Interactive Systems
Auburn University
User Interface Design
Techniques for Novice Programmers
Computer Gaming
Dr. Cheryl D. Seals
Computer Science & Software Engineering
Computer Science Education
• HCI, AI, Game Design, Usability
• Projects
• Educational Gaming and CSDT development




Mathematics & Technology Financial Literacy
Alice & Lego Programming Project
Study of Novice Programmer Techniques for Programming
What level of materials for K-12 to keep them engaged?
• NSF IPY Visualization and Ice Sheet Modeling, Google API
• NSF BPC PAIRS Web Development to support
educational digital library
• Seniors in Second Life application development
• iPhone Development
• Web Design and Development
User Interface Design
Auburn University
www.freewebtemplates.com/
Good Design (our goal!)
“Every designer wants to build a high-quality
interactive system that is admired by
colleagues, celebrated by users, circulated
widely, and imitated frequently.” (Shneiderman,
1992, p.7)
…and anything goes!…
The Good…
The Bad…
Why is this a better design?
The Ugly…
The Ugly…
The (really) Ugly…
What The…???
Closer to Fine Arts:
A Philosophy
…The human user of any system is the focus
of the design process. Planning and
implementation is done with the user in
mind, and the system is made to fit the user,
not the other way around….
Bruce Walker
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Design of Every Day Things
“Understanding how to operate a novel
device had three major dimensions:
affordances, constraints and
conceptual models”
Donald Norman
Nielson Norman Group
Developing a Conceptual Model
1. Object and Action Analysis
2. Lexicon or Ontology
3. Scenarios
Mental Model = Conceptual Model
Cartoon by Mark Parisi. Used by special permission.
Opportunities for Design
Ubiquitous computing (mother of them all)
• Pervasive computing
• Wearable computing
• Attentive environments
• Transparent computing
Real-World User Interfaces
• Software Agents
• Mobile/wearable computing
• Information Visualization
• Computer Augmented Environments
• Virtual reality
Website/Web Application Design
Web Design
UID & Web Design
This Website is an HCCL & AUCHIL collaboration
Created by Brad Barker, Beau Bowden, Christin Hamilton, Andrea Williams
UID & Web Design
This Website is an HCCL & AUCHIL collaboration
Created by Brad Barker, Beau Bowden, Christin Hamilton, Andrea Williams
UID & Web Design
This Website is an HCCL & AUCHIL collaboration
Created by Lei Zhang, Jamey White, and Kevin Richardson
UID & Web Design
This Website is an HCCL & AUCHIL collaboration
Created by David Thompson, Sean Mahoney, and Michael Salyer
Interface Design
• Rules of interface design – Ben Shneiderman




Strive for consistency, informative feedback
Design dialogs to yield closure
error prevention and simple error handling
Support undo and reduce short-term memory load.
• First rule of usability? Don’t listen to users – Jakob Nielson
 Conducted series of experiments to become familiar with user
population and gathered user task profiles
 Fun Learning Stagecast Creator. Seals, Rosson, Carroll, Lewis
 Community Design of Community Simulations. Rosson, Carroll, Seals
 Teachers as Simulation Programmers. Rosson, Seals
Universal Design & Auto Design
We Are Getting Older
I recently watched an elderly lady struggle to extricate
herself from the front seat of a car. "Now there is a
huge opportunity," I said to myself, "we live in an
aging society, yet we still design for the young and
able.
Why not address this huge, important market?" There
is a tendency to shy away from designing for the
impaired. This is a special-interest group, it is
feared, one that will drive away other customers.
Wrong. Designs intended to make life easier for the
elderly or handicapped can be useful for everyone.
www.newmobility.com
www.newmobility.com/review_article.cfm?id=977&action=browse
Background:
Simulations/Construction Kits
• Allow users to create interesting simulations, but
the user is limited to preprogrammed behavior




