Course Syllabus

Oh hey, nice to see you here 👋🏼

Thinking about taking this online section of CMPT-363 with me (Paul Hibbitts) or already enrolled? Either way, you’ve come to the right place.

Last updated: May 10th, 2022.

• Instructor and TA Information
  • Instructor
  • Teaching Assistants (TAs)
  • Online Office (Student) Hours
  • Zoom Cowork/Q&A Sessions
• Basic Course Information
  • Course Description
  • Course Delivery
  • Course Website
  • Required Textbook
• Course Goals and Experience
  • Course Learning Objectives
  • Course Weekly Schedule
  • Online Learning Tips
  • Words of Advice from Past 363 Students
  • Connecting with Fellow Classmates
  • Additional Student Support
• Grading and Assessment
  • Individual or Pairs
  • Course Grading
  • Important Dates
  • Class Project
• Course and SFU Policies
  • Assignment Policy
  • Assignment Remarking
  • SFU Student Code of Conduct
  • SFU Academic Integrity
  • 10 Points of Netiquette

Instructor and TA Information

Instructor
Paul Hibbitts (Email: paul_hibbitts@sfu.ca, Twitter: @hibbittsdesign)

Teaching Assistants (TAs)
Arshdeep Singh Ahuja (Email: asa338@sfu.ca)
Rishabh Kaushal (Email: rka73@sfu.ca)
Parsa Rajabi (Email: pra30@sfu.ca)

Online Office (Student) Hours

Zoom Cowork/Q&A Sessions

Zoom Cowork/Q&A sessions are dedicated on-schedule times when students can work on their own with regard to weekly readings, one-minute summaries and the current assignment, and be able to ask me questions/clarifications, application of course materials, design challenges, etc. While students may not show draft assignment materials, almost anything else is possible in these sessions, such as asking questions about other comparative work examples, possible approaches to design challenges, etc. These sessions will not be recorded and offered only during scheduled online class times.

Basic Course Information

Course Description
This course introduces students to the art and science of designing usable, useful and enjoyable human-computer interfaces, with an emphasis on user-centered design techniques. It stresses the importance and necessity of effective interaction design techniques and presents current design methodologies and principles across multiple platforms. Students will gain valuable knowledge and experience by working individually and optionally in pairs on a term-long design project. No required textbook - assigned readings will be available on-line.

Good communication and writing skills are essential to do well in this course.

Course Delivery
This offering of 363 will be online via Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, Zoom, Discord and Canvas. A Mac, Windows or Linux (i.e. Ubuntu) desktop/laptop with Internet access is required for this course. Audio (preferably via a headset) is required to use Blackboard Collaborate and Zoom, but a webcam is optional.

Students are asked to attend real-time Blackboard sessions when possible (session recordings will also be available), and the real-time Zoom Cowork/Q&A sessions are an on-schedule time to work on course assignments with Q&A breaks. The primary content for the course is provided via weekly readings and occasionally videos. 

Blackboard sessions will usually be a combination of mini-lectures and activities, while Zoom will be used throughout the term to support Cowork and Q&A sessions. All regular Blackboard sessions will be recorded, with the “Anonymous Chat” feature enabled to protect student privacy.

Course Website
In addition to this Canvas site, the same course content can be accessed via a multi-device friendly site:
https://paulhibbitts.github.io/cmpt-363/#/222/home

Required Textbook
Are you kidding me, in 2022? All required readings will be available on-line.

Course Goals and Experience

Course Learning Objectives

1. Describe and apply key UI/UX concepts, techniques, and principles
2. Assess and describe the usability and UX of a digital interface
3. Conduct and analyze user/discovery research for a digital product
4. Design and prototype improvements for a digital product
5. Apply the core principles of effective visual design
6. Conduct and analyze a user interface inspection of a digital product

Additional Objectives

• Care about how people feel about and experience technology
• Participate and contribute as a member of a small team (optional)

Course Weekly Schedule
This course will require a consistent commitment of your time and effort every week. The following is a recommended weekly schedule for students:

• Monday
  • Preview the required weekly readings (all readings will be available in advance)
• Tuesday
  • Attend Blackboard Collaborate Ultra session when offered, which are usually mini-lectures about key aspects of the required readings and related activities [recorded, and slides will be available] or Zoom Cowork/Q&A session, which will be a dedicated time to work on weekly readings and the current assignment [not recorded]
• Wednesday
  • Read and/or review the required weekly readings, making note of any questions you may have
• Thursday
  • Submit your weekly visual journal entry by midnight (what was the most insightful visual for you and why, from this week's Blackboard Collaborate sessions/slides)
• Friday
  • Attend Zoom Cowork/Q&A session, which will be a dedicated time to work on weekly readings and the current assignment [not recorded]
• Sunday
  • Submit your weekly reading one-minute summaries by midnight (one for each weekly reading)

