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Peer Review

Human-Computer Interaction | Udacity

Reviewed:

Dec 25, 2018 by Computer Science
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Ratings

Overall Rating: 4.0 stars
Content Quality: 4.0 stars
Effectiveness: 4.0 stars
Ease of Use: 4.2 stars
Overview:

This course is an introductory course on human-computer interaction, covering the principles, techniques, and open areas of development in HCI.

Type of Material:

Online Course

Recommended Uses:

The material can be used for in-class discussion, homework, individual, team, lecture, or self-paced learning.

Technical Requirements:

Modern web browser / Udacity mobile app

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The learning objectives can be specified as below.

1) to understand the basic principles in HCI;

2) to understand the design life cycle;

3) to understand the current applications of HCI;

4) to consider the engineering and psychological perspectives of HCI;

5) to appreciate the research and industrial aspects of HCI.

In summary, learners will have the opportunity to analyze and evaluate user interfaces, take exercises to uncover problems that can be addressed through HCI methods, and prototype user interfaces based on principles you learnt within class.


They will also evaluate their user interfaces based on feedback, revise them accordingly and iterate on the prototyping process.

Target Student Population:

College Lower Division, College Upper Division

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

This course does not have significant prerequisites before participation.

It is beneficial to have basic understanding of computer systems, and properties of interaction devices such as mouses or pointing devices.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:

The online videos and material is superb and easy-to-understand.

  • Good introduction to the discipline and related fields
  • Good coverage of the topic
  • Careful explanation of the concepts, techniques and motivation
Concerns:

There could have been deeper explanations of some of the techniques, for instance the statistical methods used for empirical evaluations

Probably, more examples and some revision questions can be included in the videos. 

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:

  • The way in which the content is presented is easy to follow, mostly based in short, low-paced instructor videos 
  • Good organization of the materials, with a flow which is appropriate to the topic
  • Learners with particular objectives can study a sub-set of the topic

In summary, the material can be very effective as a teaching tool.

Concerns:

  • There could be more exercises per lesson in order to foster engagement with the material and to re-inforce learning.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:

The material is very usable for any course involving user interface design, user experience design and the basic design principles of user interface. 

  • The course is very easy to navigate
  • The instructor videos follow an appropriate order
  • The lessons are broken down into small parts that make it easier to visit/revisit as needed
Concerns:

Probably, more daily examples can be included.

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