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Contents | | | Preface | | | Introduction | | | Definition | | | Courses | | | Programs | | | Issues | | | References | | | Resources |
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ACM SIGCHI Curricula for Human-Computer Interaction
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by
Hewett, Baecker, Card, Carey, Gasen, Mantei, Perlman, Strong
and
Verplank
Copyright © 1992,1996 ACM SIGCHI |
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Contents | | | Preface | | | Introduction | | | Definition | | | Courses | | | Programs | | | Issues | | | References | | | Resources |
Last updated: 2008-04-11 Accesses since 1997-04-17: 105,618
Table of Contents
We have provided a set of course materials for an undergraduate course taught in Human-Computer Interaction to provide the user of this report with detailed examples of how the material we recommend might be included in a course in human-computer interaction. Each selection includes detailed reading lists, assignments and examinations that were given to students.
The course is taught in a computer science department and was offered in a conventional 13 week term or semester. It represents a focus in which the intent of the course was to lay both a theoretical and a pragmatic basis for training computer scientists in how to improve the user interface design of their systems or the systems on which they might be working.
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
CSC 428F / 2514 F
Human-Computer Interaction
Fall Term, 1989
Lectures: Monday, Wednesday 10 - 11 AM
Sandford Fleming 1105
Tutorial: Friday 10 - 11 AM
Wallberg Building 130
Course Organization:
This course is cross-listed at the 4th year undergraduate and 1st year graduate levels. The major difference is that graduate students are required to build a detailed cognitive model of the user interface they design in HyperCard. Graduate students are also expected to contribute more to class discussion, ask deeper questions and present more detailed analyses in their assignments.
Course Description: CSC 428 / 2514 will cover the basic theory and concepts in the area of human-computer interaction. It will make the following assumptions.
The course is intended to introduce the student to the basic concepts of human-computer interaction. It will cover the basic theory and methods that exist in the field. Case studies are used throughout the readings to exemplify the methods presented and to lend a context to the issues discussed. The assignments are designed to give the student practice in a set of the more basic techniques used in the human-computer interaction discipline. The course will begin by introducing the students to the software development process and discussing the behavioural techniques that apply at different stages of this process. It will then discuss the basic applications of these techniques: survey methods, task analyses, usability studies and prototyping. It will finish by discussing a set of innovative interfaces and new developments in human computer interaction.
Course Objectives:
The course is not intended to train the student in human-computer interaction engineering but rather to expose him or her to the concepts of the field. The exposure has several purposes.
Course Outline:
Date Lecture Topic and Reading Assignment
Week 1
Monday Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction
Sept. 11 Read B+B, pp. 1-4
Wednesday Incorporating HCI into the Software Lifecycle
Sept. 13 Read B+B, Case Study A, pp. 5-37; Read MM-1
Suggested Reading MM-2
Friday (T) Handout and explain Assignment 1.
Sept. 15 Take class pictures
Week 2
Monday Interview and Survey Methods
Sept. 18 Read B+H-C, pp. 119-153
Wed.(T) Selected Presentations of Assignment 1
Sept. 20 Assistance with Assignment 1
Friday Interview and Survey Methods
Sept. 22 Read B+H-C, pp. 154-186
Week 3
Monday Incorporating HCI into the Software Lifecycle
Sept. 25 Reread B+B, Case Study A, pp. 5-37; Reread MM-1
Wednesday The Socio-Political Environment
Sept. 27 Read B+B, Chapter 2, pp. 55-82
Friday(T) Turn in Assignment 1
Sept. 29 Class Presentations on Assignment 1
Hand out Assignment 2
Week 4
Monday Modeling the User of a Computer Interface
Oct. 2 Read B+B, Chapter 5, pp. 175-179
Wednesday Read B+B, Chapter 5, pp. 180-206
Oct. 4
Friday(T) Return and Discuss Assignment 1
Oct. 6 Assist with Assignment 2
Week 5
Monday Thanksgiving
Oct. 9
Wednesday Modeling the User of a Computer Interface
Oct. 11 Read B+B, Chapter 6, 207-218
Friday (T) Turn in Assignment 2
Oct. 13 Class Presentations on Assignment 2
Hand out Assignment 3
Week 6
Monday Modeling the User of a Computer Interface
Oct. 16 Read B+B, Chapter 6, pp. 219-240
Wednesday Review Session
Oct. 18
Friday ***** One Hour Test in Tutorial *****
Oct. 20
Week 7
Monday Modeling the User of the Computer Interface
