on Education

Gerrit C. van der Veer (gerrit@acm.org)

most work done by

Anne BowserElizabeth Churchill

Jennifer Preece

CHI is multidisciplinary:

Social Sciences (Psychology, Ethnography, Ergonomics)

Computer Science / Engineering /Information Sciences

Design (Arts, Architecture, Industrial Design)

HCI

education one of our focal points:

students’ membership fee and conference fees are below actual costs.

1992 SIGCHI published complete HCI Education curriculum.

world of HCI moves and broadens

computer side of HCI develops too quickly to predict educational needs long in advance.

world of HCI moves and broadens

computer side of HCI develops too quickly to predict educational needs long in advance.

education differs in different parts of the world, and develops into new directions

e.g., the European national education models changed drastically as a result of the Bologna treaty in 1999.

SIGCHI installed a project team

Goal: to better understand the current state of academic and practitioner education needs.

Not only: available body of knowledge

But especially: education needs – for practice, research, students

The project team recently produced their first report:

• pilot survey - 177 respondents →

• 54 follow-up interviews →

• e-questionnaire - 283 respondents worldwide

Objectives

(1) What HCI skills, knowledge and methods are taught worldwide?

(2) What is actually needed

(3) How might SIGCHI support HCI education?

Limitations• not really worldwide (yet)• only preliminary ideas for (3)

Possible outcomes

Education community support

Curriculum advice

Courses plan• Discussion of quality control, outcome measures

and mechanisms for sharing content in a “living curriculum”

Demographics - Age

21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61 and over0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

% o

f par

ticip

ants

Demographics – HCI Experience

0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 over 250

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Years

% o

f Par

ticip

ants

First results:

48% academic, 38% industry professional, 28% students (some choose multiple labels).

central topics, emerging trends, critical challenges

For Students• Top concerns are about jobs• Advice/curriculum tends to be academic oriented

For Students• Top concerns are about jobs• Advice/curriculum tends to be academic oriented

• Emphasis on theory rather than practice• Jobs in industry emphasize practice

For Students• Top concerns are about jobs• Advice/curriculum tends to be academic oriented

• Emphasis on theory rather than practice• Jobs in industry emphasize practice

• Students tend to use academic jargon• Focus on UPA by professionals whereas

academics focus on CHI etc.

For Students• Top concerns are about jobs• Advice/curriculum tends to be academic oriented• Emphasis on theory rather than practice• Jobs in industry emphasize practice• Students tend to use academic jargon• Focus on UPA by professionals whereas academics focus on CHI etc.

Finally:

• Students should not be “jack of all trades”• Domain knowledge important e.g. health

For Academics

• Challenge of fit across departments – who teaches what & interdisciplinary approach

For Academics

• Challenge of fit across departments – who teaches what & interdisciplinary approach

• Stress collaboration but limits on group projects

For Academics

• Challenge of fit across departments – who teaches what & interdisciplinary approach

• Stress collaboration but limits on group projects

• Many academics require education in a specific field e.g. health, business, etc.

For Academics

• Challenge of fit across departments – who teaches what & interdisciplinary approach

• Stress collaboration but limits on group projects

• Many academics require education in a specific field e.g. health, business, etc.

• Desire partnership with industry, particularly for project work so students are prepared for both

For Professionals

• Believe that university courses are geared to academic

For Professionals

• Believe that university courses are geared to academic

• Rift between academia and industry – relevance and collaboration?

For Professionals

• Believe that university courses are geared to academic

• Rift between academia and industry – relevance and collaboration?

• Students would need more partnership, to prepare for academia & industry

• HCI Ed would benefit from having more adjuncts from industry

Q: Which aspects are foundational?

Answer options:

• No education in CS/SE should be required• Sufficient knowledge to work with computer

scientists/ software engineers• Methods in CS/SE including the software

development lifecycle• The skills to build interactive prototypes• Deep knowledge of CS/SE (which topics?)

Foundations in HCI

No education required Knowledge to work with Methedologies Practical/ applied knowledge Deep knowledge0

50

100

150

200

250

CS/SE Psych

Design

Subjects & topics

Design very important

75% participants:• interaction design, • experience design.

Interfaces, displays & devices

• Mobile

• Tablet

• Desktop

• Shared, large, embodied important to some students

Input modalities

• Touch

• Gesture

• Voice

• Many believe the focus should be on theory over applications

Design paradigms & perspectives

• Interaction design

• Agile/interactive

• Experience

• Participatory

• Rapid interaction & testing (RIT)

Design methodologies• Interviews• Low fidelity prototyping (eg paper)• General prototyping• Observation• Usability testing• Field study/ethnography• Brainstorming• Scenarios & story telling• Interactive/high fidelity prototyping

Empirical research & data analysis

• General qualitative• General empirical• General quantitative• Analyzing & applying research• Methods• Data analysis• Problem formation & experimental design• Current research topics

Conferences

• CHI essential for discipline• Others that are important to particular groups:

CSCW, DIS, Mobile HCI, UbiComp, UIST• Location specific (e.g. NordiCHI) & topic-specific

(e.g. ASSETS)• Local SIGS and Chapters also considered

important by some• Somewhat of a divide between academics &

professionals

Journals

• Interactions seen as very important

• CACM, IJHCI, Interacting with Computers, TOCHI

• Professionals: Also CSCW, JCMC

Next steps?

• Standardized curriculum? NO

• How to evaluate different curricula? HARD

• CHI courses (modules) OPPORTUNITY

• Input 2012 CHI workshop for CS 2013? DIFFERENCE OF VISION

Some examples from Europe

visual design patternspatternwizard.nl/pattern/wizard/

human information processingwww.opener2.ou.nl/opener/hip/

task analysiswww.nibuk.nl/taskanalysis/tool/