Guidelines for developing human-computer interaction students as reflective practitioners

Abstract

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a theoretical field that serves as a foundation for design processes. Its primary focus is on addressing the practical needs of users when interfaces and products are created. The researcher, who is also a lecturer for the HCI module, realised that students make little use of the theoretical work they have learned to create solutions for practical work. The research intended to address the theory-practice gap experienced in HCI classes and to investigate practical solutions. The study explored ways to develop the potential of the students to be able to apply appropriate theoretical work to practice. This will subsequently enable them to be ready for the workplace environment. The study further aimed to formulate guidelines to develop HCI students as reflective practitioners to bridge the theory-practice gap. Different paradigms that are used in Information Systems were explored in terms of their ontological and epistemological stance; and critical social theory was selected. Critical social theory is suitable for this study because the research focuses on emancipating students against the current system through a practical understanding of the present context. This study involved a collaborative investigation where students' knowledge and background served as the foundation for establishing shared assumptions that guided the research. Action research was selected to facilitate this process because of its iterative nature. The process consists of five phases which are diagnosis, action planning, action taking, evaluating, and specifying learning. The problem is explored by diagnosing it to gain some understanding of the students' experiences before selecting an appropriate theory to guide the action taking phase. Reflective practice (RP) was identified as a strategy that can be used to bridge the theory-practice gap by assisting students in thinking about what they are doing. The initial set of guidelines was formulated from the students' data. A literature review on reflective practice and human-computer interaction was conducted, resulting in the development of more guidelines. The guidelines were consolidated to form five categories to be used to develop HCI students as reflective practitioners. Possible interventions were formulated in each iteration to design actual interventions. The aim of the actual intervention was twofold, to improve the RP skills and to verify the practicality of the guidelines. The primary objective of these interventions was to provide guidance to users on how to effectively use the guidelines. After the action was taken, content analysis was employed to evaluate the data collected from the participants. This was followed by a reflection on the results. After three iterations, the five categories of guidelines were sufficiently verified to produce a final set of guidelines to develop human-computer interaction students as reflective practitioners. After this study, the researcher is convinced that when students are skilled in RP, they will be better equipped to apply their theoretical knowledge while creating HCI solutions.