Schedule

Week 1 (May 12 - 15)

Course overview / What is usability and user experience design?
Course Overview Tue May 12th 2:30pm PDT
Review and Discussion Thur May 14th 2:30pm PDT
Usability 101: Introduction to Usability (7 minute read)
Introduction to User Experience Design (8 minute read)
One-minute Summaries for Week 1 May 15th 11:59pm PDT
Week 1 Review Quiz (Practice) May 15th 11:59pm PDT

Week 2 (May 16 - 22)

What does a holistic user experience design process look like?
Mini-lectures and Activities Tue May 19th 2:30pm PDT
Review and Discussion Thur May 21st 2:30pm PDT
Project Framework Comparisons: Agile vs. Waterfall vs. Hybrid vs. Lean (10 minute read)
UX Process: What It Is, What It Looks Like and Why It's Important | Adobe Blog (8 minute read)
The Evolution of UX Process Methodology (11 minute read)
One-minute Summaries for Week 2 May 20th 11:59pm PDT
Week 2 Review Quiz (Practice) due May 22nd May 22nd 11:59pm PDT

Week 3 (May 23 - 29)

What is the practice of multi-device interaction design?
Mini-lectures and Activities Tue May 26th 2:30pm PDT
Review and Discussion Thur May 28th 2:30pm PDT
Interaction design: a guide for beginners (19 minute read)
HCI Laws (4 minute read)
The Myths of Mobile Design and Why They Matter (8 minute read)
Touch Targets on Touchscreens (11 minute read)
One-minute Summaries for Week 3 May 27th 11:59pm PDT
Week 3 Review Quiz due May 29th May 29th 11:59pm PDT

Week 4 (May 30 - Jun 5)

How to conduct a user interface inspection?
Usability Inspection Assignment Jun 15th 11:59pm PDT
Mini-lectures and Activities Tue Jun 2nd 2:30pm PDT
Review and Discussion Thur Jun 4th 2:30pm PDT (includes Assignment #1 discussion)
Assessing usability with Cognitive Walkthrough (14 minute read)
An Overview of Expert Heuristic Evaluations (12 minute read)
Design Heuristics Lecture with Scott Klemmer, a Video Playlist (35 minutes in total)
Severity Ratings for Usability Problems (5 minute read)
One-minute Summaries for Week 4 Jun 3rd 11:59pm PDT
Week 4 Review Quiz due Jun 5th Jun 5th 11:59pm PDT

Week 5 (Jun 6 - 12)

How to plan, conduct, and summarize usability tests?
Mini-lectures and Activities Tue Jun 9th 2:30pm PDT
Review and Discussion Thur Jun 11th 2:30pm PDT
UX design: how to conduct usability testing (18 minute read)
Write Better Qualitative Usability Tasks: Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid (10 minute read)
One-minute Summaries for Week 5 Jun 10th 11:59pm PDT
Week 5 Review Quiz due Jun 12th Jun 12th 11:59pm PDT

Week 6 (Jun 13 - 19)

How to explore and describe possible design solutions?
Usability Inspection Assignment Peer Reviews Jun 15th - 22nd
Mini-lectures and Activities Tue Jun 16th 2:30pm PDT
Review and Discussion Thur Jun 18th 2:30pm PDT
Prototyping 101: The Difference between Low-Fidelity and High-Fidelity Prototypes and When to Use Each | Adobe Blog (11 minute read)
Design Scenarios (16 minute read, incl. slides)
Chapter 2: Getting to Know Users and Their Tasks (12 minute read)
How To Create A Low-Fidelity Prototype Like An App Expert (11 minute read)
One-minute Summaries for Week 6 Jun 17th 11:59pm PDT
Week 6 Review Quiz due Jun 19th Jun 19th 11:59pm PDT

Week 7 (Jun 20 - 26)

How to understand and communicate people's needs and behaviors?
Usability Inspection Assignment Peer Reviews Jun 15th - 22nd
Discovery Research and Exploratory Storyboards Jul 13th 11:59pm PDT
Team Member Evaluation one-minute summary due Jul 14th
Mini-lectures and Activities Tue Jun 23rd 2:30pm PDT
Review and Discussion Thur Jun 25th 2:30pm PDT
A 5-Step Process For Conducting User Research (18 minutes)
How to Leverage Thematic Analysis for Better UX (12 minute read)
7 Alternative User Research Methods (5 minute read)
One-minute Summaries for Week 7 Jun 24th 11:59pm PDT
Week 7 Review Quiz due Jun 26th Jun 26th 11:59pm PDT

Week 8 (Jun 27 - Jul 3)

How to bridge the gap between the problem space and design space?
Mini-lectures and Activities Tue Jun 30th 2:30pm PDT
Review and Discussion Thur Jul 2nd 2:30pm PDT
Leveraging Mental Models in UX Design (15 minute read)
Don Norman’s Principles of Interaction Design (8 minute read)
Not Just Pretty: Building Emotion Into Your Websites (15 minute read)
One-minute Summaries for Week 8 May Jul 8th 11:59pm PDT
Week 8 Review Quiz due Jul 3rd Jul 3rd 11:59pm PDT

Week 9 (Jul 4 - 10)

Instructor discovery research and exploratory storyboards meetings
Online instructor meetings (20 mins.), no regularly scheduled Blackboard Collaborate sessions
How to Give and Receive Criticism (suggested reading, not required)
No weekly review quiz

Week 10 (Jul 11 - 17)

What are the essentials of visual interface design?
Usability Assessed Interactive Prototype Aug 4th 11:59pm PDT
Team Member Evaluation Aug 5th 11:59pm PDT
Mini-lectures and Activities Tue Jul 14th 2:30pm PDT
Review and Discussion Thur Jul 16th 2:30pm PDT
How to Use C.R.A.P. Design Principles For Better UX? (8 minute read)
Typography Tutorial - 10 rules to help you rule type, a Video (3 minutes)
Accessibility for Visual Design (9 minute read)
One-minute Summaries for Week 10 May Jul 15th 11:59pm PDT
Week 10 Review Quiz due Jul 17th Jul 17th 11:59pm PDT

Week 11 (Jul 18 - 24)

What is the practice of systems-oriented design? / Special topics
Mini-lectures and Activities Tue Jul 21st 2:30pm PDT
Review and Discussion Thur Jul 23rd 2:30pm PDT
Design Systems and Systems Design — what’s the difference? (5 minute read)
Applying Systems Thinking in Product Design (9 minute read)
One-minute Summaries for Week 11 Jul 22nd 11:59pm PDT
Week 11 Review Quiz due Jul 24th Jul 24th 11:59pm PDT

Week 12 (Jul 25 - Jul 31)

Instructor usability assessed interactive prototype meetings
Online instructor meetings (20 mins.), no regularly scheduled Blackboard Collaborate sessions
How to Give and Receive Criticism (suggested reading, not required)
No weekly review quiz

Week 13 (Aug 1 - 7)

Course wrap-up
Team Member Evaluation Aug 5th 11:59pm PDT
Course Wrap-up Tue Aug 4th 2:30pm PDT

Final Exam (Aug 21)

Online Aug 21st 12:00pm - 3:00pm PDT