Professor Leesha "Aisha" Shah

moliri: (latin, v) to endeavor, to attempt, to create

lmshah2 {at} neiu {dot} edu

CBT 105

> syllabus
> welcome :)
> HCI progress map
> student drive
> slack

Hi! I'm Professor Shah.

You can learn more about me and my work at leesha.io.

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) serves as the bridge between computing and humanity. The effective design of HCI systems requires a keen understanding of how interfaces and computer systems usefully support human endeavors (or not).

How do we know if the characteristics we design in our systems will lead to a desired outcome? How do we thoughtfully instantiate our designs in effective interface and system models? Why do existing solutions not work? Taking a step back, are our technical solutions actually addressing the underlying problems that humans face? Do we actually understand the problem?

Through this course, we will learn to ask and answer these questions for ourselves. In part, we’ll focus on developing our critical thinking and problem solving skills. We’ll practice by working on structured team projects, with mentor critique. And we’ll emphasize learning the effective structures you need to design HCI systems. We’ll also focus on softening our critical lens to achieve a deeper understanding of how to solve human problems. We’ll practice expanding our capacities for skills like humility, empathy, curiosity – mindsets that are necessary for a successful designer. Finally, we’ll focus on effective ways of working – methods like agile sprints, rapid prototyping and user testing. In learning to “do”, we will challenge ourselves to face and embrace our fears, imperfections, and failures that may otherwise hold us back from taking the next step forward. Together, we will practice how to approach difficult problems skillfully.

This week, your job as individuals is to conduct needfinding interviews with 3 users from different populations. You will then discuss, and pick one user population + problem to focus on as a team. As always, start each week by looking at the HCI progress map.

As we get into a flow, you'll notice a weekly routine start to form...

before each week starts

• read through the project brief to understand your deliverables for the week
• meet as a team to make your compass plan for the week

during each week

• do your project work as a team -- this will vary throughout the semester. right now, we're doing lots of user interviews. soon, we will begin prototyping and testing our designs with users
• summarize your project work in your canvas templates for the week
• get feedback on your canvas templates during your weekly workshop

at the end of each week

• log your completed deliverables in your planning compass -- be sure to include links so I can pop in and give you feedback
• reflect as a team, and use your planning compass to make your plan for next week
• get feedback on your canvas templates during your weekly workshop

Your project deliverables this week:

• each team member should conduct 1-3 user interviews to understand different problems from different user populations
• each team member should summarize their interviews in a Canvas 01: User Interviews slide in the team canvas
• teams should meet to discuss project ideas, and use Canvas 01: Choosing Your Team Project to pick a problem to focus on for the rest of the semester

working within your learning ecosystem