The Undergraduate Major and Minor in HCI

Human Computer Interaction InstituteSchool of Computer ScienceCarnegie Mellon University

Vincent AlevenNewell Simon Hall 3135aleven@cs.cmu.edu

What is the HCII?Our Mission

• Engineering & Design: To create effective, usable, enjoyable experiences with technology through interdisciplinary research and teaching in design, computer science, the behavioral and social sciences, and engineering

• Science: To understand the impact of technology on individuals, groups, and organizations.

The Philosophy of the HCI undergraduate programs

Take excellent students with depth in one discipline relevant to HCI and give them the educational opportunity to “walk in the shoes” of the other disciplines.

Make the students more effective members of interdisciplinary teams in industryPrepare students for leadership in HCI-related industries

Educational programs for undergraduates• Second major:

– Formal admissions with ~50% admissions rate

– 11 courses, including a final project– Guaranteed admission to core courses

• Minor– No formal admission, just sign up– 7 courses– No guarantees in getting into courses

• After one core course, access to other core course guaranteed

On the Philosophy…

• Undergrad education HCI will provide students – Basic skills for designing and implementing user-

centered software– Appreciation of the varied skills necessary to make

useful, usable & satisfying interactive products– Ability to communication with specialists in other

areas

• It will not make software developers into designers or psychologists into programmers.

• It is not a second degree.

Human-Centered DesignThe User is Not Like Me

Human FactorsCognitive PsychologyMotivationGroup behavior

ColorLayoutGraphic DesignInteraction Design

Interviews Surveys Experiments Think alouds Heuristic evaluation Focus groups Cognitive walk-throughs Statistical analysis

Flash, Director, Visual Basic, HTML, Databases, Java, C++, GUI toolkits, UI architectures

What makes the HCII dynamic?

• CMU has the best Human-Computer Interaction program in the country

• One of the few (only?) with an undergraduate major

• Tight integration of– Technology– Behavioral Science– Design

• Breadth and Depth– Students from SCS, CFA and H&SS– Interdisciplinary faculty

What students like about the program

– “Working with people from other disciplines “

– “The interdisciplinary nature. I learned a lot from having courses outside my major and from working with people that have different focii”

– “Courses were project oriented”

– “Applying the skills I learned in classes to research projects”

– “Without this major, I would have never discovered my enjoyment for creatively solving problems with constraints and business needs.”

– “The professors. I was lucky because all of the core classes … were taught by professors who were well-respected in the field and clearly knew their stuff”

• Interdisciplinary • Project focused• Flexible

HCI Second Major Curriculum

4 Pre-requisites

3 Core courses + 4 Electives

Senior project

HCI Second Major Core CoursesIntroduction to User Centered Research and Evaluation

– Use empirical and analytical methods to figure out what users of systems want and will find easy and fun to use and learn

– Test whether you delivered the right experienceBasic Interface Design/Interaction Design Fundamentals

– Translate between problem definitions and innovative designs

Technology core differs by technical skillProgramming Usable Interfaces (non-CS majors)Software Structures for User Interfaces (CS majors)UI lab (sections on GUI, mobile applications, web

applications)Capstone Project

HCI Second MajorSenior Capstone Project Course Goals

• Apply HCI skills on a semester-long project• Work in interdisciplinary teams (3-5 people)• Work with clients

• Integrate skills gathered over the curriculum• Learn to write reports & give presentations

Mattress Factory: Interactive Archive of Past Installations

Controls for a Semi-Autonomous Orchard Tractor

Classroom ControlsNow in use

in CMU classrooms!

3D Dentistry

2013 ProjectsPlayPower: Create a teacher dashboard that presents information about students’ learning with educational games. Doctor in a Box: Data visualization to help clinicians make decisions based on a patient’s DNABossa Nova: provide guidance to home users interacting with robot assistants

Platypus: Data visualization for environmental monitoring with small autonomous airboatsSchell Games: community website where aspiring game designers develop their game ideas with a professional Schell Games team.PayTango: Create a prototype system (hardware and software) for fingerprint-based payment system

Quote by a student about the capstone project

“I had the chance to use HCI methods and understand the basis for them. We had to constantly test and change things based on the very specific needs of our users. Things that seemed so simple to us were like a foreign language to them. It really helped drive the entire point of HCI home to me.”

