IST449 Spring2014 Syllabus

Human-Computer Interaction
Updated 1/05/2014
This version overwrites all previous versions
Instructor: Yang Wang

Classroom: Hinds 111

Email: Use Blackboard or ywang@syr.edu

Class time: 12:30-1:50pm Tu./Th.

Office: Hinds 342

TA: TBA

Office hour: by appointment

TA office hour: TBA, iLounge

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This undergraduate course is an introduction to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), a discipline
concerned with the design, evaluation, and implementation of interactive computing systems for human
use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them. The course considers the inherently
multi- and interdisciplinary nature of HCI and situates various HCI issues in the organizational and
societal contexts. It introduces theories of human psychology, principles of computer systems and user
interfaces designs, a methodology of developing effective HCI for information systems, and issues
involved in using technologies for different purposes. It is intended to give students an overview of the
entire HCI field by covering major aspects of it. Students will have an opportunity to explore further on
topics of their interest. The course will thus provide a background for students to practice system design,
selection, evaluation, and use with the knowledge of human characteristics, interaction styles, use context,
task characteristics, and design processes. Specifically, at the conclusion of this course, the student should
be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

explain HCI and interaction design to nonexperts,

describe cognitive foundations of HCI and usercentered design process,
gather and understand user requirements,
design and evaluate UI of low and medium complexity,
communicate effectively about design and evaluation,
discuss some of the outstanding research problems in HCI.

COURSE TEXTS
Required:
Designing The User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction (5th edition). Ben
Shneiderman, Catherine Plaisant, Maxine Cohen, and Steven Jacobs. Prentice Hall, 2009.
Professor will provide additional materials during the course.
Optional:
Human-Computer Interaction: Developing Organizational Information Systems, Dov Teeni, Jane Carey, and
Ping Zhang. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2007, ISBN: 0471677655, 9780471677659.
Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Requirements Methods, Tools, & Techniques.
Catherine Courage and Kathy Baxter. Morgan Kaufmann 2005. ISBN: 1558609350.
Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction (3rd edition), Yvonne Rogers, Helen Sharp &
Jenny Preece. Wiley, 2011.

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COURSE CONDUCT
The course includes lectures, case studies, discussions and exercises, student presentations and projects.
From time to time, individual students may be asked to present their assignments or in-class exercises in
front of the students in an informal manner. Students are strongly encouraged to communicate frequently
(in person, on-line, or off-line) with the professor and other students to discuss any matters with regard
to assignments, projects, and/or any aspect of the course.

Learning Management System Blackboard (BB)

This class uses BB as a required and integral part of the course. Teaching materials (syllabus, class
notes, assignments, resources, etc.) will be made available in the BB. All assignments should be
submitted to the BB. Students can check grading status and progress in the BB.

Laptop and Cell Phone Use inside the Classroom

Laptops and cell phones in class are prohibited until and unless directed by the professor.
Unauthorized use of laptops and cell phones will result in lost points in your attendance and
participation scores. This is to ensure that you have full attention on the materials and discussions in
class, and that your laptops/cell phones do not distract the professor and the fellow classmates around
you. If you feel strongly that you have to use your laptop/cell phone in class and it is for purposes of
learning this topic, you must talk to the professor individually about it.

Communication outside the Classroom

All course related communications (emails, online discussions, queries on assignments, etc.) will occur
within the Blackboard. Important announcements will be made inside the Blackboard. Students thus
are required to check Blackboard on a regular basis. Failure to receive such announcements cannot be
used as an excuse for not being informed.
The professor welcomes emails sent to his BB email account, which is the preferred way of
communication outside the classroom. In ordinary circumstances, it is expected that the professor
will respond within two business days.
To facilitate bookkeeping and being easy for others to follow, please do the following when sending a
message either to the professor, or the discussion list inside the BB:

Compose one message for one issue (e.g. do not ask about your grade and a specific question on
course materials in the same message: put them in two instead)
Use a meaningful subject heading for your message.

DESIGN NOTEBOOK
Every student should carry at (nearly) all times a small notebook (paper or electronic). Whenever you
come across or observe a particularly good or bad example of interaction design, or come up with new
design ideas, jot down the details in your notebook, and if possible, take a few photos. Often these
instances are fleeting and subtle. You may think you will remember it later on, but you typically won't, so
it's best to carry the notebook and record the details when they occur. You will not be asked to turn in
your notebook, but you will be expected to use the material in your notebook for your assignments,
projects and/or in-class activities.

