CS 352: Introduction to Usability Engineering

Winter 2007

Class meetings: KEC 1001, TR 15:30-16:50

Instructor: Carlos Jensen

Office: KEC 3061

Email: cjensen [at] eecs

Office Hours: TR 12pm-3:30pm in my office, or by appointment

My door is always closed, that does not mean I’m not there, or that I don’t have time to see you (though sometimes I don’t), it’s just a very busy hallway. Knock.

Teaching Assistants: TBD

Class website: http://classes.engr.oregonstate.edu/eecs/winter2007/cs352/

Course Description

This class is intended to give you hands-on experience with usability evaluation and user-centered design. In this class you will not learn how to implement user interfaces, but rather how to design these based on the needs of users, which you will determine, and learn how to evaluate your designs rigorously. This is an ideal class for those who wish to know more about usability, human-computer interaction, the psychological aspects of computing, evaluation, and/or experimentation.

Because this is a hands-on class, as part of this class we will work with the OSU library. As part of this class we will study, evaluate and redesign the library web-site and other IT services. The bulk of your grade will be based on a group project, where you will propose, prototype, and evaluate your own novel IT solutions for the library. These proposals will in the end be presented in the library to the library staff, and successful projects and design suggestions may be implemented by the library.

Course Objectives

The purpose of this course is to teach you the basic usability engineering methods for the design and evaluation of software systems and their user interfaces. This includes the study of human-computer interaction, user interface characteristics and design strategies, software evaluation methods, and related guidelines and standards. This is a hands-on course with a major project component.

More specifically, after completing this course you should be able to:

Describe the human-centered design process, usability engineering process and role in system design and development
Discuss usability design guidelines, their foundations, assumptions, advantages and weaknesses
Learn basics of human-subjects research and complete basic human subjects research certification
Apply key design and evaluation techniques, including observational research, prototyping and heuristic evaluation in the design of a user interface based on analysis of user needs
Assess user interfaces using different usability engineering techniques and understand the strengths and weaknesses of different evaluation methods.
Learn how to present prototypes and ideas in compelling and convincing way as well as giving and receiving constructive criticism.
Work effectively as a team

Textbook

Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction by Preece, Sharp & Rogers [Required]

Additional Resources

Usability Engineering by Jakob Nielsen
The design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
HCC Education Digital Library (http://hcc.cc.gatech.edu/)
Office for Human Research Protection (http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/policy/topics.html )

Course Assignments and Grading

This class is meant to be a hand-on course. This means that you will be required to work on group projects and class-work (in addition to doing readings) outside of class time. This class will also be very interactive. Participation will count towards your final grade, and I want a healthy discussion in each class session.

You are responsible for having done the reading before attending class that day and be ready to participate in the discussion. I may not go over all the reading material in class, preferring to spend that time elaborating or discussing that material with you. This does not mean the assigned reading is not important, or will not be covered in a test.

As part of this class you will be involved in a quarter-long project. This project will be done in teams of 3-4 people and consists of multiple phases as described. The grading breakdown will be as follows:

Participation 10%

Assignments 15%

Midterm 1 20%

Midterm 2 20%

Project 35%

Proposal 20%

Prototype 25%

Evaluation Plan 25%

Evaluation 20%

Presentation 10%

Academic Dishonesty

The rules regarding Academic Dishonesty will be strictly enforced. Note that the penalties are quite severe and that the instructor has no discretion once a case of cheating is detected. Please see the OSU web-page for more details.

Schedule

Tue

Thu

Week 1

1/9 & 1/11

Introduction

Ch 1

Slides

Evolution of Usability

Ch 2

Design Exercise Due

Slides