CS2013-final-report

Human Aspects of Computer Science, University of York
Department of Computer Science
Paul Cairns
paul.cairns@york.ac.uk
Knowledge Areas that contain topics and learning outcomes covered in the course
Knowledge Area
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) 18
Total Hours of Coverage
Brief description of the course’s format and place in the undergraduate curriculum
Students take this course in the first term of Stage 1 (first year) of the undergraduate degree programs in single
honors Computer Science subjects e.g., BSc in Computer Science, MEng in Computer Systems Software
Engineering. It represents 1/6 of the 120 credits required in Stage 1.There are no pre-reqs for obvious reasons and
there are no modules that require it as a pre-requisite. There are usually around 100 students each year.
What is covered in the course
The course is centered on Human-Computer Interaction. The topics covered are:
• Experimental design and data representation
• Inferential statistics
• Writing up experiments
• User-Centered Design
• Developing requirements through personas and scenarios
• Conceptual design, interface design
• Prototyping: lo-fi and paper
• Visual Design
• Evaluation techniques: heuristics, cognitive walkthrough, experiments
What is the format of the course
It is face-to-face. Students attend 2 one-hour lectures, 1 two-hour practical and a one-hour reading seminar each
week for 9 weeks of the autumn term. Lectures are a mix of traditional lecturing, small group exercises and class
discussion. Practicals are primarily individual work or group work related to assessments. Reading seminars are
presentations on research papers and class discussions on the papers.
How are students assessed
There are three assessments. There are two open assessments for which students work in groups of (ideally) four.
The first is to design and conduct an experiment in HCI having been giving a basic experimental hypothesis to
investigate. The second is to do a user-centered design project though there is not time for iteration or formal
evaluation. The third assessment is a closed exam in which students critique a research paper in order to answer
short questions on the paper. Students are expected to do 100 hours of work in total on the assessments roughly split
40:40:20 for the three assessments.
Course textbooks and materials
Preece, J., Rogers, Y. and Sharp, H. (2011) Interaction Design, 3 rd edn, Wiley and Sons. (selected chapters)
Harris, P. (2008) Designing and Reporting Experiments in Psychology, 3 rd edn, OUP
Cairns P. and Cox A. eds, (2008) Research Methods for HCI, Cambridge. (Chaps 1, 6 and 10).
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