Computer Science Department

CS 3041 - Human Computer Interaction - D06

* * * Under Construction * * *

"User Interface design is hard work.
You will never get it right the first time
and often it is never gotten right at all"

Lecture:	MT-RF 2:00 - 2:50, SL104
Prof:	David C. Brown, FL 131, x5618, dcb [at] cs.wpi.edu Office Hour: Thu 6:00pm, or by appointment, in FL 131. Role: Help with HCI content; projects reqs; questions about grading.
TA:	Kevin Menard, kmenard [at] cs.wpi.edu Office Hours: Tue 1:00pm, Fri 10:00am, in room FL 318. TA Role: Help with projects; VISUAL BASIC; initial Qs about grading.
TA:	Huahui Wu, flashine [at] cs.wpi.edu Office Hours: Wed 7:00pm, Thu 4:00pm, in room FL 239. TA Role: Help with projects; VISUAL BASIC; initial Qs about grading; keeper of uncollected handouts/exams/projects.
SA:	Jenny Schweers, j [at] wpi.edu Office Hour: Mon 11:00am, in room FL A22. SA Role: Help with projects; Some questions about grading.
Email:	Mail sent to `cs3041-staff at cs dot wpi dot edu` will go to the professor, TA and SA.
Course Web Page:	http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~dcb/courses/CS3041/
Course Text:	Interaction Design: beyond human-computer interaction, Jennifer Preece, Yvonne Rogers, Helen Sharp, J. Wiley, 2002. {Companion website for the book}.
Supplementary Text:	Beginning VB.NET, 2nd Edition, Richard Blair, Jonathan Crossland, Matthew Reynolds, Thearon Willis, J. Wiley, 2002.
Supplementary Text:	Universal Principles of Design, Will Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler, Rockport Publishers, 2003.
Class Schedule:	Classes, dates, topics, subjects
Class Outline:	What gets covered by the class

Basic Stuff:

The intent of this course is to address the problem of how to improve the quality of interaction between an individual and a computer. Some of the material will come from the text, some from other books, much from experience (yours and mine), and the rest from a variety of sources (Information sources).

I expect the course to be interactive, with lots of questions from me, and lots of answers from you; and vice versa too.

The facts in this course are mostly quite simple to grasp. The hard part is using them. This requires the right attitude, experience, and good taste. This requires learning and practice, which the course should provide.

This course differs from many other CS courses, as for HCI, and design problems in general, there are often no right answers, and no best solution. It requires tradeoffs.

The topics that will be covered in the course are given in an accompanying web page, The Story So Far....

You will be expected to read the book (even if I don't remind you), concentrating on the material covered in lectures. You'll need to cover about a chapter a week. In addition, you will on occasion be given other material to read. This material will reinforce the lectures and present additional topics. ALL of this material will be examinable.

My expectation is that you will spend at least 15 hours per week on this course (i.e., at least 2 hours per day). This is WPI's standard expectation for the time spent on each 1/3 unit. With the exception of the group project all work must be done by yourself.

A problem with the subject matter is that HCI is a rapidly changing field, with many small research results. However, there is only a limited amount of core knowledge that is applicable under all situations. It is also a field where "common sense" can play a part: much of what appears obvious, however, has been and is being carefully tested to discover under which conditions (e.g., types of users) the assumptions are actually true, and why.

Obviously, the intent of this course is to expose you to the concepts being addressed in this swiftly growing field. Concepts rather than techniques will last you a long time.

This is not primarily a programming course. Programming is merely one aspect. There will be one programming project, Project 4, to be done in Visual Basic.

A very important aspect of this course is to try to make you "more sensitive" to the needs of the user -- i.e., most programs are not being used by their authors; many users of computers do not know much about computer science; naive users have different demands and expectations than experienced users.

There will be at least one HCI-related video shown during the course. Everyone is expected to attend. One that may be shown includes some quite rare footage of "early" interface developments, such as the first mouse, and first bit-mapped display [Kay]. Another is a very good, general overview of the design of interfaces [Trower].

