Prospectus

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The Psychology of Digital Design (PDD)

Course
2021-2022

Entry requirements

Only open to Master students specialisation Applied Cognitive Psychology and research master’s students track Cognitive Neuroscience.

Description

New technologies provide the means to build wonderful interactive software products to shape the world to our needs. However, if not designed well, they can be a source of frustration and annoyance. Knowledge of human factors (e.g. human performance, ergonomic design, and aesthetics) is crucial to make the right design decisions.

This course provides an overview of cognitive issues involved in designing, using and evaluating interactive software products. Recent approaches in the academic field of Human Computer Interaction are discussed.

In addition, students are familiarized with the role of (cognitive) psychologists in the user centered design process and the practical field of user experience consultancy in commercial settings. The course features guest speakers sharing their expertise, and field trips to state of the art usability labs. In practical assignments students act as user experience consultants and evaluate the usability of commercial websites, in collaboration with major ICT companies.

Course objectives

  • Students learn to apply their (cognitive) psychological knowledge to understand and improve the user experience of websites and other software products.

  • Students gain knowledge of research in Human Computer Interaction

  • Students acquire a practical skill set for analysing websites and software.

  • Students are familiarized with the practical field of user experience consultancy and the career opportunities for (cognitive) psychologists in software development.

Timetable

For the timetable of this course please refer to MyTimetable

Registration

NOTE As of the academic year 2021-2022, you must register for all courses in uSis.
You do this twice a year: once for the courses you want to take in semester 1 and once for the courses you want to take in semester 2.
Registration for courses in the first semester is possible from early August. Registration for courses in the first semester is possible from December. The exact date on which the registration starts will be published on the website of the Student Service Center (SSC)

By registering for a course you are also automatically registered for the Brightspace module. Anyone who is not registered for a course therefore does not have access to the Brightspace module and cannot participate in the first sit of the exam of that course.
Also read the complete registration procedure

Mode of instruction

  • 10 Lectures/seminars (mandatory), 4 lab sessions (optional)

  • Student assignments

  • Practical exercises

Assessment method

Active participation, project reports.

The Institute of Psychology follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of this fraud policy.

Reading list

Course lecture sheets, papers

Contact information

Dr. Pascal Haazebroek phaazebroek@fsw.leidenuniv.nl