STAFF

Instructor: Funda Durupinar Babur

Office: M-03-0201-08

Office Hours:  1-3pm Wed

TA: Bennie Bendiksen

TA Office: M-03-0201-30

DESCRIPTION

This course examines the principles of user interface design. You will learn to design, prototype, and evaluate user interfaces. This is a project-based course. You will work in small groups to construct an interactive user interface, taking a user-centered, iterative approach. You are expected to attend the classes and be active, i.e. participate in the discussions and activities. 

Course Format

The course will be in-person at Healey H04-0031. All the course information and material, including slides, assignments, and announcements will be on Canvas.  

TExtbooks

There are no required textbooks, but the following books are recommended.  They are all available on Healey Library Online resources. Click on the images to access them through the library with your UMB account. Additional reading materials will be available on Blackboard.

GRADING

Participation (5%):  Participation in class activities and discussions

Assignments (10%):  There will be two assignments.

Midterm (20%): A multiple-choice exam with one cheat sheet.

Final Exam (25%): A multiple-choice exam with two cheat sheets.

Final Project (40%): 

You will design, implement, and evaluate a web-based, mobile, or desktop user interface in groups of three to five. You will create a dedicated webpage with links to your project reports and files.  The project will be completed in six steps and your final grade will be weighted based on the confidential scores of your team members and yourself.  At the end of the semester, you will distribute 10 points among all the team members based on your opinions of each person's contribution percentage.  The project steps are as follows:

1. Project proposal with the topic, teams, web site  (10pts)

2. User, task, domain  analysis (10pts)

3. Scenario and storyboard designs (10pts)

4. Paper prototyping and low-fidelity testing (15pts)

5. Computer prototyping (20pts)

6. Implementation and demos (35pts) 

AI USE POLICY

This course recognizes that modern interface design and software development increasingly involve the use of AI-based tools such as large language models (e.g., ChatGPT), code assistants, and generative design systems. Rather than prohibiting these tools, the course treats them as legitimate components of the design process when used responsibly and transparently.

You are permitted to use AI tools for idea generation, research support, writing assistance, design exploration, prototyping, coding, debugging, and usability analysis. However, the intellectual responsibility for all submitted work remains with the you and your project team.

All uses of AI must be clearly documented. For the assignments and the project, you must include a brief AI Use Disclosure describing:

• which tools were used,

• for what purpose,

• how the AI output influenced the final design,

• what decisions were made by the student or team beyond the AI’s suggestions.

Assessment will prioritize design quality, reasoning, and critical judgment over the mechanical production of content or code. Reliance on AI without evidence of independent analysis, evaluation, and iteration will result in reduced credit.

Using AI tools does not remove the obligation to follow academic integrity standards. Submitting AI-generated work without disclosure, misrepresenting AI output as purely human work, or failing to demonstrate understanding of submitted material constitutes academic misconduct.

LATE SUBMISSION POLICY

Any unexcused work received past the due date will receive a deduction on the following scale:

• Less than 1 day late: 10 points

• More than 1 day late: 20 points * number of days. 

So, an assignment with an original grade of 100 will receive 90 if it is submitted a few hours later than the deadline, 80 if it is submitted the next day (>24 hrs past deadline) until it receives no credit after the 5th day.

Tentative SCHEDULE

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

Any student submitting somebody else’s work (including AI tools) as their own, or copying their own old work (whole or in part) to a new submission, will immediately fail the course. In particularly drastic cases, plagiarism can lead to expulsion from the University. The instructor will not tolerate dishonesty and make no exceptions to this policy. Please protect yourself and the instructor from this unpleasant business by being honest and submitting only your own work. It is perfectly acceptable to cite and quote other authors, but you must clearly identify these parts as citations or quotes. If you do use quotes, you will be graded on your own synthesis, not on the quality of the work you are citing or quoting. Assignments with evidence of plagiarism cannot be resubmitted.

Students are required to adhere to the University Policy on Academic Standards and Cheating, to the University Statement on Plagiarism and the Documentation of Written Work, and to the Code of Student Conduct which is available online at: https://www.umb.edu/academics/academic_integrity

ACCOMMODATIONS

UMass Boston is committed to creating learning environments that are inclusive and accessible. If you have a personal circumstance that will impact your learning and performance in this class, please let me know as soon as possible, so we can discuss the best ways to meet your needs and the requirements of the course. If you have a documented disability, or would like guidance about navigating support services, contact the Ross Center for Disability Services by email (ross.center@umb.edu), phone (617-287-7430), or in person (Campus Center, UL Room 211). To receive accommodations, students must be registered with the Ross Center and must request accommodations each semester that they are in attendance at UMass Boston. For more information visit: www.rosscenter.umb.edu. Please note that the Ross Center will provide a letter for your instructor with information about your accommodation only and not about your specific disability.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Course materials will be available on Canvas.