HCI for interaction designers: Communicating" the bigger picture

Abstract

This paper presents particular aspects of our experience in teaching HCI and related disciplines at postgraduate level, within the Masters in Interactive Media course at the University of Limerick, Ireland. In particular, we will describe how the teaching of HCI principles and methods is tailored towards introducing future interaction designers to the discipline, thus highlighting aspects such as creativity and aesthetics in the user-centred design process. We will discuss some of the practices that, in our experience, are beneficial in this respect.