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HCI-related courses taught through Harvard Computer Science

CS 179: Design of Useful and Usable Interactive Systems.

This undergraduate course is typically offered in the spring semester. The course takes students through the digital product development process all the way from finding a pressing need, through product concept development, several different prototyping techniques, several testing techniques, all the way to building an mobile web app. A key goal of the course is to help students develop attitudes and techniques that will allow them to design valuable and effective digital products for people who are different from themselves.

Current and recent offerings:

 

CS 96: (Sociotechnical) System Design Projects

Cooperative formative research, design, development, and testing of a sizable and realistic sociotechnical system, i.e., a solution to a real-world problem that includes both technical and human components. Students work as a team with a client on a real-world open-ended problem, and gain experience in Computer Science (problem definition, software development, iterative design), and in other fields relevant to the problem. Both student participation in the classroom and effective teamwork outside the classroom are stressed. The specific challenge for Fall 2020 will be announced on the course website.

 

CS 279: Topics in HCI Research.

This graduate course is typically offered in the fall semester. The course explores major areas of inquiry and core research methods in Human-Computer Interaction including experimental design, statistical data analysis, and qualitative methods.  Activities will include discussion of primary literature, a small number of lectures, assignments (design, execution and analysis of both lab-based and on-line experiments), and a research project.

Current and recent offerings: