Introduction to HCI

4.0 credits

The goal of this course is to provide an introductory overview of the concepts, principles, methods and special topics of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). This course will help students to build a frame of reference of HCI approaches and apply them in conducting design practices for real-world problems. This course contains a combination of lectures, seminars and group projects. The lectures will cover origins of HCI and interaction design, user-centered design methods, usability evaluation and user experience. The seminars will be a combination of guest lecturers and student-led discussions to introduce special topics in HCI, which may include Augmented and Virtual Reality, Tangible User Interface, Human-Robot Interaction, learning technologies, and assistive technologies. The group project will take place throughout the course and provide an opportunity for students to apply and reflect on HCI methods and user-centered design processes through contextual inquiry, prototyping, evaluation, iteration and presentation.