2 Restricted Electives + 2 Others

– Human Factors– Social Web– Gadgets– Educational Games– Applied Cognitive Psych– Rapid Prototyping of

Computer Systems– Advanced Topics UI

Software – Usable Security & Privacy

– Visualization & i-Pad programming

– Computer Supported Cooperative Work

– Speech Recognition and Understanding

– Applied Machine Learning – Introduction to Product Design– Assistive Technology– Smart Homes– Personalized Online Learning

• http://www.hcii.cmu.edu/undergraduate-electives• Many electives offered by the HCII

• >100 others in other part of the university– Business, CFA, H&SS, CS, Robotics,

Entertainment Technologies

Skills: How to build interactive devices (AKA: “ ”!)

– Add to your toolbox of techniques: Prototyping simple µcontroller-based electronic devices

Concepts: What can be done with them from an HCI perspective

Join the struggle:build something

for the user!taught by Scott Hudson

Design of Educational Games05-418/05-818 HCII – Vincent Aleven

The potential of digital games to improve education is enormous. However, it is a significant challenge to create a game that is both fun and educational. In this course, students learn to meet this challenge by combining principles and processes from game design and instructional design.

EMAIL: spdow@cs.cmu.eduWEB: www.cs.cmu.edu/~spdow

social media micro-task crowds

crowdfundingA-B testing

needfinding

brainstorming

storyboarding

prototyping

making a pitch

Crowd-Driven InnovationCOURSE NAME

Steven DowASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Developing iPad Applications for Visualization & Insight

Applied Cognitive Science 05-395 (R. Klatzky)

Virtual Reality Perceptually Based DecisionsEyewitness TestimonyCognitive TutoringLearning To ReadSpatial ThinkingSpeech recognition and synthesisRational vs. Emotional MarketingAutomated Language UnderstandingNeural Plasticity and RemediationExpertise & SportSleep Learning

Personalized Online LearningVincent Aleven

• Learners are different and personalized learning is far more effective than one-size-fits-all approaches. This course covers a number of proven personalization techniques used in advanced learning technologies.

• One of the techniques is the use of cognitive modeling to personalize practice of complex cognitive skills in intelligent tutoring systems. This approach, developed at CMU, may well be the most significant application of cognitive science in education and is commercially successful.

Independent Study

• Many students do an independent study to explore a particular area in depth

• Personalized, a negotiation between the student and a professor– Can be in any department, just like any other

elective– Often grows out of personal contacts after taking

class with an instructor– I send out announcements at beginning of

semester

Comparison of Requirements Minor

• Just sign up & complete courses

• No guarantees

• 1 Prerequisites– Freshman-level programming

• 2 Core courses– Designing Human-Centered Systems

(DHCS)Combines User Centered Research + Programming Usable Interfaces

– Design for HCI (DHCI)Combines Interaction Design Fundamentals +

Interaction Design Studio

• 4 Electives

• No Project

HCI Second Major• Formal admissions process

• Guaranteed slots for core courses

• 4 Prerequisites– Freshman-level programming– Interaction Design Fundamentals– Statistics (introductory)– Cognitive psychology

• 3 Core courses– User Centered Research– Interaction Design Studio– HCI Programming (PUI/SSUI)

• 4 Electives

• Capstone Project

Designing Human-Centered Systems (core course for the Minor)• How to design human-centered

systems that people find useful and usable– Into to designing, prototyping, evaluating

user interfaces– Cover theory and practical applications of

HCI concepts– Lecture-style, discussion, homework,

class presentations– Big group project

BHCI vs MHCI Requirements

MHCI• 3 Prerequisites

– Freshman-level programming– Interaction Design Fundamentals– Statistics (thru multivariate

regression)

• 4 Core courses– User Centered Research– Interaction Design Studio– HCI Programming (PUI/SUUI)– HCI Pro-seminar

• MHCI Project (2 semesters; 60 units)

• 5 Electives

BHCI• 4 Prerequisites

– Freshman-level programming– Interaction Design Fundamentals– Statistics (introductory)– Cognitive psychology

• 3 Core courses– User Centered Research– Interaction Design Studio– HCI Programming (PUI/SSUI)

• BHCI Project • 4 Electives

Similar goals, quite a bit overlap!

