Designing Human-Centered Software

Course Information

Course Number

HCI Undergraduate: 05-391
HCI Graduate: 05-891

Program Requirement

This is a required course for
Minor in Interdisciplinary HCI
HCI Concentration for SCS majors

Course Description

Why are things so hard to use these days? Why doesn't this thing I just bought work? Why is this web site so hard to use? These are frustrations that we have all faced from systems not designed with people in mind. The question this course will focus on is: how can we design human-centered systems that people find useful and usable?

This course, Designing Human-Centered Software (DHCS), is an introduction to designing, prototyping, and evaluating user interfaces. If you take only one course in Human-Computer Interaction, this is the course for you. This class is a core course for undergrads in the HCI Minor but open to all undergrads and grad students with technical and non-technical backgrounds. We will cover theory as well as practical application of ideas from Human-Computer Interaction. Course work includes lectures, class discussion, homework, class presentations, and group project.

The course is intended for undergraduates and graduate students not majoring in HCI. Students considering a major in HCI should take 05-410: User-Centered Research and Evaluation instead.

Registration: Students in the HCI Minor and SCS concentration have priority registration for this course for graduation requirement purposes. When registering for this course, undergraduate students are automatically placed on the wait list.

Prerequisites

15112 or 15122 or 15104 or 15110

Semester Offered and Units

Semester: All Semesters
Undergraduate: 12 units
Graduate: 12 units

Enrollment Requirements

Students will need a prerequisite of a fundamental computer programming course. This course can only be taken synchronously.

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