METHODS OF ASSESSMENT
Your final grade is determined by your performance on the items in the table below. Eight types of
individual-based assessments and a team based assessment will be conducted as the course continues.
The participation grade is based on professor's subjective judgments on whether you have prepared for
each class and how much of a contribution you have made to class discussions and presentations. Missing
attendance would affect your contribution, so would attend classes but keep being silent.

Assessment
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Topic
Short Online Bio
HCI Awareness
Prototyping
Evaluation
Topical Presentations (2)
Team Project
Attendance and Participation

Points
6
8
8
8
10
50
10

Attendance and participation: Attendance in class with readings done prior to coming to class (except the
first class) is required. Regular attendance and active participation in discussions (in class and off class in BB)
will help enormously in understanding important concepts/issues and preparing for assignments and quizzes.
Please arrange to meet and/or work with the professor if you anticipate class absence. Missing attendance will
affect your final grade. If missing a class is not avoidable, you can do a reading report to make up the missed
attendance score. And you are still responsible to work with the professor or fellow students to make up the
missed content or homework/project discussions.
Online discussion in BB: Attendance and participation also include activities in BB. Here are some general
guidelines in posting to discussion boards.

Be respectful and considerate. The tone of your messages should be similar to the tone you would use
in a classroom discussion, and should be placed in the appropriate forum.
If you present an opinion, also present some support from the readings or from other sources you have
discovered or a logical argument from commonly accepted beliefs. Part of the graduate education
experience is help you learn how to present information with support and not just say Well, I think
that. This also applies to agreeing with someone; the statement I agree should be presented with some
other fact or information new to the discussion. Posts should contain more than three words of original
content.
When discussing a point from a previous post, copy and paste the appropriate points into your e-mail
(you can just post the portion you need for the discussion) to provide the context for others to follow.
The typical symbol for showing a quote is > before the line.
If you start a new topic, then start a new discussion instead of staying within an existing discussion
thread.

Group work: Each member of a group is expected to collaborate with the teammates and contribute
meaningfully to the group work. Grades for group work are based on evidence of contribution and values
added by each member. Different members thus may receive different grade for the same assignment. In
order to give teammates and the professor some ideas on engagement and contributions, group members
are expected to use the facilities provided in BB, such as the group space or discussion board, to carry out
the communications and collaborations on the group assignments. Group members will also have a chance

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to evaluate every members contribution for each group assignment.
Grade expectations: Grades are based on the quality of submitted work (and evaluation of team
members contributions in the case of team assignments), not upon how well others performed. The
following are grade expectations and divisions.
Grade
A
B

A (93-100) , A- (90-92)
B+ (87-89), B (83-86), B- (80-82)

C+ (77-79), C (73-76), C- (70-72)

D (60-69)

F (0-59)

Expectation
Your work is really outstanding.
Your work is about what would be expected of a
serious student.
Your work falls below what is expected but is
adequate.
Your work is well below what is expected but still
demonstrates some understanding of the material
and its application.
Youve completely missed the boat.

Very often in the assignments, you need to offer opinions. Simply stating your opinion does not constitute a
complete response. You must support any opinion with arguments and evidence. For example, the question
compare and contrast different interaction styles might be interpreted by a student as follows (note the
associated grades A, B, C, or D):
A: Describe commonly used interaction styles, noting where they are similar and different. Identify
the important characteristics of an interaction style and systematically evaluate each of the listed styles
on these dimensions. Suggest situations in which each might be most or least appropriate.
B: Describe commonly used interaction styles, noting where they are similar and different.
C: Describe commonly used interaction styles, one at a time.
D: Write down anything you can think of about interaction styles in no particular order. Avoid giving
conclusions, but if you do, be sure they are not supported by anything you have written.
Late assignment policy: Some of the assignments will be discussed in classes after the assignments are due.
Most assignments will help build a base for future assignments and the team project. Thus all assignments
should be turned in on time as specified. An over due assignment will get a penalty of 20% of total points for
each day late.
RE-GRADING REQUESTS (NOTE: THIS IS NOT RESUBMITTING)
The grade for each assignment is recorded in BB when the assignment is returned to the student. If a
student is in disagreement with the professors grading, it is the student's responsibility to ask
questions or request re-grading within five business days from the time the assignment is returned. No
re-grading requests will be accepted after the five business day period.