Oct. 23 Reread B+B, Chapter 5, pp. 192-206
Wednesday Read B+B, Case Study C, pp. 250-268
Oct. 25
Friday(T) Return and Discuss Assignment 2
Oct. 27 Assist with Assignment 3
Week 8
Monday Usability Studies
Oct. 30 Read B+B, Chapter 4, pp. 131-146
Wednesday Read B+B, Case Study D, pp. 662-667
Nov. 1 Reread B+B, Case Study C, pp. 250-268
Friday(T) Turn in Assignment 3
Nov. 3 Hand out Assignment 4
Week 9
Monday Usability Studies
Nov. 6 Read B+B, Case Study C, pp. 269-277
Wednesday Read B+B, Case Study C, pp. 278-297
Nov. 8
Friday(T) Assist with Assignment 4
Nov. 10 Hand out Assignment 5
Hand out Assignment 6 to graduate students
Week 10
Monday User Interface Management Systems
Nov. 13 Read B+B, Chapter 11, pp. 508-527
Wednesday User Interface Management Systems
Nov. 15 Read B+B, Chapter 12, pp. 584-604
Friday(T) Turn in Assignment 4
Nov. 17 Presentations on Assignment 4
Week 11
Monday Interface Styles and Techniques - Video, Audio and
Haptic
Nov. 20 Read B+B, Chapter 7, pp. 299-319
Wednesday Read B+B, Chapter 8, pp. 357-375
Nov. 22
Friday(T) Assist with Assignment 5
Nov. 24
Week 12
Monday Interface Styles and Techniques - Video, Audio and
Haptic
Nov. 27 Read B+B, Chapter 8, pp. 386-392
Wednesday Read HCI-WG, pp. 167-177
Nov. 29
Friday(T) Turn in Assignment 5
Dec. 1 Demonstrations of Assignment 5
Week 13
Monday Research Frontiers and Unsolved Problems
Dec. 4 Read B+B, Chapter 14, pp. 669-680
Wednesday Recent papers to be put on reserve
Dec. 6
Friday(T)
Dec. 8 ***** Two Hour Test in Class *****
Weight Weight
Method of Evaluation Undergrads Grads Due Friday
Assignment 1: Development of user 10 5 Sept. 29
questionnaire
Assignment 2: Keystroke model of 10 5 Oct. 13
proposed design
MIDTERM TEST 15 15 Oct. 20
Assignment 3: Written evaluation of 10 5 Nov. 3
similar user interface
Assignment 4: Interactive system design 15 15 Nov. 17
exercise - Design portion
Assignment 5: Interactive system design 15 15 Dec. 1
exercise - Evaluation portion
Class Presentations 5 5 As Assigned
TERM TEST 20 20 Dec. 8
Assignment 6: User Interface Model bldg. 15 Dec. 19
for graduate students, not
required for undergraduates.)
Copies of the Required Reading and Additional Reading texts will be on reserve in the Computer Science Library and in the Electrical Engineering Library. The Laboratory Guides will be available in the teaching laboratory. They are for reference purposes only and are not to be removed from the room.
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
CSC 428F / 2514 F
Human-Computer Interaction
Fall 1989
Assignment 1
Topic: The design of questionnaires to evaluate the learnability
and usability of a computer system interface
Handed Out: Friday, September 15, 1989
Due: Friday, September 29, 1989
Objectives of Assignment:
In the course of their professional careers, Computer Scientists will often be faced with the task of gathering data from future users of the computer systems they are planning to build. These instances of data gathering will grow as the use of computers spreads to a larger audience, as the tasks that computers are applied to becomes more extensive and as the requirements for well designed human-computer interfaces grows. Without training in data gathering techniques, the Computer Scientist is left in a position of potentially designing questionnaires or conducting interviews that, at best, provide no useful data, and, at worst, give erroneous information.
This assignment is designed to give you practice in writing, testing and administering a questionnaire to a true user population. Although it does not train you in the very fine points of questionnaire design, it does alert you to the basic problems in obtaining valid responses from humans.
In addition to practice in valid questionnaire design and questionnaire administration, the assignment asks you to focus on finding information about a user interface to a computer system. Its intent is to help you develop probing skills (through good question design). These skills can then be used to find out what failures and successes users are having with a system and even the underlying causes for these successes and failures.
Directions:
This assignment will have 8 steps. They are:
Give a presentation of your questionnaire and its focus in your September 22nd tutorial session or prepared to give a presentation on your questionnaire and its results in your September 29th tutorial session. Be ready to answer questions about your questionnaire design and your survey conclusions.
Written and Oral Presentation Requirements:
Your paper must be typed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Drawings must be clear and legible. Be sure to put on a cover page indicating your name, title of work, course and date. You will be judged on the visual appearance, grammatical correctness and quality of writing of your paper as well as its contents.
