Note: This unit is an archived version! See Overview tab for delivered versions.
INFO3315: Human-Computer Interaction (2014 - Semester 2)
| Unit: | INFO3315: Human-Computer Interaction (6 CP) |
| Mode: | Normal-Day |
| On Offer: | Yes |
| Level: | Senior |
| Faculty/School: | School of Computer Science |
| Unit Coordinator/s: |
Professor Kay, Judy
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| Session options: | Semester 2 |
| Versions for this Unit: | |
| Site(s) for this Unit: |
http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/it/~info3315/2014/index.html |
| Campus: | Camperdown/Darlington |
| Pre-Requisites: | None. |
| Brief Handbook Description: | This is a course in HCI, Human Computer Interaction, with a focus on web-based Computing. It introduces the key aspects of HCI and web-based system design. |
| Assumed Knowledge: | Background in programming and operating systems that is sufficient for the student to independently learn new programming tools from standard online technical materials. Ability to conduct a literature search. Ability to write reports of work done. |
| Lecturer/s: |
Professor Kay, Judy
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| Tutor/s: | Josh Carolan, James Constable, Julia Mitchelmore | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Timetable: | INFO3315 Timetable | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Time Commitment: |
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| T&L Activities: | Laboratory: The weekly laboratory class will enable students to consolidate the key ideas for the week. Depending upon the topic, this laboratory session will involve small experimental activities, discussions or technical work. |
Attributes listed here represent the key course goals (see Course Map tab) designated for this unit. The list below describes how these attributes are developed through practice in the unit. See Learning Outcomes and Assessment tabs for details of how these attributes are assessed.
| Attribute Development Method | Attribute Developed |
| The essence of the course is to learn how to design web-based computing systems, where this includes learning the relevant theory, its application, the techniques and their use. | Design (Level 3) |
| The lectures and all practical and project work will build discipline specific expertise in the area of building web-based computing systems. | Engineering/IT Specialisation (Level 3) |
| The assessment of the group project is based on a web-based system design, a report and a demonstration of web-based system. These will develop written and spoken communication skills. The practical class activities and the final examination will include short answers questions that will require good written communication skills. | Communication (Level 3) |
| The major project involves working in a team. | Project and Team Skills (Level 3) |
For explanation of attributes and levels see Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table.
Learning outcomes are the key abilities and knowledge that will be assessed in this unit. They are listed according to the course goal supported by each. See Assessment Tab for details how each outcome is assessed.
Design (Level 3)
1. Ability to analyse a context to define the overall goals of a new web-based system
2. Ability to select suitable techniques for establishing requirements for a web-based computing system, including the usability requirements. Ability to make use of these techniques.
3. Ability to apply standard design approaches to creating a user interface, and to adapt these to the particular emerging demands of web based computing systems.
4. Ability to evaluate interfaces, based upon both discount and user-based techniques. Ability to select the most appropriate technique for a particular situation and to justify this.
5. Ability to explain how human factors influence aspects of design of interfaces.
6. Ability to bring together design and evaluation techniques to create a prototype interface that is designed to address a defined user need.
Communication (Level 3)
7. Write a report on the prototype system created, defining the requirements, describing the design processes, its evaluation, int erms of the requirements and conclusions about its strengths and weaknesses.