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SELECT ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
Additional details regarding these and other course assignments can be found in BlackBoard.
TOPICAL PRESENTATIONS

Each student selects a total of 2 topics that are of interest to him or her during the semester to do topical
presentations. Such topics should have relevance to HCI. For each topic, the student prepares a
presentation up to 5-minute in class. S/he can use any visual aid to help with the presentation. The topics
can be anything ranging from cool or hot technologies being developed, special or novel uses of existing
technologies, debates on the design and use of some technologies for various users in various contexts,
stories on frustrations or danger of using ill-designed technologies, benefit and advantages of using welldesigned technologies, etc. Besides presenting the artifact, students must point out the HCI relevance or
HCI issues related to the artifacts. This is where you can apply knowledge learned in class.
You will submit your presentation to the appropriate assignment dropbox as indicated below. It is
advised that you use PPT notes to supply supplemental material that you may use in your presentation
(e.g., notes that provide additional detail beyond what is displayed visually in the slides).
In order to manage our time in class, I am limiting presentations per week to 3.
If you are uncertain about your topic, please check with the professor. The first topical presentation must
be done before Week 8 (3/4). Each student signs up in the Assignment#5 Topical Presentation Sign Up
discussion board. The second topical presentation must be done on or before Week 14 (4/15). You are
welcome to do the 2nd one early, such as before Week 7. Again, students need to sign up in the same
discussion board mentioned above.
TEAM PROJECT

The main objective of this assignment is to use a structured and disciplined approach to develop a
human-centered interactive system from scratch. You will form your own group of 3-4 students. Each
group starts by choosing a topic/system to do, followed by HCI analysis and design including formative
evaluations, and ends with delivering a prototype and a summative evaluation. The developed system and
associated issues will be presented at the last class day.
In this project, besides following all the steps in the HCI development methodology, you need to also
practice how to make informed design decisions by applying knowledge about humans, and the design
principles and guidelines. You will also have the first hand experience of constant design iterations and
refinement based on various evaluations of early ideas. In addition, the project will also provide an
opportunity for enhancing communication and collaboration skills, organization and time management
skills, and project management skills.
The final prototype of your system has to be an interactive system. That is, users should be able to have
some dialogues with the system. Therefore, static screen shots or pure description is not sufficient. We
do not cover any implementation tools in this class thus do not provide any technical support. You are
welcome to use any fast prototyping tool that you are comfortable with and may want to make sure that
some of your group members have the needed technical skills.
To ensure the smooth progress and timely feedback during the project, the entire project will have three
interim reports, each with incremental components. Every report should be self-explanatory without the
need of referring to the early reports. All team members should submit each report through the
corresponding assignment drop box inside LMS to ensure receiving credit for that part.

ADDITIONAL COURSE INFORMATION

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact the Office of Disability
Services (ODS), http://disabilityservices.syr.edu, located in Room 309 of 804 University Avenue or call
(315) 443-4498 for an appointment to discuss your needs and the process of requesting accommodations.
ODS is responsible for coordinating disability-related accommodations and will issue students with
documented disabilities Accommodation Authorization Letters, as appropriate. Since accommodations
may require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact ODS as soon as
possible.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
The academic community of Syracuse University and of the School of Information Studies requires the
highest standards of professional ethics and personal integrity from all members of the community.
Violations of these standards are violations of a mutual obligation characterized by trust, honesty, and
personal honor. As a community, we commit ourselves to standards of academic conduct, impose
sanctions against those who violate these standards, and keep appropriate records of violations. The
academic integrity statement can be found at: http://supolicies.syr.edu/ethics/acad_integrity.htm.
In IST449, students are encouraged to discuss class contents and assignments with their fellow classmates
or to seek help from others. However, all work except team projects is to be completed by the individual
student. Academic dishonesty in any form is not tolerated, nor is assisting another person to cheat.
OWNERSHIP OF STUDENT WORK
This course may use course participation and documents created by students for educational purposes. In
compliance with the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, works in all media produced by
students as part of their course participation at Syracuse University may be used for educational purposes,
provided that the course syllabus makes clear that such use may occur. It is understood that registration
for and continued enrollment in a course where such use of student works is announced constitutes
permission by the student. After such a course has been completed, any further use of student works will
meet one of the following conditions: (1) the work will be rendered anonymous through the removal of
all personal identification of the works creator/originator(s); or (2) the creator/originator(s) written
permission will be secured. As generally accepted practice, honors theses, graduate theses, graduate
research projects, dissertations, or other exit projects submitted in partial fulfillment of degree
requirements are placed in the library, University Archives, or academic departments for public reference.
SUS RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES POLICY
The policy, found at http://supolicies.syr.edu/emp_ben/religious_observance.htm, recognizes the
diversity of faiths represented among the campus community and protects the rights of students, faculty,
and staff to observe religious holy days according to their tradition. Under the policy, students are
provided an opportunity to make up any examination, study, or work requirements that may be missed
due to a religious observance provided they notify their instructors before the end of the second week of
classes. For fall and spring semesters, an online notification process is available through MySlice/Student
Services/Enrollment/My Religious Observances from the first day of class until the end of the second
week of class.

