Spring 2027

Human Factors Engineering

Human Factors Engineering covers analysis and design of man-machine systems using human performance models, with emphasis on communication and control systems and simulation projects.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 7

Past student reviews · Hannah Silber

The overall course workload was low, though individual assignments were sometimes time-consuming to complete.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the topics involved in cognitive human factors and design implications of these concepts

  • Describe the interactions between human operators and system components including the environment, technology, and organizations

  • Discuss different human factors perspectives regarding human error and limitations of human performance, especially as these relate to memory, decision-making, action selection, and workload and stress

  • Identify barriers and limitations to memory and how these must be accounted for in design of systems and displays

  • Articulate the role of simulation and modeling in system design involving human operators

  • Use cognitive engineering analysis methods to complete a detailed analysis of a real incident or accident including outlining each layer and component of system failure and proposing possible redesign solutions

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

I SY E/​PSYCH 349, graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

    • ISYE/PSYCH 349
    • graduate/professional standing
    • member of Engineering Guest Students
    take one
ISYE/PSYCH 549

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • ISYE/PSYCH 349
    • graduate/professional standing
    • member of Engineering Guest Students

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

HANNAH SILBER is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2026. 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

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

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Hannah Silber

Students found Professor Silber to be a friendly and knowledgeable instructor who was willing to help, though opinions on the course quality varied significantly.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.94 GPA, 94.9% A/AB (n=59 letter grades); Fall 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=47 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.95 GPA, 96.4% A/AB (n=56 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Hannah Silber

The overall course workload was low, though individual assignments were sometimes time-consuming to complete.

Past student reviews · Hannah Silber

One student found the coursework repetitive, noting that slides from entry-level courses were reused and in-class assignments were assigned as homework.

Topics

  • Communication and control systems
  • Cognitive human factors
  • Memory barriers and display design

Skills

  • Analysis and design of man-machine systems
  • Digital and analog computer simulation techniques
  • Human error and performance limitations

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
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D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

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.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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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
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "972cf9c353481cdff86952f0d71bf8eeee8d0f7dc31a5a865ba7b96675dab694",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}