Recap class (Week 10)

Today was the last class for the course, it was bittersweet but I can happily say I enjoyed the course and I learnt a lot of new things
We had a recap of all the various topics explaining their usefulness and also talking about the relation of the various topics with one another. We also discussed various questions in under the various topics.
I believe the usefulness of all this topics cannot be denied but the challenges arise when trying to define where they cross the line and when they become unethical.

We further discussed various areas of HCCS and its divisions;

•  Methods: 

1. Participatory Design
2. HCI in the wild

• Application areas:

1. Technology Enhanced Learning
2. Interactive Systems for health

• Approaches:

1. Ubiquitous Computing
2. Affective Computing
3. User Experience

Katie also explained the outline for our mini-projects which has resulted in me looking for more participants for my surveys, to enable me get tangible data.
The steps for writing the mini-project were explained, particularly in the gathering of data which entails the following steps;

• Setting Goals
• Identification of participants
• Choosing Methods

 The various methods that can be used for collection of data include;

• Interviews: This could be either structured or semi-structured.
• Questionnaires/Surveys
• User Diaries
• Observation
• Biometric Measures : An example is use of Eye tracking using webcam for observation 

I would be starting the writing of my report soon as I am still collecting my data, and I have to increase the number of my participants , which is going to be really difficult as I have to start looking for people to help out while also remembering to get their informed consent.
This course has enabled me understand the need to keep the user in mind when working on my designs and ensuring that the user experience is equally made as important as the usability of the design.