Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Usability Engineering

Credit Points: 12.00


Course Coordinator: Dr Danula Hettiachchi

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925

Course Coordinator Email: danula.hettiachchi@rmit.edu.au


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Enforced Pre-Requisite Courses

Successful completion of the following course/s:

Note: it is a condition of enrolment at RMIT that you accept responsibility for ensuring that you have completed the prerequisite/s and agree to concurrently enrol in co-requisite courses before enrolling in a course.

For information go to RMIT Course Requisites webpage.

 

If you have completed prior studies at RMIT or another institution that developed the skills and knowledge covered in the above course/s you may be eligible to apply for credit transfer. Alternatively, if you have prior relevant work experience that developed the skills and knowledge covered in the above course/s you may be eligible for recognition of prior learning.

Please follow the link for further information on how to apply for credit for prior study or experience.


Course Description

Usability is the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use Usability engineering is a set of behavioural research methods and techniques that can be applied at every stage of the software development lifecycle, to improve the usability of the developed product by conducting usability studies that analyse users’ needs or evaluate the product’s usability.

This course introduces you to concepts, methods and techniques that you can apply to design and conduct usability studies, building on your practical experience with software system analysis and design, and with writing and testing code. You will learn the theory and practice of various approaches, methods and techniques, and apply these to acquire practical experience in conducting usability studies for interactive systems. Tutorial activities provide the skills you need to complete assignments where you design a usability test of an interactive system, recruit suitable participants, conduct the test, and analyse and report on your findings.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Program Learning Outcomes

This course contributes to the program learning outcomes for the following program(s):

MC208 - Master of Information Technology

PLO 2    Critical Analysis
PLO 3    Problem Solving
PLO 4    Communication

For more information on the program learning outcomes for your program, please see the program guide.


Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

  1. Justify the theory and practice of usability evaluation approaches, methods and techniques
  2. Compare and evaluate strengths and weaknesses of various approaches, methods and techniques for evaluating usability
  3. Design and implement a usability test plan, based on modelling or requirements specification
  4. Choose appropriate approaches, methods and techniques to evaluate the usability of a specified interactive system
  5. Devise, perform and analyse experiments to evaluate the usability of a specified interactive system
  6. Write professional reports to: explain and justify usability concepts; describe results of user studies; make recommendations to stakeholders.


Overview of Learning Activities

You will be actively engaged in a range of learning activities. The core material of the course will be presented in a series of pre-recorded lectures, where content will be described and illustrated with demonstrations and examples, and discussion of concepts and relevant experiences is encouraged. In tutorials and during assignment work, you will plan, design and carry out usability tests, and analyse and report the results of usability tests. Tutorials also provide the opportunity to discuss the concepts with your peers and tutors. Delivery may be face to face, online or a mix of both. 

You are encouraged to be proactive and self-directed in your learning, asking questions of your lecturer and/or peers and seeking out information as required, especially from the numerous sources available through the RMIT library, and through links and material specific to this course that is available through myRMIT Studies Course.


Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course.

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.


Overview of Assessment

This course has no hurdle requirements.

Assessment tasks

Assessment Task 1: User Sensitivity
Weighting 13%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2, 4, and 6

Assessment Task 2: Statistical Usability
Weighting 22% 
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 5 and 6

Assessment Task 3: Usability Testing
Weighting 40% 
This assessment task supports CLOs 1 - 4 and 6

Assessment Task 4: Theory of Usability
Weighting 25%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2 and 6. 

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.