Technology Enhanced PBL in HCI Education: A Case Study

Introductory human computer interaction (HCI) courses are fundamental in the computer science curriculum as there is not only a need for teaching students to solve problems, but also to map their solutions to end-users. Currently, there are several high level approaches to teaching such courses. Many of these courses can gain benefit through reformatting or augmenting current course structures with recurrent exercises. This paper suggests two types of recurrent exercises and contains data on one semester of a course using this methodology of teaching.

This presentation describes a project for a standard undergraduate human-computer interaction (HCI) course that incorporates issues related to users who are disabled. It is part of the 2-year project "Integrating Assistive Technology into an Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum from an HCI Approach," funded by the National Science Foundation.

The emergence of Internet of Things, social media, mobile, ubiquitous, and wearable computing has brought human-computer interaction (HCI) body of knowledge to the fore and has rooted it as an established field of teaching and research. Due to its unique and diverse characteristics, there is a lack of awareness and understanding on the importance of HCI education. The unique characteristics, interdisciplinary nature and rapid evolution of HCI bring not only challenges but also innovations in teaching and designing HCI curriculum in this region. In this paper, we present the key findings from our first attempt to bring together HCI educators in Asia-Pacific and sharing the experiences and challenges in HCI Education.

The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) environment, which includes topics taught, teaching resources and evaluation procedure, is changing rapidly. As the body of knowledge about HCI is periodically redefined, course content should be adapted in response to these changes. This position paper presents trends in topics taught, course content and assessment procedures using examples of HCI courses. Methods which encourage students to develop their learning activities and the assessment procedures are discussed in regards to course content and the current situation in the HCI learning environment.

The challenges of designing computer support for education have shifted considerably in recent years, with, e.g., the rapid growth of the Web, online learning and social networking. New human–computer interaction (HCI) design approaches, methods, tools and theories are now required to analyze and understand interactions and learning of online groups. This chapter first reviews a number of issues related to the new software and pedagogy challenges. It then presents the approach of the VMT research project to address these issues by combining support for integrated synchronous and asynchronous collaboration media. The VMT system integrates a lobby, small-group chat rooms, multiple shared work spaces and community wiki pages to foster learning at the individual, small-group and community levels. The use of this system for a college HCI course is reported. The VMT Project illustrates the application of design-based research to system development, the theory of group cognition as a conceptual framework and an adaptation of chat interaction analysis for HCI design.

This work open up a conversation about the opportunities that Science Fiction offers to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Design research. In doing so, first, it briefly challenges the term Design Fiction, an emerging concept with increasing popularity in HCI and Design research. Design Fictions are either, manifest design propositions, or intangible, imagined future interfaces, speculative interactions and would-be environments. Design Fictions as useful as they are, however, are not necessarily something new nor innovative in themselves. Speculative design and evaluation methods all have been staple methods of Computer Science research since the establishment of HCI as a discrete field sometime in the 1980s. Second, the paper proceeds to propose that the domain of Science Fiction could not only be useful, but rightly considered, as a legitimate field of creative inquire in HCI and Design education. By reframing the notion of Science Fiction from an ‘anecdotal gimmick’ toward an ‘area of study’ a novel, wide-ranging space for design inspiration, ingenuity and creativity opens up for conceptual exploration. We believe that such an elevation of Science Fiction as a serious research topic has strong potential to inform the Computer Science, HCI and Design research application and education endeavours of the future.KeywordsComputer science research and educationDesign FictionSpeculative future studiesPopular culture in scienceScience Fiction

In the landscape of computer science education, there is an increasing emphasis on collaborative problem-solving and adaptability. The incorporation of coaching methodologies into computer science courses holds the potential to foster students’ teamwork and professional competencies. In this paper a coaching framework which was piloted in a bachelor-level, course on project management and developed for a Human-Computer Interaction course at a European university will be presented. The framework combines person-centered coaching approaches, agile practices, visualizations, and support via interactions with generative AI tools to support team collaboration.The Person-Centered Approach focuses on the needs of an individual through transparency, active listening, and fostering the self-directed growth thus motivation while progressing in the project. Agile practices focus on collaboration, iterative progress and adaptive feedback cycles thus leveraging constructive communication within the team. Visualizations support transparency and understanding, and generative AI helps suggesting responses whenever technical, linguistic, or other support or ideas are needed. The integration of these four complementary assets into a unified framework aims to leverage the cultivation of key professional competencies, including communication, problem-solving, and adaptability in a time effective and inclusive way. A core component of the proposed coaching framework is the integration of emerging technologies like digital tools, smart online whiteboards and generative AI to facilitate collaboration. While whiteboards and visualization tools support keeping an overview, organization, brainstorming and task management, generative AI tools take on new roles in activities such as ideation, coding, and refinement of content. These tools allow students to engage more deeply with agile methodologies and the quality of their interaction and teamwork, in particular if supported by a mindful, person-centered coach. The outlook is that gradually course instructors who utilize the coaching framework would take on the role of coaches to accompany student teams in their self-determined, digitally empowered tasks.This paper presents the design and architecture of the framework, characteristic use cases in the context of the course on Human-Computer Interaction, the benefits as well as challenges of this innovative approach for students’ engagement, their project outcomes, their professional competencies development, and the potential implications for higher education. Preliminary findings suggest that integrating these coaching methods into computer science education not only improves teamwork but also prepares students for dynamic professional settings.

