Spring 2027

Introduction to Human-computer Interaction

Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction covering user-centered design, interface prototyping, usability evaluation, and group project applications.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Jacob Thebault-Spieker

The course had no coding requirement; most weeks involved group projects taking a few hours, though some weeks required more time. Students advised starting early.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Understand fundamental concepts and principles of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

  • Apply user-centered design principles and methods to create effective and usable interfaces.

  • Analyze and evaluate user interfaces using appropriate usability evaluation techniques.

  • Develop a toolbox of user-centered design techniques that can be applied to new design problems.

  • Understand user needs and expectations with the aid of user research methods.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Junior standing or declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals

    • Junior standing
    • declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals
    take one
COMPSCI 570 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • Junior standing
    • declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

IRENE RAE is recorded teaching in Spring 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JACOB THEBAULT-SPIEKER is recorded teaching in Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TRACY LEWIS-WILLIAMS is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 2500

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Jacob Thebault-Spieker

Past students described COMPSCI 570 as a project-based, no-coding HCI course. Feedback on lectures was mixed, with many finding them less useful than the group work.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.91 GPA, 96.4% A/AB (n=247 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.95 GPA, 98.3% A/AB (n=238 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.90 GPA, 95.9% A/AB (n=217 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Jacob Thebault-Spieker

The course had no coding requirement; most weeks involved group projects taking a few hours, though some weeks required more time. Students advised starting early.

Past student reviews · Tracy Lewis-Williams, Jacob Thebault-Spieker

Random group assignments were central; some students found group dynamics stressful, while others said effort mattered more than groupmates.

Topics

  • Fundamental concepts and principles of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
  • Designing and prototyping interface solutions and evaluating their usability.

Skills

  • Understand user needs, design and prototype interfaces, and evaluate usability.
  • Use user research methods to understand user needs and expectations.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.13 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
COMPSCI 570 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:266:023524",
    "course_id": "COMPSCI 570",
    "course_uid": "course_8e330bc7deed0164dc8f9e2b",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "023524",
    "source_subject_id": "266",
    "title": "Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "ce570cbdc5379fe538503d16ca4664587fffcc9e56b9ac750883f90fdff5cb8c",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}