The Undergraduate Major and Minor in HCI Human

The Undergraduate Major and Minor in HCI Human Computer Interaction Institute School of Computer Science Carnegie Mellon University Vincent Aleven Newell Simon Hall 3135 aleven@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 industry Prepare students for leadership in HCIrelated 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 usercentered 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 Design The User is Not Like Me Human Factors Cognitive Psychology Motivation Group behavior Color Layout Graphic Design Interaction 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 • Interdisciplinary • Project focused • Flexible – “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 wellrespected in the field and clearly knew their stuff”

HCI Second Major Curriculum 4 Pre-requisites 3 Core courses + 4 Electives Senior project

HCI Second Major Core Courses Introduction 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 experience Basic Interface Design/Interaction Design Fundamentals – Translate between problem definitions and innovative designs Technology core differs by technical skill Programming 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 Major Senior 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 Controls Now in use in CMU classrooms!

3 D Dentistry

2013 Projects Play. Power: 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 DNA Bossa Nova: provide guidance to home users interacting with robot assistants Platypus: Data visualization for environmental monitoring with small autonomous airboats Schell Games: community website where aspiring game designers develop their game ideas with a professional Schell Games team. Pay. Tango: Create a prototype system (hardware and software) for fingerprintbased 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 • http: //www. hcii. cmu. edu/undergraduate-electives • Many electives offered by the HCII 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 • >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 Games 05 -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.

Steven Dow ASSISTANT PROFESSOR social media micro-task crowds A-B testing crowdfunding storyboarding needfinding making a pitch brainstorming prototyping EMAIL: WEB: spdow@cs. cmu. edu www. cs. cmu. edu/~spdow COURSE NAME Crowd-Driven Innovation

Developing i. Pad Applications for Visualization & Insight

Applied Cognitive Science 05 -395 (R. Klatzky) Virtual Reality Perceptually Based Decisions Eyewitness Testimony Cognitive Tutoring Learning To Read Spatial Thinking Speech recognition and synthesis Rational vs. Emotional Marketing Automated Language Understanding Neural Plasticity and Remediation Expertise & Sport Sleep Learning

Personalized Online Learning Vincent 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 HCI Second Major Minor • Formal admissions process • Guaranteed slots for core courses • • 4 Prerequisites – – • Freshman-level programming Interaction Design Fundamentals Statistics (introductory) Cognitive psychology • • Capstone Project 1 Prerequisites 2 Core courses – Designing Human-Centered Systems (DHCS) Combines User Centered Research + Programming Usable Interfaces – User Centered Research – Interaction Design Studio – HCI Programming (PUI/SSUI) 4 Electives No guarantees – Freshman-level programming 3 Core courses • Just sign up & complete courses – Design for HCI (DHCI) Combines Interaction Design Fundamentals + Interaction Design Studio • 4 Electives • No 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 Similar goals, quite a bit overlap! MHCI 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 • 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

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)

Careers In HCI • Undergraduates get good jobs & job offers (AY 2011/2012 data) Degree Median salary offer Bachelors, HCI $79, 500 Computer science $95, 000 Psychology $45, 000 Information Systems $67, 000 Communication Design $60, 000 Masters, HCI $85, 000

Other reasons for getting an HCI 2 nd 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. 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 • Learning. Bop • Lockheed Martin • Lotter. Shelly Manhattan Associates, Atlanta • • Mc. Kinsey • Merrill Lynch • Microsoft • Moment Design • NASA • New York Times • Next. Jump • Oracle • Out. Systems • PNC Bank • Palantir Technologies • Precor • Pw. C • R/GARatheon • Ready at Dawn Studios • Riberbed Rosetta Stone Round Arch Roundarch Salesforce. com Schematic Schoolnet Shiny Entertainment Speaker Text Tagged Teach for America Team Detroit Thermo Fisher Scientific Thomson Reuters Trip. Advisor UBS Investment Bank Union pacific railroad University of Michigan VMware Vanguard Vistaprint Wizzard Media World. Evolved 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. htm l • 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 Information Vincent Aleven Director of Undergraduate Program 3531 NSH aleven@cs. cmu. edu 412 268 -5475 Robert Kraut Director of Undergraduate Program 3515 NSH robert. kraut@cmu. edu 412 268 -7694 Indra Szegedy Program Coordinator 3526 NSH indras@cs. cmu. edu 412 268 -4431

Questions?

CMU Court Reservation System Now in use at UC! Basis of (failed) small business!

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