User-Centered Design Option for HCDE Graduate Students

The User-Centered Design (UCD) option is a formal pathway offered for graduate students in HCDE. Students who choose to complete this option are required to take four courses that are narrowly focused on usability and user-centered design issues. Upon the completion of their graduate degree, students who select and complete the UCD option will receive both their graduate degree and an officially transcripted UCD credential.

Required Courses

  • HCDE 517, Usability Testing
    Introduction to usability testing as part of a user-centered product-development process. The hands-on step-by-step discussion of test design is augmented by a discussion of current theory and strategy.
  • HCDE 518, User-Centered Design
    This course will explore the user-centered design paradigm from a broad perspective, emphasizing how user research and prototype assessment can be integrated into different phases of the design process. Students will learn to think like a user-centered designer and to carry out activities that are key to user-centered design.
  • HCDE 521, Seminar: Current Issues in Human Centered Design & Engineering*
    This course consists of presentations on current issues in our field. These presentations are also streamed over the web.

*HCDE 521 must be taken two times as part of the formal UCD option

Electives

Students must take at least one of the following elective options:

  • HCDE 511, Visual Communication
    Use of visuals in print and electronic media. Topics include vision, attention and perception, semiotics, depiction, information graphics, icons, typography, and principles of page and screen design.
  • HCDE 516, Experimental Research Methods**
    Introduction to research methods in technical communication. Students examine the relationship between theory and research, hypothesis testing, experimental designs, modes of observation, sampling, validity, and data analysis and interpretation.
  • HCDE 537, User-Centered Web Design
    Theory and practice of the user-centered web development process. Principles and processes for documenting and implementing various development stages, including requirements analysis, user needs analysis, information architecture, prototyping, mockups, and production.

**Students who select HCDE 516 as their elective within the UCD option must complete four additional credits of HCDE 596 to fulfill their Research Methods requirement

How to request this option

Students interested in completing the UCD option need to contact the department's academic advisor, Gian Bruno. Be sure to include your name, student number, and that you are interested in completing your HCDE graduate degree with the UCD option.