Introduction to Human Computer Interaction

Why are things so hard to use these days? Why doesn’t this thing I just bought work? Why is this web site so hard to use? Why is the phone app so confusing? Why do users not like my design? Why is my app not getting popular? These are frustrations that we have all faced from systems not designed with people in mind. The question this course will focus on is: how can we design human-centered systems that people find useful and usable? This course is an introduction to designing, prototyping, and evaluating user interfaces. If you can take only one course in Human-ComputerInteraction, this is the course for you.

Week 1: Components of HCI Types of interfaces Design process
Week 2: Contextual inquiry Importance of users / talking to users Task analysis
Week 3: Sketching Low & hi fidelity prototyping
Week 4: Mental models
Week 5: Usability evaluation Think aloud, observing users Modelling users, expert evaluations
Week 6: Information visualization
Week 7: HCI & mobility New faces of HCI
Week 8: Refresher for all modules seen in the course.