The student guide is based on the ‘official’ module description.  The additions are in blue Arial font.

MODULE CODE:      CI6310            LEVEL: 6                    CREDITS: 30

 

TITLE:                  User Experience

 

PRE-REQUISITES: Successful completion of Levels 4 and 5  or equivalent

 

CO-REQUISITES:                None

 

MODULE SUMMARY (INDICATIVE)

 

This module is aimed at Information Systems, Computer Science and Software Engineering fields equally as preparation for both developing front-ends, and designing human-computer interactions.  The module builds on students’ understanding of user interfaces, the systems development process, design techniques, and usability inspection, and provides an opportunity to apply extend development skills.

 

User Experience is a Level 6 module typically studied as an option during the final year of degrees in the Information Systems and Computing/Software Engineering fields.  The module builds on students’ understanding of user centered design as part of the systems development process, which will have been gained during Level 5.

Advance from Level 5: The advance made by the User Experience module is to make ‘user-centered design’ more: explicit and structured; empirical; informed by previous work (model-, evidence- and rule- based).  The User Experience module also providers a fuller and richer appreciation of the diversity of user-centered issues – not just ease of use, but also usability (human performance), engagement, persuasion, credibility – and not just the interactions of individuals with computers at the desktop, but also groupware, multi-channel access, multi-modal interaction (sound output, speech input etc), and specialist domains such as coordination, and visualisation.

Hence, the aims and learning outcomes of the module

 

AIMS

• To explore and develop an explicit, structured and knowledge-based approach to the design of user interfaces that achieve great user experiences across multiple channels, media, modalities and contexts of use
• To critically and reflectively apply this approach to example projects using various tools and technologies

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: on successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

 

·         Evaluate the quality of users’ experience

·         Design input modalities, output media and interactive content to appeal to an audience

·         Prototype interactions between humans and computers

·         Analyse users and their activities, and carry forward lessons learned

·         Research user needs and the implications of technology for work practice

·         Reflect upon design practice and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of alternative techniques

 

The Outlook for User Experience in 2013

The outlook for user experience is fairly bright.

 

Online everything

Online services increasingly pervade all aspects of everyday life. User experience is recognised as a key element in the differentiation and success of these services – on the internet, customers must understand and enjoy, or they will go elsewhere.

The trend towards ‘online everything, anytime, anywhere, anyhow’ seems set to continue. New computing and communications technologies are in the pipeline, online businesses are growing, and digital content is accumulating.

Design for quality and innovation

This trend raises many professional challenges for user experience design, notably:

1. how to guarantee that the routine steps of online life can be completed quickly and easily;
2. how to innovate and create genuinely novel experiences; and
3. how to organise for distributed, collaborative projects, demonstrate the value of user experience design work, and how to operate within integrated, digital media agencies.

Current Issues

Multi-channel access, engagement, agile development, big data for customer insight and optimisation, finance, games, government & health

 

Employability

Usability, user experience, user interface design, information architecture, web design continues to be a growth area, despite hard times.

http://uxpa-uk.org/category/jobs/

http://usabilitynews.bcs.org/category/13649?Module[6585][viewPage]=2

Internships are sometimes advertised, and UPA run recruitment events, temporary help can be a way in.

http://uxpa-uk.org/development/internships-and-work-experience/

http://siliconmilkroundabout.com/

 

 

CURRICULUM CONTENT (INDICATIVE)

Evaluating User Experience:

from ease of use to user experience;

techniques for obtaining qualitative information from users;

indicators of user experience (timings, counts, ratings, eyetracks, logs);

standard approaches to usability testing;

standard formats for usability test reports;

ethical issues (studies of people);

experimental design and statistics;

evaluation tools (interaction capture (Camtasia), remote feedback(usabilla), remote user feedback panels(userlytics));

evaluating mobile interaction;

conducting traffic studies;

diagnosing user difficulties;

 

Designing User Experience

Participatory Design

Designing Graphical User Interfaces

Styleguides

Designing Data Intesive Systems (vizualisation)

Design Keyboards

Designing for Accessibility

Designing interactions with personal, mobile devices

Designing for Touch and Gesture

Design for Speech-based Interaction

Design for Virtual and Augmented Reality

Design for Multiple Modalities (flexibility and natural user interfaces)

Designing Smart Environments

Creating Online Content

Organising content (information architecture)

Designing for Credibility and Persuasion

Branded Experiences

Designing Games

 

Understanding Users, Tasks, and Context of Use

Cognitive Models of Users (ICSS; GOMS);

Personas (tool);

Specifying Usability Requirrments

Modelling User Journeys – shopping

Modelling Tasks – searching

Modelling Complex Work Domains

Communication analysis –

Modelling Distributed Cognition – ship navigation

Domestication

Remote User Research (Ethnio)

Prototyping User Interfaces

Kinds of prototype (human simulation, dynamic, functional)

Wireframing Tools (Axure)

Hi Fidelity prototypes/Graphic Resources for Look and Feel (Photoshop)

Web Prototypes

 

Total Methods

Agile Usability

Content Strategy

 

Direct Manipulation Interfaces :

Introduction to object-oriented interfaces; basic concepts, terminology, environments; characteristics of graphical user interfaces; usability advantages of graphical interaction

 

TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGY (INDICATIVE)

 

The learning outcomes will be achieved through a combination of lectures, workshop exercises and independent study.

Lectures:                50 hours

Workshops:            50 hours

Students are also expected to spend 200 hours on independent study.

