COURSE GUIDE FOR DCTE 720 820 HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION CLUSTER FORMAT 2009 SPRING TERM March 6 2009 August 5 2009 Laurie P Dringus Ph D Professor Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences Nova Southeastern University Carl DeSantis Building 4th floor Office 4073 3301 College Avenue Ft Lauderdale FL 33314 7796 email laurie nsu nova edu Contents Getting Started Online Access to Course Materials and Activities About Student Forums Details on Course Assignments Details on Completing the 820 Project List of Recommended Readings of Human Computer Interaction Selected Articles from ACM 1 Getting Started Welcome to the HCI course This document provides specific instructions on what you need to do to complete the core course 720 and the project course 820 These are intensive highlevel courses involving the study of human computer interaction as a field of the computer and information sciences The focus of this course is usability engineering including usability evaluation and testing You will learn about the major players in the HCI field the trends in HCI research and how to apply a healthy blend of theory and practice to user centered interfaces In our class meetings cluster we will be discussing many pertinent topics related to the study of human computer interaction During the term you will research and share resources and discuss issues with your professor and with fellow students in online discussions Getting organized and maintaining organization is important for successful completion of this course Please read this document carefully and login regularly to WebCT to check for special announcements For those who may have taken a course with me before OLE the format of this course guide may be familiar to you Please read through this carefully though since each course has its own unique objectives and activities Online Access to Course Materials and Activities Most course activity is managed through WebCT except for email communication Additional information resources are available from the professor s HCI website at http scis nova edu nova hci top html WebCT is being used as the central course location to post the most essential electronic course materials such as the course syllabus and the course requirements contained in this course guide We will use WebCT for our online asynchronous discussions course announcements and for assignment submissions With the use of WebCT and the HCI online study area combined consider this online environment to be the classroom where you go to learn and communicate about this topic area Please note WebCT email WILL NOT be used for course correspondence Students are required to use their NSU email accounts through standard email software to communicate with the professor outside of WebCT Also email attachments of assignment submissions will not be accepted unless pre approved by the professor 2 About Student Forums Class Participation for DCTE 720 We will use WebCT s asynchronous discussions area as an environment in which students and the professor discuss HCI issues throughout the term I like to refer to this environment as Student Forums Once you have access to the course in WebCT you will be given topical areas pertinent to HCI There will be several threads or mini conference topics relating to HCI The professor will post specific topics throughout the term Class participation points are earned on the basis of steady effort and meaningful contribution to the discussions throughout the term This means that students should be active in the current threads Current threads generally run for one to two weeks depending on the momentum of the class discussion The professor does NOT establish specific due dates but prefers the natural flow of discussion to occur In terms of length of responses several short responses are encouraged but they should be responses that reflect thought and promote further interest in the topic not just responses for the sake of meeting the participation requirement The class participation grade will be based on quality and quantity of contributions including original contributions and responses to others that add value to the discussion topic postings that are made during the active period of the current thread s being discussed presentation and grammatical accuracy postings that are well written well organized and accurate and postings that provide appropriate literature citations Overall I look for the evidence of steady contributions over the term A total of 30 points is attributed to class participation so timely and meaningful participation in the discussion forums is important to earn full points You may be the first student to contribute to a theme Don t be shy Special recognition will be given to students who really contribute to the conference activity those who contribute first to a theme and those who participate regularly Of course it is also important that you provide effective and meaningful responses to your peers Meaningful interaction is about discussing the issues based on what the research literature is addressing and questions and issues we raise about the topic This also includes discussing and citing the appropriate literature into postings as often as possible It s important that we share the research Otherwise our discussions will be limited to personal commentary I look for a healthy balance of scholarly discussion with personal insight I believe this practice makes for an interesting discourse Please DO NOT establish your own main threads or themes If there is a particular topic you would like to discuss as a main thread write Dr Dringus an email From there the professor will post all main conference threads or themes Also the professor is the gatekeeper of the forums So the professor reserves the right to delete any student postings that are considered inappropriate or irrelevant to the discussions High level scholarly discussions are expected for this class discussion activity 3 The professor will post a couple of starter topics early in the term so that you can practice using the asynchronous discussions area in WebCT The first formal discussion topic will be posted a couple of weeks after the first cluster meeting Note that Student Forums is an asynchronous system enabling students to participate AT ANY TIME in the discussions You are not required to participate in the Forums on a specific evening and at a specific time However to keep the discussions lively and active students