Information Technology Innovation

Graduate (MSc) course, Utrecht University, School of Information and Computer Science, 2022

The Interaction technology innovation course is a practice-oriented learning experience in which student apply methods of Human-Computer Interaction in designing an interactive system. It immerses students in a user-centered design process where they conduct user research, prototype solutions, evaluate systems and consider their designs’ ethical implications. The curriculum covers advanced design methodologies and knowledge about interaction paradigms. Practical skills in developing prototypes for tangible and embedded interaction are developed.

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Course Goals

  1. Design and develop the user experience
  2. Apply fundamentals of user centered and human centered design
  3. Select and use design methodologies (e.g. Design thinking, System thinking, Agile)
  4. Select and use appropriate methods for HCI design, including design ethnography, cultural probes, participatory and co-design, design sketches, and role play.
  5. Design and develop low, medium/high fidelity prototypes and use them in a design process
  6. Design and implement interactions specific to physical and tangible computing, ubiquitous computing, the internet of things, social computing, mobile computing
  7. Understand the constraints and requirements when designing systems for several domains (e.g., sports, well-being, communication, etc.)
  8. Select appropriate sensor modalities and develop novel interaction techniques for gesture-based, tangible and touch interaction.
  9. Consider the ethics and privacy issues related to HCI design
  10. Apply Privacy by Design method
  11. Learn to recognize possible negative ethical consequences of designs
  12. Identify possible ethical fallacies with adversarial design
  13. Perform design-based research including research in the wild and long term interventions
  14. Apply rapid prototyping procedures and principles to ideas and research questions