Peer Review

Human Computer Interaction-HCI

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Feb 5, 2017 by Computer Science

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This material presents an introduction to Human Computer Interfaces (HCI) with basic concepts and some applications.

Type of Material:

Tutorial

Recommended Uses:

This video is best used for in-class discussion, individual or team learning, lecture or self-paced learning.

Technical Requirements:

Internet connection
PC, tablet, mobile devices

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The key learning goals of this material is to introduce about the importance of HCI to any designer and end users in many practical applications. In particular, bad HCI designs will cost lives, money and time whereas a good HCI design for "people" will carefully consider people's tasks, objectives and their values to drive the development process.

Target Student Population:

The materials is targeted to any student at the second year of study at a university or college as the sophomore, i.e. preferably not the freshmen.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

In general, no particular prerequisites are needed for understanding most of the concepts and contents. But it is better to have basic knowledge of computer applications and software development cycle.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

- The topics covered are very comprehensive. In its companion web site (https://www.coursera.org/specializations/interaction-design), some extended reading materials are also included.

- It contains the applications in different context in daily life, not limited to the computer interface.

- It uses quite a lot of real life examples to illustrate the process of developing Human Computer interface, in particular in 1.3 on the evaluating designs.

- Examples introduced also are used as cases across different key ideas, such as designing bus in chapter 2, so that readers relate these ideas.

Concerns:

The video can be more interesting when more live examples of practical applications such as online banking or mobile gaming applications are included during the explanation of the basic concepts such as the development cycle involving the design, implementation and evaluation.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

- At the beginning of a chapter, such as the five leading questions in chapter 2, it states clearly the key things that are to be addressed. It gives the concrete idea what to be learned.

- To reinforce the readers understanding on a topic, in the text, some examples for reader to observe in the daily life is suggested. In the companion web site, some quizzes are also provided.

- At the same time, some more guiding exercises or projects for students to work out can be added at the end of each chapter.

- At the end of each chapter or session, addition of a slide of summary can help readers to recap the key concepts introduced.

Concerns:

As aforementioned, adding more examples of applications, esp. in discussing about the importance of HCI, will enhance the effectiveness of this teaching tool.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The purpose of the course is quite clear and viewers can grasp the concepts being presented.

- The contents are good for studying from the start to the end, as well as picking a particular topics the reader finding it interesting, as the most of the contents do not need to the acquaintance of the previous topics.

- Visually, the viewiers should be able to follow the tutorial without distracting while there are not specially apoealling features.

- It uses many daily physical and non-computer related examples to illustrate the concepts, such as measuring cups in chapter 4. One or two computer related examples will also be useful as well. The command line and GUI are then also introduced.

In summary, the material is very easy to use with its direct message to be delivered, and thus highly recommended for any teaching purpose.

Concerns:

In terms of usability, it is better to include examples of different application domains as appropriate.

Other Issues and Comments:: Up to my understanding, the material is generic and thus suitable for general viewing. Also, it does not involve any privacy issue as the material is focused on discussing about the basic concepts of HCI in the relevant subject area.
Creative Commons: