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 the class will be lecture-format, and the other half will consist of student presentations on the progress in their term projects.
Students will collaborate on projects in teams of 3 to 5, depending on the total class enrollment 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. Also as e-book.
  
• 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 (click at Informatics, then INF132, then Kobsa, then at "Find books for these courses" at the top of the right-hand box). 

Syllabus (changes possible, discussion sessions will be added as needed on Fridays 11-11:50am)
 

#	Date & Time	Location	Topic	Readings/materials due before class
1	3/30 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	1. Introduction 2. User Needs Analysis 2.1 Interviews	D&R Ch.3, C&B Ch.7
2	4/1 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	2.2 Surveys	C&B Ch.8
3	4/6 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	Customers' presentation of Projects 1-4
4	4/8 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	Customers' presentation of Projects 5-8
5	4/13 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	3. Usability evaluations 3.1 Heuristik evaluation 3.2 Cognitive walkthrough	D&R Ch 5
6	4/15 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	3.3 Usability experiments	D&R Ch 7,8,11,12,13
7	4/20 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	Initial presentation of projects 5, 6, 3, 4	Powerpoint slides of presented projects (submit revised version after talk)
8	4/22 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	Initial presentation of projects  1, 2, 7, 8	Powerpoint slides of presented projects (submit revised version after talk)
9	4/27 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	3.3.1 Preparing a usability experiment	D&R Ch.14-16; C&B Ch.4
10	4/29 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	3.3.2 Selecting, recruiting and informing users	C&B Ch.3,5,6; D&R Ch.10
11	5/4 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	3.3.3 Running a user study	D&R Ch.17-20
12	5/6 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	Interim presentation of projects 3, 1, 2	Powerpoint slides of presented projects (submit revised version after talk)
13	5/11 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	Interim presentation of projects 5, 6, 4	Powerpoint slides of presented projects (submit revised version after talk)
14	5/13 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	Interim presentation of projects 7, 8	Powerpoint slides of presented projects (submit revised version after talk)
15	5/18 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	2.5 Field studies	C&B Ch 13
16	5/20 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	2.3 Focus groups, group task analysis	C&B Ch 12, 11
17	5/25 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	2.4 Wants and Needs Analysis, Card Sorting	C&B Ch. 9-10
18	5/27 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	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	6/1 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	Final presentation of projects  5, 6, 3, 4	Powerpoint slides of presented projects (submit revised version after talk)
20	6/3 2-3:20pm	1300 Bren	Final presentation of projects  1, 2, 7, 8	Powerpoint slides of presented projects (submit revised version after talk)
	6/4 11:45pm		Final reports due	Upload Project Report
	6/10 1:30-3:30pm	1300 Bren	Final Exam	Submit experimental materials on CD/DVD

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)