Important note: This class requires a high amount of coursework.

General Educational Aims:

Students will learn and practice the process of user interface design and/or evaluation. They will learn different methods for user interface evaluation and experimental design. In concrete projects, students will have to carefully chose between competing methods and apply them to obtain empirically verified evaluation results. They will practice collaboration in teams, including the presentation of the project results in oral and written form.

 

Specific Objective:

At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:
- realize the importance of user-centered design, and formative and summative evaluation
- choose between different methods for user interface evaluation
- select an appropriate experimental design
- carry out usability experiments
- have attained the ability to evaluate user interfaces of low and medium complexity
- have familiarity with some of the outstanding research problems in the field of Human-Computer Interaction

Half of the class will be lecture-format, and the other half student presentations about progress in their projects.
Students will collaborate on a term project in teams of 3 to 5, depending on the number of students enrolled and the nature of their projects.

 

• Catherine Courage and Kathy Baxter (2005): Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Requirements -- Methods, Tools, & Techniques. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN-1-55860-935-0
• Joseph S. Dumas and Janice C. Redish (1999): A Practical Guide To Usability Testing. Norwood, N.J. Ablex Publishing Corp. Revised edition 1999, Intellect Ltd.: ISBN 1841500208
  
  Optional
• Mike Kuniavsky (2003): Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research. Morgan Kaufmann, 978-1-55860-923-5
• Kim Goodwin (2009): Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services. Wiley Publishing, ISBN 978-0-470-22910-1
• Jeffrey Rubin (1994): Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests. Wiley Publishing, ISBN 0471594032
• Jakob Nielsen and Robert L. Mack (1994): Usability Inspection Methods. New York: Wiley Publishing, ISBN 0-471-01877-5.
  
  The readings are available from a course reserve in the Science Library and from the UCI bookstore (ahem: click at Informatics, then INF132, then Kobsa, and then at "Find books for these courses" in the box on the right-hand side). Also check prices online: Courage/Baxter, Dumas/Redish, Kuniavsky, Goodwin, Rubin, Nielsen/Mack.

Syllabus (changes possible, discussion sessions will be added as needed on Mondays 9-9:50am)
 

#	Date & Time	Location	Topic	Readings/materials due before class
1	3/31		No class
2	4/2 8-9:20am	ICS 243	1. Introduction 2. User Needs Analysis 2.1 Interviews	D&R Ch.3, C&B Ch.7
3	4/7 8-9:20am	ICS 243	Customers' presentation of Projects 1-6
4	4/9 8-9:20am	ICS 243	2.2 Surveys	C&B Ch.8
5	4/14 8-9:20am	ICS 243	2.3 Wants and Needs Analysis, Card Sorting	C&B Ch. 9-10
6	4/16 8-9:20am	ICS 243	2.4 Field Studies	C&B Ch.13
7	4/21 8-9:20am	ICS 243	Initial presentation of projects 1,3,4	Powerpoint slides of presented projects
8	4/23 8-9:20am	ICS 243	Initial presentation of projects 5-6	Powerpoint slides of presented projects
9	4/28 8-9:20am	ICS 243	2.5 Focus groups, group task analysis	C&B Ch 12, 11
10	4/30 8-9:20am	ICS 243	3. Usability evaluations 3.1 Heuristik evaluation 3.2 Cognitive walkthrough	D&R Ch5,7,8,12,13
11	5/5 8-9:20am	ICS 243	3.3 Usability experiments
12	5/7 8-9:20am	ICS 243	No class
13	5/12 8-9:20am	ICS 243	Interim presentation of projects 1,3,4	Powerpoint slides of presented projects
14	5/14 8-9:20am	ICS 243	Interim presentation of projects 5-6	Powerpoint slides of presented projects
15	5/19 8-9:20am	ICS 243	3.3.1 Preparing a usability experiment	D&R Ch.14-16; C&B Ch.4
16	5/21 8-9:20am	ICS 243	3.3.2 Selecting, recruiting and informing users	C&B Ch.3,5,6; D&R Ch.10
17	5/26 8-9:20am	ICS 243	3.3.3 Running a user study	D&R Ch.17-20
18	5/28 8-9:20am	ICS 243	3.3.4. Analyzing and presenting the results 4. Establishing user orientation in a company	D&R Ch.8,20-24; C&B Ch.14
19	6/2 8-9:20am	ICS 243	Final presentation of projects 1,2,4	Powerpoint slides of presented projects
20	6/4 8-9:20am	ICS 243	Final presentation of projects 5-6	Powerpoint slides of presented projects
	6/9 8-10am	ICS 243	Final Exam	Submit experimental materials on CD/DVD
	6/11 11:45pm		Final reports due	Upload Project Report

Legend:

C&B = Catherine Courage and Kathy Baxter (2005)
D&R = Joseph S. Dumas and Janice C. Redish (1999)
C&B Ch.7 = Chapter 7 of Catherine Courage and Kathy Baxter (2005)