At the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), I teach in the BS in Applied Computing, MS in Human-Centered Computing, nad PhD in Computing and Information Science programs. I have taught in-person, remote, and online, and contributed to development of degree programs, assessment strategies, and curriculum refinement. The following are my favorite courses to teach across my 10 years of teaching expeirence.
This is an introductory undergraduate general education course that provides a foundation for human-centered computing knowledge for students in our college, as well as for students in other majors. I cover a rotating set of 6 modules each semseter, each representing a relevant application domain of human-centered computing, such as communication and collaboration, entertainment and gaming, education, e-commerce, finance, and enterprise systems. Students gain hands on experiences with core human-centered computing methods and tools while exploring topics of relevance and interest to their everyday lives. They also participate in bi-weekly presentations and critique of concepts that are student-generated depending on the topic area.
In this course, students gain an understanding of fundamental Human-Centered Computing and Engineering Psychology concepts that pertain to user-interface design. Using a laddered approach, they practice these fundamental concepts through a series of design, critique, and improve excercises using state-of-the-art prototyping tools such as Figma and InVision. While not focused on visual design, we do cover topics related to visual heirarchy, typography, and color. We spend most of the semseter focused on core interaction styles such as Direct Manipulation, Fluid Navigation, and Communication and Collaboration. Through articulating their designs and explaining their rationale for their prototypes, students learn information architecture and some of Norman's key design principles.
This undergraduate senior-level course involves a Service Learning project to tackle a meaningful problem in our community through the use of the UX design process. Students collaborate with these community partners to understand stakeholder needs, perform contextual inquiry, and develop preliminary concepts that explore the solution space relevant to the problem. They engage in co-design with their primary user group and develop medium-fidelity or Wizard of Oz prototypes as a means of understanding the problem deeper, and finally perform a classic laboratory based usability study with their prototype. This course brings together students' knowledge about HCI concepts, the engineering design process, and design theories from previous course offerings to prepare them for the ill-structired and wicked problems often encountered in UX Design industry.
This graaduate-level course introduces students to the design research dicipline, and its relevant research traditions and approaches. Through a Service-Learning engagement with a community partner, students interrogate research methods used in design processes to understand the limitations and strengths of positivistic and interpretevist approaches to design spaces. They investigate the link between process and outcome, and examine structures of accountability that exist within design research and practice. Their main deliberable is a conference-style poster describing their semseter long research project. Many students continue to work with their community partners once the course is over, using their preliminary findings for their Master's Thesis or PhD Dissertation.
This is a course I taught while at the Pennsylvania State University for my doctoral studies. I was the instructor of record on this course and performed major content and assessment changes while teaching it. In this course, students perform formal product dissection (tear-downs, reverse engineering) of existing physical products to gain an understanding of fundamental engineering principles. We worked with both purely mechanical products such as bicycles and lawnmower engines, as well as products with electrical components such as hair dryers and kitchen applicances. Using morphological charts, Function Brhavior Structure diagrams, and Bill of Materials, students explore the internal function of these products before abstracting up their knowledge to general engineering principles. Since the course is very self-directed (depending on students' speed of tear down) students learn metacognition and organizational skills in addition to discipline specific knowledge. I particularly loved teaching this course since it uses an interesting pedagogical approach and involves getting your hands dirty-- my happy place!