Usability and accessibility have become increasingly important in computing curricula. This article briefly reviews how these concepts may be included in existing courses. The authors conducted a survey of student attitudes toward these issues at the start and end of a usability engineering course that included a group project with an accessibility component. Results of the survey indicate that students’ awareness of issues related to usability and accessibility are increased after taking the course and completing the project. Our work and results are potentially valuable to CS educators in three ways: (1) They validate the usefulness of the survey instrument in assessing pedagogies in usability engineering, (2) They provide useful insights into the attitudes of CS majors relative to the important topics of usability and accessibility, and (3) They point to possible benefits of including usability and accessibility topics into CS curricula.
BT - ACM Transactions on Computing Education DO - 10.1145/2160547.2160548 IS - 2 LA - eng N1 -This study aims to explore whether adding usability and accessibility related courses and projects in computing curricula will raise students' awareness of these issues. With a survey conducted at the start and end of a usability engineering course testing students' attitutdes toward these issues, the study showed having such course and projects will evidently increase students' awareness and will benefit the CS educators.
N2 -Usability and accessibility have become increasingly important in computing curricula. This article briefly reviews how these concepts may be included in existing courses. The authors conducted a survey of student attitudes toward these issues at the start and end of a usability engineering course that included a group project with an accessibility component. Results of the survey indicate that students’ awareness of issues related to usability and accessibility are increased after taking the course and completing the project. Our work and results are potentially valuable to CS educators in three ways: (1) They validate the usefulness of the survey instrument in assessing pedagogies in usability engineering, (2) They provide useful insights into the attitudes of CS majors relative to the important topics of usability and accessibility, and (3) They point to possible benefits of including usability and accessibility topics into CS curricula.
PY - 2012 SP - 1 EP - 22 T2 - ACM Transactions on Computing Education TI - No User Left Behind VL - 12 ER -