CS 530: Developing User Interfaces

Course Syllabus

Professor:	Dario Salvucci
Email:	salvucci @ cs.drexel.edu
Office:	University Crossings 142
Office Hours:	Tuesday 11-12 or email for appointment

Description

This course discusses user interfaces within the context of interface design, implementation, and evaluation. The course includes lectures covering the basic topics, class discussions on special topics relevant to each lecture, and a course-long project in which students design, implement, and evaluate a new user interface.

Goals and Objectives

This course aims for students to (1) understand all stages of the user interface life cycle, including design, implementation, and evaluation; (2) practice the programming, writing, and speaking skills necessary for developing user interfaces; and (3) appreciate the larger context in which multimodal interfaces are designed, implemented, and ultimately used.

Prerequisites

The class will assume basic familiarity with Java and a UNIX environment. Students familiar with C++ but not Java should be able to pick up the necessary Java skills through lectures and assignments. Java/Swing is not required for the programming aspects of the course, but will be introduced as one option for implementing user interfaces.

Lectures

Lectures are intended to be interactive and a high degree of class participation is expected. Topics covered in class include the following:

introduction to the interface design-implementation cycle
introduction to Java Swing (a package for building portable interfaces)
rapid prototyping (sketching and evaluating interfaces quickly)
advanced interface technologies (e.g., speech and handwriting recognition, intelligent interfaces)
interfaces for impaired users (e.g., interfaces for the disabled)
interface evaluation (e.g., user studies, cognitive models)

Readings

Readings will come from primarily from academic papers and electronic resources, most of which will be distributed to the class in electronic form. We expect that you will complete the assigned readings before the start of lecture so that we can enjoy fruitful discussions.

Although it is not required, you may find it helpful to purchase a Java and/or Java Swing reference book for the programming aspects of the course. Feel free to choose whatever suits you best; there are many books to choose from, including:

The Java Tutorial, Third Edition (2000), by Mary Campione, Kathy Walrath, & Alison Huml. Addison-Wesley; ISBN 0201703939.

The JFC Swing Tutorial: A Guide to Constructing GUIs (1999), by Kathy Walrath & Mary Campione. Addison-Wesley; ISBN 0201433214.

However, before you purchase additional books, please note that the Web contains many on-line resources that may serve just as well, such as Sun's on-line Java Tutorial.

Presentation/Discussion

Throughout the course, each student will give a presentation and lead a discussion on one of the special topic readings. Presentations will be done individually, and you will be asked to give a short lecture about the reading, including your analysis and critique of the work, and then lead a class discussion on its context in the course.

Assignments

Homework assignments will involve programming and writing to solidify and expand on topics presented in lectures. The majority of the assignments involve implementation of a user interface in the Java programming language and the standard Swing package; lectures will introduce most of whatever knowledge is needed to complete the assignments. For writing assignments, we will be analyzing the user needs that go into interface implementations and describing specifications for these user needs.

Project

The course will include an multi-week individual project that brings together all aspects of the learned material. The final week includes a "mini-conference" in which everyone will present their projects and results to the class.

Grading

All aspects of this course are important for developing an understanding of and appreciation for building user interfaces. The grading breakdown is as follows:

Project: 60% (P1, 20%; P2, 40%)
Assignment: 10%
Presentation: 10%
Participation: 20%

Late assignments cannot be accepted and receive a score of 0. Missed presentations also receive a score of 0.

Communication

The instructor will disseminate important announcements by email through the course mailing list, and also post these announcements on the course web site. Also, the web site contains a timeline with links to all information (lecture slides, assignments, etc.) relevant to the course.

Policies

Attendance for lectures and exams is expected. In the case of a school closing on an exam day, the exam will be given in the next class period. The Drexel snow emergency information number is (215) 895-6358.

Academic honesty is essential. Cheating, academic misconduct, plagiarism, and fabrication of any submitted material, including both code and prose, are serious breaches of academic integrity and will be dealt with accordingly. Violations will result minimally in a grade of zero for the exam/assignment in question, an additional reduction of one letter grade in the overall course grade, and a report of the violation to the Drexel administration; further penalties may apply to more serious and/or repeat violations. Please refer to Drexel's official Academic Honesty Policy for more information.