View the Project on GitHub kristenvaccaro/interaction-design
This course (CSE 170) provides a practice-based overview of user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. Topics will include: identifying opportunities to build tools, principles of good design, and practices for evaluating and iterating on designs.
Course materials/website: Course Website, PrairieLearn, Canvas, and Discord
Classroom: Center Hall 119
Class Days and Times: Tuesday & Thursday 3:30PM
Design Studios: Fridays
Unless you have been given permission by the instructors in advance, you should attend the design studio session that you enrolled in
Kristen Vaccaro
kv@ucsd.edu – Please read the communication guidelines below before emailing!
Office Hours: Thursday 10-11AM in CSE 3226
TAs
Nina Chen
nic005@ucsd.edu
Studios: Friday 8-9:50, Friday 10-11:50, Friday 12-1:50 @ CSE 4258
Office Hours: Tuesday 2-3PM @ CSE B270A (No OH on Oct 13th)
Jacob Yim
j1yim@ucsd.edu
Studios: Friday 2-3:50, Friday 4-5:50, Friday 6-7:50 @ CSE 4258
Office Hours: Monday 4-5PM @ CSE B250A (No OH on Sept 28 and Nov 2)
Course related announcements will be shared on Canvas. Please use Canvas for your course-related questions as well!
By default office hours will be group-office hours, as many students will have similar questions and can learn from each other. If you have a personal issue, please email me to set up a separate time.
Canvas messages should be used for all course-related communications. Emails will not receive replies.
| Percentage | Activity |
|---|---|
| 10% | Portfolio Project (Design Assignments) |
| 10% | Coding Assignments |
| 10% | Attendance & Participation (5% Studio, 5% Lecture) |
| 30% | Midterms |
| 40% | Final Exam |
Portfolio design assignments are due Thursday 11:59 PM
Coding assignments are due Saturday 11:59 PM
Late Policy: You will receive 10 free late days that can be shared between any design assignment or web dev coding lab submissions over the quarter, but you should still be prepared to discuss your plans in enough detail to get feedback in your studio. You do not need to contact us in advance to use those late days. Beyond those days, you receive a 10% penalty for each day late.
Attendance Policy: Attendance at the lectures and studios is required, beginning in Week 1. For full credit, you must attend at least 12 lectures and 6 studios. Any additional missed studios require an excused absence, by contacting me and your studio TA on Canvas.
LLM/”vibe” coding can make it difficult to learn, if you are relying on the LLM to think or plan for you. It may also make it more difficult to recall specific functions, methods, or syntax on exams. So I don’t recommend relying heavily on LLM-generated code if this is your first experience with web development. However industry now uses these models extensively to speed development, so I do encourage more experienced students to experiment with them.
Note, all students will be called for multiple viva voce, or oral exams where you will quizzed on your own code submission. Your grade will be determined by your ability to explain and provide rationales for decisions in your code. Please make sure you understand what you submit!
It is strictly forbidden to use LLMs to fabricate any data from users (either in needfinding or user testing). You need to know your users and their experiences to do good design.
However, it is now common practice in industry to use LLMs for things like generating information architectures, providing critiques on designs, or transcribing/summarizing user testing feedback. While I recommend doing a first draft of all tasks yourself first, you are welcome to use LLMs for these tasks. Again, though, you are responsible for what you submit, so you should be able to provide justifications for any design decisions (including any made by LLMs) in the studios.
Yes, this is a great idea. You are welcome to input my slides, any readings, or even assignments into any LLM of your choice in order to produce study guides, practice exam questions, and so on. Of course, I cannot vouch for the correctness of anything an LLM generates, so feel free to stop by office hours if you have a question about anything!
No. I have shared my recommendations for what LLMs uses are most likely to help with your learning/career, but no LLM use will lead to any academic integrity issues, with the obvious exception of exams hosted in the Computer Based Testing Facility (CBTF).
It is my hope that we will develop a supportive learning community that will foster rich discussions through the sharing of personal ideas, experiences, and interpretations of the course material. Honesty, listening for understanding, a willingness to share your ideas, and respect for self and others are basic guidelines that can help create a positive learning environment. Your participation and feedback is important to the success of the course and I welcome your thoughts throughout the semester on how we might improve class processes that will encourage effective communication and dialogue.
I encourage you to devote time and energy to all of your needs. If you could use help on any dimensions, including your scholarly, physical, or psychological well-being, UCSD has a number of resources, some which can be found here.
I am committed (as is UCSD) to full inclusion in education for all persons. Services and reasonable accommodations are available to students with temporary and permanent disabilities, to students with DACA or undocumented status, to students with health or other personal concerns, and to students with other kinds of support needs. Please feel free to let me know if there are circumstances that emerge that affect your ability to contribute to the class.