specifications from Coursework 1. Students will illustrate their design process through a pictorial – a visual annotated report of design ideas and iterations leading up to a final prototype – in order to present a range of design ideas and sketches, and their refinement into an interactive prototype that has the potential be tested with end users.