| Assessment Methods: |
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| Assessment Description: |
Lab. Weekly activities to build up to the assignments, with a mix of technical, design, usability, user experience. Demonstrations and presentations. Assignment 1: Interface design project Assignment 2: Interface implementation, evaluation, refinement Final examination. This assesses the lectures, labs and assignments. |
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| Assessment Feedback: | Lab. Within each lab, tutors will review the student`s work, students will share their work and conduct peer assessments to provide feedback. The tutor will record aspects of each student`s performance each week and discuss this with the student. The grade will reflect participation in each class and mastery of the key elements of each week`s lab. Assignment 1: Presentation: Students will present in the first hour in the Week 6 lab. The tutor will record grading information against a set rubric. The tutor will then discuss the presentations with each group in the second hour. The tutor will provide formative feedback about: -- key strengths and areas for improvement for the Week 7 report; -- strengths and areas for improvement for the Assignment 2 presentation in Week 12; -- strengths and areas for improvement for core concepts, as formative feedback towards the exam. The teaching team will meet to review the grading to ensure consistency across classes, with marks finalised by Week 7. Report: Students will submit this in the Week 7 lab. It will be graded over the next week, with written feedback about: -- the strengths and weaknesses on the core design elements of this assignment; -- recommendations for Assignment 2; -- strengths and areas for improvement for core concepts, as formative feedback towards the exam. Assignment 2: Presentation: Students will present in the first hour in the Week 12 lab. The tutor will grade it during the week. Demonstrations: Students will present in the second hour in the Week 12 lab. For both of these, the tutor will record grading information against a set rubric. The teaching team will meet to review the grading to ensure consistency across classes and to identify the projects for the Hall of Fame. These will be shared with the whole class in the final lecture, with commentary to highlight lessons the class can take from these. The tutor will return the grade and discuss the presentations and demonstrations with each group in the Week 13 lab. The tutor will provide formative feedback about key strengths and weaknesses that should guide student revision for the exam. The tutor will return the grade and discuss the presentations with each group in the Week 13 lab. The tutor will aim to provide formative feedback about key strengths and weaknesses that should guide student revision for the exam. The teaching team will identify the projects for the Hall of Fame. These will be shared with the whole class in the final lecture, with commentary to highlight lessons the class can take from these. |
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| Grading: |
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| Policies & Procedures: | IMPORTANT: School policy relating to Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism. In assessing a piece of submitted work, the School of IT may reproduce it entirely, may provide a copy to another member of faculty, and/or to an external plagiarism checking service or in-house computer program and may also maintain a copy of the assignment for future checking purposes and/or allow an external service to do so. Other policies See the policies page of the faculty website at http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/student-policies/ for information regarding university policies and local provisions and procedures within the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies. |
| Prescribed Text/s: |
Note: Students are expected to have a personal copy of all books listed.
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| Online Course Content: | http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/it/~info3315/2014/index.html |
| Note on Resources: | Additional readings will be listed on the class website. |
Note that the "Weeks" referred to in this Schedule are those of the official university semester calendar https://web.timetable.usyd.edu.au/calendar.jsp
| Week | Description |
| Week 1 |
INFO3315 overview. Introduction to techniques for contextual enquiry and the notion of affordances. Setting up your environment: bitbucket account and repository. Intro to HTML. |
| Week 2 |
Needfinding and user tasks CSS, bootstrap.css |
| Week 3 |
Prototyping: sketching, storyboards, paper prototypes. Javascript Intro, Balsamiq |
| Week 4 |
Heuristic evaluation, Fitts' Law More Javascript: events, actions, DOM JQuery |
| Week 5 | Think aloud, Questionnaires |
| Week 6 |
Design-informing-models, people, HTI Intro to backends; intro to Python, Vagrant and virtualbox (standard environment) |
| Assessment Due: Assignment 1 -- design project presentation | |
| Week 7 |
Design production More Python; intro to Bottle.py, AJAX |
| Assessment Due: Assignment 1 - report | |
| Week 8 | Personas, scenarios, visualisation |
| Week 9 | Reporting design and evaluation, Augmented Reality |
| Week 10 | Mental models, Making a video presentation |
| Week 11 |
Big data, personalisation, privacy Agile, XP and UX |
| Week 12 | Accessibility, Personified agents |
| Assessment Due: Assignment 2 - demonstration | |
| Assessment Due: Assignment 2 -- design, evaluate presentation | |
| Week 13 | Showcase of top projects |
| Exam Period | Assessment Due: Final Exam |
Course Relations
The following is a list of courses which have added this Unit to their structure.
Course Goals
This unit contributes to the achievement of the following course goals:
| Attribute | Practiced | Assessed |
| Project and Team Skills (Level 3) | Yes | 0% |
| Design (Level 3) | Yes | 87.87% |
| Engineering/IT Specialisation (Level 3) | Yes | 0% |
| Communication (Level 3) | Yes | 12.15% |
| Professional Conduct (Level 3) | No | 0% |
These goals are selected from Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table which defines overall goals for courses where this unit is primarily offered. See Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table for details of the attributes and levels to be developed in the course as a whole. Percentage figures alongside each course goal provide a rough indication of their relative weighting in assessment for this unit. Note that not all goals are necessarily part of assessment. Some may be more about practice activity. See Learning outcomes for details of what is assessed in relation to each goal and Assessment for details of how the outcome is assessed. See Attributes for details of practice provided for each goal.
