Human Computer Interaction (HCI)

Course Description

Human Computer Interaction (HCI) involves the study, design and evaluation – in terms of  usability – of interactive computer systems. The course aims to introduce the core concepts, the methods, the rules, the design principles and the tools of this interdisciplinary field. Alongside the lectures, the students will be assigned a modular project, which spans term time, and which will cover the lifecycle of the development and implementation of an interactive system of their choice, with deliverables handed in stages. Furthermore, a series of practical, assignments carried out in the Department’s computer laboratory comprise both design tasks in UML (Universal Modelling Language) implemented in the papyrus eclipse plugin, as well as programming tasks pertaining to gaming. Both the GUI and the logic of games is demonstrated and there is a choice of implementation platform between Android Studio and .NET , where the Universal Apps framework is presented, in with application development in both C# and XAML. Last, tutorials in class  are also carried out during the term, where students are involved in team-work on understanding user needs and evaluating design prototypes using prototype interactive methods such as interviews and ethnographic approaches.