Only the first four text pages of the paper will be read and graded. This does not include references, the questionnaire, figures or tables. Papers should have 1 inch left, right, top and bottom margins. They must be text with paragraphs, full sentences and all the other appurtenances of a written presentation. They cannot be itemized lists of points. Text font size should be either 10 or 12 points. You may choose your own font style, but a serif font is preferred.
Your presentations must be clear and well organized. Use overheads to show your questions or to give a presentation of data and graphs.
Description of Study Problem:
You are being asked to develop a questionnaire to find out information about a user interface which relates to the interface design you will be asked to develop in the series of 428 / 2514 course assignments that follow. The first task you need to do is to select the user interface you intend to develop. Once you have selected your design task, you will be in a position of collecting information about potential users of the interface.
One of the methods for collecting this information is to look at existing user interfaces that have things in common with the interface you are designing, i.e., the computer program accomplishes the same or similar tasks, or you believe that the task that the program supports is in many ways similar to the task you will be supporting with your interface design. For example, if you were building a design for an interface which helped users find out which books were available in the University of Toronto Library system, you might look at the existing Felix interface for accomplishing this task. If you are choosing to design a computer interface for ordering tickets to plays and concerts automatically, you might study a computer interface for obtaining cash from an automatic teller machine.
In selecting the interface you will design in this course, it is important not to make the interface too big or too complicated. Designing an interface for a word processor is completely out of the question! A list of potential interface designs follows, but you are welcome to submit your own suggested interfaces as well. You will receive comments on your choice and its feasibility.
Potential Interface Designs
Design and type a questionnaire to administer to the users of the system of your choice. Administer that questionnaire to 2 compatriots (preferably those not in Computer Science) to determine if they understand the questions in the same way you meant the questions. You do this by giving them the questionnaire to fill in and then asking them what their answers mean and what they thought your question meant. (THIS IS CALLED PILOT TESTING THE QUESTIONNAIRE.) Once you have received feedback from your 2 trial respondents, use this to redesign your questionnaire. If the design changes drastically, it is a good idea to test out your questionnaire again on 2 additional friends.
When you feel your questionnaire has been tested enough and will work on the targeted set of users, find 3 users who fit the eligibility requirements for your survey. Ask these users to fill out one of your questionnaires. (NOTE: this low number of respondents would not normally be used in a real study, but it is okay for the class assignment.) You are welcome to ask more users to fill out your questionnaire, but note that this will make more work for you in the next step.
Summarize the data collected from your questionnaires. The structured question answers are usually presented as percentages, e.g., 25 percent responded "strongly disagree" to the question "Should the system always have menus available?" Often the percentages are presented across demographic data, e.g., "30 percent of the women and 35 percent of the men would like to have less commands to learn." A clear way to present this information is in tables.
Use the data results of your questionnaire to suggest changes that might be made to the user interface to make it easier for users to learn and use the system. These can be changes in manuals and training as well as detailed changes to the interface commands and the documentation.
Write up the results of your survey and turn in your assignment on the specified due date. You may have to give a 10 minute presentation of your findings in your tutorial.
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
CSC 428F / 2514 F
Human-Computer Interaction
Fall Term, 1989
Assignment 2
Topic: The evaluation of a user interface using the
Keystroke Level model
Handed Out: Friday, September 29, 1989
Due: Friday, October 13, 1989
Objectives of Assignment:
The objective of this assignment is to give students practice in deciding between two or more possible ways to design a portion of their proposed user interface. The focus of the assignment will be on cognitive modeling techniques. You are being asked to use the Keystroke Level model which has been shown to be a good approximation of a cognitive model of the user.
Because the purpose of the exercise is to develop skills which later can be applied to interface design, the student is expected to focus on the very detailed issues that arise in design; for example, whether a sequence of four menu selections leading to a user's desired goal is preferable to users dragging their finger across a touch screen and taking different labeled corridors on the screen to arrive at their goal.
Directions:
This assignment will have 5 steps. They are:
Note: Average keystroke, mental operation and mouse times are available in your assigned readings. The times for other operations may have to be measured by you or calculated from Fitt's law (this will be demonstrated in lecture. Measuring the times with a stop watch is an acceptable approach. If you have any trouble with determining how to measure the times needed for your model, please contact the instructor or your tutors.
A four page (maximum) write-up on the evaluation of the alternative designs that was conducted. The write-up should include, in order, the following items.
NOTE: You do not have to ask individuals to perform the tasks, only to insert likely performance times for each step of the task. These times can be obtained from the paper in your reading assignment which describes the Keystroke Level Model or from measurements of your own to gather the times that are missing.
