The usability of customer facing software interfaces is a source of competitive advantage for organisations. The usability of systems has also shown to encourage the effective and efficient completion of tasks and in consequence, operations. Furthermore, competitive analysis of the usability of software products has been shown to be a useful tool in the adoption of the user centred design philosophy within organisations. However, low adoption of usability evaluation is prevalent due to a lack of methodologies to support organisations in their endeavours to achieve better usability. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to present a methodology to compare the usability of information systems. By using such a methodology, organisations will be able to gauge the standard of the usability of their information systems, by comparing it to others.

In this study, 20 papers were reviewed to identify means, methods, techniques, tools or other interventions that practitioners may use to positively influence the affective state of users of digital interactive technologies. A systematic literature review was conducted in order to find such interventions. A literature background covering concepts from the fields of Human-computer interaction, as well as certain concepts from the field of psychology that is relevant to this study is provided. Search criteria were determined and used to identify research papers from various academic resources. Four categories of intervention categories were identified from the papers reviewed, which can be applied to interactive digital technologies by practitioners in order to evoke positive affect on users. These four categories were aesthetics, affective computing, need fulfilment and novel interaction techniques. The identified categories for practitioners were consolidated alongside metadata such as the types of publications of the reviewed papers, the regions the studies were conducted and the growth in the number of studies.Given the effect of positive affect and hedonic qualities on the appeal of a technology to a user, the following research question can be raised: "What practices, techniques or interventions can a practitioner implement to evoke positive affective responses from users of a digital interactive technology?". The aim of this review is to evaluate existing research in the discipline of human-computer interaction (HCI) and user experience to identify the different interventions that have been put forward by researchers specifically intended to improve the emotional responses evoked in users of digital interactive technologies. The focus of this review will not be on the functionality or usability (pragmatic quality) aspects, but instead on the pleasurable and emotional aspects (hedonic quality) of user experiences.This review firstly describes some of the background knowledge on Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Centered Design, User Experience and the Hedonic/Pragmatic model of UX. The literature background also investigates some concepts from psychology, such as the pleasure-arousal-dominance model [5,6], and the ten psychological needs [7]. The selection process of articles used for the review is described in Sect. 3 including search terms, sources, as well as the data extraction process. The extracted research was then reviewed to answer the research question.

Inthisarticletheauthorsdescribehowtheyincorporateeyetrackinginahuman-computerinteraction (HCI)coursethatformspartofapostgraduateInformaticsdegree.Thefocusisonaneyetracking assignment that involves student groups performing usability evaluation studies for real world clients.Overthepastthreeyearstheauthorshaveobservedhowthisexperiencepositivelyaffected students'attitudetowardsusabilityanduserexperience(UX)evaluation.Theythereforebelievethat eyetrackingisapowerfultooltoconvincestudentsoftheimportanceofusercentereddesign.To investigatethesoundnessoftheirinformalobservations,theauthorsconductedasurveyamongst 2016HCIstudentsandanalysedstudentcourseevaluationresultsfrom2014to2016.Thefindings confirmthatstudentsregardtheeyetrackingassignmentasamindalteringexperienceandthatit ispotentiallyaneffectivetoolforconvincingfutureITprofessionalsoftheimportanceofusability, UXandusercentereddesign.

As the use of information and communication technology (ICT) solutions become more embedded in our everyday lives, ICT graduates are required to design and develop solutions that are not only easy to use, but evoke overall positive user experiences. The incorporation of human-computer interaction (HCI) principles, such as user-centered design (UCD), usability, and user experience (UX) into the design of ICT solutions can positively influence the success of deployed solutions. However, developers of ICT solutions, especially those from developing countries, have been slow to apply these principles in their development practices. Some of the reasons for this slow pace include lack of experienced practitioners due to limited number of universities offering HCI courses, especially in African countries, lack of consensus on the measures of UCD effectiveness, and little appreciation of the benefits of incorporating these design principles into development processes. This challenge is compounded by ineffective teaching strategies, in situations where HCI courses are taught. The application of an experiential learning strategy can go a long way in addressing the gap between the concepts of HCI, UX, and UCD that is taught in the classroom and their application by ICT graduates in the work environment. In this chapter, the authors describe how they incorporate eye tracking technology in an HCI course that forms part of a postgraduate informatics degree. The focus is on an eye tracking assignment that involves student groups performing usability evaluation studies for real-world clients. They posit that eye tracking is a powerful technology to convince students of the importance of user centered design. They conducted a survey amongst HCI students and analyzed student course evaluation results over a period of 3 years. The findings confirm that students regard the eye tracking assignment as a mind-altering experience and that it is potentially an effective technology for convincing future ICT professionals of the importance of usability, UX, and UCD.

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