Course Overview

This course introduces foundational concepts and practices in usability and user experience design (UXD) within technical communication.  The course focuses on understanding the psychology of how individuals recognized and use materials in different contexts and applying such factors to researching, identifying, and addressing audience expectations when creating materials for different groups.  The course will also review approaches for assessing the usability of products with different audiences and revising designs based on audience feedback.  Additionally, the class will review methods for sharing the results of such work with different stakeholders.  

Topics Covered 

In examining these topics,  the course will cover:
  • Theories and models that examine how humans perceive and use materials
  • Approaches to testing the usability or different kinds of products with various audiences
  • Methods for assessing the efficacy of product design and engaging in re-design practices based on data from audiences
  • Researching audience/user expectations to guide effective product design and development practices
The class will also review approaches to sharing the results of such work with different stakeholder groups (e.g., clients).

Learning Outcomes 

At the end of this course, participants should be able to 
  • Conduct user testing to evaluate of materials
  • Document sources per standard conventions
  • Plan and conduct tests to assess product designs
  • Convey information effectively to audiences
  • Report usability assessment research to stakeholders 
  • Use different genres to share information with audiences
  • Share usability-related ideas and approaches with others 
  • Determine reporting expectations based on purpose, audience, and context
  • Understand methods to research topics and to report information to audiences
Successful mastery of these objectives will be assess though different class assignments and activities. 

Contact Information and Office Hours

Instructor: Kirk St.Amant
Office hours for the fall 2020 quarter
  • Tuesdays from 10:00am-2:00pm
  • Wednesdays from 1:00-3:00pm
  • Thursdays from 10:00am-2:00pm
During office hours, I am available to interact by phone, Skype, or Zoom, and to schedule a meeting, email me at stamantk@latech.edu to note
  • When (day and time) you would like to meet
  • What medium (Zoom, Skype, phone) you would prefer to use
And we can schedule a day and time to meet.   
​If you have questions on the class, or on any of the items I’ve noted here, feel free to email me at stamantk@latech.edu

Course Textbook, Required Readings, and Assigned Videos 

The required text for this course is
  • Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug (ISBN: 978-0-321-65729-9)
The instructor will also post .pdf files or web links (e.g., online articles) of additional readings or instructional and informational videos for a given week of class to the course website site.