Overview

This unit of study aims to introduce students to the concept of usability and the process of User-Centred Design as a method of achieving good usability outcomes in software development.

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
29-July-2024
27-October-2024
Last self-enrolment date
11-August-2024
Census date
31-August-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
13-September-2024
Results released date
03-December-2024
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-March-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
16-March-2025
Census date
31-March-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
24-April-2025
Results released date
08-July-2025
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
04-August-2025
02-November-2025
Last self-enrolment date
17-August-2025
Census date
31-August-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
19-September-2025
Results released date
09-December-2025

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Apply scholarly and evidence-based approaches to software requirements elicitation and specification
  • Analyse software context of use (i.e., users, tasks and system environment) using a variety of models to identify user requirements
  • Design and build a prototype user interface according to software requirements and usability design principles
  • Apply a variety of usability evaluation methods to evaluate and iterate user interface design solutions
  • Describe and apply guidelines for professional practice in the ethical treatment of human research participants
  • Implement and reflect on strategies for working in small groups

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Live Online
Lecture		1.00 12 weeks 12
On-campus
Class		2.00 12 weeks 24
Online
Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning		1.50 12 weeks 18
Unspecified Activities
Various		8.00 12 weeks 96
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Online TestsIndividual 15 - 30% 1,2,4,5 
Peer EvaluationIndividual 5 - 10% 6 
Project 1Group 5 - 10% 6 
Project 2Group 15 - 30% 1,2 
Project 3Group 15 - 30% 2,3,4 
Project 4Individual/Group 15 - 30% 4,5 
Project ReportIndividual 10 - 20% 1,2 

Content

  • ISO User-Centred Design process and principles
  • Usability as a component of software quality
  • Understanding and modelling context of use (users, tasks, and system environment)
  • Requirements elicitation and specification
  • Ethics of human research
  • Usability design principles, guidelines and standards
  • Conceptual design and iterative prototyping
  • Usability evaluation methods
  • Psychological principles

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.