SWEN 444: Human Centered Requirements and Design

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General Course Information:

SWEN444 Human Centered Requirements and Design

Term:

SPRING 2024 (2235)

Course Credit Hours:

3

Instructor Information:

Sophia Sandhu spsvse@rit.edu

Office Hours:

Monday, Wednesday Noon to 1:30 PM

Tuesday, Thursday 2:00PM - 3:30 PM

Course Description:

This course introduces quantitative models and techniques of human-computer interface analysis, design and evaluation, which are relevant to the Software Engineering approach of software development. Contemporary Human Computer Interaction (HCI) techniques are surveyed, with a focus on when and where they are applicable in the software development process. Students will deliver usable software systems derived from an engineering approach to the application of scientific theory and modeling. Other topics may include: usability evaluation planning, methods of evaluation, data analysis, social and ethical impacts of usability, economic justification, prototyping and tools.

* Please spend some time reading this document, as it contains vital information about the texts, course policies and grading.

Course Topics:

The course will encompass a variety of concepts and topics, among them are the following:

• User Experience (UX) Requirements
• User and Task Modeling
• User Interface Design- Process and Principles
  
• Usability Evaluation, Reporting, and Analysis
  
• Design for Mobile Devices, the Web, and other Specialized Modalities
• Design for Universal Usability
• Internationalization and Localization

Course Objectives:

After this course, you will be able to:

• Model a proposed system using appropriate techniques that represent the human-computer interaction from various SE-HCI perspectives with an emphasis on the user experience (UX).
• Design a software system to maximize usability and utility, using appropriate design techniques.
• Prepare a usability test plan, including appropriate methodology, procedures, and statistical analysis techniques.
• Perform a usability evaluation and the subsequent data analysis with appropriate statistical techniques and tools.
• Describe the degree of usability of a project and the steps to address usability gaps in their project.
• Describe the potential social and ethical impacts regarding the usability of software systems.

Method of Instruction:

Course will combine lecture and in-class activities. Students will collaborate inside and outside of class in support of activities and project deliverables. Assignments will include selected readings, project write-ups, as well as activities focused in supporting the materials reviewed in class. Students will also author a short UX critique paper with a selected web or desktop application

Textbook(s):

Suggested for additional insights:

• The UX Book by Rex Hartson and Pardha Pyla  2nd edition

Attendance and Participation Policies:

This is an in-person class. Zoom participation and records are available for when you cannot or should not be in class.

Absences: I have no specific policy other than support your team!

Make up exams will only be granted for very good reasons (job interviews known in advance, documented sickness, family emergencies, etc.) Heavy workload in other (maybe to you more important) courses is typically not a very good reason.

Late Submissions: Late submissions may be accepted with a valid excuse within a week of the due date. There will be a penalty point reduction.

Conduct: Be professional. Since a key component in this course involves working with people including users, teammates, and classmates, and your instructor, it is expected that you will conduct yourself in a professional manner.

Class Behavior: It is expected that during class, you are participating in class, including adhering to the departmental policy about appropriate use of classroom/team room computers, personal laptops, and smartphones.

Project: You will be organized into teams to develop a working evolutionary prototype with an emphasis on the user interface design. Usability testing will be conducted. A final presentation of the prototype will be required in class.  Read about project details in the Project page.

Project Participation Policy: The intent for the course project is to enable you to apply the concepts covered in class to a semester-long project. In order for you to get anything out of it you must participate in the creation of all project artifacts and the software development that is non-trivial. If it is found that you have not participated in a project deliverable/phase at all (e.g. no coding or no artifacts) then you will receive a 0 for that deliverable/phase.  If you only participate at a trivial/limited level, your project grade will incur a proportional deliverable score penalty. Individual participation will be monitored through the weekly project reporting mechanism, anecdotal peer reporting, and at least one formal team peer review survey. Team participation impacts your overall course participation score.

Individual Assignments: In addition to group work, there will be a set of individual assignments that will enable you to explore various concepts and techniques presented in class. Please read the instructions and note the due dates (and times) for each assignment.

ChatGPT/AI Policy

Original Student work All student work is required to be their own. While we encourage research and reuse, all submissions must be your own, original creation. Copying/ Plagiarism is NOT tolerated. This is standard policy. This applies to ALL work, be it code related or written/ essay style submission.

Use of GPT/ AIAgain, all work is required to be your original creation. In situations where use of online resources is prohibited, this includes prohibition of GPT/ AI. In situations where it is not prohibited (unless otherwise stated), you may use online search for reference, but the output you create must be your own. This includes situations where you may use GPT or other AI tools for searching and/ or reference, with the following provisos:

If you use GPT (ChatGPT or other, similar tools) you must also do the following:

1. Submit your prompts for GPT (as a separate file) as part of your work
2. Provide a confirming statement that GPT was used as reference only, and your work is original.

• Zero on the assignment
• Zero on a full project
• “F” on the course
• Reported as plagiarism to the University and subsequent disciplinary action at the Institution level