Postgraduate Course: Human-Computer Interaction (Level 11) (INFR11017)

Course Outline
School	School of Informatics	College	College of Science and Engineering
Course type	Standard	Availability	Available to all students
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Year 4 Undergraduate)	Credits	10
Home subject area	Informatics	Other subject area	None
Course website	http://course.inf.ed.ac.uk/hci	Taught in Gaelic?	No
Course description	The design and implementation of efficient, effective and user friendly computer systems, including software objects and physical internet-enabled things, depends upon understanding both the technology and its users. Only then can designers be confident that these information appliances will be properly matched to the skills, knowledge and needs of their users. The study of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) seeks to combine perspectives and methods of enquiry drawn from disciplines such as Interaction Design, Psychology and Sociology with the tools, techniques and technologies of Computer Science to create an approach to design which is both relevant and practical.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	This course is open to all Informatics students including those on joint degrees. For external students where this course is not listed in your DPT, please seek special permission from the course organiser. Prior programming experience is assumed: assignments require constructing graphical user interfaces in a language such as Java. Basic practical experience with algebra and statistics is assumed. A willingness to pursue an inter-disciplinary approach is essential.
Additional Costs	None

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	Visiting students are required to have comparable background to that assumed by the course prerequisites listed in the Degree Regulations & Programmes of Study. If in doubt, consult the course lecturer.
Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus?	Yes

Course Delivery Information

Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)			Learn enabled: No	Quota: None
Web Timetable	Web Timetable
Course Start Date	15/09/2014
Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 20, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 76 )
Additional Notes
Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info)	Written Exam 70 %, Coursework 30 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name	Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)		2:00

Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 1, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)			Learn enabled: No	Quota: None
Web Timetable	Web Timetable
Course Start Date	15/09/2014
Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 20, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 76 )
Additional Notes
Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info)	Written Exam 70 %, Coursework 30 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name	Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)		2:00

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
1 - Demonstrate, in writing, knowledge of the issues and problems in HCI. 2 - Demonstrate an understanding of human perception and behaviour in analysing their interactions with technology in their every day lives. 3 - Use established design principles and methodologies to solve HCI problems. 4 - Acquire confidence in handling different disciplinary perspectives on HCI and the ability to apply them to design problems. 5 - The ability to devise, plan and execute task analysis and system evaluation studies from an HCI perspective, and present findings in a clear and effective manner. 6 - Demonstrate awareness of current areas of research by locating and summarising examples of recent progress.

Assessment Information
A literature review and a design for a novel research study in a current area of HCI research. You should expect to spend approximately 38 hours on the coursework for this course. If delivered in semester 1, this course will have an option for semester 1 only visiting undergraduate students, providing assessment prior to the end of the calendar year.

Special Arrangements
None

Additional Information
Academic description	Not entered
Syllabus	* Background--the development and scope of HCI. Practical goals. * HCI relevant issues in human perception, memory and thinking processes. * Approaches to designing information appliances--software objects and physical things. * Design methodologies and notations--levels of interface design. Task analysis, grammars, state charts. * Techniques and technologies--dialogue styles, information presentation, protocols for human-to-machine and machine-to-machine interactions; mobile computing, distributed wireless computation, wireless sensors. * The design process--user involvement, iterative design, prototyping. * Evaluation--methodologies, formative and summative. Performance analysis. * Specific issues in HCI: the internet of things; novel interfaces. Relevant QAA Computing Curriculum Sections: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Information Systems, Systems Analysis and Design
Transferable skills	Not entered
Reading list	* Rogers, Sharp & Preece, Interaction Design, 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
Study Abroad	Not entered
Study Pattern	Not entered
Keywords	Not entered

Contacts
Course organiser	Prof D K Arvind Tel: (0131 6)50 5176 Email: d.k.arvind@ed.ac.uk	Course secretary	Miss Claire Edminson Tel: (0131 6)51 7607 Email: C.Edminson@ed.ac.uk