SimCity [www.simcity.com]
Pinball Construction Set [Electronic Arts]
Star Wars Droid Works [Lucas Learning]
ActivChemistry [Salamander interactive]
• We want to provide the rich game-like feeling of
a construction kit for ease of creation, but allow
user the power to specialize simulation
Programming in AgentSheets
Interface
Rule Window
Conditions
•
•
Agentsheets main interface is a simulation
microworld where objects interact.
Users program by direct manipulation:
dragging condition and action templates to the
rule window.
Actions
Programming in SimBuilder
SimBuilder main interface is a simulation
microworld where objects interact.
Users program by direct manipulation:
dragging or combining scripts in the
workspace to make them active. Dragging
a rule from the scripting window, expands
it to a full sized script.
Programming Studies of Alice 3D
(Strickland, Seals)
Consider the Minimalist Model
• Minimalist instructional model emphasizes rapid
start-up and meaningful tasks
• “…uses the learner’s self-initiated efforts to find
meaning in the activities of learning” (Carroll,
1990)
• Works well when there is no instructor present
• Turns errors into learning situations
Description of Research
Alice 3D has an included tutorial implemented in
training wheels technique
1. Review the current instructional system
tutorial
2. Develop a minimalist instructional tutorial
3. Utilize non-computer experts to help evaluate
both training methods
Description of the Work, cont.
• Software is free 3D authoring
tool
 Mature
 Easy to use by novices
 Programmers build
interactive worlds
• Can run on any computer
• Easy to utilize tutorials
Alice 3D Training Session
Alice 3D Training
Session,cont.
Version2
Version3
Methodology
• Compare two tutorials
 A 40-page included system tutorial
 AU created 16-page minimalist tutorial
• Two populations
 Youth (late elementary to middle school)
 Young adults (college students)
 Exposed to only one tutorial
(i.e. Between-groups method)
• Sessions timed
• Errors logged
Tutorial Evaluation
• Pre-activity questionnaire
 User high-level background
 Computer User Experience (CUE)
• Paired computers
 The participant with Alice 3D
 The observer with Remote Assistance and SnagIt
• Post-activity survey
 Guage user acceptance of software
 Investigate whether training communicated basic
programming concepts with knowledge test
Analytical Exploration and
Experimental Assessment, cont.
• Expectations
 System tutorial participants
• Would understand the system better
• Would take longer to complete the tutorial
• Youth would be bored
 Minimalist tutorial participants
•
•
•
•
Have little understanding of the environment
Would finish the tutorial quickly
Both age groups would do well
Able to create new objects and methods immediately
Virtual
Communities
tapped in@SRI
Community Sims
squeakland.org
Virtual
Communities
TeachAlabama
squeakland.org
Virtual Community:
Teach Alabama
This Website is an HCCL & AUCHIL collaboration
Created by Andrea William, Kinnis Gosha, and Wanda Eugene
SimBuilder Science
Cary Woods Elementary School
Computer Science Education Research:
• Project at Cary Woods started in 2006
• Study of Novice Programmer Techniques for Programming
• What level of materials are appropriate for 4th, 5th and 6th
grade to keep them engaged?
 Have existing tutorials appropriate for their teachers
 Redesign after semester to have more kid friendly instructional
manuals
• Research in Computer Supported Collaborative Work and
Virtual Teacher Community (teachalabama.net)
Auburn University & Auburn City Schools
Broadening Participation in Computing
Why Game Design?
Mentoring, Recruiting, Retention,Outreach, Research
The Need
• Among the Top 10 fastest growing jobs
through 2014
• 20,000 American graduates with degrees
in computing
• Impact America’s position in global
economy
Projected Job Outlook
From Bureau Labor Statistics
Employment
Change
(in thousands)
2004-2014
Occupation
Number
Percent
Computer Software Engineers, applications
222
48
Computer Systems Analysts
153
146
31
33
Computer Software Engineers, systems software
Network & Computer Systems Administrators
146 43
Network systems and data communications
analysts
126
http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ooh.t01.htm
55
The Perception
•
•
•
•
Scientists are boring.
Scientists are uncool.
Scientists are geniuses.
Scientists are only white men.
The Ripple Effect
• A small pebble
•
•
•
dropped in still water
causes change.
Excite the youngest
Interest the oldest
Watch college
enrollment increase
Student Motivation
• Today’s student...
• wants to share
knowledge
• interconnects working,
learning, & play
• anticipates the next
level of change
(Whitehead, 2003)
After School Computer Club
• Use Carnegie
•
•
Mellon’s free Alice 3D
software
(www.alice.org)
Create a digital
stimulation of a story
Explore different
literary genres
Screen to Turf
• Integrate
•
•
•
programming &
robotics
Lego Mindstorms
NXT
Pilot at CWES
5th Grade Venture
Pull-Out students
Game to Teach & Game to Learn :
Benefits for CS Education
• Gaming is NOT a panacea or Holy Grail
• Will NOT solve the problems of CS education, such as dwindling
•
•
•
•
enrollments, incorrect perception that there are few jobs because
of outsourcing
But can offer more interesting challenges
May be attractive to students intrigued by games
 NCSU reported that 80% of their students became majors
because they wanted to create computer games -R. Michael
Young Center for Digital Entertainment
Full Time occupation (Game Development)
 ElectronicArts (30-50% college hires), Microsoft, Sony,
Nintendo, SecondLife, LucasArts…
 Gaming and All CS/IT have lots of job opportunities
Very new field of study
 Standard theory, practice & terminology still being formulated
Things Necessary in training
Great Problem Solvers = Great Gamers
• Game vs. Play
• Need Strong Programmers with the following
background









Data Structures/Algorithms/Artificial Intelligence
Graphics
Networks/Parallel Processing
Strong Science: Physics
Strong Math: Discrete,3D Math vectors/matrices, etc.
Introduction to Game Design (2D & 3D)
Problem Solving Skills
Team work in teams > 2
Work on larger code bases
Intro to Game Design
• Intro with Visual Programming with RoboCode, Alice 3D,
AgentSheets, AgentCubes, SimBuilder, GameMaker NL
• Game AI
• Game Design Engine
 3D Game Studio
• for 2D & 3D creation with C++
• Graphics Design for Character & Scene Development




Maya and Blender
Open GL (from Graphics class)
Cg
Game Theory & Multiple Project Components
• Apply Software Engineering & HCI Techniques
• Loads of programming
Gaming and CS ED Research
• Does the medium of game creation cause students to
spend more time on their assignments? Spark a Spirit of
Competition?
• Will it inspire them to learn more about computer science
and the merits of being a proficient programmer &
designer?
• Will it attract more students to Major, Minor or achieve a
certificate in Gaming Technology?
• Will the students that take this type of course be
prepared and competitive in the workforce, because of
competitive incentives in class
• What type of games do girls like to play? Does gender
influence gaming, Etc…
Game Projects
• Gaming for Education:




Culturally Situated Design Tools
Games to support CS
Games to support High School AP CS
Games to support K-12 mathematical
concepts
 Games for Senior Citizens
Educational Games
• Gaming for Education:
 Language Learning
 Mathematics(Basic Math, Algebra & Geometry)
 Financial Literacy
Gaming in Computer &
Information Sciences
• Games can give students incentives to spend
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
more effort into assignments
Increases spirit of competition
Apply all your computing knowledge
Gaming assignments, classes and affinity
groups
Games are a familiar medium for many students
Possibility of attracting more students to Major
Job Security
Games can be used for training
Questions?