Design Methods for Interaction and Systems

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• Week 6
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• Week 9
• Week 10

Instructor

David McDonald Office: MGH 330A Email: dwmc@u.washington.edu   Office Hours: by appointment

Teaching Assistant

Natascha Karlova Email: nkarlova@u.washington.edu   Office Hours: Wednesday 2:00pm - 3:50pm MGH 430

Description

Theoretical and practical examination of the information systems design process. Techniques for assessing the need for technology, specifying the system design, and involving users in the design process are explored. Design methods include social impact statements, future scenarios, mock-ups, rapid prototyping, field-testing, heuristic evaluation.

	Lecture	TTH 9:30am - 10:50am	MGH 238
	Lab	Wednesday 2:00pm - 3:50pm	MGH 430

 

Grading

The grading for the course is made up of labs, a mid-term, two quizzes, and your in class participation. The breakdown for grading is as follows:

Lab Assignments	50%
Mid-Term	25%
Quiz 1	10%
Quiz 2	10%
In Class Participation	5%

 

Lab Assignments

Lab assignments are excercises designed for you to develop specific design related skills. Lab assignments will be handed out and explained during lab section. You should plan on attending lab section to get explanations. Successful completion of labs will require time outside of lab. In general labs are due one week from the date they are assigned.

Mid-Term Exam

The course will include a mid-term exam that will happen Thursday November 8^th (Week 6). The mid-term will be a short answer style exam similar to the Quizzes. If you perform better on the mid-term than on Quiz 1, the mid-term score will be used to replace your Quiz 1 score (appropriately scaled).

Quiz 1 & Quiz 2

The course will include two quizzes. Quiz 1 will occur before the mid-term and Quiz 2 will happen after the mid-term. The quizzes are used to reinforce and test the material in the readings and in lecture. The exact date of each quiz will be announce one week before the quiz.

In Class Participation

The lectures will include discussion and in-class excercises. Participating in these comprise your in-class participation.

Text Books

The course will primarily rely on two text books. However, there are several other excellent texts that could help you as you learn interactive systems design.

Readings are assigned for each lecture on weekly reading and lecture schedule. You should have the readings completed before you come to lecture.

Required Texts
(R&C)	Rosson, M. B. & Carroll, J. M. (2002) Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
	ISBN 1-55860-712-9
(HWW)	Holtzblatt, K., Wendell, J. B. & Wood, S. (2005) Rapid Contextual Design: A How-To Guide to Key Techniques for User-Centered Design. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
	ISBN 0-12-354051-8 (pbk.)
(CRC)	Cooper, A., Reimann, R. & Cronin, D. (2007) About Face 3.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design. Wiley Publishing.
	ISBN 978-0-470-08411-3 (pbk.)

 

iSchool Syllabus Inclusions

The iSchool has some required syllabus inclusions that may apply to this course.