HUMAN FACTORS PSYCHOLOGY

EXP4250/5256

Summer 2011

Instructor: Dr. Steven Kass, Professor
Office: Bldg 41, Room 230
Phone: (850) 474-2107
Web Site: http://uwf.edu/skass

Email: skass@uwf.edu
Office Hours: TBD

Class Meets: Mondays & Wednesdays, 8:30 am to 11:50 am
Location: Building 41, Room 134 

Reading Materials

Required:

· Wickens, C. D., Lee, J. D., Liu, Y., & Becker, S. E. G.(2004). An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering, 2nd Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

· Casey, S. (1993/1998).  Set Phasers on Stun and Other True Tales of Design, Technology, and Human Error, 1^st or 2^nd Edition, Santa Barbara, CA: Aegean Publishing Company.

· Additional readings from issues of Ergonomics in Design (included as PDFs).

Recommended:

· Norman, D. A. (1990).  The Design of Everyday Things. New York, NY: Doubleday Publishing.
· Vicente, K. (2004).  The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live with Technology. New York, NY: Routledge

· Casey, S. (2006). The Atomic Chef: And Other True Tales of Design, Technology, and Human Error. Santa Barbara, CA: Aegean Publishing Company.

Course Description: This course is recommended for psychology students interested in seeing how the principles of their study apply to work design, or for students of computer science and other disciplines who would like to learn about the human user/operator side of a system. This course is intended as a survey of the field of human factors psychology. Specifically, the principles of psychology from various specialty areas (e.g., cognitive, experimental, industrial/organizational, physiological etc.) will be applied to the study of human performance in work settings. Students will learn how work is designed to capitalize on cognitive and physical capabilities and compensate for limitations of humans. Students will also become familiar with the tools and techniques that human factors psychologists use to study human-machine interaction and work design. Students will never view their own experiences with modern technology in the same way, as they will gain an appreciation for the capabilities and limitations of humans in human-machine systems.   

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

• Apply the principles of psychology (e.g., human physiology, behavior, and cognition) to the understanding and design of everyday work activities;
• Use the methodologies and tools of the human factors discipline to analyze, critique, and solve problems associated with human-machine interaction;
• Develop (conceptually) user-friendly human-machine interfaces. 

Requirements

Exams: Three in-class exams, each containing 50 multiple-choice questions covering the assigned readings and lectures. Absolutely no makeup exams will be given without prior arrangements!

Design Project: Students will find and photograph, draw, or describe a system or systems that they believe to have design flaws. Each student will present the design and describe 5 human factors principles that have been violated and propose how the design can be improved. The findings will be provided as hardcopy (PowerPoint is suggested). See this link for grading criteria.

Click here for my own personal example of a bad design or visit the Bad Designs Website.  Here is an example of a previous student's project. 

Graduate students are required to provide support for their analyses and design recommendations using the appropriate human factors research literature. That is, specific recommendations should be supported through analysis, measurement, data, or research findings. Graduate students will provide a 15 minute PowerPoint presentation to the class describing their analyses and recommendations. 

Case Studies: All students (graduate and undergraduate) should be prepared to discuss the readings from the Casey book during class time. Graduate students are required to write one page case studies for each selected reading in the Casey book.  These readings involve historical accounts of infamous accidents and catastrophes where investigations have shown them to be caused by violations of human factors design principles. Students will describe how violations of human factors design principles (from the related Wickens et al. text book) contributed to these accidents and what could have been done to prevent them (using correct terminology and principles).  Case studies must be turned in on the scheduled date; late assignments will not be accepted.

 Course Content : Human factors is a multidisciplinary subject including aspects of psychology, engineering, and computer science.  However, this course will focus primarily on how psychological principles and theories affect human performance and the design of the human-machine interface. Course topics include information processing, cognitive workload, sustained attention, signal detection, spatial abilities, virtual environments, safety, warnings, displays and controls, decision making, social factors, and stress. The instructor will draw on real world examples of human factors principles and provide demonstrations of human factors tools used in military and civilian research and design settings. 

Method of Evaluation:

EXP4250 Undergraduate students will be graded on three exams each worth 25% of your grade (75% total), a design project worth 15%, and homework and attendance is worth 10%. 

EXP5256 Graduate students will be graded on three exams each worth 20% of your grade (60% total), a design project with oral presentation worth 20%, case studies worth 10%, and homework and attendance worth 10%..

Grade	Average
A	> 92
A-	90 - 92
B+	87- 89
B	83 - 86
B-	80 - 82
C+	77 - 79
C	73 - 76
C-	70 - 72
D+	67 - 69
D	60 - 66
F	< 60

Slide Presentations: Each week's lecture will be in the form of a PowerPoint slide presentation.  To save paper, I recommend you print the slides as handouts 2 or 3 to a page.  I strongly encourage you to print out slides ahead of time and take notes as all materials discussed in class (whether or not it appears on a slide) may appear on the exams.

Classroom Rules: No spitting, cell phones, texting, or other inconsiderate behaviors during class. You are expected to read all assigned materials before the class in which they are to be discussed. Please show up to class on-time, everytime. See University policies on cheating and disruptive behavior.

Assistance:  If you have a need for any in-class accommodations, or special test-taking arrangements because of physical and/or perceptual limitations, please contact the instructor or the Psychology Department secretary before class begins or as soon as possible.

Tentative Schedule

Date	Topic	Read Wickens	Case Study Due	Read Ergonomics in Design
May 9	Introduction to Human Factors	1
May 11	Design and Evaluation Methods	3		Nyberg & Kempic (2006)
May 16	Visual Sensory Systems	4	Set Phasers on Stun	Clark, Jackson, & Cohen (1996)
May 18	Auditory, Tactile, & Vestibular Systems Guest Speaker: Andy Caputi	5	Never Cry Wolf
May 23	Exam 1 Cognition	6		Morphew, Balmer, & Khoury (2001)
May 25	Decision Making	7	Business in Bhopal	Endsley (1995)
May 30	Memorial Day – No Class!
Jun 1	Displays Guest Speaker: Peter Neuhaus	8	Silent Warning	Cummings (2003)
Jun 6	Exam 2 Stress and Workload	13
Jun 8	Safety, Accidents, and Human Error	14	Return from Salyut	Hancock & Hart (2002)
Jun 13	Transportation Human Factors Social Factors All Design Projects Due	17 / 19		Brand (1998)
Jun 15	Grad Student Presentations
Jun 20	Final Exam