Emphasizing the User in a Structured Human-Computer Interaction Course
Mary Granger
The emphasis on the importance of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in the information systems curriculum has increased over the last 6 years. This paper describes a team-oriented, project-based HCI course focused on task and user analysis, evaluation and iterative usability testing. The interface development process closely followed a proposed HCI systems analysis and design methodology. It is user-centered and iterative, and incorporates the design of the user interface into the software development process. A major goal of the course is to emphasize the importance of user and task analysis. This course and other similarly focused HCI courses provide instructors with the opportunity to demonstrate the importance of user and task analysis, and hopefully, in the future, will inspire today’s students to design and develop more usable system interfaces.
Keywords: human-computer, curriculum, interfaces, usability, systems development
Mary J. Granger is a Professor in the Information Systems and Technology Management Department at George Washington University, Washington, DC. She serves on the Board of Directors of the International Academy for Information Management (IAIM) and is currently editor of the Journal of Informatics Education Research (JIER). Professor Granger has published in Computers and Education, Journal of Information Systems Education, Science and Engineering Ethics and the Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching. She also co-chaired three working groups at SIGCSE/SIGCUE ITiCSE (Integrating Technology into Computer Science Education). Some of her research interests include: Information Systems curriculum development and design, system analysis and design, database design, human-computer interactions and ethical issues in the computing environment.
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