Scaling Student-Run Workshops in an Advanced HCI Course - EduCHI 2019
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Scaling Student-Run Workshops in an
Advanced HCI Course
Gilly Leshed Author Keywords
Information Science HCI education, student engagement, active learning.
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14850, USA ACM Classification Keywords
gl87@cornell.edu K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education.
Introduction: Advanced HCI Course
Abstract The Advanced HCI class at Cornell is an upper-level
In an Advanced HCI course at Cornell, an upper-level undergraduate and masters-level class. Enrolled
undergraduate and masters-level class, students apply students are typically interested in HCI-oriented careers
the concepts they learn in lecture through a weekly such as UX design/research or product management,
hands-on workshop, which they organize and run. This although some are taking the course as enrichment,
allows them to actively participate in shaping the without planning an HCI-oriented career. About 70% of
course, and to engage in “learning by teaching”. The the students major in information science, and the rest
experience of students has so far been positive. As an come from a variety of fields, including social sciences,
instructor, I am faced with the question of how to scale computer science, natural sciences, engineering,
this student engagement as class size is increasingly design, and architecture. Further, the classroom is
growing. I hope to discuss at the EduCHI symposium diverse in terms of genders, ethnicities, and countries
the challenge of scaling both HCI education in general of origin.
and active student participation in particular.
This advanced course builds on the introductory HCI
design course, which follows the human-centered
design process [4], from exploratory user research,
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for
personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are through design ideation and conceptualization,
not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that prototyping, to evaluation. The advanced course covers
copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights
for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other
an array of advanced HCI design and research methods
uses, contact the first author. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). and approaches, such as design ethnography [10],
theatre techniques in design [3], cultural probes [2],
participatory design [5], Students Lead the Workshops
autobiographical design [7], Over the course of the semester, there are a total of 11
and more. Students engage in weekly workshops. The first two workshops of the
a semester-long team project semester are prepared and run by the instructor.
in which they apply these Starting week 3, the weekly workshops are planned,
methods in the HCI design organized, and led by the students. At the outset of the
process. semester, students are given the schedule of topics
covered throughout the weeks, and they sign up and
The course’s weekly structure team together to take charge of the workshops on
includes two 75-minute these topics.
sessions. The first weekly
session is a combined lecture / Students are free to choose the pedagogic method for
seminar-style discussion that the workshop, and are provided with ideas such as craft
Figure 1: Cultural probes workshop, Spring 2015 covers this week’s topic, exercises, field trips, performing arts, film watching or
including discussions of the making, games, and cooking. A few weeks before each
readings, the theory behind the workshop session, the instructor meets with the team
methods, and the implications to ensure they have acquired in-depth understanding of
and applications of the the topic, and to consult over the workshop plan to
methods. ensure it is well-organized and that the concepts are
well-covered. The team then continues planning on
The second weekly session is a their own, iterating and improving their workshop plan
hands-on workshop. This based on ongoing feedback from the instructor.
session includes an activity in
which the students practice Having students actively participate in teaching course
applying the method. For concepts by organizing classroom activities makes the
example, to practice theatre course more engaging---more than having them
techniques, students carry out participate in class discussions or breakout activities
improv activities for and exercises. Further, the idea behind students
Figure 2: User Enactments workshop, Spring 2018 brainstorming [3] and plan a planning and running the workshops is to have them
User Enactment scenario and dive deep into a topic of their interest and experience
environment [8]. At the end of each workshop, we hold “learning by teaching.” According to the “Learning
a discussion in light of the activity students just Pyramid” [6], teaching others is the most effective way
experienced, about the theoretical and practical to learn a subject.
principles of the method, its place in the HCI design
process, and advantages and limitations.In the past three offerings of this class, student User Enactments (UEs)
feedback indicates that they appreciate the active Odom et al. [8] introduced this methodology as a way
engagement, the freedom to apply their creativity, and to evaluate and inspire design of future technologies.
the new learning style that helps put theory into Users enact loosely-scripted scenarios within physical
practice (see sidebar). and social contexts constructed by designers in
Student feedback in course situations that have both a familiar context (e.g., a
evaluations: Examples of Past Workshops college campus, a family home) and novel technical
Below are two examples of workshops that students interventions. This topic was covered in class as part of
“I thought allowing students to have created and led in the past few years. a broader topic of using theatre techniques in the
teach a workshop really helped design process, both within the design team (e.g.,
with keeping the class engaged.“ Cultural Probes brainstorming [3] and bodystorming [9]) and with
Developed by Gaver et al. [2] and widely adopted and users.
