CMSI 370
INTERACTION DESIGN
http://myweb.lmu.edu/dondi/fall2009/cmsi370
Fall 2009 — Pereira 211 John David N. Dionisio, PhD
TR 1:35pm–2:50pm, 3 semester hours e-mail: dondi@lmu.edu, AIM: dondi2LMU
Office Hours: TR 9-10:30am, R 3–6pm, or by appointment Doolan 106; (310) 338-5782
Objectives and Outcomes
Long after the course concludes, my hope is that
you will:
•remember and understand the art and science of
interaction design, particularly its first principles
and key metrics,
•apply this knowledge by studying, comparing,
and evaluating the user interfaces of actual sys-
tems, and
•know the fundamentals behind programming
and implementing user interfaces, with working
knowledge of user interface technologies such as
Java’s Swing, XHTML/CSS/JavaScript, and
OpenGL’s GLUT.
While there are no absolute prerequisites to this
course, intermediate to advanced programming
proficiency in any language will be helpful. Some
of the material in this course also carries directly
into CMSI 371 Computer Graphics.
Materials and Texts
•Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Design-
ing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-
Computer Interaction, 5th Edition, Addison Wesley/
Pearson, 2009.
•Jakob Nielsen, Usability Engineering, Morgan
Kaufmann, 1994.
•Donald A. Norman, The Design of Everyday Things,
Basic Books, 2002.
•Assorted handouts, articles, and sample code to
be distributed throughout the semester.
The following text is recommended and not re-
quired — but it will fill in some details:
•Ray Toal and John David N. Dionisio, The Java-
Script Programming Language, Jones & Bartlett Pub-
lishers, 2009.
In addition, do not hesitate to look for further in-
formation regarding the concepts, techniques,
tools, and paradigms that we will discuss.
Course Work and Grading
Course work consists of homework (20%), 1 mid-
term (20%), 1 design poster (10%), 1 term portfo-
lio (25%), and 1 final exam (25%). Numeric grades
≥ 90% get an A– or better; ≥ 80% get a B– or bet-
ter; ≥ 70% get a C– or better. I may curve grades
upward based on qualitative considerations such as
degree of difficulty, effort, class participation, time
constraints, and overall attitude throughout the
course. Grades are never curved downward.
Homework
Homework consists of questions, exercises, and
programming assignments to be given throughout
the semester. Homework is where you can learn
from your mistakes without grading penalty: if you
do the work and submit it on time, you will get full
credit, regardless of correctness. What goes
around comes around: the effort you put into your
homework pays off in the tests, the poster, and the
portfolio. The homework submission deadline is
always the beginning of class on the designated
due date; the due date is encoded in the homework
number. Submissions after the deadline receive
half credit, period. Extra credit homework may be
assigned; fulfilling this is counted on top of the
20% allocation of homework to your final grade.
Tests
The midterm is initially scheduled for October 13.
The final exam is scheduled for December 17. All
tests are open-paper-ever ything; no sharing.
“Open computer” might also be allowed. You may
neither solicit nor give help during exams. Late
and/or missed tests are handled on a case-to-case
basis; in all instances, talk to me about them.
Design Poster
Near the end of the semester, you will be asked to
render one of your assignments as a poster, for
possible display in Doolan Hall. The poster is
credit/no-credit (like homework), and is due on
December 10. Late posters will not be accepted.
Loyola Marymount University CMSI 370 Syllabus Page 1 of 2
