This general syllabus is not year-specific.

Course Introduction

This course will provide essential knowledge related to the physical, cognitive, and emotional characteristics of the human, also hands-on practices regarding measuring, analyzing, and application of those human characteristics in product design.

This course consists of 24 classes (= 12 weeks), not 32 classes (= 16 weeks). There will be two introductory classes (= 1 week), 22 classes (= 11 weeks) of practice/project/discussion (PPD) sessions, then the course will end at around the 12th or 13th week. The remaining 8 classes (= 4 weeks) will be given as online lectures that parallelly go with the course schedule. See the following figure and “Course Schedule” section for your clear understanding of the course operation this semester.

PPD sessions

The PPD (Practice, Project, and Discussion) session is the essential concept of this course. Every week, students MUST take assigned online lectures (about 75 minutes lengths per week) and write an essay before they come to the class. In class, students will learn specific theories by practicing and discussing them in groups. Also, students will participate in one project through the full course schedule (more or less three months), and they will make certain progress on the project during each regular class time. The activities regarding the project that are not completed in class time should be done as an assignment.

Online lectures

A total of 600 min (eight-class amount) of videos will be provided through Prof. Lee’s Notion Page.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the course, students will

• understand of physical, cognitive, and emotional characteristics of humans;
• know how to measure human characteristics and analyze it;
• experience how to apply measured/analyzed human characteristics in product design through in-class practices/discussion and team projects;
• and consider the usability and human-centered design, which can help a broad range of people including children, the elderly, the disabled, and other minorities.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to

• find user-unfriendly designs around us and have feasible ideas on how to resolve or revise it to help people and society healthy and sound;
• explain how human physical, cognitive, and emotional characteristics can be applied in ergonomic/human-friendly product design and development;
• discuss practical issues on how human-centric values can be considered in the product development process;
• and have broader views such as team working, interdisciplinary collaboration, and ethical issues that should be considered in ergonomic and human-friendly product development.

Assignments and Exams

• Individual assignments: 10 essay writings
• Group assignments: progress reports for the team project
• Examination
  • Mid-term exam (around W5 and W6)
  • Final-term exam (around W12 and W13)
  • Both mid-term and final-term exams are essay-styled take-home exams with about a 10+ days period.