Note: This unit is an archived version! See Overview tab for delivered versions.
INFO3315: Human-Computer Interaction (2016 - 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: |
| Campus: | Camperdown/Darlington |
| Pre-Requisites: | None. |
| Brief Handbook Description: | This is a first subject in HCI, Human Computer Interaction. It is designed for students who want to be involved in one of the many roles required to create future technology. There are three main parts: 1. Solid foundations in the basic techniques for evaluating the usability of an interface. 2. Overview of broader HCI methods for design and evaluation of interfaces. 3. Overview of leading edge directions for technologies. This subject is highly multi-disciplinary. At the core, it is a mix of Computer Science Software Engineering combined with the design discipline, User Experience (UX). It draws on psychology, both for relevant theories and user study methods. The practical work is human-centred with a semester-long project theme that motivates the formal curriculum. |
| Assumed Knowledge: | None. |
| Lecturer/s: |
Professor Kay, Judy
Associate Professor Kummerfeld, Bob |
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| Tutor/s: |
Jessica Smith (TA) Linus Karsai Ben Nicholson Hamid Samani Deeksha Singh |
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| Timetable: | INFO3315 Timetable | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Time Commitment: |
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| T&L Activities: | Large group Tutorial: This operates in flipped mode. Students prepare for it in individual work, and group work associated with the main practical projects. In class, there is a range of activities, starting with those that build upon the independent preparatory work, following by activities that build on this, with alternating snippets of new learning materials and class activities. Most class activities are done in groups. Laboratory: The weekly laboratory class will enable students to consolidate the key ideas for the week. This laboratory session will involve a range of 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 effective and usable interactive systems. Design of these draws on the relevant theory, its application, based on various techniques. This is conducted in cycles, where each design is analysed to inform the next design cycle. | Design (Level 3) |
| The large group tutorial and the lab as well as all practical and project work will build discipline specific expertise in the area of designing, evaluating and building interactive computing systems. | Engineering/IT Specialisation (Level 3) |
| The assessed communication elements are a presentation and a demonstration. The practical class activities and the final examination will include short answers questions that will require good written communication skills. In all of these, the presentation of designs and their evaluation require appreciation of the complex nature of design, with trade-offs and compromises, many good solutions to a problem and many ways to assess the quality of a solution. | Communication (Level 3) |
| The practical work involves small projects, working in a team of 3-5 students, guided by the tutor and lecturer. | 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 interactive system
2. Ability to select suitable techniques for establishing requirements for an interactive computing system, including the usability requirements. Ability to make use of these techniques.
3. Ability to apply a small set of established approaches to designing a user interface.
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 to address a user need.
Engineering/IT Specialisation (Level 3)
7. View the design of user interfaces in terms of four stages: research, design, implementation and evaluation
8. Ability to apply data gathering user study methods, research existing literature, search for existing implemented interfaces and consider commercial perspectives to define the requirements for an interface.
9. Ability to apply design methods, evidence-based persona definition, low fidelity prototyping to explore a design space.
10. Ability to conduct task analysis, define concrete tasks for testing usability in user studies.
11. Ability to perform think-aloud studies and report the results clearly and systematically.
12. Knowledge of predictive methods of evaluation.
13. Knowledge of the main methods of interface evaluation and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each and their most appropriate uses.
14. Ability to use a prototyping tool to create low fidelity prototypes.
15. Knowledge of cognitive, physiological and other key human factors and their implications for interface design.
16. Knowledge of the broad range of interfaces, including social, NUI, emotion-aware interfaces, ubiquitous devices that are carried, work or embedded in the environment.
17. Knowledge of key challenges for interfaces that make use of personal data: privacy, personalisation, usable security and provenance.
Communication (Level 3)
18. Present the design and evaluation of a prototype interface, defining the requirements, describing the design processes and evaluation. Use evidence gathered in established methods, to draw conclusions about its strengths and weaknesses of the interface.
| 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, with opportunities to practice foundation methods for design and evaluation. Assignment 2: Interface design project, with opportunities to practice additional methods for design and evaluation. Final examination. This assesses all aspects from all classes, homework and assignments. |
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| Assessment Feedback: | In each week, there will be homework due at the 2-hour large group tutorial/studio. This will be graded with feedback in the class. The class will then involve a mix of new material and practical work with tutors and the lecturer giving immediate feedback during the class. Activities include: practice on each new technique; practice sample exam questions; review of the diverse ways to answer these questions. Starting in Week 2, there will be homework for each 1-hour tutorial on key aspects to study in that week. This will be part of the assignment or broader practice. Students will share their homework with their group in the class and the tutor will review the combined work and give feedback on it. In some weeks, students will present to the class and other students will provide peer feedback. The assignments provide opportunities for practicing the core skills in the context of a design problem. These are group assignments, with the work of individual group members pooled and refined, with formative feedback from the tutor. |
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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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| Recommended Reference/s: |
Note: References are provided for guidance purposes only. Students are advised to consult these books in the university library. Purchase is not required.
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| Online Course Content: | See links on Sydney e-learning. |
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 | Studio: Intro Introduction: overview of cycle; what is HCI |
| Week 2 | Studio: Research for interface design: Data gathering 1 to study users, literature, existing knowledge and interfaces, opportunities |
| Week 3 | Studio: Evaluation: Tasks and Think-Aloud, reporting results |
| Week 4 | Studio: Evidence-based personas, ideation, exploring a design space |
| Week 5 | Studio: Prototype implementation |
| Week 6 | Studio: Cognitive aspects, ergonomics, human factors |
| Assessment Due: Assignment 1 -- presentation | |
| Week 7 | Studio: Data gathering 2, analysis, presentation |
| Week 8 | Studio: Review of Assignment 1 |
| Week 9 | Studio: Predictive methods, Fitts |
| Week 10 | Studio: Social Interaction, Emotional interaction |
| Week 11 | Studio: Assignment 2 |
| Week 12 | Studio: Privacy, personalisation, usable security |
| Assessment Due: Assignment 2 | |
| Week 13 | Studio: Review and practice exam questions, Assignment 2 Hall of Fame |
| 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 | 89.44% |
| Engineering/IT Specialisation (Level 3) | Yes | 0% |
| Communication (Level 3) | Yes | 10.57% |
| 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.