Online Learning Tips

Online courses as compared to in-person classes can present unique challenges. Here are some articles to help you better succeed with online learning:

• 8 Strategies for Getting the Most Out of an Online Class
• Avoiding Screen Fatigue
• What Makes a Successful Online Learner?
• Tips for Taking Classes and Studying Online at Home

Words of Advice from Past 363 Students

Here are a few hints and tips from past 363 students:

Start assignments earlier and incrementally make improvements.
Have an open mind as this course is quite different than any course in CMPT that you have taken before, reach out if you need clarification and show up to class.
Join the Discord server, it is tremendous help even if you didn't have any questions.
Definitely take this course, lots to learn. Once you learn what good UX is, you can never unlearn to not see UX issue everywhere.
Attend all lectures and finish the readings; it's all worth it.
Go to co–work sessions.

Connecting with Fellow Classmates
This term we will be using a private Discord server for all class discussions, including assignment clarifications - once the Summer 2022 term starts please join us on Discord!

Additional Student Support

A variety of student well-being resources are available through SFU Student Services Health and Counselling. In addition to utilizing these, please feel free to contact me with regards to course-specific issues of concern.

Grading and Assessment

Individual or Pairs
For all major assignments students will have the choice of working individually or in student-formed pairs  (with x1.5 workload for pairs) 

Grading
Individual (25%)
   Weekly Visual Journal Entries: 2%
   One-minute Summaries: 5%  
   Peer Design Reviews: 18%

Individual or Pair (75%)
   Heuristic Evaluation: 25%
   User Research Assignment: 25%
   Storyboard Wireframes: 25%

Due to the highly practical nature of the assignments in this course, the break points for final letter grades might be higher than found in other courses.

Important Dates

• Weekly Visual Journal Entries
  • Due by Thursday each week
• One-minute Summaries
  • Due by Sunday each week
• Individual or Pair Heuristic Evaluation
  • Assigned May 24th, due Jun 6th (Cowork and Q&A sessions before due date)
• Individual or Pair Assignment: User Research
  • Assigned Jun 7th, due Jun 20th (Cowork and Q&A sessions before due date)
• Individual or Pair Assignment: Storyboard Wireframes
  • Assigned Jun 21st, due Jul 18th (Cowork and Q&A sessions before due date)
• Peer Design Reviews
  • Assigned Jul 21st, due Aug 1st (Cowork and Q&A sessions before due date)

Class Project
TBD.

Course and SFU Policies

Assignment Policy

• You may not send the instructor or the TA’s draft assignments for feedback – post all assignment questions to the provided assignment discussion forum
• Assignments may be shared/shown in class and online (with no student ID)
• Weekly assignments must be submitted by the due date
• All other assignments may be submitted up to two days late, with 5% of the maximum possible value deducted for each day late
• Deferrals or extensions will be determined on a case-by-case basis, where a legitimate reason can be determined (e.g. illness, family emergency, etc.) FAS Academic Concession [Applied Sciences] form.

Assignment Remarking

If you feel an assignment has been significantly incorrectly assessed you may request a re-marking. Requests must include a written case for the re-marking and be submitted to Paul within 2 days from receiving the mark.

Assignments will be re-marked in their entirety by both Paul and the marking TA and may result in a higher, unchanged, or lower mark overall which will be final. You should exercise caution in submitting a re-mark request purely on the hope of getting a minor grade bump as this often does not work out the way a student hopes for.

Each student may submit one individual assignment or quiz remarking request for the term.

SFU Student Code of Conduct
The S 10.05 Student Conduct Policy defines students' basic responsibilities as academic community members, defines inappropriate student conduct, and provides procedures and outcomes to be invoked if students engage in such behaviour.

SFU Academic Integrity
The S10.01 Student Academic Integrity Policy is based on the six core values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage. It is expected that all students abide by this policy for this and all courses at SFU. Want to learn more about Academic Integrity at SFU? Visit the SFU Academic Integrity Tutorial.

10 Points of Netiquette (Albion, 2015)

• Remember the Human (only say something that you would say face-to-face)
• Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life
• Know where you are in cyberspace
• Respect other people's time and bandwidth
• Make yourself look good online
• Share expert knowledge
• Help keep flame wars under control
• Respect other people's privacy
• Don't abuse your power
• Be forgiving of other people's mistakes

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/0963702513p32.html

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About This Site
This site and its included Docsify-This pages was designed and built by Paul Hibbitts (Email: paul@hibbittsdesign.org, Mastodon: mastodon.social/@hibbittsdesign, with thanks and appreciation to my past and present Simon Fraser University students.

Here's a sampling of what helped get a new offering of CMPT-363 User Interface Design course ready and this accompanying site built before the start of the Summer term: