Aims

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.

Unit Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit can:

1.  Apply scholarly and evidence-based approaches to software requirements elicitation and specification.

2.  Analyse software context of use (i.e., users, tasks and system environment) using a variety of models to identify user requirements.

3.  Design and build a prototype user interface according to software requirements and usability design principles.

4.  Apply a variety of usability evaluation methods to evaluate and iterate user interface design solutions.

5.  Describe and apply guidelines for professional practice in the ethical treatment of human research participants.

6.  Implement and reflect on strategies for working in small groups.

Graduate Attributes

The Swinburne Graduate Attributes describe the capability of our graduates to use knowledge, skills and behaviours to contribute to society meaningfully and positively. They include professional, self-directed learning and future-ready skills.

This unit contributes to the development of the following Swinburne Graduate Attributes:

   GA1 Communication - Verbal communication:

   GA2 Communication - Communicating using different media:

   GA3 Teamwork - Collaboration and negotiation:

   GA4 Teamwork - Teamwork roles and processes:

   GA5 Digital literacies- Information literacy:

   GA6 Digital Literacies- Technical literacy:

Other graduate attributes maybe practised in the unit but are not formally taught as part of the unit content, nor incorporated withinformal assessment.

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

PART B:        Your Unit in more detail

Unit Improvements

Feedback provided by previous students through the Student Survey has resulted in improvements that have been made to this unit. Recent improvements include:

• Improved of wording of assessment rubrics

• Updated textbook references

• Clarification of

o assessment submission requirements

o team member expected contribution to Project 3 and 4

Assessment

a)   Assessment Overview

+See Canvas for exact dates

b)   Minimum requirements to pass this unit

To pass this unit, you must:

•    achieve an overall mark for the unit of 50% or more

c)   Final Assessment Period

If the unit you are enrolled in has a final assessment (including invigilated exams),   you will be expected to be available for the entire final assessment period including any Special Exam period.

d)  Use of generative AI (genAI) in this Unit

Project Report and Project Assessments: genAI (e.g., Copilot, ChatGPT) may be used  for brainstorming, creating structures, improving grammar and generating ideas for

improving work. Any use of genAI must be acknowledged, with prompts and outputs included in an appendix.

Online Test: Must be completed without use of genAI.

e)   Submission Requirements

Assignments and other assessments are generally submitted online through the

Canvas assessment submission system which integrates with the Turnitin plagiarism checking service.

Please ensure you keep a copy of all assessments that are submitted.

In cases where a hard copy submission is required an Assessment Cover Sheet

must be submitted with your assignment. The standard Assessment Cover Sheet is

available from the Submitting work webpage or www.swinburne.edu.au/studentforms/

See Canvas for detailed submission instructions for assessments in this unit.

f)    Extensions and Late Submission

Late Submissions - Unless an extension has been approved, late submissions will result in a penalty. You will be penalised 10% of your achieved mark for each working day the task is late, up to a maximum of 5 working days. After 5 working days, a zero result will be recorded.

g)   Referencing

To avoid breaching academic integrity, you are required to provide references whenever you include information from other sources in your work and acknowledge when you have used Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools (such as ChatGPT).

Further details regarding academic integrity are available in Section C of this document.

Referencing conventions required for this unit are: APA7

Helpful information on referencing can be found at

http://www.swinburne.edu.au/library/referencing/

h)   Groupwork Guidelines

A group assignment is the collective responsibility of the entire group, and if one

member is temporarily unable to contribute, the group should be able to reallocate responsibilities to keep to schedule. In the event of longer-term illness or other

serious problems involving a member of group, it is the responsibility of the other members to notify immediately the Unit Convenor or relevant tutor.

All group members must be satisfied that the work has been correctly submitted.

Any penalties for late submission will generally apply to all group members, not just the person who submitted.

To assist in the smooth running of teamwork, you are strongly encouraged to implement the following guidelines:

•    All arrangements such as time and place for team meetings and work to be   done must be confirmed in writing (e.g., email or agreed messaging platform. (e.g., slack)) to minimise confusion.

•    Use a file-sharing program to maintain documents and keep up-to-date copies of work. NOTE: To avoid the risk of plagiarism, do not use group file sharing area to store your individual tasks.

It is expected that all team communications and activities are conducted in a courteous and professional manner. Discourteous and/or unprofessional behaviour may result in exclusion from the team as per the Code of Conduct (see below). All team communications must be archived until results are released.  Academic Staff reserve the right to view and moderate team communications.

Teams will agree to a Code of Conduct at the beginning of the UCD Project. Team  members who break the terms of the Code of Conduct may be excluded from the team and placed in a ‘team’ on their own (or with other excluded students).

Team members are expected to contribute intellectually to and understand all components of the UCD Project. Students who take credit for work they have not contributed to and/or does not understand, may be investigated for plagiarism.

Team marks may be adjusted depending on knowledge and/or contribution level of individuals which will be determined by one or more of the following:

•    Team member peer assessments and/or written communications,

•    Class attendance,

•    Contribution to work product,

•    Observations of teaching staff,

•    Interviews with teaching staff.

Required Textbook(s)

The required textbook(s) are available through the Swinburne Library or can be purchased from bookshops.

Hartson, R. & Pyla, P. (2019). The UX Book: Agile UX design for a quality user experience (2nd ed.). Morgan-Kaufmann, Cambridge, MA

Recommended Reading Materials

The Library has a large collection of resource materials. Listed below are some references that will provide valuable supplementary information to this unit. It is also recommended that you explore other sources to broaden your understanding.

Courage, C. & Baxter, K. (2015). Understanding your users: A practical guide to user requirements, methods, tools and techniques, (2nd ed.) Morgan-Kaufmann,   San Francisco, CA.

Dumas,J. & Loring, B. (2008). Moderating usability tests: Principles and practices for interacting, Elsevier, Burlington.

Rubin, J. & Chisnell, D. (2008). Handbook of usability testing: How to plan, design and conduct effective tests (2nd ed). Wiley, Indianapolis.