We're live! As many of you have seen, we've posted the first
assignment and lectures, and the discussion forum is full of
energy.
These first lecture videos introduce the field of human-computer
interaction and provide a high-level overview of the course. I'll also provide a
whirlwind 'greatest hits' history of HCI and the origins of graphical
interfaces. Next, we dive into techniques for finding design ideas by engaging
users, and you'll use these techniques in the first week's
assignment.
Like some other courses, the HCI class will offer two tracks:
an "apprentice" track for those that keep up with lectures and do well on the
quizzes, and a "studio" track for those that also do well on the project. You
don't need to 'pick' a track. The course will automatically provide you with the
right Statement of Accomplishment that you earn based on the work you submit.
For more information about the track options, go to http://hci.st/tracks . The
first time you log in, please fill out the survey because we'd like to get a
sense of who you are. It helps us create the best possible course, and also
makes all the students taking this class more tangible and real. That's
personally rewarding for me. You can fill out the survey at
http://hci.st/survey.
Over the nine-week course, there will be five
project assignments. The first assignment will be due Sunday, October 7th at
10pm *PST*. (If you’re in a different time zone, make sure to convert this to
your local time.) Quizzes and peer assessment (of your fellow students ) will be
due on Wednesdays at 10pm. The first quiz/peer assessment deadline will be
Wednesday October 10th. I want to underscore that the peer assessment feature is
brand-new for this course, and enables us to offer you exciting, open-ended
assignments. To make it work, we'll need your full support and cooperation. It's
very important that you take this part of the course seriously -- it's going to
take all of us working together to make this a success.
What I hope
you'll get out of the first assignment and lectures is the simple yet powerful
idea that by leaving our desks to observe and interview people, it's possible to
gain some really useful ideas for designing new kinds of systems, or redesigning
existing systems so they better fit people's goals. It can take some courage to
get started, but the payoff can be huge. I think this first assignment will be a
lot of fun, and I'm really excited to see all the ideas that all of you come up
with.
This first assignment gives you a lot of latitude to be really
creative, and so I hope you'll take advantage of it. What unique things can you
find to observe? What creative design insights can you imagine? Feel free to
brainstorm with your fellow students, both in person and online. The sky's
the limit... +scott
You can check out the syllabus page to see the topics we’ll be covering. In addition to learning the theoretical foundations of AI, you will also get hands-on experience implementing AI algorithms in a video-game-themed context. There will be lecture videos and homework assignments every week, programming projects every other week, and a single final exam at the end.
The course information page has information about course logistics and policies. The course staff page tells you a little more about us. The primary communication channel for this course is our interactive forum, where you are encouraged to post questions, answers, and comments!
The first week's videos are available for you to watch! In these introductory segments, we discuss what artificial intelligence is (and isn't), explore some of its history, and see its current capabilities and limitations.
We have posted an optional short math self-diagnostic so you can verify your mathematical preparedness for the course. We've also posted an optional mini-refresher (or introduction) to Python, the language used in our programming projects. The Python refresher is also a great opportunity to try out the project submission interface used throughout the class.