The approach to teaching and learning seeks to allow individuals to select and pursue their own interests within the overall framework of the module.  Lectures will be oriented towards methods and tools, and work through the application of these methods to resolve user experience design issues, in the context of relevant guidelines and frameworks.  Workshops provide an opportunity for students to explore, apply and reflect upon these methods and tools themselves, in a supportive environment, and obtain formative feedback. Students are expected to pursue 2 projects – one emphasising the ‘summative’ evaluation and redesign of a fully-functional, industrial-scale system, the other emphasising the iterative creation of interactive content (an online portfolio).

 

 

 

 

 

This module is structured like on a user interface design life-cycle.  The stages are: evaluation of existing system; analysis of concerns; redesign; prototyping; and evalution of prototype.

 

This module is delivered as guided problem-solving in lectures, with continual formative feedback in workshops.  That is, lectures will explain how to solve problems, and then walk through solving an example problem – www.savills.com.  The workshops give you the opportunity to work on your coursework problem, with staff on hand to give you formative feedback on your work.

I find the best place to start is with ‘usability phenomena’ – real people finding software impossible to use.  Usability phenomena are interesting and you cannot deny what you see with your own eyes.  Everything begins to make sense if you understand the problems, so evaluation comes first.

 

Analysis is in parallel with design, because it can be difficult to see the importance of information about users, their tasks, contexts of use and usability criteria, until you have worked through their implications once yourself.  It is difficult to think ‘top-down’ (like you should), until you have been there and done.  So, as you work through your design once, reflect on, and document your experience and insights into the problem. If you were handing over to someone about to take over, and continue your project, what is it ‘important for them’ to know about the users, the tasks, etc.

 

 

So, lectures and workshops, in effect, guide you through your coursework project – if you make a roughly constant effort throughout the module, and keep up with each the module, doing in your own time and workshops the steps covered in the lectures, you should have the deliverables to hand in at the end of the academic year.

 

The key to passing is keeping up with the module.  The workshop is almost “coursework support” time – it is an opportunity for you to round off, start-up, get feedback on, and otherwise overcome obstacles for that week’s step in your user interface design project.  It will also be easier and more fun to complete your coursework with the rest of us.

 

Communications

Questions about your coursework are best answered face to face during workshop time – your work is in front of us to talk about.  There are ‘Frequently Asked Questions’  for each week’s activity, and workshop attendance will be recorded.

 

I try not to answer ‘individual answers to questions on demand’.  Please don’t be put off if I refer you to a hand out or an FAQ.  It is my way of helping you catch up, and making you employable. Check the documents (handouts, FAQs), check announcements, ask me at a workshop or during a lecture – only then e-mail or my surgery day is all day Monday (10-4) in SB115.

 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGY (INDICATIVE)

 

100% coursework, assessing all the learning outcomes for the module.

 

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Formative Feedback Milestone: Evaluation & Redesign Report, Friday 3^rd January

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

Reasons for Failure

Unfortunately, some students fail this module, even though they pass many other modules.  The reason seems to be time management and/or inability to keep up with the class, by attending and working continuously on the coursework.  Try not to get behind.

 

MAJOR CATEGORIES OF ASSESSMENT

 

Coursework   100%

 

It is a requirement that the major assessment category is passed in order to achieve a pass for the module.

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY (INDICATIVE):

Core Text(s):

 

** most recently updated Preece, J., Rogers, Y.,  and Sharp, H., (2007) – Interaction Design: Beyond HCI.  John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Allen and Chudley, 2012, Smashing Ux Design Wiley.  accessable and uptodate.

Dix, A.J., Finlay, J.E., Abowd, G.D., and Beale, R. (2006) – Human-Computer Interaction. Hemel Hempstead : Prentice-Hall Europe.  (Fourth Edition)

Thomas Tullis, William Albert 2008, Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics Morgan Kaufmann  ISBN-13 978-0-12-373558-4

Richard Caddick and Steve Cable (2011) Communicating the user experience: a practical guide for useful ux documentation John Wiley ISBN 1119971101

 

Recommended Reading:

Shneiderman, B. and Plaisant, C. (2005), Designing the User Interface (4^th Ed) Person: Addison Wesley. Still good, but a little old

Most of these address more specific issues e.g. empirical studies, mobile usage etc.  You might also refer to the ‘Reading List and Preparation’ document that I give to anyone applying to the KU MSc User Experience Design.

A Project Guide to UX Design: For User Experience Designers in the Field or in the Making (Voices That Matter) by Russ Unger and Carolyn Chandler, 2009, New Riders, Berkeley CA. ISBN 0-321-60737-6

Don’t Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug 2006 New Riders Berkeley, ISBN 321-34475-8  (a gentler introduction, if the above are ‘too academic’)

The Mobile Connection: the cell phone’s impact on society by Rich Ling 2004 Morgan Kaufman ISBN 1-55860-936-9

Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? by Susan M. Weinschenk 2009, New Riders, Berkeley CA. ISBN 0-321-60360-5 (motivation and persuasion on the web)

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites by Peter Morville, Louis Rosenfeld 2007 O’Reilly ISBN 596-52734-9 (structuring and seeking information)

Online Communities: Designing Usability and Supporting Sociability by Jenny Preece, 2000, John Wiley, NY.  ISBN 80599-0

Brave NUI World, 2011, Daniel Wigdor and Dennis Wixon (touch screens mostly) Morgan Kaufmann