WRIT 4501 is also offered in Spring 2025
WRIT 4501 is also offered in Fall 2024
WRIT 4501 is also offered in Spring 2024
WRIT 4501 is also offered in Fall 2023
WRIT 4501 is also offered in Spring 2023
WRIT 4501 is also offered in Fall 2022
WRIT 4501 is also offered in Spring 2022
Spring 2020 | WRIT 4501 Section 001: Usability and Human Factors in Technical Communication (54718)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Discussion
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option No Audit
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person Term Based
- Class Attributes:
Community Engaged Learning
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
UMTC, East Bank
Science Teaching Student Svcs 512B
- Enrollment Status:
Closed (26 of 24 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- Principles/concepts of human factors/usability testing. Developing objectives, criteria, and measures. Conducting tests in lab, field, and virtual environments. Using software programs to analyze qualitative/quantitative data.
- Class Description:
- Usability is concerned with how people interact with design and technology; usability is commonly known as the "ease of use" of products and technologies by a range of users. This course emphasizes usability and user research and will explore the intersection of usability and technical communication. We will investigate definitions of usability and user-centered design principles, and we will explore a variety of usability research methods including use cases, heuristic evaluation, and usability testing. The course will focus heavily on usability testing of web sites, a common technical communication task that involves observation and interviews of human subjects interacting with a web site. Individual assignments include a design analysis, heuristic evaluation, and final exam. Collaborative assignments include a use case, test plan, and test report and corresponding documents to supplement a 10-week team project involving a usability test of a client web site in the University of Minnesota Usability Lab. To fulfill graduate credit, graduate students taking this course will research a usability-related topic. Because this is an advanced level course, students should already have knowledge of basic technical writing skills such as editing, information design, and collaborative teamwork skills.
- Grading:
- 20% Final Exam
70% Reports/Papers
10% Class Participation Other Grading Information: Individual work consists of 60% of total course grade. Collaborative work consists of 40% of total course grade.
- Exam Format:
- Take-home essay
- Class Format:
- 20% Lecture
30% Discussion
10% Laboratory
30% Small Group Activities
10% Student Presentations
- Workload:
- 50-70 Pages Reading Per Week
50 Pages Writing Per Term
1 Exam(s)
1 Presentation(s)
4 Special Project(s)
Other Workload: Student groups will design, conduct, and record results of a usability test on a web site for a real client outside the classroom.
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/54718/1203
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 30 October 2013
ClassInfo Links - Spring 2020 Writing Studies Classes