Course Title: User Interface Design

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: User Interface Design

Credit Points: 12.00

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
EEET2167	City Campus	Undergraduate	125H Electrical & Computer Engineering	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2006

Course Coordinator: Roy Ferguson

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 2925

Course Coordinator Email: roy.ferguson@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 10.8.01

Course Coordinator Availability: See notice on office door.

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Students are expected to be reasonably competent in a programming language such as C++ or C# or Java, and in the design of software systems e.g. using UML (e.g. have passed EEET2093 Software Systems Engineering 3 or completed equivalent studies).

Course Description

This course introduces concepts and techniques relating to the development of user interfaces and programming for computer systems in engineering applications, especially embedded systems. In this course you will develop skills in user interface design and implementation, programming techniques for embedded systems, and improve your skills in object oriented design and programming using a modern industry strength compiler.

Topics include: Usability, User Interface Design Processes, Interaction Styles, Interface Design Issues and Techniques, Object-Oriented Design techniques including Patterns for User Interfaces, relevant Programming techniques including Data Structures, Evaluating User Interface Designs,.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Generally, the capabilities acquired by the students will include:
• Technical competence in User Interface Design and Implementation.
• Ability to formulate and solve problems in User Interface design and implementation.
• User Interface design skills.
• Teamwork and leadership skills through the major project.
• Ability to communicate effectively in writing (both textually and graphically).
• Lifelong learning skills, in particular the ability to undertake self-directed study.

At the end of this course you will be able to:
• Design and implement software solutions to engineering problems.
• Describe the basic concepts of User Interface theory and apply them in User Interface design.
• Implement sound User Interfaces based on theory and guidelines.
• Describe and apply techniques applicable to the design of Graphical User Interfaces, and to the design of Web User Interfaces.
• Describe concepts and techniques applicable to the design of user interfaces in various languages, and to support design of User Interfaces accessible by the disabled.
• Describe and apply techniques applicable to design of User Interfaces for Embedded Systems.

Overview of Learning Activities

This course provides you with a number of learning opportunities:
• Weekly lectures will guide you to important concepts and give you many practical hints for the design of user interfaces.
• The laboratory work will help you to connect theory with practice.
• The major project is a problem based learning activity that will require you to exercise most of the skills required for effective user interface design and implementation.
• The course resources (accessible from the Web) have links to on-line resources for you to access and expand your knowledge of the topics.
• The lab project will develop your team skills and give you experience in industry relevant tasks and ways of working.

Overview of Learning Resources

The learning resources for this course include:
• Course Notes (as part of course learning guide) prepared by the Teaching staff.
• Prescribed textbook/s and Recommended reference books: See the course guide Part B available at the start of classes for the list of texts and references.
• Students will be expected to have access to suitable computing equipment for system development. Required software will be made available where possible.
• Relevant embedded equipment and software will be made available in laboratories and for loan where possible.
• Course content will made available on-line

Overview of Assessment

The assessment tasks for this course comprise Exercises, Major Project, and Final Exam.

The exercises will help the student build their technical competence in the skills and techniques for User Interface Design and Implementation.

The major project will develop all of the capabilities listed above, and will have a number of tasks including: project proposal, initial design, implementation, and testing. In particular the project will be done in groups, which will help develop teamwork and leadership skills.

The final exam will test the student’s individual capabilities. This includes their ability to describe the principles of User Interface Theory, sound User Interface Design, Internationalisation of User Interfaces, and Accessible User Interfaces. It also tests their problem solving skills as applied to the design and implementation of an effective User Interface.