Cogsci 102C: Course Description

The text for the course is Contextual Design by Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt. We will move rapidly through this text, reading it all during the first few weeks. There will be a midterm exam covering the text and lectures.

The course focuses on the process of design. You will participate as a member of a project team in designing or redesigning a system. In ten weeks you can only begin to understand the process of user-centered design but we think you will find that what you learn from your project to be quite valuable. We will discuss potential projects during the first couple weeks of class. Each project team will have 6-10 members. You must commit to a specific project team by the end of the second week.

Commentaries and Personal Project Status Reports
As an on-going activity you will write short commentaries about the readings and about your project efforts. For your project and the class to be successful, you must actively participate. You should contribute to discussions in class and to commentary and project email lists.

There is a reading assignment for each week. Doing the readings is very important. You should write a brief critical note by Sunday evening of each week and email it to the class commentary list (102C@hci.ucsd.edu). Your commentaries should begin the first week. The first commentary is due Sunday (4/8). In this first note you should focus on the readings for the first week (Chapters 1-4). The note should be a few hundred words in length and can take a variety of forms:

It typically will be a summary of the material in the reading. A good way to approach commentaries is as creation of review notes you will use to prepare for the midterm exam.

If you found something particularly interesting in the reading because it relates to your project, your note might include a description of that connection. Also if you found some aspect of the reading confusing, describe the confusion.

The goal of the commentaries is to encourage you to keep up with the readings and to identify issues that are problematic or worthy of further discussion. What we are looking for in the commentaries is evidence you have read and thought about the readings.

We will complete reading the text book in the first half of the course. For the second half your weekly writing should be a brief update on what you did during the week on your project and what you plan to do in the coming week. Instead of posting this to the class email list it should be posted to your project group's blog. Like the commentaries on the text, a personal project status report should also be a few hundred words in length and can be expected to change in character as your project progresses:

It will typically be a summary of what you did on your project during the past
week and your plans for the upcoming week.

At times it might focus on a problem you are confronting so that the instructors and others on your project team might be able to offer suggestions.

It can be suggestions of issues and topics your team should discuss.

Toward the end of your project it might summarize the state of
the project and document the contributions you made.

Class Presentations
We will devote a portion of class each week to informal project updates and to issues raised in commentaries and project summaries. Once your projects are underway each group will present updates of their project and plans. There will also be a final presentation of your project during the last week of classes and at the time of the final.

Project Paper
Another important part of the course is writing a paper describing your project. You will work in a team on your project. You can elect to write your final paper collaboratively, submitting one paper as a team. Also you have the option of working in smaller groups to write your final paper.

Take care in writing, rewriting, and proofing. Clear writing goes hand in hand with clear thinking. Your goal is to produce a crisp clear conceptually sound papers. To accomplish this you need to structure the paper to help the reader understand what you did, why you did it, and what they can conclude about what you did. Write with precision and clarity. Be concise. Write plain prose. In short papers every word is precious. Use your dictionary and thesaurus to be sure you are using the best word to convey what you mean. Be careful about spelling, punctuation, and grammar. If in doubt consult a good dictionary or style manual.

We will encourage you to start writing your paper in stages over the quarter. We suggest you create an initial project schedule describing what you are planning to do, why you made the choices you did, and how you plan to go about accomplishing what you propose. You should then complete a revision of this as your project develops.

http://hci.ucsd.edu/102C

Last Updated:3/24/05 1:45 PM

	The text for the course is Contextual Design by Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt. We will move rapidly through this text, reading it all during the first few weeks. There will be a midterm exam covering the text and lectures. The course focuses on the process of design. You will participate as a member of a project team in designing or redesigning a system. In ten weeks you can only begin to understand the process of user-centered design but we think you will find that what you learn from your project to be quite valuable. We will discuss potential projects during the first couple weeks of class. Each project team will have 6-10 members. You must commit to a specific project team by the end of the second week. Commentaries and Personal Project Status Reports As an on-going activity you will write short commentaries about the readings and about your project efforts. For your project and the class to be successful, you must actively participate. You should contribute to discussions in class and to commentary and project email lists. There is a reading assignment for each week. Doing the readings is very important. You should write a brief critical note by Sunday evening of each week and email it to the class commentary list (102C@hci.ucsd.edu). Your commentaries should begin the first week. The first commentary is due Sunday (4/8). In this first note you should focus on the readings for the first week (Chapters 1-4). The note should be a few hundred words in length and can take a variety of forms: It typically will be a summary of the material in the reading. A good way to approach commentaries is as creation of review notes you will use to prepare for the midterm exam. If you found something particularly interesting in the reading because it relates to your project, your note might include a description of that connection. Also if you found some aspect of the reading confusing, describe the confusion. The goal of the commentaries is to encourage you to keep up with the readings and to identify issues that are problematic or worthy of further discussion. What we are looking for in the commentaries is evidence you have read and thought about the readings. We will complete reading the text book in the first half of the course. For the second half your weekly writing should be a brief update on what you did during the week on your project and what you plan to do in the coming week. Instead of posting this to the class email list it should be posted to your project group's blog. Like the commentaries on the text, a personal project status report should also be a few hundred words in length and can be expected to change in character as your project progresses: It will typically be a summary of what you did on your project during the past week and your plans for the upcoming week. At times it might focus on a problem you are confronting so that the instructors and others on your project team might be able to offer suggestions. It can be suggestions of issues and topics your team should discuss. Toward the end of your project it might summarize the state of the project and document the contributions you made. Class Presentations We will devote a portion of class each week to informal project updates and to issues raised in commentaries and project summaries. Once your projects are underway each group will present updates of their project and plans. There will also be a final presentation of your project during the last week of classes and at the time of the final. Project Paper Another important part of the course is writing a paper describing your project. You will work in a team on your project. You can elect to write your final paper collaboratively, submitting one paper as a team. Also you have the option of working in smaller groups to write your final paper. Take care in writing, rewriting, and proofing. Clear writing goes hand in hand with clear thinking. Your goal is to produce a crisp clear conceptually sound papers. To accomplish this you need to structure the paper to help the reader understand what you did, why you did it, and what they can conclude about what you did. Write with precision and clarity. Be concise. Write plain prose. In short papers every word is precious. Use your dictionary and thesaurus to be sure you are using the best word to convey what you mean. Be careful about spelling, punctuation, and grammar. If in doubt consult a good dictionary or style manual. We will encourage you to start writing your paper in stages over the quarter. We suggest you create an initial project schedule describing what you are planning to do, why you made the choices you did, and how you plan to go about accomplishing what you propose. You should then complete a revision of this as your project develops.


	http://hci.ucsd.edu/102C	Last Updated:3/24/05 1:45 PM