Accelerated Masters Option• Complete a masters degree in 2 semesters past undergrad

degree• More in-depth project course• 5 electives (most at Masters level)• Pro-seminar (outside lectures & meetings with visiting HCI

researchers and professionals)

Fall Spring Summer FallStandard Masters

2 Core Core Project II

P roseminar P roject I2Elective 4 Electives

Accelerated Masters

(Undergrad Senior Year)

Elective 4 Electives

Project I P roject II P roseminar

.

.

Careers In HCI• Undergraduates get good jobs & job offers

(AY 2011/2012 data)

Degree Median salary offer

Bachelors, HCI $79,500Computer science $95,000Psychology $45,000Information Systems $67,000Communication Design $60,000Masters, HCI $85,000

Other reasons for getting an HCI 2nd major / minor• More interesting problems to work on• More interaction with stakeholders • Creative expression • Working on the parts of computers

that everyone sees• Fame• Personal interest• Career security, etc.

Companies Where B/MHCI Alumni Work

• APT• Accenture• Adobe• Amazon• Amazon.com• Apple Inc• Applied Predictive

Technologies• Athena Health• Bank of America Global

Markets Technology• Boeing• Brulant/Rosetta• CGI• Cengage Aplia• Deloitte• Democratic National

Committee• Deutsche Bank• Digg• Discovery Engine• Dobly• Endeca• Epic Systems• Extractable• Facebook• Fuild Inc• General Electric Co.• Goldman Sachs

• Google• Green Hills Software• HPTi• IBM• Intuit• JPMorgan Chase• Jonnson & Johnson• Kaiser Permanente• LearningBop• Lockheed Martin• LotterShelly• Manhattan Associates, Atlanta• McKinsey• Merrill Lynch• Microsoft• Moment Design• NASA• New York Times• NextJump• Oracle• OutSystems• PNC Bank• Palantir Technologies• Precor• PwC• R/GARatheon• Ready at Dawn Studios

• Riberbed• Rosetta Stone• Round Arch• RoundArch• Roundarch• Salesforce.com• Schematic• Schoolnet• Shiny Entertainment• Speaker Text• Tagged• Teach for America• Team Detroit• Thermo Fisher Scientific• Thomson Reuters• TripAdvisor• UBS Investment Bank• Union pacific railroad• University of Michigan• VMware• Vanguard• Vistaprint• Wizzard Media• WorldEvolved Services• Yadseiir• Yahoo• Yinzcam• Zazzle

Plus ~15% have started their own companies

Admission to the Major• ~25-30 Students / Graduating Year • Applications due by March 8, 2013 (Friday before

Spring Break)• Follow instructions on the website

– Statement of purpose (Why is HCI for you?)– Proposed course schedule (Can you fit everything in?)– Letter of reference (optional)– www.hcii.cmu.edu/Academics/Undergrad/applying/applying.html

• Decisions announced April 1, 2013 (well before Fall Registration Week)

• Criteria– QPA (threshold 3.0+)– Relevance and clarity in statement of purpose– Viable plan for completing major – Diversity & relevance of courses taken– Available Slots

Chances of Admission (2011)• Freshman:

– 8/16– 50% – Mean GPA=3.6

• Sophomores & Juniors– 26/38– 68%– Mean GPA=3.5

• If you don’t get in at first attempt, apply again next year!

More InformationVincent AlevenDirector of Undergraduate Program3531 NSHaleven@cs.cmu.edu412 268-5475

Robert KrautDirector of Undergraduate Program3515 NSHrobert.kraut@cmu.edu412 268-7694

Indra Szegedy Program Coordinator3526 NSHindras@cs.cmu.edu412 268-4431

Questions?

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