NOTE: It is possible that no differences will show up between the two alternatives. In this case, based on the performance analysis alone, you can state that either alternative is viable.
You should be prepared to give a presentation of your planned design and tasks (tutorial session the week before the assignment is due) or of your design evaluation and the results (tutorial session on the date your assignment is due). Be prepared to answer questions about your design and evaluation plan or your final model.
Your presentations must be clear and well organized. Use overheads to show your main points and your conclusions.
Expect your presentations to be exactly 8 minutes long. You will be given an additional 2 minutes at the end to answer questions.
Written Presentation Requirements:
Your paper must be typed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Figures and graphs must be clear and legible. Be sure to put on a cover page indicating your name, student number, title of work, course and date. You will be judged on the visual appearance, grammatical correctness and quality of writing of your paper as well as its contents.
Only the first four text pages of the paper will be read and graded. This does not include references, figures or tables. Papers should have 1 inch left, right, top and bottom margins. They must be text with paragraphs, full sentences and all the other appurtenances of a written presentation. They cannot be itemized lists of points. Text font size should be either 10 or 12 points. You may choose your own font style, but a serif font is preferred.
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
CSC 428F / 2514 F
Human-Computer Interaction
Fall Term 1989
Assignment 3
Topic: The detailed human behaviour evaluation of a user
interface analogous to the new interface design
being developed.
Handed Out: Friday, October 13, 1988
Due: Friday, November 3, 1988
Objectives of Assignment:
The objective of this assignment is to give Computer Science students practice in evaluating human-computer interfaces since a large part of their future work will be directed at building such interfaces. This practice is intended to help them in developing evaluation criteria appropriate to the interface. The evaluation, in turn can guide their design decisions.
Because the purpose of the exercise is to develop skills which later can be applied to interface design, the student is expected to focus on the very detailed issues that arise in design; for example, whether a transpose two characters command should be available in a text editor or whether a "t" for "transpose" or "x" for "exchange" should be used as the command to transpose the characters. This means developing evaluation criteria and miniature experiments/tests to evaluate the user interface at this level.
The assignment also has three sub-objectives. The first of these is to give students practice in the detailed observation of users at work with interfaces. Analysis of the user behaviour is intended to give the students skills in observing humans at the micro-level needed for understanding user problems.
The second sub-objective is to alert computer scientists to very basic differences in user behaviour and to the multiple ways users will interpret information presented to them and generate what is to them, very intelligent guesses about what is needed to use the interface.
One of the basic assumptions that humans have about their counterparts is that we all think alike. This is far from the truth, especially with the differences in skilled training that occur in today's society. When a computer scientist sees the word "print," the word usually means to send an electronic document to a printer. The rest of the world thinks that "print" means to carefully write letters by hand or to produce books. With these definitions, it is very likely for a new user to think that the person who wrote the instructions "now, print your file," in a user manual is asking for extremely bizarre behaviour.
The third sub-objective is to give students practice in distinguishing between the functionality of a computer system and its usability. The computer system may do all the tasks that the user needs to perform with the system, but may be required to organize the steps to perform these tasks in an order which is extremely foreign to the way the user thinks about the tasks.
For example, in text editing, the user typically has to mark the beginning and end of the text to be deleted. When an edit is done manually with a pencil, a word is indicated for delete by drawing a line partially through the word and ending it with a "squiggle" that indicates remove. The computer text editor may require the user to position a cursor at both ends of the word. This double positioning has added an additional mental task to the mental delete procedure of the user.
Without Computer: <find word> <indicate delete>
With Computer: <find word start> <find word end> <indicate delete>
The delete function is available to the user, but its usability is
questionable. With enough such extra thinking processes added to
each function, the user might be better off using a typewriter
which is within the cognitive capabilities of humans.
NOTE: This assignment is focussed only on the usability analysis of the interface not on the what functions might be needed for the new design. It is assumed that this functionality was captured in Assignment 1.
Directions:
This assignment will have 5 steps. They are:
A four page (maximum) write-up on the evaluations that were conducted. The write-up should include, in order, the following items.
You should be prepared to give a presentation of your evaluation and its results in your tutorial sessions on either October 27th or November 3rd. Be prepared to answer questions about your evaluation tests and your recommendations
Your presentations must be clear and well organized. Use overheads to show your main points and your conclusions. Fifty percent of your class participation grade will be based on your presentations.
Expect your presentations to be 8 minutes long. You will be given an additional 2 minutes at the end to answer questions.
Written Presentation Requirements:
Your paper must be typed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Figures and graphs must be clear and legible. Be sure to put on a cover page indicating your name, title of work, course and date. You will be judged on the visual appearance, grammatical correctness and quality of writing of your paper as well as its contents.
Only the first four pages of the paper will be read and graded. This does not include references, figures or tables. Papers should have 1 inch left, right, top and bottom margins. They must be text with paragraphs, full sentences and all the other appurtenances of a written presentation. They cannot be itemized lists of points. Text font size should be either 10 or 12 points. You may choose your own font style, but a serif font is preferred.
Hints for Selecting Evaluation Criteria:
Below are a series of suggested evaluation mechanisms that you might consider in performing Assignment 3. The list is far from complete and although you are welcome to use these hints, it is important to develop your own criteria as well.
LEARNING:
TASK USABILITY:
DOCUMENTATION:
OVERALL USABILITY:
Hints for Implementing Evaluation Criteria:
In addition to setting up the evaluation criteria, you must use it. Here are some hints for implementing LEARNING item 1 into evaluation tests.
Build a set of tasks, e. g., in searching for books in the FELIX System, it might be handwritten notes on titles, authors and subjects to look at in researching a course paper. You would then learn a subset of FELIX's commands. Do this by mentally rehearsing the command set. Time yourself. When you think you have mastered the command set, look at your set of your handwritten notes and write down beside each one, the set of commands you would do to perform the search. Try to do the same thing the next day.
Have one of your colleagues in class learn an equivalent set of commands for the other editor. The colleague should perform the same tests on the same set of editing corrections. Compare the times and errors.
List a set of basic tasks that your analogous interface must do for anyone beginning to use it. Count the number of commands you will need to learn to perform these tasks.
For a more detailed measurement, add 10 to your count every time a different format for the command needs to be learned.
Teach a friend who knows nothing about computing two of the interface commands. Ask them to explain how the commands work after you feel that you have adequately described the command. Ask them to describe as many situations as they can in which they believe the commands can be used. Write down any conceptual errors they make in expressing their understanding of the commands.
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
CSC 428F / 2514 F
Human-Computer Interaction
Fall Term, 1988-89
Assignment 4
Topic: The design of a prototype of your chosen user interface using
Apple Macintosh HyperCard as your rapid prototyping system
Handed Out: Friday, November 3, 1988
Due: Friday, November 17, 1988
Objectives of Assignment:
The objective of this assignment is to combine the various skills and techniques that have been learned in this course to a user interface design problem. In Assignment 1 a methodology for finding out information about the user population was practiced. With Assignment 2, practice was gained in modeling the user's interaction with a proposed design. Assignment 3 provided practice in observing users and relating the user's behaviour to the design of your proposed interface. Assignment 4 asks you to apply all of these skills to making a HyperCard prototype of your proposed interface.
The assignment also has a sub-objective, that of giving practice in developing a "good" user interface within the constraints of the design environment. The classic constraint in user interface design is the small amount of time allowed to build an acceptable interface for the user. Due dates for this assignment impose a similar constraint requiring decisions about which user interface features that can be included in the design given the minimal amount of time available. A second constraint-as common as the first-is the constraints of the external user, the software and the hardware environments. User interface designs need to adapt to the history of prior interfaces, to the consistency requirements of similar interfaces and to the limitations of the hardware and development software that will be used. To simulate a portion of these constraints, you are being asked to design a prototype of your system in HyperCard.
Directions:
Your basic task is to design a prototype of your proposed user interface in Apple Macintosh's HyperCard system. The design will not be an implementation. You will use HyperCard to create mock-ups of your design. If, for example, your design contains a videodisk, a HyperCard window with some sort of animation in it that simulates the video playback from the videodisk would be appropriate.
You are expected to apply the information you have gathered about your intended user in the three previous assignments, to your design.
This assignment will have 8 steps. They are:
For example, if you were designing a calendar system, your design criteria might be, "have appointment book open to current date because this is the date that is most frequently accessed by the user." Use the information from Assignments 1, 2 and 3 to aid in developing this design criteria.
A diskette containing your mock-up of the appointment page design. It should be a HyperCard stack. Call the stack CSC428 Design.
A maximum of five pages write-up on the design process that was conducted. The write-up should include, in order, the following items.
For example, if you were designing a calendar system, you might include the functional information that people write down multiple appointments occurring at the same time (if this is true) and use this information to keep track of what other people are doing, not just what their appointments are. As psychological data you might indicate that people have trouble with the limited amount of space available and often put down abbreviated information which is indecipherable at a later date (if you find this to be true.)
HINT: All previous assignments have prepared you for this design assignment. Look back at the evaluations you have performed and transfer the concepts in these evaluations to evaluating your design.
You will be graded on the quality of your user interface, the creativenessI of your design in solving the user interface problems you encountered and your ability to incorporate into the design process, the user data you collected in Assignments 1, 2 and 3.
