User-Centred Design
48 hours face to face + blended
One Semester or equivalent
Hawthorn
Available to incoming Study Abroad and Exchange students
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 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-March-2025
01-June-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
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 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Tests | Individual | 15 - 30% | 1,2,4,5 |
| Peer Evaluation | Individual | 5 - 10% | 6 |
| Project 1 | Group | 5 - 10% | 6 |
| Project 2 | Group | 15 - 30% | 1,2 |
| Project 3 | Group | 15 - 30% | 2,3,4 |
| Project 4 | Individual/Group | 15 - 30% | 4,5 |
| Project Report | Individual | 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.