Syllabus
Class Meeting Times
Thursday 6:00-8:50 PM IS 411
Description
This course provides an introduction to human factors research and applications with emphasis on mature areas such as sensation and perception and manual control. Each class will introduce some concrete human factors problem and explore theory and application relevant to solving it. The term long conceptual design assignment is intended to help maintain focus on applications to design.
Text
Wickens, Chris & Justin Hollands (1999). Engineering Psychology
and Human Performance. NJ: Prentice Hall.
Course Requirements
Assignments
Fifty-four points of a possible 100 will be based on the completion
of 6 assignments. These assignments range from task analyses to problem
sets and are intended to supplement the text and lectures.
Midterm and Final Exams
Exams contributing twenty-three points each will be given. Exams may
contain multiple choice, short answer, or brief discussion questions
and may include problems and analyses covered in class and assignments.
Policies
Late Assignments
Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the days indicated
on this syllabus. I accept no responsibility for tracking or grading
late assignments. If you choose to turn in a homework assignment at
any time other than by the beginning of the designated class meeting
you do so at your own risk. It is your responsibility to retain a copy
and verify through the online gradebook that any late assignment has
been received and graded.
End of Semester
In order to receive a grade for this session, all assignments must
be submitted by the beginning of class on 4/28. Students with missing
assignments at this time will receive an incomplete, ‘G’ grade,
for the semester.
Special Needs
Students with disabilities who require special accommodations or other
classroom modifications should notify the instructor and the University's
Office of Disability Resources & Services (DRS) no later than the
2nd week of the term. Students may be asked to provide documentation
of their disability to determine the appropriateness of the request.
DRS is located in 216 William Pitt Union and can be contacted at 648-7890
(Voice), 624-3346(Fax), and 383-7355(TTY). Students who must miss an
exam or class due to religious observances must notify the instructor
ahead of time and make alternative arrangements.
Class Schedule
1/6 Cancelled for Travel
1/13 Introduction (ch1)
Making a better alarm clock
PROBLEM: What makes "simple" devices difficult to operate?
What is Human Factors?
Overview of Topics
*assignment:Product evaluation *assignment:task
analysis
1/20 Sensory Input (ch2, ch6)
Separating what we see from what we think
PROBLEM: Measuring performance when errors are inevitable
sensation & psychophysics
Signal Detection & inferring sensitivity part
1 part 2
Audition
How we hear and how to take advantage of it
PROBLEMS: Predicting intelligibility of speech over a noisy channel,
localizing sounds for a VR finder
physiologic basis
perception
displays
noise
*assignment Signal Detection Problems
1/27 Vision (ch3)
How we see and how to take advantage of it
PROBLEM: Choosing colors, fonts, blink-rates, ambient lighting, etc. to make
a screen easy to read
adaptation & after
effects
Stereo vision & some nice Juliez stereograms site
1 site 2
lighting
Vision & VDT's
Vision & Problems with Computers
PROBLEMS: Are we safe? What does it take to make color graphics portable?
eyestrain & irradiation
posture & RSI
color & color correction
Fonts, resolution, & legibility Cleartype
**Product evaluation & task analysis due
2/3 Reaction Time (Ch2 44-49 & Ch9)
People aren't good switches
PROBLEM: What are the worst conditions for human information processing?
Information Theory (ch 2 44-49)
Reaction Time (ch 9)
visual search
*assignment reaction time instructions, program, table
2/10 Visual Displays (ch 3 & 4)
Using perception instead of thought
PROBLEM: Let's design a network control management interface
Conventional Displays
Integrative Displays (outside sources)
MSOCC case study**Signal Detection Problems due
2/17 Spatial Displays & Navigation (ch 4 & 5)
2/24 Manual Control (ch 10)
Analyzing our movements
PROBLEM: Let's design a control system for navigating/manipulating
objects in 3-D
Fitts law & control design
Manual Control & Tracking
Elementary Control Theory
operator models
Tracking Handout part
1 part 2
*assignment Fitts law instructions, program
V.1**Reaction time problems
due
3/3 MIDTERM
3/10 SPRING BREAK
3/17 HIP & Ecology (ch 5, 7 & 11)
Difficulty is in the world, not in your head
PROBLEM: How can we predict how difficult something will be?
HIP & memories review
Mental Workload
Isomorphs & difficulty
Expertise & automaticity
motor & perceptual skills "as cognition"
HCI
What's different about computers?
PROBLEM: Let's design a visualization for a stock portfolio
GOMS modeling (handout)
Direct Manipulation
Algorithm Animation & Visualization
3/24 Human Error & Reliability (Ch 12)
Why people can't program VCR's
PROBLEM: Figuring out where people are likely to make mistakes
Case Studies: TMI, Bhopal, & network failures
Models of Error ( Norman vs. Swain)
THERP in detail
assignment:VCR reliability
analysis use vcr
instructions in plain text
**Fitts law experiment due
3/31 “New” Technologies (Ch 5 & 6)
How we hear and how to take advantage of it
Speech Perception
Recognition & Design
Ubiquitous & location based computing**VCR reliability analysis
due
4/7 Issues in Human-Computer Interaction (Ch 4 & 13)
GOMS text
editor model assigned look at Kieras's GOMS tutorial
4/14 Cancelled for Travel
4/21 Decision
Making (Ch 8)
Are we bad decision makers or just bad at estimating probabilities?
PROBLEM: Let's design a DSS for picking stocks
Normative Decision Making
Decision Making Biases
Diagnosis & Repair
4/28 FINAL
**GOMS modeling assignment due