CIS*2170 Course Description

Calendar Description: This course is a practical introduction to the area of user interface (UI) construction. Topics include user interface components and their application, best practices for user interface design, approaches to prototyping, and techniques for assessing interface suitability.

Course Prerequisites: CIS*1200 or CIS*1500

PLEASE NOTE: I am still in the process of finalizing CIS*2170 for W22, so the details provided below are provisional at this time. I do not envision massive changes, but I must reserve the right to make adjustments as need arises.

General Format of Course: User Interface Design is an expertise-driven practice and designers are practice-led experts. As such, this course focuses on: 1) building expertise, and 2) developing practice.

The W22 offering of CIS*2170 will help you build your expertise in UI Design via weekly posted readings, lectures, and your submission of individual Example/Counterexamples that demonstrate one (or more) concept(s) from the readings.

To help you develop your practice as a UI designer, you will also complete weekly labs that let you demonstrate the concepts from the readings. Labs will likely be completed in pairs, but I am not 100% sure about pairs yet (alternative is individually).

Assuming a Tu/Th schedule, Tuesday lectures will comprise a guided discussion of that week's topic. Tuesday lectures will be in-person/hybrid, meaning you can choose to attend in-person or remotely (via Zoom). I have not taught a hybrid course previously, so expect some bumps in this road. I will use Zoom's recording feature to capture Tuesday lectures and host them on CourseLink. I still need to determine how to handle remote questions (on-projector chat window?) and how to capture in-person questions (omni-directional microphone?).

Thursday lectures will comprise very short student presentations of their Example/Counterexample submission for that week. Thursday lectures will be 100% online (Zoom), but as these comprise student presentations, Thursday lectures will NOT be recorded. I will post who is presenting each Thursday sometime between the Example/Counterexample submission deadline (typically 11:59pm Wednesday) and the Thursday lecture (I sure hope it isn't at 8:30am). These presentations are pass/fail, roughly comprise one minute for each student, give you practice presenting your work, and enable learning from your peers. You will do two presentations, one before and one after Winter Break.

All Labs will be synchronous online (possibly via Discord). You *must* be able to attend the lab session in which you register. You will work in pairs (or individually, still unsure) to put the week's concepts into practice by completing a design exercise within the two-hour time limit of the lab.

I am still unsure of this, but I am also considering weekly or biweekly online surveys to give you a clear and regular feedback channel so I can maintain a good sense of how the course is going. This worked well in W21 but was also quite time consuming.

Methods of Evaluation: You will receive feedback on your Example/Counterexample submissions and your Lab submissions. Your Thursday presentations will be graded on a pass/fail basis with no feedback provided. Your aggregate grades on these three components will be used to determine your final grade.