Nowadays, computing devices are ubiquitously present and integrated into our daily life. Indeed, sensors and actuators are embedded in home appliances, lights, or cars; wearable devices like smartwatches provide information at a glance and act as always-on personal digital extensions; smartphones and tablets are widely spread. People communicate with them using various interaction paradigms, ranging from "click", to "touch", to gestures, speech, and tangible manipulation. As the technology improves, however, we are challenged with designing suitable interfaces and interactions so that people can use such technologies with "joy" rather than "frustration". This course provides a solid foundation to address this challenge. It will give students hands-on practice to master this complexity and develop innovative solutions by adopting a modern human-centered design process while building a prototype application to serve a set of target users. In the end, students will learn how to design and create technologies that are usable, useful, and used.

Knowledge: - Understand and be able to apply the concepts of usability and user experience. - Know the human-centered design processes and their application. - Learn advantages and disadvantages of interaction technologies. Skills: - Develop a working prototype according to a human-centered design process. - Master some novel interaction techniques. - Experience joint development of a project within a group of engineers.

- Programming skills. - Knowledge of web and related technologies/languages (e.g., HTML, JS, client-server architectures, …). - Attitude towards working in teams.

Course topics will cover three areas: - Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction. - Building interactive applications with a human-centered process. The main tasks and methods to design, develop, and evaluate an interactive application: needfinding strategies, low- and high-fidelity prototypes, mental models and visual design, heuristic evaluation, and basic concepts and methods for user studies (3 credits of lectures and exercises). This part will focus, in general, on the design process. Students will apply these concepts to a specific application domain by developing a group project, which they will carry on during the lab hours (2 credits). - "Beyond WIMP" paradigms, such as interaction with AI-powered systems, tangible interaction, voice user interfaces, and gestures. We will discuss selected paradigms from different perspectives, ranging from rationale and vision to contemporary examples (1 credit).

The learning method is project-based (i.e., students learn by doing a project) and problem-based (i.e., the project work starts from real users' needs), with teams of students working together towards a common goal. Project-related activities will start at the beginning of the course, and teachers will provide support and guidance for the entire semester. Students will propose possible project topics, which teachers need to approve. Projects will follow the proposed human-centered design process and will be accompanied by assignments to be prepared before some given deadlines. All assignments will be done in groups except one, which will be individual. The individual assignment typically involves an evaluation, applied to the group project context. Such assignments will be the primary way to check the project activities and provide feedback, and they will not be graded until the exam. At the end of the course, projects will consist of interactive prototypes developed as modern applications in which "beyond WIMP" paradigms might be exploited for user interaction. During the course, communications and project development will adopt contemporary solutions and tools (e.g., GitHub, Figma, Telegram, etc.). Lectures will be video-recorded and made available after each class. In-person attendance at the labs is essential, as projects will be developed and discussed in those hours.

* Course slides and related materials (e.g., links, readings, …) * Selected chapters of: - Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory Abowd, Russell Beale: Human Computer Interaction, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall, 2004, ISBN 0130461091 - Shneiderman, Plaisant, Cohen, Jacobs, Elmqvist and Diakopoulos: Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, 6th Edition, Pearson, 2016, ISBN 013438038X / 9780134380384 - Kasper Hornbæk, Per Ola Kristensson, Antti Oulasvirta: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction, Oxford University Press, 2025, ISBN 9780191959363 / 9780192864543

Slides; Esercizi; Esercizi risolti; Video lezioni dell’anno corrente; Strumenti di collaborazione tra studenti;

Modalita di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria; Elaborato scritto individuale; Elaborato progettuale in gruppo;

Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Individual essay; Group project;

... The exam consists of submitting and presenting the group project within the same academic year. Projects will be discussed and revised along the course with teachers (see the "Course structure" section). Groups will submit their project seven days before the official exam date, and they will discuss their final work through an oral session, where all group members must be present and present their part. In addition to the group project, students will submit an individual assignment, which is related to the project and part of the human-centered process followed during the course. The material to be submitted for the exam includes a) a report summarizing the group assignments, b) the individual report describing the individual assignment, and c) the source code of the final project's prototype. Students will demonstrate the skills and knowledge acquired during the course with the development of the project and the individual assignment, and they will further deepen them during the oral discussion. The assessment is expressed on a scale of 30 points, with the project accounting for 20 points, the individual assignment up to 6, and the oral discussion for the other 4 points. Additional points (up to 2) can be assigned for the project (significant originality, complexity, and richness of the work), the effort invested during the course (labs and received feedback), and for the oral discussion (quality and richness of the discussion). These additional points will allow students to reach 30L. Overall, the evaluation criteria will include the following: - Invested effort in the project activity. - Originality, complexity, and richness of the work. - Methodological and technical correctness of the entire process. - Completeness and communication quality of the deliverables. - Quality of the presentation and oral discussion. - Individual contribution.

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilita o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unita Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione piu idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.