Instructor: Evan Golub
(egolub@glue.umd.edu)
Office Hours: Posted weekly on website.
Class website: www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2020/cmsc434
Draft Status Until First Day Of Class
Student Goals: Many!
For example:
• understand what is meant by "good design"
and the complexities of users and their tasks
• know guidelines and models as well as how
they can be applied to interface design
• know and have applied a variety of methods
for involving the user in the design process
• have experienced building applications
through various methods and systems
• know and have applied methods to evaluate
interface effectiveness and quality
• have sufficient background to apply your
training in future classes and industry
Assessment and Grading
Team Project: 40% Projects will be done in groups of 3 or 4 students (mostly groups of 4) and have multiple graded phases and sub-phases. As each phase is assigned, its value towards the whole will be published as well. Phase 2 will be a serious implementation phase, and worth more, for example. Phases will have peer assessment that will impact individual student grades. |
Exams: 40% There will be two exams. The first a midterm, in class on Tuesday, March 10th and the second a final exam, on a common-final date which is Thursday, May 14th, from 4-6pm. Each will be 20% of the semester grade. The final might have some material that was covered earlier in the semester. |
Homework, class participation, polls/quizzes: 20% Various things will contribute to this portion of the grade. Examples include homework assignments, active participation in class, specifically in the various exercises and activities done during class time, ELMS site polls and quizzes. You should anticipate that there will be around four homework assignments which will account for roughly half of the 20%, but the exact distribution here will be determined in part on the number of in-class and online exercises and activities. |
Letter grades are expected to follow the standard 90/80/70/60 cutoffs, with the edges of each range reserved for potential +/- scoring. |
Readings
• There will be some
required readings posted to ELMS,
and
all course slides
are considered required readings.
• There might be some optional readings mentioned from
"Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction"
by Shneiderman/Plaisant/et.al.
for students who prefer to have a textbook resource, but this is
not required, and older editions (like the 4th) would be fine.
Overview of Anticipated Topics (not in strict order of coverage)
• What is Human-Computer Interaction?
• How do Psychology and Psychopathology
impact design?
• How do Task Centered Design and User Centered
design differ and why are both important?
• How do we perform Evaluation and Qualitative Studies
on interfaces and systems?
• What are some key elements of Design Psychology?
• What are some key tools when Designing Visual Interfaces
(Grids, Standards, Style Guides, etc)?
• What are the different Representations that can be used for data?
• What design issues are different on the web or mobile
than the desktop/laptop?
• How do we perform Heuristic Evaluations?
• How can we make good Time Predictions for task completion?
• How do we communicate a product's goals to it's intended
audience?
Late Policy
Homework assignments are considered
"major grading events"
(as are projects and exams)
and so self-documentation is not
allowed for extention requests on these.
Additionally, since projects are team-based, a single
member of the team being sick on the due date will not
be sufficient for an extention.
A request for a make-up ELMS poll/quiz, is subject to the
rules for medical excuse notification and documentation of
other types of grading events, and as such, one self-signed
excuse may be submitted at the time of the deadline using the
illness report option on the
grades.cs.umd.edu
server and must be followed up with a written note that contains
an acknowledgment by you that the information provided is true and
correct. Providing false information to University officials is
prohibited under Part 9(i) of the Code of Student Conduct
(V-1.00(B) University of Maryland Code of Student Conduct)
and may result in disciplinary action.
Again, project phase deadlines, class presentations, and exams
count as Major Scheduled Grading Events and so extention requests
cannot be self-documented.
Since you are given an extended period of time in which to
work on a given phase, the medical excuse will need to cover
an extended period of time as well and you will need to inform
me and the rest of your team of this when you realize that this
is happening so that the team and I can develop a plan.
Once you are able to return, a prompt letter from your physician
with his/her phone number and the specific dates for which you were
incapacitated will be required at a minimum.
Even with a valid excuse, you will still be expected to complete
either similar or different work to earn the associated points.
Academic Honesty
The bulk of the team project phases are group assignments,
and each member of the group is expected to accurately
represent their contribution. The peer reviews and role
discussions are individual elements and must be written
by the individual students.
Any attempts to circumvent deadlines or rules will be
considered incidents of academic dishonesty.
Homework assignments, polls, and quizzes are individual
activities. Students may not discuss these with anyone
other than the instructor or teaching assistants unless
otherwise specified within the homework description.
In cases where a homework assignment involves interviewing
potential users, details will be given in class as to how
these users may be selected, and what can and can not be
discussed with these users.
Exams are individual, closed book, closed note, closed technology
works and a student may not look at another student's exam, or
refer to any notes (unless exceptions are stated in advance),
during the exam period.
Any student violating any of these or general University academic
honesty rules will be reported to the
Office of Student Conduct
for review and potentially a hearing.
After a report is submitted by an instructor, the case is evaluated
by the office and previous cases have resulted in penalties such as
an XF grade in the course (the default penalty),
dismissal from the university,
or even degree revocation.
Religious or University Absences
It is your responsibility to inform the instructor in writing and
within the first two weeks of the semester of any intended absences
for religious observances any time during the semester that could
cause you to miss class or a deadline.
The same is true for any official University functions in which you
are required to participate.
Disability Accommodations
Any student eligible for and requesting reasonable academic accommodations
due to a disability is requested to provide, to the instructor in office
hours, a letter of accommodation from the Office of Accessibility and
Disability Services (ADS) within the first two weeks of the semester.
University-Wide Items
University-wide
course policy information of course applies
as well.
There will also be
course evaluations
for student feedback
that I and the department and the faculty in general
take seriously.
Towards the end of the semester, students can visit
www.CourseEvalUM.umd.edu
to complete their evaluations.
This syllabus is subject to minor updates. Any update will be well announced and discussed.
Announcements
Syllabus
Team Project
Class Slack Team
Homework Assignments
Course Slides
Lecture Vids on ELMS
ELMS General Site
ELMS Readings
Grades