1 COURSE GUIDE FOR MMIS 680 HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION ONLINE FORMAT 2004 WINTER TERM, January 5, 2004 – March 26, 2004 Laurie P. Dringus, Ph.D., Professor Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences Nova Southeastern University Carl De Santis Building, 4th Floor (room 4073) 3100 College Avenue Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314 email: [email protected] Contents: ¾ Getting Started ¾ Online Access to Course Materials and Activities ¾ About Student Forums ¾ Details on Course Assignments ¾ Reading Assignments -- Addendum to Course Schedule in Syllabus2 Getting Started Welcome to the HCI course! This document provides specific instructions on what you need to do to complete the course. As you know, much of your work will be completed in a computer-based format. In this dynamic environment, you will study human-computer interaction by researching and completing assignments and by discussing issues with your professor and fellow students. Getting organized and maintaining organization is important for successful completion of this course. Please read this document carefully and login regularly to check for special announcements. Online Access to Course Materials and Activities: The HCI online study area is your direct link to the course, the professor, and fellow students. A course menu was designed for the purpose of centralizing and managing course activities. The most essential course materials (except required articles selected by the professor) are contained in files or menus off of the HCI online study area. In addition, this is the site where the professor frequently posts announcements to the class. Consider this online study area to be the “classroom” where you go to learn and communicate about HCI. The HCI online study area is best viewed with a graphical browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. The URL address is: http://scis.nova.edu/nova/hci/top.html To access the text or Lynx version of the HCI online study area from your NSU online account, login directly to your account on the scis machine. At your prompt, type hci (lowercase letters). Information Requested Early! • Please contact Dr. Dringus by email as soon as you are registered for the course so that your name can be checked against the class list given to me from the program office. • Prepare a short "bio" about yourself. You will be able to post this information in a thread the professor establishes in the first week of the course in the Student Forums/HCI Discussion Groups. Do not email the bio to the professor. Wait until the thread is established in the Forums. In your bio, indicate your full name, your SCIS account username, what term this is for you, and anything else of interest to your fellow students.3 Instruction Methods: During the term, the class will be conducted in a computer-based format, primarily completed through the use of computer-mediated communication tools available through Nova Southeastern University's online environment: The “HCI” web site -- an online study area that presents this course and provides students with access to electronic mail (directly to the professor) and access to electronic conferencing (Student Forums). electronic student (ESET) --the Web-based online tool available for submitting assignments. Note: accessible only with SCIS login and password. electronic conferencing (Student Forums) -- for student participation and discussion. Can be accessed through the “HCI” web site. Note: accessible only with SCIS login and password. Accessing the “HCI” Online Study Area: A “sample” screen printout of the Web browser view of “HCI” is provided in the back of this course guide. You should check many links out regularly to stay current with the course. ¾ Visit the “Learning Connections” link. That will lead you to your course section, lecture notes and other things to empower your learning experience. ¾ Visit the “Announcements” link. I often post messages to the class weekly. ¾ Visit the “HCI Web Exploration” link. There are several “HCI” related links that will help you with your research. NOTE: Revisions to the interface and other additional items will probably occur to the “HCI” online study area during the term. Remember, this is a dynamic environment!4 About Student Forums -- Class Participation The “Student Forums” is a Web-based conferencing system designed to serve as a discussion environment in which students and the professor discuss HCI issues throughout the term. To access "Student Forums," choose the “Interactive Exchanges” link from the “HCI” web site and then the “Student Forums” link. Once you access the bulletin board corresponding to your course, you will be given topical areas pertinent to HCI. The professor will be posting topics throughout the term. There will be several “threads” or mini-conference themes relating to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Specific topics will be posted throughout the term in “Student Forums/HCI Discussion Groups,” available through the HCI Online Study Area web site. Each student is required to participate in the discussions. Points will be given on the basis of steady effort and meaningful contribution to the discussions throughout the term. 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. 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. Please DO NOT establish your own threads or themes. If there is a particular topic you would like to discuss as a theme, send Dr. Dringus a request via email. From there, the professor will post all conference threads or themes. Essentially the professor is the gatekeeper of the forums. As gatekeeper, I reserve the right to delete any student postings that are considered inappropriate or irrelevant to the discussions. Scholarly discussions are expected for this class discussion activity. A couple of “starter” topics will be posted early in the term so that you can practice using the