Course syllabus
TDA487 / DIT486 Human-centred design and human factors lp4 VT23 (7.5 hp)
Course is offered by the department of Computer Science and Engineering
Contact details
- Examiner: Paweł W. Woźniak (pawelw@chalmers.se)
- Teacher: Morteza Abdipour
Please contact us using Canvas inbox.
Student Representatives:
Soniya Abraham
Qihan Fu
Emil Holmsten
Martin Bergström martberg@student.chalmers.se
Johanna Penner johannn@chalmers.se
Course purpose
This course shows how to use advanced methods and theories in a human-centred design process. The focus is on acquiring a strong methods toolkit and applying it to a re-design task.
Schedule
The course uses a standard Tuesday-Thursday-Friday schedule with exceptions for holidays, etc. We do allocate significant time to project work. Most activity slots will have room for extra supervision towards the end of the session.
Below is a preliminary schedule.
| Week | Date | Day | Start | End | Room | Activity |
| v 12 | 2023-03-21 | Tisdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | Delta | Course intro, Stats I |
| v 12 | 2023-03-23 | Torsdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | Alfa | Stats II |
| v 12 | 2023-03-24 | Fredag | 13:15 | 15:00 | High, Low | Project intro, group formation |
| v 13 | 2023-03-28 | Tisdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | Design synthesis, reframing |
| v 13 | 2023-03-30 | Torsdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | Planning a study |
| v 13 | 2023-03-31 | Fredag | 13:15 | 15:00 | Alfa | Stats III |
| EASTER BREAK | ||||||
| v 16 | 2023-04-18 | Tisdag | 14:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | Stats tutorial |
| v 16 | 2023-04-20 | Torsdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | Project supervision |
| v 16 | 2023-04-21 | Fredag | 13:15 | 15:00 | Beta | Qualitative methods - intro |
| v 17 | 2023-04-25 | Tisdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | Planning a second study |
| v 17 | 2023-04-27 | Torsdag | 14:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | Project supervision |
| v 17 | 2023-04-28 | Fredag | 13:15 | 15:00 | High, Low | Project supervision (optional) |
| v 18 | 2023-05-02 | Tisdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | Alfa | Qualitative analysis |
| v 18 | 2023-05-04 | Torsdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | QDA workshop |
| v 18 | 2023-05-05 | Fredag | 14:15 | 15:00 | Zoom | FAIR science, guest lecture |
| v 19 | 2023-05-09 | Tisdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | Project supervision |
| v 19 | 2023-05-11 | Torsdag | 14:15 | 17:00 | Alfa | Ethics |
| v 19 | 2023-05-12 | Fredag | 13:15 | 15:00 | High, Low | Planning a final study |
| v 20 | 2023-05-16 | Tisdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | Project supervision + Exam Example |
| v 21 | 2023-05-23 | Tisdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | Adversary method |
| v 21 | 2023-05-25 | Torsdag | 13:15 | 17:00 | High, Low | Project Supervision |
| v 21 | 2023-05-26 | Fredag | 9:15 | 17:30 | Home (Canvas) | Home Exam II |
Course literature
Here are key resources which provide a narrative for the lecture slides and offer a more extensive reference.
Course design
The project is conducted in groups of five students (barring balancing issues).
Theoretical sessions (lectures) are focused on new theory and understaning general principles behind the methods. These methods are later applied in the project.
The sessions in high and low are more hands-on and focused on applying theory to project work. These require on-site participation of the project groups.
Students are expected to attend all sessions.
Please conduct all communication about the course via Canvas Inbox - Paweł's email is hell and you won't get a timely answer.
Changes made since the last occasion
More time for running stats. Using time off efficiently to run studies on time. Descriptions for each project week to help pace project work.
Learning objectives
Knowledge and Understanding:
- Describe diversed theories and practices of human-centered design and human factors.
- Explain the broad psychological, sociological and ecological aspects of human-technology interaction.
Skills and Abilities:
- Apply theories into concrete project practices.
- Plan and organize a project that is applying human-centered design and/or human factors methods, models and principles.
- Formulate research questions in various industrial context and address the issues or needs with theoretical and practical design knowledge.
Judgement Ability and Approach:
- Explain the advantages and the limitations of different theories and methods in the area of human-centered design and human factors.
- Assess and motivate when human-centered design and human factors methods are applicable.
- Analyse issues within human-centered design and human factors from a holistic perspective.
Assessment matrix
Examination form
There are individual pages for all the things to be done under 'modules'. See intro lecture for detailed info.
Assignments, 1.5 points (pass/fail) - study design documents. These will be returned to students until they are correct.
Project, 3 points (U/3/4/5) - assessed based on the project report and peer assessment
Home exam, 3 points (U/3/4/5) - quiz questions (day of exam) + individual reflection (developed during the course)
All Canvas assignments need to be submitted on time. Late assignments will be graded 0. The Home Exam (both parts) and can be reattempted in LP1 HT23.
If the you do not pass the project during regular course time, the group will need to complete an extra activity, due in LP1 HT23.
Course summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|