Human Computer Interaction Closes The Software Engineering Gap

With the pervasiveness of computers throughout our environment, there is a growing demand for diligent Human Computer Interaction (HCI) education of graduate and undergraduate students to close the gap left by software engineering education. This paper describes one approach to teaching HCI while requiring students to develop systems for various city, school, and university organizations. The benefits derived by the students and the clients receiving their services are many. There is a wide range of opportunities for community-based HCI education. The various client applications provide a plethora of learning scenarios that don’t fit into the software engineering paradigm. The process, experience, and results of HCI education that closes the gap are presented in this paper.