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Teaching human-computer interaction in introductory courses

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Eileen B. EntinAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Volume 15, Issue 1

Pages 51 - 56

https://doi.org/10.1145/952978.801012

Published: 01 February 1983 Publication History

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Abstract

In this paper I have attempted to point out some ways in which an instructor can sensitize students to the human-computer interface aspect of programming. By discussing this topic at the introductory level, students are made aware early on both of how important this aspect of programming is and, at the same time, how difficult and time-consuming it is to produce quality interface.

Most of the suggestions for lecture or discussion presented here can be covered fairly briefly, without taking too much time away from the discussion of the syntax and semantics of the programming language or languages being covered in the course. Just how much time is devoted to the topic of interface is, of course, at the discretion of the instructor. The suggestions for project assignments also require small additions or modifications to the traditional programming assignments. Furthermore, these ideas can be incorporated into more advanced courses. As the students' programming abilities increase and they are able to produce more and more complex code, the dimensions for evaluation of user interface can be broadened.

None of the foregoing is meant to imply that it would not be desirable to have students take a course specifically devoted to issues in human-computer interface. It would certainly be appropriate for students to pursue this topic in depth, and a special course such as the one outlined by Shneiderman [6], would be excellent. The important goal at the introductory level is to make students aware that user interface is an important aspect of good programming. If they gain this awareness at the outset, it will pervade their thinking so that one does not have to correct their orientation later in the curriculum, or later still, after they begin their professional career.

References

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Badre, A. N. Designing the human-computer interface. SIGSCE Bulletin, 14 (1982), 41-44.

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Bandura, A. Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall, 1977.

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Foley, J. D. Teaching the design and evaluation of user-computer interfaces. SIGSCE Bulletin, 14 (1982), 31-33.

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Miller, G. A. The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63 (1956), 81-97.

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Moran, T. P. and Card, S. K. Applying cognitive psychology to computer systems: A graduate seminar in psychology. SIGSCE Bulletin, 14 (1982), 34-37.

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Shneiderman, B. Teaching software psychology experimentation through team projects. SIGSCE Bulletin, 14 (1982), 38-40.

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Rogers J(1984)Inferring cognitive focus from students' programsACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/952980.80862216:1(51-55)Online publication date: 1-Jan-1984
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/952980.808622
Rogers JAusting R(1984)Inferring cognitive focus from students' programsProceedings of the fifteenth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/800039.808622(51-55)Online publication date: 1-Jan-1984
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/800039.808622
Li JXu KChaudhuri SYumer EZhang HGuibas L(2017)GRASSACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/3072959.307363736:4(1-14)Online publication date: 20-Jul-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3072959.3073637
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Teaching human-computer interaction in introductory courses
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Model curricula
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Development frameworks and environments
      1. Integrated and visual development environments

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Published In

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 15, Issue 1

Proceedings of the 14th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education

February 1983

301 pages

ISSN:0097-8418

DOI:10.1145/952978

Issue’s Table of Contents

SIGCSE '83: Proceedings of the fourteenth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
February 1983
307 pages
ISBN:0897910915
DOI:10.1145/800038
Chairmen:
Larry K. Cottrell,
Sheau-Dong Lang,
A. Joe Turner

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 February 1983

Published in SIGCSE Volume 15, Issue 1

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Rogers J(1984)Inferring cognitive focus from students' programsACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/952980.80862216:1(51-55)Online publication date: 1-Jan-1984
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/952980.808622
Rogers JAusting R(1984)Inferring cognitive focus from students' programsProceedings of the fifteenth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/800039.808622(51-55)Online publication date: 1-Jan-1984
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/800039.808622
Li JXu KChaudhuri SYumer EZhang HGuibas L(2017)GRASSACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/3072959.307363736:4(1-14)Online publication date: 20-Jul-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3072959.3073637
Zhu CYi RLira WAlhashim IXu KZhang H(2017)Deformation-driven shape correspondence via shape recognitionACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/3072959.307361336:4(1-12)Online publication date: 20-Jul-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3072959.3073613
Pastel RBrown CWoller-Carter MKumar S(2012)Teaching Human Factors to Graduate and Undergraduate Computer Science StudentsProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting10.1177/107118131256112456:1(595-599)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2012
https://doi.org/10.1177/1071181312561124
Wang PCollins JWang HKim DGreene BChan KYunus ASych TMoore SShen J(2004)Helper threads via virtual multithreading on an experimental itanium® 2 processor-based platformACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/1037187.102441139:11(144-155)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2004
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Srinivasan SRajwar RAkkary HGandhi AUpton M(2004)Continual flow pipelinesACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/1037187.102440739:11(107-119)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2004
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1037187.1024407
Weyuker E(1995)Using the consequence of failures for testing and reliability assessmentACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes10.1145/222132.22214320:4(81-91)Online publication date: 1-Oct-1995
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Fekete A(1995)Liveness conditions in model-based service specificationsACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes10.1145/222132.22214020:4(62-71)Online publication date: 1-Oct-1995
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Hoffman DStrooper P(1995)State abstraction and modular software developmentACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes10.1145/222132.22213920:4(53-61)Online publication date: 1-Oct-1995
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