Course Objectives

We will study:

• the nature of users as psychological and social beings,

• individual and group differences among users,

• the response of users to various information scenarios,

• identifying trends and patterns in user behavior,

• the dynamics of user learning,

• user acceptance and user resistance to information systems

• the role of the information professional in system design and evaluation
  

Students will learn:

• basic evaluation methods to determine the usability and suitability of information resources for given users,

• the methods and process of a user-centered design process for such resources,

• critical awareness of the findings of research into user-centered design.