You should be prepared to give a presentation of your design in the tutorial sessions. The presentation should include pictures of what you plan your design to look like and descriptions of actions you expect the users of your interface to take. Bring your diskette for your presentation. We will have a video connection to a Macintosh computer set up for you to demo your system design.
Your presentations must be clear and well organized. Use HyperCard screens to show your main points and your conclusions. Five percent of your grade will be based on your presentation. Expect your presentations to be exactly 8 minutes long. You will be given an additional 2 minutes at the end to answer questions and receive feedback from classmates on your design. You will need to be able to justify the functionality and usability of your design. Class members are expected to critique the design in the question portion of the presentation.
Written Presentation Requirements:
The written presentation requirements are the same as those for previous Assignments.
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
CSC 428F / 2514 F
Human-Computer Interaction
Fall Term, 1988-89
Assignment 5
Topic: The evaluation of the prototype of your user
interface design by means of a usability study
Handed Out: Friday, November 10, 1989
Due: Friday, December 1, 1989
Objectives of Assignment:
The objective of this assignment is to give students practice in the detailed observation of problems users have with human-computer interfaces. The practice is intended to give them experience in knowing what elements of behaviour to look for and how to categorize this behaviour so that they can draw conclusions from it about problems with a particular user interface design.
Directions:
Your basic task is to evaluate the HyperCard prototype of your proposed user interface.
This assignment will have 10 steps. They are:
Note: Although you will have one-half an hour to perform your videotaping, you will probably have a maximum of 15 minutes of videotape that you can capture because of the time that will be spent in setting up the study.
Note: It is best to have a subject that has very little computer experience since the interfaces you are building are for such individuals. You will also learn much more about your interface design if you use a subject who has had little, if any, previous computer experience. A computer science student may give you very little to write your evaluation about.
Note: If you are presenting a videotape of your subject in class you will need to obtain signed permission to do so from your subject.
A videotape cassette containing a usability study of your prototype design. The videotape should be 1/2 inch VHS.
A maximum of four pages write-up on the design process that was conducted. The write-up should include, in order, the following items.
Oral Presentation Requirements:
You should be prepared to give a presentation of your evaluation in the tutorial sessions. The presentation should include appropriate segments from your videotape to demonstrate your evaluation conclusions.
Your oral presentation requirements are the same as those for previous Assignments.
Written Presentation Requirements:
The written presentation requirements are the same as those for previous Assignments.
Materials Available for this Assignment:
Videotaping facilities will be available in the HCI Laboratory adjacent to the Dynamic Graphics Project (Room 4302 SF) in addition to a Mac II on which to run your HyperCard prototype. These videotape facilities will be available on Friday, November 24th through Monday, November 27th. You will need to check in with the secretary in Room 4303 SF five minutes before your scheduled time to run your experiment. In return for your student card, she will give you access to the laboratory and the videotaping equipment. Plan on having a half hour to set up your experiment and execute it with your subject. You will not be given write access to the hard disk of the Mac II.
If you do not have access to a VCR, you may analyze your videotape by using the VCRs in Sigmund Samuel Library.
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO CSC 428F / 2514 F Human-Computer Interaction October 20, 1989 Midterm Examination Name: _________________________ Student No.: __________________
Directions:
Put your name and student number in the space provided above. You will have 50 minutes to complete the examination. No questions will be answered during the exam. If you find a question ambiguous, document the ambiguity and indicate which way you interpreted the question in a separate set of sentences next to the question. The questions on the exam are not intended to be ambiguous, but sometimes another meaning is interpreted by the examinee that the creator of the exam did not take into consideration.
Two caveats exist for documenting ambiguities:
Part I - Short Essay Answers (2 questions at 10 points each) ____
Part II - Long Essay Answers (2 questions at 15 points each) ____
Total Score ____
Part I - Short Essay Answers
- 2 Questions at 10 points each
Answer the questions in 2-4 paragraphs. If you write LARGE, use the space on the opposing page, but be sure to indicate clearly what question number your answer refers to.
For example, John may list as one of his tasks, "incorporate waste management calculations in final budget." He may also list that he needs the figures for last year's waste management costs from Judy. The computer will then put on Judy's schedule the task of providing John with last year's waste management figures. If John needs to finish the budget by Friday, this may be the first thing that Judy will be required to do on Monday morning.
The system designer wants to know how workers in an office will react to this type of control of their workflow. He has written the following two questions to provide him with this information.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree
Critique the two questions in terms of what you know about how to design questions that will give valid answers from users. List two precautions you need to take in the generation of questions which determine people's attitudes towards things, i.e., what kinds of common question design mistakes do you need to look out for.
