COSC 3461 - User Interfaces

Section M, Winter 2005

Instructor William Soukoreff
Office CSB2022
E-Mail:
Office Hours Tuesday and Thursday, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM, and by appointment
Lectures Tuesday and Thursday, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
in PSE 321

Last update: March 31, 2005

Course Announcements


Calendar Information

This course introduces user interfaces and the tools and mechanisms to create and prototype them. Students work in small groups and learn how to design user interfaces, how to realize them and how to evaluate the end result.

Cross-listed to: AS/AK/ITEC 3461 3.0

Prerequisite: AK/AS/SC/COSC 2011 3.0 or AK/AS/SC/COSC 2031 3.0 or AK/COSC 3501 3.0 or AS/AK/ITEC 2011 3.0.

Degree credit exclusions: AS/AK/ITEC 34613.0. Not open to students who successfully completed AS/SC/COSC 4341 3.0 or AS/SC/COSC 4361 3.0 before Fall 1999.


Topics


Evaluation

Assignments are due by midnight on the specified date and are to be submitted electronically with the 'submit' command in the undergraduate unix environment (unless otherwise specified). The midterm will be held during class time.

      Work       Due   Weight  
Assignment 1 Friday, February 11 5%
 
Midterm exam (during class time) Tuesday, February 22
FC 034A (Founder's College)		 30%
 
Assignment 2 Friday, March 4
Monday, March 7		 10%
 
Assignment 3 Friday, April 1 15%
 
  Final exam   Wednesday, April 27
9:00 - 12:00
CB 121 (Chemistry Building)		   40%  


Required Text

None - but see 'Weekly Readings' below.


Weekly Readings

Readings are assigned weekly. Four copies of each of the readings are available for 2-hour loan from the Stacie library. These books are not very expensive and are available from most bookstores (and online from www.chapters.ca) should you wish to purchase them instead.

The readings will be discussed in class, and material from the readings will appear on exams. The readings are taken from the following:

The readings schedule follows:

      Reading   Date  
The Design of Everyday Things, Chapter 1 Thursday, January 13
The Design of Everyday Things, Chapter 2 Thursday, January 20
The Design of Everyday Things, Chapter 3 Thursday, January 27
The Design of Everyday Things, Chapter 6 Thursday, February 3
The Design of Everyday Things, Chapter 7 Thursday, February 10
No reading this week, due to reading week Thursday, February 17
The Inmates are Running the Asylum, Chapter 1      Thursday, February 24
The Inmates are Running the Asylum, Chapter 2 Thursday, March 3
The Inmates are Running the Asylum, Chapters 3 & 4 Thursday, March 10
The Inmates are Running the Asylum, Chapter 9 Thursday, March 17
  The Inmates are Running the Asylum, Chapter 10   Thursday, March 24  


Useful Links

     Other Resources:


Important Dates

      Event   Date
Winter term classes begin Monday, January 3
Last date to enroll Friday, January 14
Assignment 1 Friday, February 11
Reading Week (no classes) February 13 - 19
Midterm exam (during class time) Tuesday, February 22
Marked midterm exams returned Thursday, March 3
Assignment 2 Friday, March 4    Monday, March 7
Last date to drop course without penalty Friday, March 4
Last class of COSC3461 Thursday, March 31
Assignment 3 Friday, April 1
Winter term classes end Monday, April 4
Winter term exams begin Wednesday, April 6
Final exam
Wednesday, April 27 at 9:00 - 12:00
CB 121 (Chemistry Building)
  Winter term exams end   Friday, April 29


Course Policies

Attendance at lectures
Students are expected to attend the lectures. Although much of the course information will be posted on the web, additional information will be given during the lectures. Students who skip lectures do so at their own peril!

Group assignments
The assignments for this course are to be done in groups of three. All members of the group will receive the same grade. It is up to the members of each group to ensure the equitable distribution of assignment work. Assignment submissions from groups with fewer or more students will not be marked. Students may reconfigure their groups throughout the term, but not in the 15 days before the assignment due date.

Software development platform
For the purpose of marking, programming assignments are required to compile and execute in the undergraduate unix environment. No special consideration will be given in cases where software runs properly on other platforms (e.g., at home) yet does not function as expected in the undergraduate lab. It is up to the student to ensure that software developed on other platforms compiles and executes correctly in the undergraduate lab, before submission.

Submission of assignments
Assignments are due by midnight on the specified date and are to be submitted electronically with the 'submit' command in the undergraduate unix environment (unless otherwise specified). Late submissions will not be accepted (see 'Late assignments' below).

Grading
Assignment marking will use letter grades (see the explanation of the letter grades).

Late assignments
Late assignments will not be accepted and will receive a zero grade unless arrangements have been made with the instructor prior to the due date. Exceptions to the late policy will be made only under very special circumstances (e.g., serious illness) and only with proper documentation (i.e., a letter from your doctor). Missed midterms will be handled in the same manner.

Requests for remarking
Once returned, marked assignments and exams should be reviewed by the students, and any request for remarking should be submitted to the instructor within one week. Requests must be accompanied by a written description of the marking error. Only problems of mark addition or serious marking errors will be considered - remarking requests of a frivolous nature may result in your mark being lowered.

E-mail to the instructor
This instructor welcomes e-mails from students. Questions from students that are of general interest (and particularly questions regarding the assignments) will be addressed during class time. The subject-line of e-mail addressed to the instructor must contain the phrase "3461", otherwise the e-mail is likely to be mistaken for spam, and overlooked.