Project Team
- Bowen Hui, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, Irving K. Barber School of Arts & Sciences (Lead Applicant)
- Yves Lucet, Professor, Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, Irving K. Barber School of Arts & Sciences
- Miles Thorogood, Instructor, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies and Irving K. Barber School of Arts & Sciences
- Ray Taheri-Ardebili, Associate Professor of Teaching, School of Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
- Josh Vance, Technology Innovation Coordinator, School District 22, Kelowna, BC
- Karon MacLean, Professor, Department of Computer Science, UBC Vancouver
Themes
- Flexible Learning
- Interdisciplinary
Year
2019
About the Project
COSC 341/541 (Human-Computer Interaction, HCI) is a cross-listed core computer science course that has traditionally attracted students from a variety of disciplines. This diversity in students makes it challenging to teach design and evaluation techniques using examples and language suitable to the students’ background. Additionally, graduate students are forced to learn at the slower pace designed for third-year undergraduates. Meanwhile, HCI has become a field that encompasses a variety of fascinating research areas, including wall-sized displays, gesture interaction, and intelligent interfaces. My vision is to modularize the course so that it has enough modules to cover different areas within HCI, while allowing students the flexibility to choose which modules they wish to study. Although personalized learning has gained much attention in recent years, few empirical findings have been reported. To achieve personalized learning, I propose a three-phase implementation plan that uses flexible learning to support the delivery of the modules, and analytics to monitor and predict student progress.
Although this initiative stems from a single course, the impact is much wider. Modules on design thinking can be used for courses in Engineering, Education, and Media Studies, while modules on evaluation methodology can be used for courses in Data Science. Therefore, I recruited collaborators in each of these areas to direct the development of the modules, pilot them in respective courses, and evaluate them. Lastly, one of the by-products we anticipate is using smaller classrooms because students will be assessed and recommended to go only to those classes they need.
Additional Information