Part II - Long Essay Answers - 2 Questions at 15 points each
Answer the questions in 4-5 paragraphs. If you write LARGE, use the space on the opposing page, but be sure to indicate clearly what question number your answer refers to.
Design 1
The text editor, at this point, finds every match to the change string and displays the section of the text with the string to be changed highlighted in reverse video. For each of the found strings, the user is required to okay or not okay the change. If the change is okayed, it will be made. If not, it will be ignored only for that particular match. The process of okaying each change continues until all found string matches have been displayed or until the user types <q> for quit.
Suppose that the new method being suggested is done by:
Design 2
The text editor at this point finds each match and performs the change without displaying information to the user. If the user wishes to see the changes made, he or she can type <ctrl> R to review the changes.
NOTE: You can use the following average times in your calculations.
Time for a keystroke or button press (avg. typist) 0.28 sec
Time to point to a target with a mouse1 0.10 sec
Time to home hands on keyboard 0.40 sec
Time to mentally prepare for action 1.35 sec
Response time for Design1 0.30 sec
Response time for Design2 0.50 sec
Market Analysis
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Feasibility Study
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Requirements Definition
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Product Acceptance Analysis
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Task Analysis
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Global Design
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Prototype Construction
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User Testing and Evaluation
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System Implementation
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Product Testing
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User Testing
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Update and Maintenance
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Product Survey
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO CSC 428F / 2514 F Human-Computer Interaction Fall Term, 1989 Final ExamDirections:
Put your name and student number in the upper right hand corner of each page. You will have one hour and 30 minutes to complete the examination. No questions will be answered during the exam. If you find a question ambiguous, document the ambiguity and indicate which way you interpreted the question in a separate set of sentences next to the question. The questions on the exam are not intended to be ambiguous, but sometimes another meaning is interpreted by the examinee that the creator of the exam did not take into consideration.
Two caveats exist for documenting ambiguities:
Part I: Multiple Choice (10 questions at 2 points each) ____
Part II: Short Answers (3 questions at 10 points each) ____
Part III: Essay (1 question - 3 parts at 10 points each) ____
Total Score ____
Part I - Multiple Choice: 10 questions at 2 points each
In the following questions, circle the answer which best completes
the sentence. Although several statements may seem correct, only
one answer will be most correct.
1. Unit tasks
a. are used to characterize a user's learning process
when they using a computer for the first time.
b. are an important part of analyzing the performance
time of human using computer systems for problem solving work
c. always have an acquisition, a comprehension and an
execution portion.
d. are tasks which only require one operation to perform.
e. arise because of the cognitive limitations of the human
processor.
2. The experiments on the Star user interface demonstrated that
a. even a psychologist's intuition about a design may be wrong.
b. design trade-offs will not occur if careful experiments are run.
c. a large amount of the detailed design decisions
which occur in the interface design process are unimportant.
d. the motor skill for controlling the number of mouse
clicks can be taught with 2 days practice.
e. the most important part of icon design is making
each icon visible when it is highlighted.
3. The Keystroke Level Model
a. only works because keystrokes take longer than any other
process, e.g., mental preparation, homing, etc. to perform.
b. is a subset of the GOMS model.
c. can be used effectively to build interfaces that are
easier to learn.
d. is used to determine whether QWERTY organized
keyboards are better than DVORAK organized keyboards
e. cannot be applied if a mouse is part of the user interface
4. External Validity
a. refers to the inherent truthfulness of participants
in a questionnaire survey.
b. refers to user interfaces that have been tested and
modified to match the needs of the user. These interfaces are
ready to be distributed and are said to have "external
validity."
c. refers to the careful design and administration of
an experiment to insure that valid data is obtained.
d. refers to the generalization of the results obtained
in an experiment to the real world population, i.e., is
this generalization valid?
e. can never be assured in user interface studies
because of the complexity of the experimental design.
5. A dependent variable
a. is an amount that can be deducted from your income tax.
b. never changes once the experiment begins.
c. is always measured as time or number of errors.
d. refers to a measurement taken during or after the
experiment and believed to change as a direct or indirect
result of the experiment stimulus.
e. refers to one of the types of treatments that are
administered or controlled for in an experiment, e.g.,
age, type of interface design, etc.
6. When users read a manual to learn how to use a computer
system, they are likely to:
a. learn the material more thoroughly than users who
receive formal instruction.
b. build unexpected interpretations from the manual descriptions.
c. become frustrated because the examples do not match
the tasks they wish to accomplish with the system.
d. jump the gun and read other parts of the manual
before being told to do so.
e. blame the manual or the manual writer when things
are poorly explained.