Problem-based Learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that uses a real problem to focus, motivate and facilitate learning relevant to the future performance of student conceptual, procedural and attitudinal knowledge as professional life. This paper presents and discusses the implementation of PBL teaching model in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), specifically in teaching usability evaluation of an online course. The model was applied to three classes of the HCI course, involving 16 students, a Brazilian University and 82 users. The results are presented in this work.

Human-computer interaction for virtual-real fusion

Courses of computer science undergraduate studies are usually classified in two main groups: core and elective courses. The former are mandatory and students must pass them all so they can achieve Bachelor degree. The number of the latter is usually several times greater than the number that a student should select. This challenges the student which elective courses to select. Some elective courses have prerequisites, so the student has to pass other (elective) course(s), while for many others the student can be enrolled in without any prerequisites. The main dilemma for the student is whether to enroll in either more tightly coupled elective courses, or more loosely coupled elective courses. Choosing the former, the student will be directed in more specific areas of computer science. However, there are students that would like to learn broad areas of computer science. This paper focuses on the emerged group of students that select interdisciplinary courses. The experience presented in this paper shows that these students enroll into three completely divergent courses: Microprocessors and Microcontrollers, Software Architecture and Design and Human-Computer Interaction. The paper presents the examples of interdisciplinary projects completed by these students. These complex projects are proposed in the Human Computer Interaction course for the students that have already successfully taken the Microprocessors and Microcontrollers and/or Software Architecture and Design courses. Some students have accepted the challenges to work on the interdisciplinary projects, which resulted in defining and finishing various diploma theses that integrate knowledge areas of two or even all of the three courses.

Until recently there has been little interest in teaching Human-computer interaction (HCI) per se, although a number of topics which now form part of HCI courses were taught as parts of human sciences, ergonomics, computing and psychology courses. However, the research output in HCI has increased as a result of funding from the Alvey programme and the Joint Councils’ Initiative in the UK, and EEC programmes such as Esprit. As the body of HCI knowledge grows, and awareness of the importance of usability rises as well, the need for teaching and training in HCI increases too.

The importance of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) education for software professionals should be evident and well understood, when designing Computer Science (CS) programs, at all levels. Unfortunately there is a lack of HCI courses in Chilean CS programs. It is difficult and usually highly bureaucratic to change curricula. It is only a matter of good will to make small changes in the courses' approach and emphasis. An appealing way to introduce HCI at all computer science curricula levels is by systematically including usability practices, especially usability evaluations.

Online learning has grown significantly in recent years, due to the proliferation of online courses offered by universities. As a result, pedagogical guidance is critical for improving teaching quality in an online learning environment. In this study, Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) activities were developed with the aim of increasing students' cognitive engagement, cognitive retention, and motivation to learn. This study also investigated the effects of the IBL pedagogical method on student performance. A pre-experimental study was conducted with 16 undergraduate students enrolled on a Multimedia Design and Human Computer Interaction course. Learning Analytics (LA) was used to retrieve research data from a Learning Management System (LMS) online discussion forum, and the data was then analyzed using content analysis and data mining analysis. According to the findings, students perceived a higher rate of low-level cognitive engagement but, interestingly, a high level of cognitive retention and motivation. Meanwhile, a significant relationship was observed between students' cognitive engagement, motivation and cognitive retention.

Task modeling is undoubtedly a key step for task analysis during the development of iterative systems since it helps not only in the understanding of what users want but also in how to design for them. As a consequence, it should be considered as indispensable while specifying the requirements of an interactive system. With this in mind, we analyzed the requirement specifications of a typical interactive system which is a compulsory element of the final grade for a human–computer interaction course in two Master’s degree programs at the University of Valenciennes. To that end, we decided to use an approach based on project-based learning. Sixty-three requirement specifications performed since 2010 were investigated to find out how the task modeling was represented. Moreover, suggestions concerning pedagogical improvement made by the students in an open question on the evaluation form were analyzed using the ground theory method. The results showed that since students are not required to perform task modeling by the requirement specification, they do not do so even in the case of complex interactive systems. Criticism, positive and improvement issues raised by the students were also identified. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of this study that opens up questions about HCI education and effective learning of task modeling, and, as a consequence, its potential use in industry.

This study aims to develop and implement a Project-Based Contextual Learning (PBCL) model to enhance the effectiveness of teaching the Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) course. The research employed a Research and Development (R&D) approach using the 4-D model, which includes the stages of Define, Design, Develop, and Disseminate. The PBCL model was designed to integrate contextual learning principles with project-based tasks, enabling students to connect theoretical knowledge with practical applications. The results indicate a significant improvement in student learning outcomes. The average score increased from 61.5 in the pretest to 84.7 in the posttest, with a gain score of 23.2 points. Competency in interface design also improved, with the proportion of competent students rising from 36% to 82%. Observations showed higher levels of engagement and collaboration, while survey responses revealed that 87% of students perceived the PBCL model as meaningful, motivating, and relevant to real-world contexts. In conclusion, the PBCL model effectively enhances cognitive achievement, practical skills, and student motivation in the HCI course. This model offers a promising pedagogical framework that can be applied to other technology-related courses requiring the integration of conceptual understanding and practical competencies.