Introduction
Courses on Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in Computer Science, in Information Systems and in other Information Technology departments largely differ in topics to be included, emphases, instructional strategies that are employed, and more. The differences do not necessarily depend on the type of the department (e.g., Computer Science versus Management Information Systems) but on the way the instructor (or the faculty) perceives the role of such a course in the curriculum as well as the role of HCI in a system development cycle. The perception of the role of the HCI course directs the emphases to be addressed in the course. The instructional strategies that are employed in such a course are usually derived from the above as well as from the instructor’s learning and teaching philosophy. It is widely recognized that the user interface is of major importance in any software project. The estimation is that at least 50% of work on a software project goes into the design and implementation of the user interface (Daniel et al., 2007; Kennard & Leaney, 2010). In today’s world of fast development and deployment of technology, HCI factors are even more critical and fundamental and, thus, should be well addressed in the curriculum (Douglas, Tremaine, Leventhal, Wills, & Manaris, 2002; Peslak, 2005). Carey et al. (2004) stress the role of human-computer interaction in Management Information Systems (MIS) curricula and differentiate between CHI (Computer Human Interaction) and HCI to indicate the different points of view (computer versus human). The importance of HCI in MIS education will be further discussed in the next section. Homework assignments that are given during a course, whether for formative or summative assessment, provide indicators for students about the relative importance of the different topics or concepts involved in the course. Shepard (2000), in a paper titled “The Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture”, stresses the need to design assessments that match the subject matter standards and serve to instantiate what it means to know and learn in each discipline. Besides the content, the instructional method that is employed to support learning in a course might also provide a model for preferred processes regarding the implementation of the learned materials. The learning process that an instructional method models and promotes can provide a foundation on which a lifetime of learning in work and other social settings can be built (Boud & Falchikov, 2006). The design of the assessment assignments in the course that is described in this paper followed these ideas. The assignments were planned to focus on the main concepts and procedures for designing an interface along with team work that characterizes the respective work culture. The formative evaluation study described in this paper examines how the emphases of the course that are reflected in the course assignments (content and respective pedagogy) relate to the students’ final submitted project. The final project included an interface prototype, description of design considerations, and description of the interface evaluation. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The second section reviews curricular approaches and instructional strategies for a HCI course instruction. The third section describes the main characteristics of our HCI course, including a detailed description of each of the course assignments. The fourth section, with its subsections, describes the goals of the study, the tools, and the findings of the study. The fifth section summarizes the findings and discusses the key results. HCI Instruction-Curricular Approaches and Instructional Strategies Human-Computer Interaction design is interdisciplinary in nature and is studied and taught by researchers, educators, and practitioners from disciplines such as computer science, psychology, management information systems, information science, and human factors engineering.
