CS 889 W24 - Research Methods in HCI
Instructor
Dr. Jian Zhao, Assistant Professor, Cheriton School of Computer Science
Contact
jianzhao-at-uwaterloo-dot-ca
Office hours
By appointment
When and Where
Fridays 10:00am-12:50pm, DC 2568
Course Communication
MS Teams: for announcements, Q & A, access to class materials, team communication, etc. Download
Zoom: for remote class meetings and office hours when necessary. Download
Announcements
- If you want to apply for a permission number to enroll the course, please fill in this form.
- Please let the instructor know immediately if you have difficulty to access the MS Teams course channels within the first week.
Overview
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a multidisciplinary field focused on the design, evaluation, and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use. At its core, HCI examines the interaction between humans and computers, striving to create seamless, intuitive, and effective interfaces that enhance user experience. By integrating aspects of psychology, design, ergonomics, computer science, and usability, HCI aims to understand user behaviors, preferences, and needs, ultimately crafting interfaces and systems that accommodate diverse users while optimizing efficiency, accessibility, and satisfaction. In this seminar-style course, students will obtain an overview of typical methodologies in HCI research and learn how to design, develop, and evaluate HCI techniques. For more details, please see the course information (for marking scheme and graded components) and course schedule (for readings, seminars, exercises, and project deadlines). Also check the resources page for useful materials.
Course Policies
Course Enrollment
Enrollment to the course after the first week needs an instructor’s approval, since this is a project-based course which requires teams to be formed by the second week.
Participation and Late Panelties
A student is required to attend all the classes, and participation grade will be partially based on how many classes are missed. However, special situations can be accommodated (e.g., academic travel, illness, and emergencies). Students must notify the instructor regarding their absence and provide the necessary justification. Moreover, students must inform the instructor if they have to miss a deadline for such special situations. For other cases, the general policy is that late work will be deducted 10% of the total marks per calendar day late. The instructor reserves the right to accept late work or not.
Note on using ChatGPT and other GenAI Models
A student is allowed to use text-generating Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) such as ChatGPT to improve the writing of their assignments. However, a clear description on why and how it is used needs to be declared. Blindly copying and pasting a large chunk of text from the GenAI is prohibited. In addition, all the prompts used with the GenAI need to be submitted along with the assignments. Failing to comply with this policy may result in an academic offense as outlined in Policy 71, Student Discipline. [Check the University Guidelines for more information.]
Academic Integrity
In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.]
Grievance
A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
Discipline
A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.] A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.
Appeals
A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.
Note for Students with Disabilities
AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.
Intellectual Property
Students should be aware that this course contains the intellectual property of their instructor, TA, and/or the University of Waterloo. Intellectual property includes items such as:
- Lecture content, spoken and written (and any audio/video recording thereof);
- Lecture handouts, presentations, and other materials prepared for the course (e.g., PowerPoint slides);
- Questions or solution sets from various types of assessments (e.g., assignments, quizzes, tests, final exams); and
- Work protected by copyright (e.g., any work authored by the instructor or TA or used by the instructor or TA with permission of the copyright owner).
Course materials and the intellectual property contained therein, are used to enhance a student’s educational experience. However, sharing this intellectual property without the intellectual property owner’s permission is a violation of intellectual property rights. For this reason, it is necessary to ask the instructor, TA and/or the University of Waterloo for permission before uploading and sharing the intellectual property of others online (e.g., to an online repository).
Permission from an instructor, TA or the University is also necessary before sharing the intellectual property of others from completed courses with students taking the same/similar courses in subsequent terms/years. In many cases, instructors might be happy to allow distribution of certain materials. However, doing so without expressed permission is considered a violation of intellectual property rights.
Please alert the instructor if you become aware of intellectual property belonging to others (past or present) circulating, either through the student body or online. The intellectual property rights owner deserves to know (and may have already given their consent).