“The workshop sessions were adapted in the HCI community [1], Cultural Probes are
amazing. Made the class not just a design approach that highlights the individuality and In the workshop (Fig. 2), groups were given topics such
theory.” subjectivity of community members being designed for as “the future of campus dining”, and were asked to
and of designers, through rich engagement and design a futuristic technology and a storyboard that
“I love that this class expanded interactions throughout the design process, sparking depicts a potential use scenario. They were also
on different methods I had heard imagination toward inventive design processes and provided with various craft materials and cardboard to
about and the workshop gave me outcomes. In practice, designers construct a “probes prototype the technology and the physical environment
a great understanding on how to packet” with various items and tasks that foster in which the technology would be used. Students then
implement them in a research communication between community members and rotated between the environments and enacted the
session.” designers. The community members engage with the scenarios. The workshop ended with a discussion about
packet probes and return them to the designers. The insights from enactments, users’ level of control in the
“The workshop days were really returned probes offer designers insight into community situation, and fidelity of the environment and prototype
helpful to be able to apply what members’ lives and are used as inspiration for design. needed to gain understanding into opportunities and
we learned the class prior.” limitations of these futuristic designs [8].
For the cultural probes workshop, the workshop team
prepared a probes packed and handed it to students Assessment
one week before the workshop. During that week, Students are graded on the workshops they organize,
students completed the probes (e.g., marking campus counting toward 10% of their final course grade.
maps, taking inspirational photos). At the workshop Evaluation is completed by the instructor and teaching
(Fig. 1), students were provided with returned probe assistant on the following dimensions: 1. Quality and
items from other class members, and used those as a depth of delivering the material in the workshop, 2. The
source of inspiration for inventive designs. degree to which the workshop enhanced understanding
of the course materials, and 3. Creativity, fun, and
engagement of the session.In addition to the teaching staff assessment, at the end in HCI, and to explore opportunities for scaling these
of each workshop, we administer peer assessments. initiatives to larger student groups and broader
Class students rate the workshop on four scale items: audiences.
1. I learned something in this workshop, 2. This
workshop enhanced my understanding of key course References
concepts, 3. This workshop was fun, and 4. This 1. Boehner, K., Vertesi, J., Sengers, P., & Dourish, P.
workshop was creative. Students in the team with the 2007. How HCI interprets the probes. In
Proceedings of CHI '07, 1077-1086.
highest peer evaluation scores receive a 1% bonus to
their final course grade. In addition, in the peer 2. Gaver, B., Dunne, T., & Pacenti, E. 1999. Design:
Cultural probes. interactions 6, 1, 21-29.
evaluations, students can leave a text comment, and all
the comments are compiled and sent back to the 3. Gerber, E., 2009. Using Improvisation to Enhance
organizing team. the Effectiveness of Brainstorming. CHI '09.
4. Hartson, R., & Pyla, P. 2012. The UX Book: Process
The Challenge of Scaling up and Guidelines for Ensuring a Quality User
Experience. Morgan Kaufmann.
With increasing enrollments of undergraduate and
masters students in Information Science at Cornell, 5. Kensing & Blomberg, 1998. Participatory Design:
courses are more in demand and are perpetually Issues and Concerns, CSCW.
growing. For example, three years ago, there were 30 6. Lally, J.P., & Miller, R.H., 2007. The learning
students in the class, whereas in the in the current pyramid: does it point teachers in the right
direction? Education, 128, 1.
offering of the course (Spring 2019), there are 60
students. As an educator, I therefore face the challenge 7. Neustaedter, C., & Sengers, P. 2012.
Autobiographical Design in HCI Research:
of scaling up these workshops as an integral part of the
Designing and Learning through Use-It-Yourself.
advanced HCI course.
DIS '12.
8. Odom et al., 2012. A Fieldwork of the Future with
With about 9 workshops, the workshop team size has
User Enactments. DIS '12.
grown from about 3 students three years ago, to about
9. Oulasvirta, A., Kurvinen, E. & Kankainen, T. 2003.
6-8 students this year. At this point, I feel that I am
Understanding contexts by being there: case
stretching the limit of the workshop team size, facing studies in bodystorming. Pers Ubiquit Comput
student coordination issues and unequal contribution (2003) 7: 125.
among team members. As the number of enrolled
10. Salvador, T., Bell, G., & Anderson, K. 1999. Design
students keeps growing, how do we still offer student- ethnography. Design Management Journal, 10, 4,
led workshop, ensuring each student engages in this 35-41.
“learning by teaching” effectively?
In the EduCHI workshop, I hope to engage in
conversations about active, engaged learning initiativesYou can also read
