Creating a realistic context for team projects in HCI

Abstract

Team projects are nowadays common practice in HCI education. This paper focuses on the role of clients and users in team projects in introductory HCI courses. In order to provide projects with a realistic context we invite people from industry to serve as clients for the student teams. Some of them have a professional interest in participating in our course and define a project themselves. Another way we make projects realistic is to have teams evaluate their designs with real users.We describe how we incorporate the role of clients and users in our courses and describe our experiences. One of the results of our evaluations is that most students find it very interesting and stimulating to work with a client on a 'real' project from industry.

Improvement of Open Source Software Usability: An Empirical Evaluation from Developers' Perspective

“…OSS is no longer a "reserved arena" for technically adept users; novice and nontechnical users from all over the world use open source software as well. As Koppelman and Van Dijk [22] identify that in order to know end-users' requirements and expectations, there is a need of more communication between the software developers and their target users, instead of relying on the former's instincts. 87% of our respondents support this observation that getting users' requirements helps in improving OSS usability.…”

“…Koppelman and Van Dijk [22] focus on the role of clients and users in projects, how to deal with different stakeholders who look at the product from a different perspective, how to communicate with them, and how to involve the real users and clients in the design process. They suggest that the designers should not simply rely on their own experiences and instincts.…”

“…However, as OSS has become more popular, more need is being felt to have usable systems. Koppelman and Van Dijk [22] stress that software developers should not simply rely on their own experiences and instincts. They should learn how to communicate with users in order to better understand their expectations.…”

Teaching HCI Skills in Higher Education through Game Design: A Study of Students’ Perceptions

“…Lorés et al, Koppelman et al, Reimer et al, Solano, and Urquiza-Fuentes et al [7][8][9][10][11] also used a combination of theory and projects with real-life applications using user-centered design methodologies. In fact, Lorés et al [7] combined the teaching of formal content with the development of a real-life project in a compulsory course within the HCI curricula at the University of Lleida (Spain).…”

“…In fact, Lorés et al [7] combined the teaching of formal content with the development of a real-life project in a compulsory course within the HCI curricula at the University of Lleida (Spain). The work of Koppelman et al [8] consisted of providing projects with a realistic context, inviting people from industry to serve as clients for the student projects and allowing teams to evaluate their designs with real users. Reimer et al [9] used the studio-based approach to teach competencies in designing interactive objects in an HCI design studio course.…”