7. From the set below, select the best question for obtaining a
user's honest assessment of whether the new computer system helped
them perform their work more efficiently.
a. Compared to other computer systems you have used, this
system is:
1 2 3 4 5
Far Worse Worse About Equal Better Much Better
b. What difficulties, if any, do you have with using this
system?
c. This system was designed to make your work more
efficient. Has it done so for you? How?
d. Think back to a time just before the current system was
installed. Where there tasks that you disliked doing that
you now enjoy doing? If so, what are they and why do you
now enjoy doing them?
e. Please list the number of hours you used to spend on the
following tasks and the number of hours you now spend on
these same tasks with the new computer system.
Old Method With New Computer System
Correcting Text __________ __________
Typing New Text __________ __________
Duplicating __________ __________
Data Entry __________ __________
8. A verbal protocol analysis
a. is an effective method for determining whether one
design is better than another design.
b. is a verbalization of an individual's thought
processes as they execute a routine task.
c. is an especially effective technique for evaluating
an expert's performance.
d. is a study of the verbalizations of an individual's
thought processes given while executing a problem solving
task.
e. can only be used in the evaluation and testing
stages of the user interface development process.
9. The ability to generate a prototype of the user interface with
a user interface management system
a. has seriously undermined the programming morale of
software projects.
b. can provide significant cost savings in the design
phase of the software project.
c. is essential for the effective development of usable
user interfaces.
d. has created an entirely new class of interfaces
based on graphics and windows
e. is best described by items b and c above.
10. Metaphors are used in the design of user interfaces
a. to simulate the phosphorous behaviour of video
screens on less luminous LCD panels.
b. to cause the interface to behave like an office
environment, e.g., the desktop metaphor.
c. to replace simple command languages which are
inadequate for providing the full functionality of the
interface.
d. to help the user by placing the context of the
interface into a context already known by the user.
e. to relate the user interface to similar tasks that
the user has performed with computer systems.
Part II - Short Answer - 3 Questions at 10 points each
Answer the following questions in 1-3 paragraphs. If you write LARGE, use the space on the opposing page, but be sure to indicate clearly what question number your answer refers to.
11. User Interface Management Systems are based on the belief that
you can separate the operation of the user interface from the
workings of the underlying program. For example, a UIMS allows
a designer to quickly set up the keypad and display area for a
prototype calculator. This prototype will accept input
selections from the user and send them to an underlying
program. The program then performs the numerical calculations
being requested and sends the answer back to the user
interface part of the program to be displayed. Explain why
this separation of the underlying application code from the
interface is not always possible. Give at least one example of
a useful user interface design for which a separation of the
user interface code and the application code will not work
effectively.
12. Define "Direct Manipulation." In your definition give at
least two examples of interface operations that are direct
manipulation operations and two counter examples for the same
type of operations that are not direct manipulation.
13. The user interface to most text editing systems allows the
user to find, create, delete and replace text usually with a
series of specific keystrokes that identify the actions
desired and sometimes through the use of a mouse pointing and
dragging arrangement. They also permit the user to retrieve,
save and print versions of edited text. Given what you know
about auditory interfaces and the human use of sound, design
three ways in which sound might be added to a text editor
interface to enhance its usability. Describe these three
designs and explain why they enhance the interface. Then
design two mechanisms for adding sound to the interface which
would not be useful for the user and discuss why these uses of
sound would add little or no value to the interface.
Part III - Long Answer - 30 points - Each part is worth 10 points
Write approximately a page of text in reply to the information requested in each question. If you write on an opposing page be sure to indicate clearly which question you are answering by (1) circling the question number and (2) putting the question number in front of your answer.
14. The attached document describes a user interface to a
microwave oven. The first page illustrates the oven control
panel which is located to the right of the oven door. For
brevity, parts of the user manual have been eliminated, but
can be inferred from the explanations of multi-stage and delay
start cooking.
(a) Critique the user interface to this microwave oven based on
the key concepts of design presented by Norman, i.e., the
design's affordance, constraints, mappings, conceptual models,
visibility and feedback. List both design features which are
good and which are bad in your critique and support your
commentary with psychological theory or experimental results
learned in the course.
(b) Redesign the interface so that it eliminates the problems you
have mentioned. Be sure to indicate in writing how the
redesign will remove the problems. If some of the problems are
trade-offs between designs which make it easier for the user
in one way but interfere with the user in another way, then
discuss these trade-offs in your answer.
(c) Draw a state transition diagram that represents your new
design and sketch enough of the oven control panel that you
designed so that it is understandable to the reader of this
exam. Note: It is not necessary to write a user manual, just
to make the design you had in mind clear.
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