Link to Official Full Syllabus
Below is weekly outline of topics, assignments, and deliverables. These are also on bCourses.
WEEK 1
26 Aug Introduction
Slides
Assignment: Reading Response (due before class on 31 Aug)
Section/Studio: No Section
WEEK 2
31 Aug The Design Cycle, Brainstorming, and Critique
Slides
Reading: Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., & Preece, J. (2023). Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction (6th ed. ed.). (Read Chapter 1 "What Is Interaction Design?" up to and including section 1.9.2).
Reading: The 5 Stages in the Design Thinking Process (last edited 2025) by Rikke Friis Dam, The Interaction Design Foundation
Assignment: PROG 01: Electric Time (due by 11:59pm on 18 Sep)
Assignment: DESIGN 01: Ambient Intelligence: Ideas (due due 11:59pm 13 Sep)
02 Sep Ubiquitous and Context Aware Computing
Slides
Reading: Mark Weiser. 1999. The Computer for the 21st Century. Scientific American, Sept 1991.
Reading Hiroshi Ishii and Brygg Ullmer. 1997. Tangible bits: towards seamless interfaces between people, bits and atoms. https://doi.org/10.1145/258549.258715
Assignment: DESIGN 02: Ambient Intelligence: Prototype (due due 11:59pm 25 Sep)
Section/Studio: Intro to Web Frontend Coding
WEEK 3
07 Sep Labor Day
No Class
09 Sep Storyboard, Scenarios, and Personas
Slides
Reading: Pruitt, J., & Grudin, J. (2003). Personas: Practice and theory. In Proceedings of the 2003 Conference on Designing for User Experiences (DUX '03) (pp. 1–15). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/997078.997089
Reading: Synthetic Users: If, When, and How to Use AI-Generated 'Research' by Maria Rosala & Kate Moran, Nielsen Norman Group, June 2024
Section: Javascript
WEEK 4
14 Sep Task Analysis and Sketching
Slides
Reading: The Psychology of Everyday Things. The Design of Everyday Things. Chapter 1. Norman.
Reading: What is your site's AI chatbot for? Users can't tell, Rosala, M., Kenderova, G., & Kohler, T. (2026, March 20). Nielsen Norman Group
Assignment Due: DESIGN 01: Ambient Intelligence: Ideas (due 13 Sep)
Assignment: DESIGN 03: Ambient Intelligence: Prototype (due due 11:59pm 09 Oct)
16 Sep Affordance, Contextual Inquiry, and Conceptual Models
Slides
Reading: The Design of Everyday Things. by Norman. Read Chapter 2, "The Psychology of Everyday Actions"
Assignment Due: PROG 01: Electric Time (due by 11:59pm on 18 Sep)
Section: Figma
WEEK 5
21 Sep Heuristic Evaluation
Slides
Reading: Heuristic Evaluation. Jakob Nielsen. (1) How to conduct a heuristic evaluation, (2) Ten recommended heuristics, (3) Severity Ratings for usability problems
Reading: Accelerating Research with AI (Moran and Rosala, 2024/rev. 2026)
Assignment: PROG 02: REPRESENT! (due by 11:59pm on 16 Oct)
23 Sep Human Models
Slides
Reading: The Textbook of Usability, Chris Paton • Chapter 3 - Memory and Cognitive Load • Chapter 4 - Attention and Decision-Making • Chapter 5 - Motor Control and Fitts's Law • Chapter 6 - The Model Human Processor.
Assignment Due: DESIGN 02: Ambient Intellegence: Prototype (due 25 Sep)
Section: Teaming
WEEK 6
28 Sep Modes, Metaphors, and Input Devices
Slides
Reading: None
30 Sep Brainstorm
No Slides
Final Project Theme: Field Agents: AI in the Wild
Assignment: PROJ 01: Brainstorm (due before class on 7 Oct)
Reading: How to Run a Design Critique by Scott Berkun
Reading: How to Give and Receive Criticism by Scott Berkun
Section: Using AI APIs
WEEK 7
05 Oct Graphic Design, Typography, and Design Language
Slides
Reading: Interactive Guide to Web Typography
Reading: Butterick's Practical Typography (Read Chapter on "Why Typography Matters" and "Text Formatting")
Reading: All About the Grid System
07 Oct Visual Information Design
Slides
Reading: None
Assignment: PROJ 02: Project Idea (due before class on 21 Oct)
Assignment Due: PROJ 01: Brainstorm
Assignment Due: DESIGN 03: Ambient Intellegence: Critique (due 09 Oct)
Section: Using AI APIs (continuted)
WEEK 8
12 Oct Usability Testing
Slides
Reading: How To Do Experiments. Doing Psychology Experiments. Chap 2. Martin
14 Oct Data Analysis
Slides
Reading: How To Interpret Experimental Results. Doing Psychology Experiments. Chap 12. Martin.
Assignment Due: PROG 02: Represent! (due 11:59pm on 16 Oct)
Assignment Due: PROJ 02: Project Idea (due before class)
Assignment: PROJ 03: Understanding Users and Competitive Analysis (due 04 Nov)
Assignment: PROJ 04: Coding Towards High-Fidelity (Due 18 Nov)
Section: Team Progress Check-in Meetings
WEEK 9
19 Oct Human Centered AI + AI and the Gulf of Envisioning
Slides
Reading: TDB
21 Oct Project Ideas
Slides
Assignment Due: DESIGN 05: Project Idea (due before class)
All Teams will prsent their project idea in class (3 min per team)
Section: Team Progress Check-in Meetings
WEEK 10
26 Oct Open Class: Project Idea Checkin
28 Oct Midterm
Section: Team Progress Check-in Meetings
WEEK 11
02 Nov Communicating Ideas: Presentation, Documentation, Videos, and Images
Slides
04 Nov Studio: TBD
Slides
Assignment Due: PROJ 03: Understanding Users and Competitive Analysis
Section: Team Progress Check-in Meetings
WEEK 12
09 Nov Studio: TBD
11 Nov Veterans Day
No Class
WEEK 13
16 Nov Worksession / Check-in
Section: Team Progress Check-in Meetings
18 Nov Worksession / Check-in
Assignment Due: PROJ 04: Coding Towards High-Fidelity
Section: TBA
WEEK 14
23 Nov Worksession
No Class
25 Nov THANKSGIVING
No Class
Section: None
WEEK 15
30 Nov Worksession / Open Team Check-ins
02 Dec Worksession / Open Team Check-ins
FINAL CRITIQUE
08 Dec Tue of RRR Week • FINAL CRITIQUE
Final Presentations
Session 1 • 10am-12pm
Session 2 • 2pm-4pm
10 Dec Thur of RRR Week • PUBLIC SHOWCASE
Public Showcase online • 2–4 PM
13 Dec Fri of RRR Week • FINAL MATERIALS
Final materials due on 13 Dec (11:59pm)