RESERVED BOOKS AT BIRD LIBRARY

This class has a list of reserved books at the Bird Library Reserve Desk. You are welcome to browse these
books if you want to read more. Using them is optional for this class.
Author(s)
Baecker, Grudin,
Buxton, and
Greenberg (1995)
Dix, A., Finlay, J.,
Abowd, G., &
Beale, R. (2003)
Galletta, Dennis &
Zhang, Ping (2006)

Title
Readings in Human-Computer
Interaction: Toward the Year 2000, 2nd
edition
Human-computer interaction, 3rd
edition

Publisher
Morgan Kaufmann
Publishers, Inc. ISBN: 558602461
Prentice Hall Europe.
ISBN: 0130461091

Call #
QA76.9.H85
R43 1995

Human Computer Interaction and

Management Information Systems:
Applications

T58.6 .H836
2006

Nielsen, Jakob
(2000)
Nielsen, J. (1994).

Designing Web Usability

Norman, D. A.
(2004)
Norman, D. A.
(1988)

Emotional design: why we love (or

hate) everyday things
The Psychology of Everyday Things
(The Design of Everyday Things, in
paperback)
Human-Computer Interaction:
Developing Organizational
Information Systems
Human Computer Interaction and
Management Information Systems:
Foundations

M. E. Sharpe Inc.,
ISBN-10: 0765614871
ISBN-13: 9780765614872
New Riders Publishing,
Indianapolis, IN
Academic Press, San
Diego, CA. Paperback
ISBN: 012-518-4069
Basic Books, ISBN:
0465051359
Basic Books
John Wiley and Sons,
Inc. ISBN: 0471677655

QA76.9.H85
T44 2007

M. E. Sharpe Inc.,
ISBN-10: 0765614863
ISBN-13: 9780765614865

T58.6 .H835
2006

Teeni, D., Carey, J.

& Zhang, P. (2007)
Zhang, Ping &
Galletta, Dennis
(2006)

Usability engineering.

QA76.9.H85
B856 2003

TK5105.888
.N55 2000
QA76.9 U83
N54 1994
BF531 .N67
2004
TS171.4 N67
1988

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TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE (AS OF 1/05/2014)
Week Week of Topic
1/14

Introduction

Readings
Shneiderman (Ch. 1)

Due

1
2

1/21

Design Principles & Guidelines

Shneiderman (Ch. 2)

Assignment 1: Short Online Bio

1/28

Cognitive Aspects

Shneiderman (Ch. 10)

Project Pitch & Team Formation

2/4

Design Process

Shneiderman (Ch. 3)

Team Project 1: Project Proposal

2/11

Understanding User Needs

Rogers (Ch. 7, 8, 10)

Assignment 2: HCI Awareness

2/18

Prototyping

Rogers (Ch. 11)

2/25

Evaluation I

Shneiderman (Ch. 10)

Assignment 3: Prototyping

3/4

Evaluation II

Rogers (Ch. 12-15)

Team Project 2: Analysis & User

Needs Testing

3/11

SPRING BREAK NO CLASS

10

3/18

Interaction Styles

Shneiderman (Ch. 5-8)

Assignment 4: Evaluation

11

3/25

Visual Design

Shneiderman (Ch. 11,14)

12

4/1

Affective Aspects

Rogers (Ch. 5, 6)

13

4/8

Collaboration & Social Media

Shneiderman (Ch. 9)

14

4/15

Special Topics

Papers, guest lectures

15

4/22

Team Presentations

Team Project 4 & 5:

Development & Summative
Evaluation & Team
Presentations

Finals

5/2

Project report is due at 12:00 p.m.

Team Project 6: Final Report

Good/Bad Designs

Team Project 3: Design &

Formative Evaluation

NOTE: ALL ASSIGNMENT ARE DUE ON THURSDAY BY CLASS TIME.

Acknowledgement
The instructor thanks Profs. Youngseek Kim, Nora Misiolek, and Joe McCarthy for generously
sharing their course materials. This course also drew inspirations from similar courses offered by
Profs. Scott Klemmer (UCSD) and Joe McCarthy (UW). This particular syllabus is heavily based on
the syllabi of past IST449 courses taught by Profs. Youngseek Kim and Nora Misiolek.