Exams and Projects:

There will be two examinations, four projects and a presentation.

Projects include reading research literature, evaluating interfaces, an HCI experiment, a challenging group interface design problem, and an interface design and implementation. Other web pages will explain the projects.

Project 3, and the associated presentations, will be done in TA-generated random groups. Project 1, 2 & 4 are to be done alone (see Academic Honesty section below). Note that Projects 3 & 4 overlap in time. Time management will be important. None of the projects can be done adequately in a couple of days.

The presentations at the end of term will be made by Project 3 groups and will show the results from that Project, plus some of the rationale for the decisions made.

Exam 1 will cover all the material up to that date (book, web, handouts & lectures), while Exam 2 will concentrate on the material since the first exam. Note that the exams are based on material from the book and a lot of material from the lectures -- much of which is not in the book -- so class attendance is strongly encouraged.

Grading:

The grading is assigned as follows:

	Project 1  	10%	{approx 1 week }
	Project 2  	20%	{approx 2 weeks}

	Project 3  	20%	{approx 4 weeks}  
	Project 4  	20%	{approx 3 weeks}  

	Exam 1     	15%	{Closed book: mid-term}
	Exam 2     	15%	{Closed book: end-of-term}

Late Work:

Work must be handed in during class on the due date.
Late work without a valid prior reason will automatically lose points.
Work that is turned in late will be penalized 10% of the possible points, for each day that it's late.
Work that is turned in more than 3 days late will not be graded.
(Note that a "day" means a day of the week, not a weekday)

Exam Policy:

There will be two in-class exams. Good preparation for the final exam is the video by Tandy Trower. The format for each exam will be announced in class prior to the exam. Possible questions for the exam will also be shared prior to the exams. The exams are closed-book.

If you are unable to be at an exam, you will receive an `incomplete' grade for the course, and you will be able to take a make up exam at the start of the next term.

Important Dates:

Project 1 is due Fri 24 March 2006
Project 2 is due Tue 04 April 2006
Project 3 is due Mon 01 May 2006

Project 3 User & Task Analysis is due Tue 11 April 2006

Project 3 Rough Design is due Thu 20 April 2006

That work will be evaluated and returned to you asap.

It will determine 25% of the project 3 grade.

Project 4 is due Mon 24 April 2006

Project 4 Rough Design due Fri 31 March 2006

Project 4 XML demonstration due Fri 14 April 2006

Completion of these intermediate deadlines is required.

Failure to complete an item will be penalized with an up to 10% deduction.

Exam 1 is on Fri 07 April 2006
Exam 2 is on Fri 28 April 2006

The group presentations will be on:

Mon 01 May 2006
Tue 02 May 2006

Note that not attending these presentations will negatively affect your grade.

Standards:

The highest standards of programming, writing, and presentation will be expected, and the grading schemes will be devised to reflect that. If you are uncertain what to do about program documentation see the CS Documentation Standard.

We will expect you to deliver what is requested (e.g., answer all questions asked as part of the project description). The TAs will grade all the work according to a precise grading scheme provided to them.

Academic Honesty:

Cheating, defined as taking credit for work you did not do, is strictly forbidden. Offenders will receive a zero grade for the assignment or exam in question. In addition their case will be presented to the Computer Science Department Head (see the WPI Academic Honesty Policy).

Course Grades:

With respect to grading, an "A" is reserved for Excellent work, with a very rough expectation of a better than 90% score over the whole class. A grade of "B" represents high quality work, with a very rough expectation of a score at least higher than 60% and perhaps higher than 70%, depending on how hard the exams are and how hard the grading is. Above 50% but below the B boundary will probably be a "C" grade, which indicates reasonable but undistinguished work. Below 50% will probably get you an NR.

Please note that these boundaries are meant merely as an indication of our expectations, and may change according to circumstances. Experience shows that less than 10% of the class get an "A" grade.