Human-Computer Interaction teaches the fundamental issues that underlie the creation and evaluation of usable and useful applications. Through lectures and design activities, students work in teams of 5 to design a solution for a real-world problem. The end result of the team project is a high-fidelity interactive prototype of a mobile application, targeted at solving a particular real-world problem. Over the term, students will achieve this end goal by (i) conducting user interviews to understand the context of the problem, and identifying specific functionalities required for the successful adoption of the application, (ii) creating and prototyping both low- and high-fidelity designs of the application, and (iii) assessing the designs through evaluations.
There are no midterm or final exams for this course. There is also no programming involved. There is, instead, a strong emphasis on the "process" of design---project groups will be asked to maintain an online design notebook, where they document the design activities and lessons learned. The design notebook helps the instructor and TAs to monitor the intermediate progress of the projects and to provide forehanded feedback on the next steps.
Specifically, you will learn to:
Preparation for Studio (P2-P12): Each week, there are different kinds of preparation work---e.g., individual or group-based design activities---that must be completed in preparation for the upcoming studio lab. The studio activities depend on and build upon the preparation activities, and so, failure to complete the preparation work will negatively affect the team's ability to complete the studio activities. All preparation activities should be documented in the design notebook.
User Interviews (PO1): Student teams will interview 6-8 unique target users outside of the class (i.e., they should not be students enrolled in the course). There are two types of interviews---informational interviews for understanding the context of the problem, and prototype evaluation interviews to assess the usability and utility of the designs. The team should document the findings of the interviews in the design notebook.
Final Products (PO2a-PO2d): There are four final products: final prototype (PO2a), demo video (PO2b), final project presentation (PO2c) and a design portfolio (PO2d) in the form of a blog post or website documenting the entire design process. These requirements are independent of any choice students may make regarding any intellectual property connected to their course projects. Please note that all final products will be posted on the course website and publicly available for viewing. Different from the rest of the deliverables, the final products are not graded by your lab's TA, but a random TA, as well as external judges.
| 1. Preparation Activities - Remote (2%) | ||
|---|---|---|
| CS 449 | CS 649 | |
| Ethics Training (P1) | -- | -- |
| P2-P12 | 2% | 2% | 2. Studio Activities - In-Person (60%/52%) |
| CS 449 | CS 649 | |
| Design Activities (D1-D8) | 32% (4% each) | 24% (3% each) |
| Design Critique Sessions (DR) | 4% each | 4% each |
| Prototype Evaluation (E1, E2) | 8% (4% each) | 8% (4% each) |
| Challenge Report 1 and 2 (CH1) and Presentation (CH2) | 16% (12% reports, 4% presentation) | 16% (12% reports, 4% presentation) | 3. Team Building Exercises - Remote (2%) |
| CS 449 | CS 649 | |
| Team Contract (T1) | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Team Building Activities (T2, T3) | 1% (0.5% each) | 1% (0.5% each) |
| Team Reflection (T4) | 0.5% | 0.5% | 4. Project Outputs (36%) |
| CS 449 | CS 649 | |
| User Interviews (PO1) | 6% | 6% |
| Final Prototype (PO2a) | 10% | 10% |
| Demo Video (PO2b) | 4% | 4% |
| Final Presentation (PO2c) | 10% | 10% |
| Design Portfolio (PO2d) | 6% | 6% | CS649 Only (8%) |
| CS 449 | CS 649 | |
| Research Proposal (R1, R2) | NA | 8% (2% draft, 6% final paper) |
All deliverables are due 5:00 pm on the due date. Late penalties for all deliverables: -5% of the deliverable total for each additional day (5:01 pm to 5:00 pm).
IMPORTANT: If a deliverable was not submitted before the next deliverable due date, you will get 0% for this deliverable. Furthermore, you are not allowed to submit the next deliverable if the previous deliverable was not submitted. For example, you cannot interview any users unless the entire team has completed ethics training. Failing to submit all the deliverables by the end of the term may result in failing the course.
In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See http://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity for more information.
A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity (check https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/) to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration, should seek guidance from the course instructor, TA, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, see the Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.
A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 (Student Petitions and Grievances) (other than a petition) or Policy 71 (Student Discipline) may be appealed if there are grounds. A student who believes he/she has grounds for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 (Student Appeals).
AccessAbility Services (formerly the Office for Persons with Disabilities), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities, without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.
Students should be aware that this course contains the intellectual property of their instructor, TA, and/or the University of Waterloo. Intellectual property includes items such as:
Course materials and the intellectual property contained therein, are used to enhance a student’s educational experience. However, sharing this intellectual property without the intellectual property owner’s permission is a violation of intellectual property rights. For this reason, it is necessary to ask the instructor, TA and/or the University of Waterloo for permission before uploading and sharing the intellectual property of others online (e.g., to an online repository).
Permission from an instructor, TA or the University is also necessary before sharing the intellectual property of others from completed courses with students taking the same/similar courses in subsequent terms/years. In many cases, instructors might be happy to allow distribution of certain materials. However, doing so without expressed permission is considered a violation of intellectual property rights.
Please alert the instructor if you become aware of intellectual property belonging to others (past or present) circulating, either through the student body or online. The intellectual property rights owner deserves to know (and may have already given their consent).