instructor information

Professor: Elouise Oyzon
Office: 70-2545
Phone: 585-475-6542
Email: ero at it dot rit dot edu
Office Hours: Mondays 9:00-10:00
Wednesdays 9:00-10:00
Thursdays 12:30-2:30

textbooks and readings

The following book is required for the course.

• Preece, Jennifer: Interaction design
• Additionally, there will be reading assignments of web articles.

important rit deadlines

Last day of add/drop is September 13, 2004.

Last day to withdraw with a grade of “W” is October 15 (the deadline for withdrawing from a course with a W grade is the end of the 6th week of the quarter). Forms may be obtained from your department office and need your instructor’s signature.

NOTE: IT department policy states that a student has one quarter to challenge any grade. After that, grades cannot be challenged.

course description

The design of usable interfaces is based on the principles and theories of Human Computer Interaction. This project-based course is focused on the application of the usability engineering process, including analysis, design, prototyping and testing. Additional topics include: What is Usability, Heuristic Evaluation, Usability Goal Setting, Interaction Design and Styles, Assessment Methods and International User Interfaces. Team projects are required.

course goals and objectives

Ability to apply the principles of HCI to the analysis, design, prototyping and evaluation of usable interfaces Ability to engage in an iterative, user-centered, collaborative engineering process that results in prototypes of genuinely usable and useful interfaces. Appreciation of the importance, and difficulty of usability

Students will be able to

• perform, document, and support a heuristic evaluation of an existing interface by rating the interface's conformance to Jakob Neilsen's usability heuristics, and use pictures or demonstrations to illustrate an inteface's virtues and deficiencies.
• produce appropriate documents and deliverables for each step in an iterative usability engineering lifecycle
• work effectively in a small team by collectively assigning and individually adopting roles such as leader and note-taker to create and track action items, support team-members and develop professional deliverables.
• use personas, scenarios, and task analyses to formulate and write usability goals
• devise usability metrics
• iteratively design, prototype and usability-test a user interface
• develop, perform, and analyze effective usability tests
• organize, conduct, and summarize insights from focus groups
• produce and present a design process and demonstrate a design prototype in a group presentation using appropriate visuals
• constructively and critically articulate lessons-learned from a design cycle and its outcomes

prerequisites

4002-425 (Human Factors) or 2009-323
4002-330 Interactive Digital Media or 4002-231

grading

academic honesty policy

Please review the IT department and RIT policies academic dishonesty.