CHI 2005 Workshop on Graduate Education in Human-Computer Interaction

Sunday, April 3

Organizers
Michel Beaudouin-Lafon, Université Paris-Sud
Jim Foley, Georgia Tech (Chair)
Jonathan Grudin, Microsoft Research
Scott Hudson, CMU
Jim Hollan, UCSD
Judy Olson, Michigan
Bill Verplank, Stanford

Overview
HCI graduate education is rapidly evolving and growing into full-fledged degree programs and major concentrations within other degree programs. The goals of this workshop are to:
  • Have the creators and leaders of these programs share goals, strategies, curricula, success and weaknesses.
  • Have companies who hire large numbers of graduates from such programs discuss their needs and perceptions of current strengths and weaknesses.
  • Make the results of the workshop available to the CHI community.
  • Further develop a digital library of educational resource material for HCI students and faculty.

Workshop Results

Workshop participants participated in a number of mini-workgroups throughout the session on different aspects of HCI education. The questions/topics and participants are listed below along with a link to a document summarizing each group's findings:

  1. What is at the core of HCI?
    • Group A: Kellogg Booth, Alan Borning, Kerstin Eklundh, Jim Foley, Wanda Pratt (recorder), Kari-Jouko Raiha, Judy Ramey, Barbara Wildemuth
    • Group B: Ben Bederson, Edward Clarkson, Joseph Konstan, Lori Lorigo (recorder), Sharon Oviatt, Richard Furuta, D. Scott McCrickard, Charles van der Mast

  2. What is design education?
    • Bert Bongers, Jan Borchers, Jason Day, Saul Greenberg, Jim Hollan, Scott Hudson, Maddy Janse, Judy Olson, Marty Siegel, Bill Verplank, Terry Winograd (recorder), Rob Woodbury

  3. What are important issues to be considered for an HCI education materials repository?

    • See also useful education links suggested by group participants.

    • Ben Bederson, Kelly Booth, Alan Borning, Edward Clarkson, Jason Day, Jim Foley, Saul Greenberg, Marti Hearst, Charles van der Mast, Scott McCrickard, Judy Olson, Sharon Oviatt, Kari-Jouko Raiha

  4. Creating and interdisciplinary Ph.D. program
    • Jan Borchers, Kerstin Eklundh, Jim Hollan, Scott Hudson, Maddy Janse, Lori Lorigo, Leisha Palen, Wanda Pratt, Judith Ramey, Marty Siegel, Bill Verplank, Barbara Wildemuth, Terry Winograd (recorder), Rob Woodbury

Submission Requirements

To be considered for participation in the workshop, please submit a 4 to 6 page white paper, in CHI submission format. All submitters should include a list of five specific questions they would like to discuss.
If you represent a graduate education program, include:   If you represent an employer of graduates of HCI programs, include:
  • Program philosophy and goals.
  • Structure of the program - required courses, optional courses, other requirements.
  • Catalog-style course descriptions of main-line courses.
  • Data - number of graduates over past three years, number of admits, current enrollment.
  • What is working, what has been changed, what needs to be changed.
  • Commitment to contribute material to the HCC Education Digital Library.
  
  • Goals of your HCI organization.
  • Data - breakdown of staff by degree name & level.
  • Aspects of HCI education being done well.
  • Aspects of HCI education needing improvement.

Accepted Submissions

We have compiled the complete set of questions and issues raised in the submissions below in this document for your convenience.