HCI: Human-Computer Interaction (Level 11)
Welcome to Human-Computer Interaction (Level 11)!
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a field of research and professional practice that focuses on creating computer systems that are easy to use, help people solve real problems, and empower people. This course focuses on the process of understanding user needs, designing interfaces, and evaluating designs.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Demonstrate, in writing, knowledge of the issues and problems in HCI , and an understanding of human perception and behaviour in analysing their interactions with technology in their every day lives
- Use established design principles and methodologies to solve HCI problems
- Acquire confidence in handling different disciplinary perspectives on HCI and the ability to apply them to design problems
- The ability to devise, plan and execute task analysis and system evaluation studies from an HCI perspective, and present findings in a clear and effective manner
- Demonstrate awareness of current areas of research by locating and summarising examples of recent progress
Course Outline
The HCI course will cover the following subject areas:
- Background -- the development and scope of HCI. Practical goals.
- HCI relevant issues in human perception, memory and thinking processes.
- Approaches to designing information appliances -- software objects and physical things.
- Design methodologies and notations -- levels of interface design, evaluation methodologies.
- Techniques and technologies -- dialogue styles, information presentation.
- The design process -- user involvement, iterative design, prototyping.
- Evaluation -- methodologies, formative and summative. Performance analysis.
- Specific issues in HCI -- for example: internet of things, novel interfaces, accessibility, and privacy.
Relevant QAA Computing Curriculum Sections: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Information Systems, Systems Analysis and Design.
If there is a topic that are interested in, please fill out this form. We have one open lecture slot at the end of the semester that we can fill with student proposed topic.
When and Where
The HCI course meet twice a week, on Tuesdays at 12 (noon) in Lecture Theatre C - 40 George Square and on Fridays at 1pm, Drill Hall in Forrest Hill. We will recap the week's topic on Tuesday and discuss your questions and engage in more practical activities on Friday. The course is based on a "flipped classroom" approach where students are asked to look at videos in advance of these sessions, and come to the lectures ready to ask questions and discuss the content of that week's videos.
The materials for each week can be found under HCI: Schedule and Material. Each week is accompanies by a brief text and a list of videos. The schedule table contains the slides we will use in the live lectures.
Assessment Structure
The course has three courseworks that progress through an HCI project starting with refining design requirements and creating a UI design (CW1), evaluating the design to see if it is usable (CW2), and finally using the outcome of the evaluation to improve the design and plan an evaluation to see if the improvements worked (CW3). CW1 is formative and not marked, CW2 and 3 are marked. Below is a brief summary of each coursework and how they fit together in the course.
CW1: Design - Students work in teams of 3-4 to refine design requirements, identify problems, and design an user interface mock-up using an online tool like Figma.
CW2: Evaluate - Students work in teams of 3-4 to evaluate two design created by different teams. They use a Cognitive Walkthrough approach, analyzed the results and make recommendations about how the design might be improved and the different types of problems users might have when interacting with it. These reports will be returned to the initial CW1 design team.
CW3: Refine - Students work in teams of 3-4 to improve a CW1 design and plan an evaluation that could determine if the improvements are working as expected. The improved design will also be done using an online mock-up tool. The new evaluation will also be only an evaluation plan and will not be run with participants.
Individual Engagement - Accompanying the last coursework is an individual quiz which also contains some harder open-text questions to assess engagement with the coursework.
Weekly Quizzes - On Friday each week, we will publish a 10-question quiz on the topic of the week. It is marked as a pass-fail and you will pass if you answer 70% correctly. If you have watched the videos, you should be able to pass easily.